The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-25

is He aided Us to detect three or four
thieves in the Office. and such was MS
reputation for integrity that no change
OF administration could remove him
one day I was sent out there on an
inVesri cation Something crooked III the
Office. I consulted with the postmaster
and he turned the whole case over to
Honest Abe as the boys called the man
I refer to. He vas anxious to heto me
strGighteu things out, and he seemed TO
make every effort in that way vas
about the place for q week and failed
to get the slightest cleW- Then. IN
known to anyone, but more by aecldent
than design. / employed a method which
1 cannot allow you to make public The
result was that I arrested the assista1 at
as he was leaving the building and
found no less than Z money letters IN
his pocket Even with that evidence Of
his criminaIity bulging out Of his peck
cts he was on his way TO my hotel TO
see me and propose a trap by which the
guilty party could be caught
He had a wife and three children
His salary allowed him TO live more
than couf0rtab bly,. What did he want
of the money! To buy lottery tickets
He was buying them at the rate OF 5000
per month, hoping to make Dig SLrike-
When his house was searched we found
165 one-dolIar tickets for the current
ORA wing but he intended to make the
number an even zoo, In six months he
had purchased over 100 tickets and yet
all his prizes did not foot up $500 Il
isn't six months since he left prison
where he served his sentence
Il believe. and it is the belief Of All
officials Of the postal department, that
that lottery did more to dishonOr pos
tai employees than all the other tempta-
lions combined Thousands Of letters
containing one and two-dOllar bills
were constantly passing through the
mails A percentage of the employees
who handled them argued that the lot
I terry was dishonest and under the ban
of the department, and that the money
would be lost to the sender even II they
didn't steal it. In two years alone de-
T tected fourteen dishonest employees and
/ brought them TO Justice. viii relate
one case which had some special Tea
lures
"A railway mail clerk on a certain run
I south Of the Ohio river was under sus
+ Dicion. The suspicion arose from q sin
man. 90 years old, and had only his
salary to live on His name was amGns
I a list Of doors for q fund to erect Il
church. and he had given s725- WneE'
I found this out dropped al o5aer
+ clews and concentrated on him. " hlis
T I was watching he turned in S2T5 more.
thus bringing his subscription up 10
! 81 600 One day after had all my plans
He had thirty letters in his pockets. ali
Of them containing money and ad-
/ dressed ta the lottery He attempted no
defense and urged only one excuse. He
LLL.AElAL ALle E4Alt4ff Alct4 AaELL-l 80 Atl-J
/ a church building than into the Golfers
I Of the Lottery He had not converted
a penny to his own use. and he frankly
acknowledged that it was his intention
to steal $500 and then quit
Il can mention another singular Trims
which occurred at about the same rims
A man in Pennsylvania ordered two
/ one-dcH7r tickets by mail AS the tick
cts Wers On their way TO him they were
stolen by TIA railway mail clerk When
the drHviuT for the month came on Il
was discovered that one OF the tickets
had dr7wn $500. The clerk had not
preserved the address OF the right
owner He slipped down to New Or
leans t. -et the money The lottery
c0mDau-ts boel-s showed to whom the
tickets we're sent and as the clerk gave
a different narna and address. suspicious
were reused and he was run down. he
had burned ~ the two tickets before
being arrested. and the lottery. company
was therefore 5000 ahead - Copy
right. 1903. by c. 3. LeWis-)