Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-07-06
CAUGHT BY A HAIR.
One Of the Slightest Clues That Ever Put I
Man in Prison.

man IN Prison.
''The least thing ever heard of that
put man in prison was the clue that
took me over the road between here
and New York about a dozen times in
1873, when I was an inspector in the
postal SERVICE" said an old sleuth the
other day to another who had just told
good story.
'It was an old case. 1T had been on
the books a long while. Four or five
good men had taken try at it, but the
fellow was too sly, and he kept taking
letters and we could never take him.,
The complaints pointed very closely to
the spot where the trouble was, but
when we got there we were complete
~ baffied.
81 had myself worked on the job a.
little and gone at something else. In
all these detective cases 1t is in nine
times out of ten a mere chance that
leads to success. One day l happened
to take out of a pigeonhole in my desk
a bunch of decoy letters that had been
sent over the line to catch this sharp
, , rascal, who was robbing Washington
people of their remittances to New
York. Somehow | slid my knife
through the sealed joints of an en-
velope, and there, caught in corner
was a short black hair. lie hap or
the envelope looked as if 1t had not
been meddled with. Yet it had been
opened and dollar bill duly marked
had been taken out and the envelope
sealed up and put back in the mail.
II took that hair up as carefully as
if it had been a diamond | had found.
knew that just across Seventh street
was a friend of mine, now dead, who
had a powerful microscope. rushed
up to his office and asked him to let me
use his instrument a moment Under
the glass the hair seemed to be one
from a mans mustache. looked az 1t
a long while and so did my friend.
| We agreed that it was a whisker, sure
| enough. and / was confident it was a
| piece of the thief we wanted to eaten.
| If We had stopped there and gone AFTER
| hi1n we should have failed again as
| completely as ever before. TO make
assurance doubly sure l went to an
optican and he put the hair under the
| most powerful microscope he had. AL
| most without hesitation he said: This
is not black hair, but red one
| dyed black. 1t is red at the end.
II looked for myself, and sure
enough it was so. l went back to the
office. put my desk in order, got all the
data in this case and that night started
over the line to New York once more.
We were satisfied the thief worked be-
tween Philadelphia and New York, so
| took it easy until | got to the Della
ware river. Then | got down to bust
ness. I saw every man that handled
through pouches from there on to New
York, and I took a mental photograph
of every mustache in the service De
tween Philadelphia and New YORK l
looked for black mustaches and for
red ones. and l was especially inter
ested in any that had the least sign OF
being dyed. At Trenton l found red
mustache, but | went on to the end OF
the route still looking for another OF
that shade. I found none. That chap
was my man. | came back home, ano
for week played toss and catch with
him, sending through his hands per
haps fifty decoy letters some with
stamps in them, some with dollar bills
and some with money orders. In less
than two weeks we had him, and he
went over the road for two years and
eight months, and the trouble stopped
''It all began with my finding that
one little stubby hair in the corner OF
that envelope "-Washingt Star.