The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-07-10

ARE SURE TO BE FOUND OUT.
Inspector Says Dishonest Postal
Clerks Are Always Caught.
1T is because man thinks him
self a trifle smarter than another
that makes his thoughts run into
dishonest channels" said an old
post office inspector. 81 can ac-
count for the frequent arrests in all
parts of the country of employees of
the postal service, especially clerks
in post offices and letter carriers,
only upon this hypothesis, and that
there is an inherent steak in his
composition of dishonesty, because
ne knows better than the public
that once we get after postal thieves
we never stop until we land them
in jail. And still. they 60 on all
over the land pilfering from letters
believing themselves. safe. 1t must
jar some of them when they tum-
BILE into the trap we set.
cit is matter of corresponding
interest to remember that, as these
dishonest clerks well known, the
trap which places the manacles
around their wrists is the. same old
trap, like the same old bear trap,
reliable and certain to hold fast once
it is sprung, only it catches their
pilfering hand instead of their feet.
1t is the decoy letter which the pos
tai thief quickly and slyly picks up
and secrstes about his person or
elsewhere, and once it is in his
hand the trap is sprung, the hand
of the inspector on the case closes
about his wrist, and he walks to
the station house to ruminate how
easily he was caught, once the in
spector decided upon the man of
the force who was the guilty among
the honest.
"Now, as every postal employee
in the United States knows. that
once the officials are suspicious of
theft along his route or postal car
run, that the inspectors lay all
sorts of traps to land him behind
the bars, why will they steal mon
ey letters with apprehension prac-
tically inevitable? Because human
nature is the same in all callings,
and the postal employe is cast in no
different mould than the rest of us;
it is only his environment. Yes,
they know instantly, instinctively,
whether letter contains money,
as bank teller can tell by the feel
ing of a bill before he looks at it
is counterfeit. We know this, too,
and that is the reason we fish for
them with the decoy letter, and
land them, thus safeguarding the
public and the department from
loss.
"The decoy letter looks no diff
ferent from any other letter, and it
feels just the same to the dishonest
hand of the postal thief as any let
ter containing money. We usually
place three to five marked 81 bills
in the envelop. The instant the
fingers of the dishonest man strips
along the envelop he knows that it
contains money, and he will steal
tiff he can. His eagerness and dis
inclination to let any letter with
money 20 by MN ~enaDleS US 10
catch him when we learn to GER
tainty the route upon which money
letters are stolen.
"Some employees are very foxy
and 60 on long time before they
are detected. They often try to
place the guilt upon an innocent
fellow carrier in this way. In max
ing Up their routes, and getting
their mail from the distributing
tables, they handled the mail be-
longing to other carriers. 1t is an
easy thing to detect money letters
in the other fellows lot, and include
L. L 4