Montgomery County sentinel., 1891-03-06
MisckllamenMs.
DON'T ROB THE MAIL.

AS n rule, the secret service of the
Postofico Department contains some of
the hardest-worked employees Of the
Government. Very few persons outside
of the mail service know of tho duties
OF n postoffice inspector. but suffice 1t to
say that days duty of an inspector
contains half dozen thrilling romances
When one becomes statistical and
gances ut the vast amount of mail mat
ter which annually passes through the
postoffice of the country, he cannot for
the life OF him even imagine how mere
handful of inspectors can trace at all the
many petty robberies Of the mail and
secure evidence enough to convict the
perpetrators.
There is a wonderful system about an
inspectors daily work, but even with
this system he is worked like u Trojan
in the battlements from early morning
until late at Dight. Tie has no regular
hours. He may be found on duty any
time from one midnight to the next
No one except bis superior and himself
knows his business, and it will readily
be seen that one Of the greatest requi-
sites to make a good inspector is love
of silence.
Around the walls of the Government
building, if one will look closely, he
will observe what appears as registers,
high up near the ceiling. They are in
nocent looking enough to distract the
suspicions of tho most willy thief. Buc
every day, behind one Of these iron
gratings, there may be found post
Office Inspector, intently watching the
actions of the clerks. either in the main
distributing room or in the register or
money order departments.
Should there happen to be any COM
plants of missing mail there is Scurry-
ing in the inspection department, and
every man on the staff is put on to test
his mettle with the case which confronts
the department. And the wonder is
that nine times out of ten the case is
worked to a successful conclusion and
the guilty person convicted of the helm
Gus crime of tampering with Uncle
Sans mail.
"We get some pretty tough cases. !"
said an old inspector recently, "but it
has been my fortune to run down every
case on which | was set to work"
"What was the most difficult case you
ever handled p asked reporter.
ut happened while was stationed
at Utica, ~ Y, about seven years ago"
replied the inspector, MANY letters
containing valuables had been missed /,
and by dint of hard work we managed
to trace the job down to one clerk, a
shaved faced young fellow Of about
twenty-five years. He was clerk who
distributed the letters into the boxes Of
the carriers.
"As | said, we managed to get this
far on the case and then set my trap.
| had DOGGY letter containing TWEEN
ty-dollar gold piece mailed from coun-
try town in Connecticut to a prominent
stove dealer 10 Utica The letter failed
to reach the carrier promptly, and felt
VIC had our man solid at last
II waited for him until the dinner
hour, and as be was leaving tho Office
accosted him. He came with me, and
look as closely as might | failed to
detect any signs Of uneasiness in his
features they were perfectly immobils.
He walked with me into the office Of
the postmaster and submitted TO thor
ough search, but no trace Of the letter
or twenty dollar gold piece was found
on his person.
ITO say l was dumfounded is draw
ing it mildly. He appeared to bo very
indignant. But whether was right OF
wrong at the time, the petty robberies
came to sudden stop. No more com.
plants were heard for month Then
they began again. This time I wat
bound / would not fail, so I set close
watch on my man.
lone day when | was about to give
up the case ia despair, | noticed the fell
J low tearing up an envelope and drop
ping il 10 the 6oor When he bad gon'
picked up the scraps of paper, and
after hard job managed to piece it
was disheartened when | saw that th'
envelope had been addressed to himself
was about to walk away when sud
den idea struck me.