The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-07-19
A SINGLE HAIR.
R Led to the Arrcst and Conviction
OF Postal Thief

OF Postal Thief.
The least thing ever heard of that
| put a man i'll prison was the clew that
| TOOK inc over the road between here
and New York about n dozen times in
1873, when l was an inspector In the
postal service" said an old sleuth the
other day to another who had just told
| good story.
1T was an old case. 1t had been on
the DOCKS long while. Four or five
| eoou men had taken 4 try at it, but the
Ieiiow was too sly, and lie kept takin.
letters, and we could never take him.
me complaints pointed pretty closely
TO the spot where the trouble was, but
when we got there we were completely
Dafiled
Il had myself worked on the lob a
httie anu gone ut something else. In
al these detective cases it is in nine
tlmes out or ten Il mere chance that
leads to success. One day / happened
10 take out Of pigeonhole in my desk
bunch Of decOy letters that had been
sent over the line to catch this sharp
rascal, who was robbing Washington
people of their rcmittances to New
York. Somehow l slid my knife
through the sealed joints of an en-
velope, and there, caught III n corner.
was q 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
1t had been q diamond I had found. L
knew that just across Seventh street
was friend of mine, now dead, who
had powerful microscope. l rushed
up to his Office and asked him to let mo
use his instrument q moment. Under
the glass the hair seemed to be one
from n mans mustache. I looked Mt it
Il iong while, and so did my friend. We
agreed that it was whisker, sure
enough. and 1 was confident it was n
piece Of the thief we wanted to catch.
II we had stopped there and gone after
lin We should haye failed again us
completely as ever before. To make
assurance doubly sure l went to an
optician, and he put the hair under the
most powerful microscope lie had. AL
most without hesitation he said: This
Is not 4 black hair, but Il red one dyed
black. 1t is red Mt the end.'
Il looked for myself, and sure enough
1t was 80. I went bnak 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
l took it easy until got to the Della
ware river. Then I got down to bust
ness. l saw every man that handled
through pouches from there ON to New
York, and I took mental photograph
OF every mustache in the service be-
tween Philadelphia and New York. I
looked for black mustaches and for red
ones, and was especially interested in
any that had the least sign Of being
dyed. At Trenton found n red mus
tache, but I went on to the end of the
route still looking for another of that
shade. found none. That chap was
my man. I came back home and for q
week played toss and catch with him,
sending through 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.
ut all began with my finding that
one little stubby llair in the corner Of
that envelope. "-Washington Star.