The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-05-29
MEN WHO STEAL NAH.
4 POSTOFFlCE INSPECTOR TALKS OF
A RECENT CANVASS.

thorities Have Been Kept on the Run.
Grimes That Are Most Common.
During the past six months our men
have had more work on hand than
would seem possible for such limited
number to handle, - said Colonel NJ d.
Wheeler, chief of the postoffice inspect
ors, recently.
eve have just completed thorough
inspection of all presidential postoffices
in the United States in addition to our
regular case work, which alone ordi-
narily keeps the inspectors going day
and night.
"There are nearly 4, 900 presidential
postoffices i'll this country, and some are
very large Offices While it may seem
easy to say make an inspection of an
office, yet it is quite another matter to
properly complete For instance, take a
large office like New York city or Chi
cago To make thorough inspection of
such an office requires the constant serv-
ices of a half dozen good inspectors for
week or so. This will give an idea of
1 the task which confronts an inspector
when it becomes necessary to check up
big Office of the first class. We had
trouble with the st. Louis Office because
the cashier tried to conceal a deficit of
some SO, 900, but the inspectors finally
got down to the facts and the money
was collected. In several other offices
we also found something of the same
nature, but in every instance we have
collected the amount of the shortage
and the government has not lost a dol
lar.
"The postoffice burglar gives us a
great deal of trouble. His advent in the
annals Of crime is but recent, yet he is
type peculiar to himself, and it would
seem he has come to stay PostOffice
burglars, as a rule, are the most desper
ate characters, possessing every cum
ming and alike ready to seize on any
chance to lift bundle of stock or
crack safe-any method suits them
if it will enable them to get the boo
die. The plumber is usually in postage
stamps, which are disposed of through
the medium Of fence, the burglar
seldom realizing more than 40 per cent
Of the real value of the stolen stock, yet
with this heavy discount the occupa-
tion seems alluring and consequently
keeps our men constantly Oh the alert.
This class of depreciation became so
common that I found it necessary in
1894 to call especial attention to it in
my annual report and recommend to
the postmaster general that a series of
rewards be Offered for the apprehension
of these criminals The suggestion was
adopted and has materially aided our
men in ferreting out the perpetrators.
We now have an annual appropriation
from congress for this purpose, and for
the past three years the number of bur-
glaries has fallen off in slight degree.
That the burglar is still at work, how
ever, is attested by the fact that 90
were captured during March and April,
although my opinion is that the general
result for the fiscal year will show still
another decrease in the aggregate of
postoffice robberies.
eff fellow who has studied the ge-
nus had the time and ability to put his
| ideas on paper" Colonel Wheeler went
on to observe, ga very interesting chap
ter in the history of crime could be
made from that unfortunate trait in hu-
man nature which suddenly transforms
the tried and trusted postal employee
into thief. | do not believe there is
another service wherein so many cases
are found as in the postal service of this
country.
COZ course thousands of men are en-
| ployed, and it is but natural that weak
ones should find positions of trust and
then go wrong. But we still have an
other class - men who usually work
from the lowest positions in an office to
the highest; men who have been known
for years to be as honest as the day is
| long Suddenly we receive complaints
( of losses or of discrepancies, and then
it becomes necessary to apply the test.
In a great many instances, however, we
find the trouble to be i'll quarters differ
ent than expected, but frequently the
facts show that another name passes to
the page of dishonor, prison and ruin.
"When a thief once begins operations
on the mails, the element of chance is
too great to resist, and it is that one
fact which leads to his ultimate discov-
| cry. InlS Is GI6 IdfQeSJ anu UOSG Try
ing part of an Inspector duty, for fire.
quently it happens he is called upon to
test man whom he has known for
years to be all that an honest man can
be; yet withal duty is plain, if harsh,
and nothing but duty remains to the in
spectOr's choice.
"Those cases are very distressing,
and the desperation which actuates
some of the principals when discovered
is truly lamentable and pitiable in the
extreme. have received reports of some
men attempting suicide, of others who
attacked the inspectors with murderous
| intent. In several cases postmasters
| have killed themselves outright upon
the discovery of some crookedness, and
l now recall one instance wherein a
postmaster killed himself in most bru-
tai manner by using butcher knife.
These are only the extremes, however,
and as rule these people are very doc
lie and tractable upon discovery. Dur
ing March and April we arrested 10