Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-07-14
USE OF DEcOY LETTERS.
No Better Means Known For Catch
ing the Mail Thief.

ing the Mail Thief.
There have been several arrests and
convictions of local postal employees
recently for mail depredations, and In
discussing these instances a postoffee
enspeSew G1l
: Although we use the same old bait
An catching postal offenders. and the
novice at the business and the old hand
know what II Is as well as we, they
Keep on Just the same until the time
worn but deadly certain 'decOy letter
tands them high and dry in the peniten-
kiary, to wonder and lament at their
leisure why they were SO weak ana
foolish to bite at 1t.
1.-THE 'decoy letter is such simple
thing that the average citizen may
wonder at its effectiveness or why the
khief doesn't succeed in lodging IL. 1t
is the greatest silent thief catcher IN
use by men who make IL their business
20 apprehend their dishonest fellows.
will always remain so, and doesn't need
Improving to insure its stability Ia the
criminal world.
''There is an angle OF delusion In mat
tiers criminal as In honest affairs, and
the postal thief's slant is that he thinks
ne will not be discovered; at the same
time he knows perfectly we'll that COM
plants Of missing letters are invaria-
bly, made to the department and that
the departments machinery for the In
sestigation Is practically perfect, based
upon years Of experience.
1.-THE postal thief, emboldened by ini-
tial successes and elated by the pleas
ant novelty Of having In his pockets
ready and easy money for which he
did not have to work. goes along
merrily until the innocent appearing
'decoy letter is silently slipped In the
mails. to find its way to his hands as
surely as does the fish torpedo to the
steel magnet of the battleShip's sides.
do they try to dodge this missive
OF danger? oh. yes, they do try. The
explosion does not necessarily follow
the launching Of the first letter. If
postal thief is suspicious OF a letter
he will let II go through, even though
he is morally certain that 1t contains
the coveted cash he is after. In these
cases the 'decoy' continues Its part Of
the silent detective just the same. II
the dishonest employee allows 1t to 'sliI
BY It tells the inspectors at the othel
end of the line in its mute way thai
the employee is ON they Just send an
other. and still others, II necessary
until the inevitably certain one lands
In the pocket of the thieving employee
then to change Its role Of detective t
documentary evidence which wind:
up the career Of the victim Of his OWL
cupidity.
THE 'decoy letter contains all the
outward, and inward for that matter
appearance Of an ordinary piece Of
mail intended for the addressee, whC
may be some private citizen or bust
ness house whose mail is being tam
pered with. That's how we get 'em
They can't tell the difference, 1t being
@ case of all looking alike to me- Only
a postal thief Is naturally cautious
and doubly so II he thinks he is being
watched. But they don't all look alike
60 the postoffics inspector in charge o.
the case. Their private ear~arks are
as big as a house TO the inspectors, an(
when they are shown up In court on
by one I guess that they look abou
twice as large to the thief on trial.
Washington Star.