The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-02-19

came 10 SudQen step. No more COM
plants we're heard for o month. Then
they began again. This time l was
bound would not fail, so / set a close
watch on my man.
''0ne day when / was about to give uu
the case in despair, noticed the fellow
| tearing up an envelope and dropping it
to the floor. When he had gone picked
up the scraps of paper, and after a hard
| job managed to piece it l was dis
! heartened when l saw thatthe envelope
| had neen addressed to himself. / was
about to walk away when a sudden idea
| struck me.
Il came down the next morning be.
fore the young clerk came to work, and
stationed myself behind a letter
rack. free from observation, but in such
a position that could see the fellows
every action. | saw him take several
stamped and addressed envelopes from
his pocket and walk over to the stamp
ing table and cancel the stamps. Dur
ing the course of the morning saw the
fellow slip four letters inside of as
/ many envelopes and seal the envelopes.
Then knew my suspicious were cor.
rect. / went to the carrier who carried
the letter to the young mans home aud
secured the four letters addressed to the
fellow himself.
"'Have you carried many letters like
this?' / asked him.
"'Yes, sir, the carrier said; I carry
four or five day
II then called the fellow into my Of
flee and told him we had determined to
have the mail of all clerks delivered at
the office to tighten the duties of the
carriers. / then told him that | had
four letters for him and handed him the
missives l had received from the post
man. The fellow turned pale and was
on the verge of fainting when l asked
him to open and read the letters in my
presence.
''With trembling hands he did so, and
inside the envelopes, addressed to him
self, found four valuable letters ad.
dressed to a big wholesale house. he
broke down and confessed that he had
been stealing for about six months, and
that during that period he had abstract
ed nearly fifteen hundred dollars from
business letters. He had spent the
money in gambling.
"The hardest case ever had to work
on, broke in another inspector, turned
out to be no case at all. 1t was in a
small town in Ohio few months ago.
From this town had come numerous
complaints of missing mail, valuable
and valueless pieces disappearing regu-
larly. / was sent down to work the
matter mp. / worked as hard as | could
and failed to detect any guilty person
amongst the several employed in the
office.
''As dernier resort determined to
spend one night in the Office. Itproved
to be very successful night. Shortly
before midnight I heard scratching in
the lower letter boxes and carefully be-
gan to investigate. opened drawer
and out jumped big rat. / watched
him disappear through a hole and then
went home.
''Next day the floor was torn up and
in that rats hole we found scraps of pa
per, checks and currency, all used as a
soft, downy bed for the family of rodents.
1t was blessing for the town, as new
post-office was secured at once"
''one time" said another inspector.
81 was fooled by pair of high-topped
boots. Many letters had been missing
from the mail trains running between
Cincinnati and New York. BY means
of decoy letters traced the robberie:
down to a railway mail clerk, but was
unable to catch him in theft for :
long time.
after many letters had disappeared
/ got mad one wet night, and just a!
the clerk stepped from his car | placed
him under arrest. The truth of the
matter was that really had no grounds
on which to arrest him, so took him tt
hotel and rented one room for both o
US.
"a nice CRATE fire was made in tht
room, and took off my shoes to dry my
feet in the grateful warmth. My
prisoner remained quietly in his chail
until / requested him to remove hi
big boots and feel more comfortable.
sThen he began to fdget uneasily
and ! grew suspicious. With a rusl
and jerk pulled off one of his boots
and out dropped three letters to tht
floor The other boot yielded up half ;
dozen. Never until that moment had
had the least suspicion of those clumsy
big boots, and were it not for tina
lucky CRATE fire should probably have
never been able to convict my man."
''What is the most wearing task which
you are compelled to PERFORM" queriet
the scribe.
Checking up the accounts of ignor
ant country postmasters, replied tn
inspector 81 would sooner get out tt
unravel the toughest case with which
the department is compelled to dea
than to square the accounts of sons
postmasters know of. ."-Cincinnat
1imes-Star.
From an Od Tombs tone.
The old Derry churchyard, nine mile:
from Harrisburg, Pa, is an interesting
|. spot. Here is an inscription fount
, there with moss all around 1t
''Under this stone hes entom bed Jane
l ~ fe