The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1899-08-12
A Single Hair.

1.-The least thi1a | ever heard of that
! put man in prison was the clew that
took me over the road between here and
New York about dozen times in 1873.
when | was an inspector in the postal ser
vice, said an old seuth the other day to
another who had just told a good story.
! ut was an old case. 1t had been on the
books long while. Four or FIVE good
men had taken a try at it, but the fellow
was too sly, and he kept taking letters,
and we could never take him. The COM
plants pointed pretty closely to the spot
where the trouble was, but when we got
| there we were completely bat1ied
Il had myself worked on the job little
and gone at something else. In all these
detective cases it is in nine times out Of
ten mere chance that leads to success,
One day | happened to take out OF
plgeonhole in my desk of decoy letters that
had been sent over the line to catch this
sharp rascal who was robbng Washington
people OF their remittances to New York.
Somehow | slid my knife through the
sealed joints of an envelope, and there,
caught in corner was a short black hair
The flap of the envelope looked as if it
| 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.
Il took the hair up as carefully as if it
| had been diamond had found. l knew
that just across Seventh street was friend
OF mine, now dead, who had 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 man 8 mustache | looked
at 1t a long while, and so did my friend
We agreed that it was whsker, sure
| enough, and | was confident it was a piece
| of the thief we wanted to catch If we
had stopped there and gone after him we
should have failed a. ain as completely as
ever before. To make assurance doubly
sure went to an optician, and he put the
hair under the most powerful microscope
he had. Almost without hesitation he
said: This is not black hair, hut red
one dyed black. 1t is red ut the end
81 looked for myself, and sure enough
it was so. | went back to the office, put
my desk in order, got all the data in the
case, and that night started over the line
to New York once more. We were salts
fed the thief worked between Philadel-
phia and New York, so I took it easy until
got down in business. | saw every man
that handled through pouches from there
on to New York, and | took mental
photograph of every mustache in the ser
vice between Philadelphia and New York.
looked for black mustaches and for red
ones, and | was especially interested 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 look
| ing for another of that shade. | found
| none. That chap was my man. | came
back home and for week played toss and
catch with him, sending thr ough his hands
| perhaps 80 decoy letters, some with stamps
in them, some with 81 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.
1T all began with my finding that one
little shabby hair in the corner of that en-.
velope. Washington Star.