The Washington herald., 1907-08-12
THE CENSORSHIP IN RUSSIA
How the Officials Forge Seals and
Stamps on Letters.
Curious BIunder Made in st. Peters
burg-AII Letters Transcribed.
Some Complications.

The modus operandi OF the political pos
tai censorship, which has for. some time
past been unusually active in It's scrutiny
Of private correspondence. has not ma
terially changed since the time when the
Nihilist propaganda first aroused its en-
ergles,
The boiling kettle and steam vapor ap-
plication are still in vogue, except where
the intercepted letter bears a wax seal OF
seals. To open and reclose a sealed letter
without leaving any easily noticeable
traces OF It having been tampered with
IS a process requiring some little delicscy
Of manipulation on the part Of the in
quisitor
A thin, sharply edged steel blade, heat
ed just 20 the requisite degree 10 pass
under and remove the seal intact, IS used.
but II this is done clumsily. writes the
Odessa correspondent Of the London Stan
dard. then. unless the letter be appro-
priated or destroyed, new seal must be
made. This is effected by taking a mold
OF the seal with a substance whose chief
ingredient is gypsum, and the elaborate
appliances of the cabinet noir quickly
furnish from the mold a new seal OF the
same kind Of wax practically indistin-
guishable from the old one. It is custom
ary in this country TO attach the post
age on a letter as a wafer instead OF a
seal, that is, the postage is placed on the
reverse side of the envelope, covering the
point Of the joining flap.
This almost invariable custom renders
the application of the steam kettle a
comparatively easy matter, and II the
postage be occasionally DESTROYED Il ia
readily replaced by new postage Of the
same denomination, and the obliterating
stamp Of the place of origin is again ap-
piled. A suspect letter may be opened
at the post-office of its destination. but
that is Of no consequence. as every branch
cabinet noir possesses obliteratlng stamps
for every city and town in the empire.
and should the intercepted epistle be Of
foreign origin the expert officials can very
rapidly prepare a perfect counterfeit OF
the obliterating stamp.
A different process. and a very simple
one, is employed when the cover OF the
arrested letter is Of stout texture. such
as the official stationery commonly used
In the diplomatic and other official ser
wees, ana IS Seateu. 1ue upper or lower
or one OF the end folds OF the letter is
carefully cut with narrow and extreme
ly sharp paper knife and the slit fold is
rejoined with a special kind Of very fine
and strongly adhesive cement, which is of
various colors 10 match the particular
shade OF envelope operated upon The
natural crease in the fold OF very thick
paper greatly assists the success OF this
process.
It was first publicly revealed some
twenty years ago through a curious blum
der on the part of a postal inquisitor in
St. Petersburg. A member of the clerical
staff at the Quai dOrsay had written a
private letter on official paper 10 a friend
in the French legation in the Russian cap
ital. The envelope bore three seals, and
was apparently intact when delivered.
On opening the letter the recipient was
astOnished to find inclosed a Russian
translation OF the same In pencil script
The postal inquisitor had inadvertently
inclOsed his Russian transcript The in
dignant receiver made a very strong pro-
test in the proper quarter. and six weeks
later he was politely informed that the
'erring official had been severely repri-
manded and that there would be no repe-
tition Of the irregularity.