River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-06-05
DISHONEST POSTAL CLERKS.
Sooner or Later the Pilfering Em-
ploye Is Sure to BE Caught
by a Trap.

self a trif1e smarter than another
that makes his thoughts run into dis
honest channels" said an old post
office inspector, according to the
Washington Star. Il can account for
the frequent arrest in all parts of
the country of employees of the pos
tai service, especially clerks in post
offices and letter carriers, only upon
this hypothesis, and that there is an
inherent streak in his composition
of dishonesty, because he knows bet
ter than the public that once we get
after postal thieves we never stop I'M
til we land them in Jail. And still
they go on all over the land pilfer-
ing from letters believing themselves
safe. 1t must jar some of them when
they tumble into the trap we set.
ut is a matter Of corresponding
interest to remember that, as these
dishonest clerks well know, 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 pilfer-
ing hand instead of their feet. 1t
is the decoy letter which the postal
thief quickly and s1y1y picks up and
secretes about his person or else
where, and once it is in his hand the
trap is sprung, the hand of the in-
spector on the case closes about his
wrist, and he walks to the station
house to ruminate how easily he was
u 4 1a1
upon the man of the force who was
the guilty among the honest.
"Now, since 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 money letters
with apprehension practically newt
able? Because human nature is the
same in all callings, and the postal
employee is cast in no different mold
than the rest of us; it is only his en-
vironment. Yes, they know Instant
1y, instinctively, whether a letter con-
tains money. as a bank teller can tell
by the feeling of bill before he
looks at it that it is counterfeit. We
know this, too, and that is the rea-
son why we fish for them with the
decoy letter, and land them, thus
safeguarding the public and the de-
partment from loss.
THE decoy letter looks no different
from any other letter, and it feels
lust the same to the dishonest hand
of the postal thief as any letter con-
tanning money. We usuallyplac from
three to five marked one dollar bills
in the envelope. The instant the fin
gers of the dishonest man strips
along the envelope he knows that it
contains money, and he VIII steal 1T
if he can. Because of his eagerness
and dissemination to let any letter
with money GO by him, enables us to
catch him when we learn. to GER
tainty the route upon which money
letters are stolen.
s'Some employees are very foxy, and
go a long time before they are de-
tected. They often try to place the
guilt upon an innocent fellow carrier
in this way. In making up their
routes. and getting their mail from
the distributing tables, they handle
the mail belonging to other carriers.
Tt is an easy thing to detect money
letters in the other fellows lot, and
include them in their own, to be pur-
Joined at leisure and suitable Oppor-
tunity. Suspicion naturally falls up
on the innocent carrier, and he is
placed under secret surveillance. De-
GOV letters are mailed and by other
means it is endeavored to fix the
guilt upon him. IF our usual meth
DDS fail, we, too, become suspicious
that an innocent man is being
worked We drop him and try to
locate the actual thief, and it is not
long before we have him in Jail.
Sometimes two dishonest employees
will work together, but as rule
postal thieves are like the lone high
wayman, and prefer to go it alone.
"You see, the dishonest employee
foolish1y believes that he can beat
the game, and an arrest in a large
office has only temporary deterrent
effect upon the other secret thieves
therein. They are more cautious,
and may perhaps lie low for brief
time, but not for long. 1t is a sin
gular but true official fact that once
man begins to steal and we have
man begins to steal money letters
he seldom voluntarily stops, and we
have had men confess that they had
been at this nefarious business for
years, and would have remained at
it as long as they were in the service
but for their arrest. 1t is an easy
way to make money for the time be-
ing to the clerk or carrier whose
salary does not meet his expenses
He becomes emboldened by the con-
fidence in his cleverness to secrete
the money letters, forgetful that with
each report of theft the efforts of the
| inspectors are redoubled to entrap
him, and the closer are drawn the
meshes of the net slowly but surely
being entwined around him. Very
often the guilty man is positively
known to the inspectors for months
before they can catch him red hand
ed, the thief in the meantime believ-
| ing himself undetected."
Denies DueIists' PardOns.
T-o~ n;ooo Dripca Henry retI1rnp n