Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-02-12

hawaii = recent experience WIN
robbery of United States mail On
board the local steamer gives interest
to the following interview with a post.
Office detective by Washington
Times writer:
mo thief is harder to catch than the
one who robs Uncle Sans mail. Ills
methods are ingenious: the plumber is
easily hidden or destroyed. and his ras.
cality Is well masked by the honesty
and integrity of associates. PostC flee
thieves are not arrested every day, al.
though valuable letters and other ar.
ticles are stolen almost daily and an
army of shrewd inspectors are on the
alert.
Positive proof of guilt must he in
the possession of the inspector before
an arrest Is made. Circumstantial ev.
idence counts for nothing in this Jusi.
ness. 1t may send a man to the pcni.
Tertiary for some other offence. but
not for robbing the mails. In almost
every instance arrest means convic.
ton.
"A postoffice employe never knows
when he is being Swallowed. Even
when not under suspicion of theft ne
may be watched outside of business
hours to see II he is spending more
money than his salary will permit and
II he is galloping with fast gang. II
sometimes happens that an inspectO.
may not be able to prove his man a
thief and the man is turned loose with
verdict of not guilty as his certn,
cate of honesty, but he Is not wanted
by the department any more.
From one point Of view II is won,
derful that there are so few thieves
among the many thousand clerks who
work on the mails first and last, for
great temptations constantly rise, as
they handle the millions of valuable
parcels.
1T is known that these clerks soon
learn to tell by the very touch Of a
letter whether 1t contains money. II
so inclined II would be an easy matter
for the dishonest clerk to slip letters
into his pocket and open them in the
privacy of his room.
THAT the cases of dishonesty are
comparatively few is high tribute tC
the moral qualities of the pOstoffc6
clerks.
Caught by Dragged MueiIage.
Years ago, on one of the old stal
routes out in New Mexico, hundreds
Of letters containing money, drafts
checks and other valuables were stOl
en-. At first letters and all disappear
ed, but the thieves changed thei
mode of operations and simply stol'
the contents, resealing the letters ant
sending them on. As letters pas
through the hands of many clerks, |
Is difficult to locate the thief.
Months of faithful work resulte,
in nothing being discovered as TO tn
identity of the thieves. Finally Their
was a happy solution of the trouble.
"One OF the inspectors procured
quantity of different kinds of drug
and sent other inspectors over the or
tire route with instructions to make
tour OF book Investigations, and Will
/ thus engaged, to place some of on
kind OF the drugs in the muCilage boz
tie at each Office, taking care to max
memorandum which would show a
what ONCE the drug had been placed
1T was not long before a registerc
letter came through with money gone
The inspector put his lips to the SET
of the envelope, tasted the muCilag'
referred to his book and at once nan
ed the office at which the particula
, drug had been placed In the muc!lag,
p Then lot of decoy letters went
the Office and the dishonest pOstma
ter secured the contents, and the II
spector secured him. This, | THU
was one OF the cleverest pieces {
work ever done by the Department
The inspector who put the job int
execution was an experienced chemi'
and knew what he was doing.
How to Catch a Thief.
There are but two successful way
to catch a postofiice thief-constaI
watch and decoy letters. With thes
. and a large supply Of patience, II
game will be landed. II often requir'
months and sometimes years to accor
plish this. II is one OF the most a
noying and difficult lines of detecti'
work man ever engaged in, and 7
quires the most earnest application
Not a single circumstance or detG
must be overlooked.
Sometimes luck helps us out
our difficulties, | remember once
= city not very far from WashingtC
things were in fearful state in Il
distribution division OF the office,
Il appeared as though We would nov
catch the fellow who was making WI
with valuable letters