The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-01-29
TO BEAT UNCLE SAM.
Dead Letter Office Employees Detected
In a Neat Scheme.


unearthed i'll the dead letter oit.C- "f
the post Office department, and the III
vestigation which has been in pr. gross
over a month has resulted today in
the dismissal OF Clerks Il. C. Walton.
Mrs. Lillian Z. Browne, Mr.. Charles
Albert and Charles Hardin, all clerks
of the dead letter office, the last nam
ed being the head of the property di-
vision, says the Washington Star.
Briefly the offense against these
persons, which has resulted in their
discharge was the purchase of pack
ages at the dead letter sale, knowing
i'll advance their contents and false
~ representing the contents of them
in the catalogue.
The scheme was daring in that it
was planned before all the clerks in
the property division. The campaign
Of investigation was planned by the
Postmaster General himself, who first
discovered the methods, and was ex-
ecuted with marked ability by Chief
Post Office Inspector w. Z. Corcoran
and his assistants. In order not to
give the slightest intimation of the
investigation, and to disarm SUSPICION
several out-of-town inspectors were
hurried to Washington for work on the
case. They had never been here, and
the clerks were unfamiliar with their
faces. How well they succeeded is
told in the report which lays bare the
entire scheme
Saturday, December Is, Postmaster
General Smith called into consultation
the assistant postmaster general, Mr..
Johnson; the fourth assistant post
master general, Mr.. Bristow, and Chief
Inspector Corcoran. The dead letter
office in one of the departments under
the direct supervision of the first as
sistant postmaster general, and all
postoffice inspectors are under the
fourth assistant. At ,nis conference
the postmaster general tod of his su.;-
picions and asked his assistants to
combine in bringing the guilty to JUS
tlce. 1t was at once recognized as
a difficult case, for the clerks in the
Office were more or less acquainted
with the post Office inspectors, all
the presence of any one of them at
the sale would mean the covering up
of tracks. 1t was suggested by the
first assistant that out-of-town inspec-
tors be called in, but the time was 80
brief before the opening of the sale
that it was not thought possible to get
one of the inspectors unknown to the
clerks here in time.
Chief Corcoran, however. examined
the time tables and found he could get
an inspector from Boston here in time
for the opening of the sale, and it was
agreed then to wire him to report i'm
mediately. This was done, and early
Monday morning the inspector arriy-
ed. He found two other inspectors,
one from Maryland and the other from
New York waiting. There was a hur-
ried consultation in the chief inspec-
tors private office, where the case was
related and the plan exploited The
inspectors separated and to make
their DISCUSSES more complete donned
coarse clothing.
nnn Inv he, hi; tol ;,,t
ton room and mingled with the crowd.
The fascination of the dead letter sale
for the speculative public drew big
crowd, and the morning when the sale
opened the big room in the basement
OF 6l2 L street was packed to suffoca-
ton. Two clerks from the dead let
ter Office were stationed behind the
counter conducting the sale, while in
front two others representing the
cnque were ready, catalogues in hand
to bid in the false packages Three
se,s OF keen eyes watched every move
these clerks made. They had pre-
Viousiy noted each suspect and the
A"NN VI SNeis eHlplOSe IN the dead let
ter Office was familiar to them. They
had no trouble in locating the two
clerks, and they never lost sight of
them one instant After the first ses-
sion of the sale one clerk left but
the other remained, buying at surpris-
nglE low prices packages containing
the most valuable goods that come
to the dead letter office. After the
close OF the morning sale Dec. II, the
inspectors made a report to the Post
master general which confirmed his
suspicious. They were directed to
continue the investigation.
TIL sale this year, as usual, took
place Dee. II at the auction rooms of
Thomas bowling & Co. 612 f street
northwest and continued during the
week. 1t was in all respects the most
noteworthy sale of the Office both in