Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-02-05
SLEUTHS OF THE MAILS.
POSTOE THIEVES ARE
VERY HARD TO CATCH.
The Letter Robber May Work Cndetected
Or Moaths, but lie Is Sure In the End
TO he Entrapped by Cunning
InspectOrs.

Probably no thief is harder to catch
than the ono who robs Unclo Sans
mail. His methods are so ingenious,
his plumber ia SO easily hidden or
destroyed. and his rascality is so we'll
masked by the honesty and integrity
of his associates that he not infre-
quently continues his operations for
years before he is finally overwhelmed
with proof OF his guilt, disgraced and
sent to prison. Though letters, and
valuable ones, too, are stolen every
day, and kceu-cyed inspectors are
hunting high and low for the thieves.
arrests for this class Of crime are COM
paratively rare. There is a reason
for this. Postotfice inspectors in run
ming down a thief will never take him
in custody until they arc at least
morally certain of his guilt The only
protection the user OF tho mails has
against thieviug is the postoffice
inspector. His influence on the morals
OF men throughout the great depart
ment in responsible positions is simply
amazing. But for him Uncle Sans
letter service would 60 to tho bow
vows in very short time. 1t is not
because tho inspector is such a for.
midable person that he is feared, but
because his ways are mysterio us;
because he seems to be omnipresent.
His clever ruses to overcome the
cunning OF the rasc lis he ia after. his
nearly invari bile success in rounding
them up in tho gangs that practice the
lockstep daily. and the unlimited
power he has ut command to carry on
his work secretly or publicly. as he
may choose. makes him one of the
most important factors in tho service.
The chief Of inspectors in Chicago is
Captain Stuart.
You see," said the captain to a
daily Herald reporter. "a letter is a
very small thing. and is scarcely more
to the postotiice business than grain
OF sand Is TO stretch OF beach. 1t
passes through many hands, and it is
hard to find out just where Its trip was
brought TO an end. When one lister
disappears on q given route it 10 al.
most certain that others will go in the
same way. Then we begin our work.
We do not overlook q single circum-
stance or detail. When We have finally
satisfied ourselves Is to tho point whore
the rObberjes were committed we
either establish watch or use decoy
letters. Either one is almost certain
TO bring the game down. But l re-
member one case in which all our or.
binary devices failed. It was away
out in New Mexico on one of tho old
star routes. Hundreds OF letters, all
Of them containing money, drafts OF
something else OF vaiue disappeared
with stonishing rapidity. Finally
the thieves altered their methods and
instead OF taking the let,er entire
opened it and took the contents. We
sent inspector after inspector over the
route. Every trip involved long and
tedious rides. sleepless days and nights
aud work that was as disagreeable as
nybody would want - do. We
found that tho riHed letters
passed through m.ny hands
and that OF twenty men each one was
liable to be guilty. All OF them were
watched and Swallowed. but in vain,
and We were about to give up in
despair when a thought occurred to
rnI Nf T
tully outlined to him the details of my
plan for detecting the thief and was
aot a bit surprised when he expressed
loubt about the result. Briefly. the
plan was this: went to wholesale
lrug house. procured lot OF different
Sinds OF drugs. which were carefully
labeled. and then placing them alto
yether in a satchel handed the latter
, % my assistant and sent him on his
. mission. just before no went he wa.
instructed to inform every official he
net that his was merely trip Of in
,pection. and to carry out the decep-
lion no was to make an examination oil
al Office accounts that came und 81 his
lOtice. But tho instruction on whic
laid tho most stress, however. was
that which referred to the itinerant
; ipOthccary's shop he carried. told
aim to be sure and examine the con.
;ents OF every bottle OF mucilage he
saw and accidentally mix bit OF some
lrug with it, taking care. OF course. t
make memorandum tn It would show
lust where the drug had been left
Well. tho inspector made the trip aud
came back.
Three weeks after his return ,
chicago banker brought us register
ID letter which had come ovcr the
troublesome star route. A big draf
was missing from It. 1t had bee,
; filled. The inspector who had fixed
! The mucilace came in just about then