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

OF AZ Postal Thief.
The least thing I ever heard oil that
put a man in prison was the clew that
took me oyer the road between here
and New York about 4 dozen times in
1878. when I was an inspector in the
pcstai 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 books 4 long while. -Four OF five
good men had taken n try ut it, but the
fellow was too sly, and he kept taking
letters, and we could never take him.
The complaints pointed pretty closely
to the spot where the trouble was, but
when we got there we were completely
bafled.
"I had myself worked on the job q
little aud gone at something else. In
all these detective cases it is in nine
times out of ten q mere chance that
leads to success. One day happened
to take out Of plgconhole in my desk
q 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 I slid my knife
through the sealed joints Of an en-
yelope, and there. caught in a corner
was 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.
81 took the hair UP as carefully as if
it had been diamond had found.
knew that just across Seventh street
was friend Of mine, now dead. who
had powerful microscope. I rushed
ND to his Office and asked him to let me
use his instrument moment. Under
the glass the hair seemed to be one
from a mans mustache. looked ut it
a long while, and so did my friend. We
agreed that it was whisker sure
enough. and I was confident it was 4
piece of the thief we wanted to catch.
If we had stopped there aud gone after
him we should have failed again as
completely as ever before. To make
assurance doubly sure I went to an
optician, and he put the hair under the
most powerful microscope he had. AL
most without hesitation he said: This
is not 4 black hair, but red one dyed
black 1t is red at the end
"I looked for myself, and sure enough
it was so. I 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 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 I was especially interested in
any that had the least sign of being
dyed. At Trenton found q 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 Il
week played toss and catch with him.
sending through his hands perhaps SO
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.
.It all began with my finding tht.t
one little stubby hair in the corner Of
that envelope. Washington Star.