The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
-FOUR CLERKS Dismissed
A Scandal in the Property Depart
ment of the POstOfliee.
Employees Said to Have known What
Was in Unclaimed Packages ut the
Dead Letter sale Special inspec-
tors Unearth Daring Scheme
A Woman Among Those Implicated

Woman Among Those Implicated
-Four clerks in the PostofTice Department
were discharged yesterday as the result
Of an investigation conducted by inspectors
into the methods OF conducting the sale Of
unclaimed mail, which comes into the Dead
Letter Division. They are Charles Hardin,
principal clerk of the Property Division;
R. c. Walton, Charles Albert, and Mrs.
Lillian Browne, his assistants. 1t is as
serted that these employees, in making up
packages for the dead letter sale and cata-
loguing the same. concealed the character
of certain valuable properly and then pur-
chased the marked bundles at low figure
at the auction.
The scheme was a simple. yef daring
one, and is said to have yielded large
profit TO those who were implicated in it.
How long the practice has been conducted
Is unknown, but there is reason to be-
lievA that certain clerks have been pur-
suing this plan OF obtaining valuable pack
ages at nominal price Tor several years.
The scheme, which was well laid, acci-
dentslly fell under the observation of Post
master General Smith last December, just
prior to the opening of the annual dead
letter sale, and he at on e started an in
yestigation, which resulted in some sur
prising discoveries
In addition to letters. there are thou
sands of unclaimed packages which come
every year into the dead letter otf. G.
These, according to the chief of the dead
letter division, contain almost every i'm
aginable article of merchandise. The
practice of the department is to return all
goods of value to the senders in case they
ha hare ftaOT1E dc Qf
such mail packages each year for whom
an owner is never found. These are kept
awaiting a claimant for two years and
then sold. For convenience these aru~les
are wrapped into packages, and their con-
tents printed in the catalogues which are
distributed at the auction rooms among
those who desire to make purchases at the
sale. y has been the rule TO Indicate the
principal articles in each package. and
then to include some sIna'l BITS of mer-
ehandise. Usually of very lit lie yall under
the caption Etc 4 S abbreyiation has.
in the scheme of the clerks been made 10
cover a multitude of very valuable ar
ticles in certain selected packages Of
which they were advised, and which they
bid in, while the unsuspecting bidder bad
no knowledge of what goods were in, luded
under the phrase. Usually these artiU les
covered by 'fEtc" were rich laces. iewelry,
costly ornaments. or other property which
would otherwise command a high price.
The public by the catalogue, was led to
believe that the most valuable articles In
stead of the lesser ones were enumerated
in the list
The scheme was discovered and report
ed TO Postmaster General Smith but two
says before the beginning Of the last an
uai sale at Dogling's auction rooms, 6l2
Street, on December Il last. He called
,hief Inspector w. e. Corcoran into con-
Ills, s~ dad tn
an out-of-town inspector here to work
upon the case, in order that the clerks
implicated in the plot might not suspect
that they were being watched. Accord
ingly. inspectors from Boston. New York,
and Philadelphia were brought here and
advised of the situation. The sale had
been duly advertised. and there were
1905 packages catalogued. besides sew
eral hundred lots of books and jewelry.
The inspectors attended the sale and
found two clerks from the department
conducting the auction, and after some
Investigation ascertained the fact that
two others were bidders in the large
crowd in attendance. Several packages
were offered and bid in by the clerks in
the crowd. The inspectors slternated in
bidding to avoid suspicion. ana purchased
a number of packages.
Finally package No. IL was offered for
sale The catalogue stated that it con-
tanned a pair of boys shoes, size IL;
six women-s handkerchiefs, scissors, ETC.
The first bid received was % cents, which
was raised several times, until at
last the bidding narrowed down
10 one of the inspectors and a
clerk in the Dead Letter Office who
was under suspicion. 1t was finally
knocked down TO the latter for $3.50,
which was considered rather exorbitant,
considering the character of the three
articles which the catalogue said II con-
tanned. When the clerk started to leave
with his purchase he was taken into Gus
tody by the inspector and escorted to the
Postofice Department. The package was
found to contain, under the title of etc -
a quantity of very rich lace and valuable
jewelry. In the clark's possession was
also found catalogue with the numbers
OF the packages containing valuable
ticles marked in blue pencil A confess
sion was wrung from the clerk and the
investigation was continued until the
close of the sale. Yesterday the report of
the findings of the inspectors WAS sub
United to the Postoff1ce Department. and
Immediately thereafter the four clerks
mentioned were informed that their sery-
ices were no longer required.
Il is said that there is no way by which
the clerks implicated in the alleged
scheme can be prosecuted for their Of
fence. The force in the Dead Letter Of
fee Will however be recognized az cnce
and measures will be taken to prevent a
repetition of such methods in the future.