Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-02

Of New York. 0he president Of the COM
pany) 10 In charge Of the company's gov
eminent service. He has had charge Of 1t
ever since the United States Company
| took the contract away from the Adams
Express Company more than four years
ago. The Adams Company received Is
cents 81. 00O while the United States Com
pany receives only Is cents a s., 900 in most
of the territory which 1t covers. This
rate Is for currency. That Is what the
Treasury Department ships In the great
est quantity. The rate for silver and gold
is much higher.
Two Cases Of Robbery.
For this Is cents the express company
guarantees the safe delivery Of the 81 900
at the point of destination. "Of course. on
a single shipment of 1900 we would lose
money" said Mr.. Platt talking about the
government service a few days ago. Even
in handling large quantities of money there
Is so small margin Of profit that a sin
gle big robbery would wipe out all that we
could make under our contract in years.
Up to this time we have lost only S. 900.
Part OF this went in q robbery of q part
Of the contents OF two packages out west
and the remainder in the robbery of a
sack not far from Washington. In both
cases the work of the robber was so care
fully concealed that the packages were ac-
cepted by the Treasury Department. which
gave US a clean receipt for them in each
case. OF course We made good the loss
when the packages were opened and the
money was missed. In one case the thief
had broken the seal on the bag which con-
tanned the package Of money and had then
raised the seals on the package within.
The seals on the package he had replaced
with mucilage and the express company o
seal on the bag he had initiated with a
duplicate seal which had been made for
him in Baltimore. A messenger was in
dicted and tried for this theft, but his con-
viction depended on Identification by the
man who made the bogus seal. and this
man would not swear to his identity pcs
itively. The bogus seal was not put on
very cleverly and We suspected fraud when
the package arrived. So the seal was not
broken, but the bag was slit and the pack
age taken out. If We had been able to
identify the man who had the bogus seal
made, we would have had the plain evil
dence of the wax impression against him.
No. 1t Is not customary to open our express
bags with knife. but 1t Is not uncommon.
II there is anything at all suspicious about
the appearance of a package. 1t Is always
cut open so that the seals may be preserv-
ed intact. They may be valuable evidence
in a trial. Sometimes 1t happens that one
of our agents seals a package carelessly.
Only this morning we handled a bag which
had been imperfectly sealed. The cord
with which it was fastened had not been
sewed through the CLOTH We slipped the
cord up and opened the bag without break
ing the seal One of our old employees
would not have made that mistake But
there Is a good deal of education in our
DuSlueSS anu d HAL CtlHUOl lcdIH HIS les
son in day. In a very short time we will
put into use a new bag with which we
have been experimenting for more than a
year. 1t is a seamless bag. fastened by a
Of a ring at the top. This fits into an oval
hole in the ring which holds the neck of
the bag together. The paddock turns in
this hole and locks across 1t. On the front
with four openings for figures Whenever
the key Is turned in this lock 1t registers.
You cannot possibly get at the register
without breaking the mechanism Of the
lock. The way bill which accompanies the
bag will show plainly with what registry
number il left the forwarding point. If II
arrives at its destination showing some
other number, the agent there will refuse
to receive ii. If 1t is rehandled in transit,
each messenger who receipts for 1t will
see that the number corresponds to the
number on the way bill. So even If the
messenger has a duplicate key to the bag,
he could not use 1t without being discov-
cred"
Could Not Work the Register.
would it not be possible to work the reg
lister up to 1899 and then from zero up to
the number on the way-bill?'
NO" said Mr.. Platt. when the regis
ter reaches $3.50 the bag must be sent back
to the factory at Bridgeport and he lock
made all over again"
MIR. Platt showed me the book in which
these bags are to be entered and The spe-
cial form Of way-bill which is to be used in
handling them. Seventy Of these bags have
already been in use experimentally. They
were sent back to the factory for some al
terations. When the changes have been
made the manufacturers will deliver ZOO
of these bags to the express company. and
they will be put in use all over the system.
The book in which they are registered is
ruled in columns, with the headings: date
Forwarded" From TO-" Register
Number" Date Received" Each page of
the book Is numbered to correspond with
the number of the express bag. The first
entry on Mr.. Platts book showed that bag
No. / had been forwarded from Washing
ton to New York on a certain date under
the register number 36. and had been re-
ceived on the following day. The next
entry showed that 1t had been sent from
New York TIC Washington under the regis
ter number 3S. Evidently some on in New
York had been explaining the uses Of the
lock or experimenting with 1t and had
thrown the register forward one number
But this was Of no consequence, since tie
way-bill and the advices Of the agent In
New York to the agent at Washington
showed that the number under which the
bag left New York was 49, A special form
of way-bll will be used with these lock-
bags. At one end Of the regular way-bill
will be a coupon with the word "Forwarded''
in big letters at the top. At the other end
will be another coupon with the word RE
ceived." On the back Of each coupon will
be printed Mr.. Platt's address, The man