Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-07-06
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 postoffice
Inspector said:
Although we use the same old bait
in 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
lands them high and dry In the peniten-
tiary, TO wonder and lament OF their
leisure why they were SO weak and
foolish 10 bite at II.
The 'decoy letter Is such simple
thing that the average citizen may
wonder at its effectiveness or why the
thief doesn't succeed in lodging Il. 1t
Is the greatest silent thief catcher In
use by men who make 1t their business
TO apprehend their dishonest fellows.
will always remain so, and doesn't need
improving to insure its stability In the
criminal world
There is an angle of delusion In mat
tiers criminal as in honest affairs. and
the postal thiefs slant is that he thinks
he will not be discovered; at the Same
time he knows perfectly well that COM
plants OF missing letters are invaria-
bly, made7 to the department and that
the departments machinery for the in.
vestigation is practically perfect, based
upon years OF experience.
The postal thief, emboldened by ini-
tial successes and etated 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 misslve
or danger! Oh. yes. they do try. The
explosion does not necessarily follow
the launching OF the tirst letter. IL a
postal thief is suspicious of letter
he will let IL go through, even though
he Is morally certain that IL 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 II to slim
BY 1t tells the inspectors at the other
end OF the line in its mute way that
the employee Is 'on;' they just send an
other, and still others, if necessary.
until the inevitably certain one lands
in the pocket of the thieying employee.
then TO change It's role OF detective to
documentary evidence which winds
up the career of the victim of his own
cupidlty.
The 'decoy letter contains all the
outward, and inward for that matter.
appearance OF an ordinary piece OF
mail intended for the addressee. who
may be some private citizen or busl-
ness house whose mall Is being tam
pered with. That's how we get ,eua !.
They can't tell the difference. Il being
a case OF ALI looking alike to me- ONLY
postal thief Is naturally cautions.
and doubly so II he thinks he Ia being
watched But they don't all look alike
to the postoffice inspector In charge of
the case. Their private earmarks are
as big as house TO the inspectors, and
when they are shown up in court one
by one guess that they look about
twice as large to the thief on trial.
Washington Star.