Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-02-16
A NIGHT OF ANXIETY.

a o
nicipality ought TO tell tales out of school,
but cannot refrain from reciting little
adventure Of mine that happened some
years ago. 1t was December, in 1888, and |
shall not soon forget the suspense of that
night when was 900 miles from any man
could hope TO call friend Being one of
the successful applicants for position in
the government service, Ihad been assigned
TO duty in the postofiice department, with
headquarters in Chicago and boundless
territory for operations.
There was no telling where / would be
sent to look into a postoffice robbery or a
depreciation on n mail car, and had one or
two experiences which were entirely too
thrilling for the salary paid men in this
hne of work. The position is very trying,
and one has to keep his wits about him, so
think the stipend should be better. But
enough of this did not start out to
preach on the poorly rated economy Of the
government, rather to tell some of the
things one has to go through for little
more than a respectable living
For years gangs of swindlers had been
reaping rich harvests in various parts of
the country through the mails. 1t would
have been impossible for them to become
30 farreaching but for the postal service,
and their advertisements brought dollars
In almost countless numbers from every
land in which our language is spoken.
Whether or not it was the same gang we
could never determine, and their manner Of
operation was such as TO battle the appoint
ees of each successive administration who
started out to land the culprits in Jail.
The ordinary green goods man is but nov
ice TO those who engineered some schemes
w lah hnNr nc and afNf,u q.
were flooded with inquiries as to the re-
liability Of the parties. These complaints
Of course came to us, and if, in the opinion
of our chief they merited investigation
they were turned over to one or two of us,
with instructions to get at the bottom Of
the matter.
The winter before advertisements had
been inserted in many papers and maya
zines, telling what rich gifts firm would
make to those who subscribed for its pub
hcation Loans Of money without security
and at "A nominal rate Of interest which
would bankrupt even an English million
aire, watches, diamonds and almost every
thing attractive were promised for almost
nothing. The concern opened up for bust
ness in a thriving inland city some time
about the first Of the year. and the mail be
gan TO come in such quantities that the
largest manufacturing establishments ia
the place paled beneath the enterprise as far
as correspondence was concerned.
Never had the registry department in
that city turned over such a number of let
tiers in so short n time TO any concern, and
the local postofiice authorities were at "A
loss to understand how the new periodical
had gained such a foothold.
The reason began to dawn very soon,
"a 81 Of Lot haI Of
been going on for more than a month when
complaints began to come to the postmas-
ter. Persons in distant states wrote to in
quire what sort of firm it was, and said
that they had forwarded a certain amount
with the understanding that they were to
receive a premium, but had never even re
ceived an acknowledgment of the money
sent
Naturally these letters came to us, and
i was one Of the two men detailed to find
out the true inwardness Of the scheme. The
place was not at great distance, and it
did not take Us long TO repair 20 il. When
we arrived there we stopped at a modest
hotel and began our work. The amount of
mail which came daily showed no apparent
diminution, and the innocents Of this coun-
try who want something for nothing were
not the only sufferers. Canada, England,
and even Germany and France, paid a tax
for the inherent trait in some of their peo-
pie to get the best OF any man, and not take
much of a chance ia 50 doing
We were in the city several weeks look
ing into the business, for it was a tough
case to get where we wanted it, and in
spite of our repeated calls at the Office and
talks with the manager we could not make
the step which we knew would be right.
Finally the projectors Of this great gift en-
terprise, who knew what we were after,
concluded that other climes would be more
congenial, and one morning the Office was
found closed.
Their operations had extended over pc.
Rod Of only "A few months, but one would be
very safe in asserting that the money taken
in would run well up into the tens Of thou
sands. They had left no track, and the pub
locations in the papers Of the suspicious cir
cumstances surrounding the departure of
the crowd caused the postmaster to receive
thousands of complaints They came from
every point Of the compass, and we went
back TO headquarters empty handed.
While we were morally sure as to the
guilt Of the parties when in the city where
they were doing the work, we could not ar
rest them at the time. A week later and
they would all have been ia Jail awaiting a
series OF TRIALS winch would nave made
them slaves TO the government for the bal
ance of their lives, but they were not anx,
ious TO do any mental work, so they quietly
folded up their tents and disappeared with
all the completeness that night does before
day.
The weeks Of work ON the case were not
entirely thrown away. | had had tact
enough to ascertain correspondent Of one
OF the supposed projectors, and this was the
only possible clew TO the whereabouts OF
any OF them | watched his mail for
months, and letters in practically the same
handwriting came from several cities.
don't know where he mailed his replies, but
finally the writer Of the letters to him be
gan TO drift westward From New York
he had encircled the southern states, stop
ping at Atlanta, New Orleans, Galveston,
st. Louis, and finally reaching Denver in
l.