The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-04-28
OPENING LETTERS.
SOME SECRETS o. THE ENGLISH GEN.
ERAL PosToFElcE.
Methods by which the ON He
come Acquainted With the Con.
tents of Suspected Conn unicntiOns
Private Tests Which Fail.

come acquainted with the Con-
tents of Suspected Conn unicntiOnS
Private Tests Which lNnll.
It IL Il somewhat remarkable fact
that the general public of England
knows very little concerning the secret
service Of the general postoi.ice. al.
though the service is probably the mos,
complete Of. its kind In the whole world
To the outsider the secret service is
known as the postal secret inquiry
branch, and not one in a hundred of
those in the employ Of the pCstoi1icr
knows the exact workings of the secret
service, az the department has the dis
tinction Of being in the charge Of Ger
tain permanent officials, under the di.
Fection Of the home secretary and the
prime minister for the time being.
Once, and once only. in recent years
has a minister Of the government allow
ed himself to be drawn into making IA
statement which admitted that the se.
crets If the postolfice were used for pc.
Ntical purposes.
Such an admission was made in the
days Of the first dynamite scare, when
an Irish member made a general charge
against the government Of tampering
with the correspondence of certain Irish
men. Lord John Manners, In reply,
evaded the question in an ambiguous
manner hut indiscreetly called atten.
ton to a clause in the p~ostotfice act
which empowers the postal authorities
to open and even contiscate any letter
or package which they might reasona.
bly, suspect covered some infringement
Of the rules Of the department.
The secret service Ia divided into'two
distinct branches, the higher and the
lower, and the duties of the latter are
brought to the notice of the public very
frequently, as it has to do with the pros.
ecution of dishonest men in the EN-.
ploy of the postoffice, The great bulk Of
the robberies committed inside the
walls Of the postofice Is attempted by
the younger hands and 1t Ia for that
reason that every newcomer is occasion
ally subjected to keen watching from a
quarter that he least suspects.
Quite unknown to him, he is kept un.
der the observation of a keen eyed
watcher, who is securely hidden from
view in a secret alcove, almost within
touch Of the sorter, messenger or what
ever the employee may be. Every move
ment ia noted and analysed. and 1t
would take Il very expert man to try on
any undetermined game and escape de.
lection.
On the continent the correspondence
of private individuals IL liable to the
scrutiny Of the police or other govern.
ment agents, and no secret is made of
the fact; but. on the other hand, our
officials write indignant letters Of de.
NAL and Reputation. while all the time
they are perfecting the fine art of open
ing letters without leaving any traces
of the operation.
Like most clever arts, that of opening
a letter without causing suspicion Is
simplicity itself, A glance at the quail
ity Of the stationery decides the opera.
tor on the means to be adopted. Some
kinds of paper will bear the steaming
process without leaving any traces, and
in that event the operation is very
simple. The contents having been ex.
amined, and. If necessary, copied, they
are restored to their envelope. which is
regummed, the flap FURNISHED with a
bone instrument.
Contrary to general belief, the sealed
envelope presents no difficulty to the ex.
pert. A piece of new bread. kneaded in
to a firm ball, IL pressed on the seal and
the facsimile is obtained. Various other
methods have been attempted in taking
the design Of seals, but the enc we have
quoted has been declared to be far away
the best for the purpose, the bread be-
ing clean and less liable to leave any
trace Of tampering behind, This dough
matrix Is hardened as soon as the seal
has been modelled, and when the con.
tents Of the letter have been obtained
the envelope is closed and resealed with
the dough mold,
When 1t is deemed unsafe to moisten
an envelope, it is cut open, The opera.
ton Is a delicate one and to any but
an expert very difficult to perform prop.
erly, One end Of the envelope is held
firmly between two flat pieces Of wood,
the edge OF the paper projecting about
the twentieth part Of an inch. The ex-
pert passes the back Of his knife rapidly
over the end, ro%ughening and fiattening
1t, while an equally quick pass with the
razorlike edge cuts the envelope open
When the contents are replaced, the
edges Of the envelope are stuck together
with a hairline Of powerful gum, sub.
mitted to pressure for a few minutes,
and no one not in the secret would
guess what had been done.
So long as the flap and seal appear
intact the receiver Is invariably salts.
fed Now and then suspicious CORE.
spondents place sand, powder, hairs or
other minute objects inside the envelope
by way of test, but this does not trou.
BILE the expert a little bit. He is on the
lookout for that kind of dodge, so is
careful to open the envelope over a
large sheet Of mira white naner When