The Portland daily press., 1896-02-22

power cOulQ quickly U6 run away up TO
the top of the alphabet and battleship
would hardly realize what had struck it.
POST OFFICE INSPECTOR.
Miss Leonore Mooney the Only Woman in
This Position.
Miss Leonore Mooney, Of Chicago, Is
the only woman in America who holds,
or ever has held, the position Of chief
clerk in post office Inspectors depart
particularly because of her extraordinary
shrewdness and ability, Miss Moneys
name is well known in all the postoffice
Inspectors Offices in the United States.
She entered the department. ten years
ago, and brcwght to bear on her work
such good gment and keen insight
| into difficult cas- es that she soon attained
her present posi- ton. Her particular
forte is a thorough knowledge of the
postal laws and regulations, and her phe-
nomenal legal ability, which enable her
to distinguish rapidly and correctly
between what is and what is not evil
| dence. She is capital correspondent,
never wastes words. nor gets off the
subject, but goes direct to the point She
speaks French and German fuently, and
is thoroughly well educated.
| An evidence of the esteem In which
Miss Mooney is held by the inspectors
outside her own division, is that they
consult freely with her and ask her adj
vice in difficult cases. Captain Stuart.
the inspector whose chief clerk she is,
speaks of her in highest praise.
"She has better understanding of the
workings of the service ia all it's branch
es than anyone else KNOW" he said.
stShe can handle any subject in CORES
ponding; she pays close attention to bust
ness, and in all the time she has been
with this department she has never asked
| for days leave Of absence on account
of illness. She Is devoted to her work,
and If she is interested in case spends
say, for she is a woman, never talks of
her business outside the office. She does
her work like q man, and is one of the
few women in the service who has made
her mark in official life. -
Personally, Miss Mooney is a sweet
looking, dark-eyed girl. Of medium
height, and with quiet and gentle man
ners. She dislikes publicity and was
rather shy of being interviewed. but
when she once began talking Of her work
soon warmed into interest and ANNA
| ton.
sit Ia such exciting work." she said
earnestly; emo monotony about it. You
have to keep on the alert all the tins, and
use your brains. do not think anyone
who has been in this branch OF the SER
vice would ever want to leave it. In fact,
I know of several who have been offered
more advantageous positions, and who
have left for q short time and then come
back. The life here has fascination for
| them and they miss the excitement and
variety when they go into ordinary bust
ness. When first came here I regarded
my position simply as means to an end
and did not intend to stay longer than q
couple of years. I wanted to be in Chica-
60 because could get certain advantages
here and so took a place in the inspec-
| tors office. But the work grew upon me
and now I have been here ten years and
cannot imagine msyeH happy anywhere
| else
"What are my duties? r8f
"Well, they are SO varied that it would
be difficult to explain. The inspector IS
department. is called the eyes and ears of
the postoffioe.' AL violations of postal
law or revenue law are reported here. All
charges of theft, or letters sent astray, all
obscene literature, fraudulent advertise
ments and all business relating to leas-
| ing postoffices. We file all complaints
that are sent in about stolen money let
ters. If they come from several points
outside Of Chicago we conclude the thief
Is in our own postoffice and take meas
ures for investigating here. If, on the
contrary, the complaints come only from
people, say in Kenosha, we inter that
the letters are stolen at the Kenosha
postoffice, or at some point between here
and there, and set our men to work first
at that end of the line. Would ever
send money in a letter? No. nevert
consider it most unsafe. In the first
place an expert thief can always detect
the presence OF money in letter, either
by the sense of touch or by running a pin
or needle through and noting the differ.
enoe of the sound when it goes through
the paper and then through the bill. In
the second place, although we almost
invariably discover man who INDUCES
in systematic thieving, 1t takes time to
do it, and rarely results in the recovery
of the lost money. Conseq uently, !
would never trust mo neyto the mails.''