The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-05

Forging Seals on Letters and RePlat
inc Starpe

Forging Seals on Letters and RepIac
ins otanpe.
The modus operandi Of the poltica
postal censorship. wnich has for somt
time past Eean unusually active in it
scrutiny of private correspondence, has
not materially changed since the time
when the nihiiist propaganda first
aroused its energies
The boiling kettle and steam vapo;
application are still in vogue. except
where the Intercepted letter bears
wax seal or seals. To open and re-
close a sealed letter without leaving
any easily noticeable traces of it hav-
ing been tempered with IS process re
curing some little delicacy of manip-
ulation on the part of the inquisitor
A thin, sharply edged steel blade
heated just to the requisite degree to
pass under and remove the seal intact
is used. but if this Is done clumsily
writes the Odessa correspondent of the
London Standard, then, unless the let
ter be appropriated or destroyed, a
new seal must be made. This is eff
with substance whose chief ingredi-
ent is gypsum and the elaborate ar
planes of the cabinet noir quickly fur
nish from the mold new seal of the
same kind of wax practically indistin-
guishable from the old one. 1t is Gus
tOmary in this country to attach the
postage on letter as a wafer in
stead OF o seal-that is, the postage
is placed on the reverse side of the en-
velope, covering the point of the join
ing flap.
This almost invariable custom rem
ders the application of the steam ket-
tie a comparatively easy matter, and
if the postage be occasionally destroy
ed it is readily replaced by new post,
age OF the same denomination, and
the obliterating stamp of the place of
origin is again applied. A suspect let
ter may be opened at the postoffice of
its destination, but that is of no con-
sequence, as every branch cabinet noir
possesses obliterating stamps for ev.
cry city and town in the empire, and
should the Intercepted epistle be of for
eign origin the expert officials can very
rapidly prepare perfect counterfeit of
the Obliterating stamp.
A different process, and very sim,
pie one, is employed when the cover OF
the arrested letter is of stout texture
such as the official stationery common
ly used in the diplomatic and other
official services, and is sealed. The up
per or lower or one of the end folds OF
the letter is carefully cut with a mar
row and extremely sharp paper knife
and the slit fold is rejoined with 6
special kind of very fine and strongly
adhesive cement, which is of various
colors to match the particular shade Of
envelope operated upon. The natura
crease in the fold of very thick paper
greatly assists the success of this proc
esS.
1t was first publicly revealed some
twenty years ago through a curiou:
blunder on the part of postal inquisi
tor in ST. Petersburg. A member of the
clerical staff at the Quai dOrsay ha(
written a private letter on official pa
per to friend in the French Legation
in the Russian capital The envelope
bore three seals and was apparently
intact when delivered.
On opening the letter the recipien
was astonished to find inclosed a Rus
sian translation of the same in pencil
script. The postal inQuisitor had mad
vertently inclosed his Russian tran
script. The indignant receiver made {
very strong protest in the proper quar-
ter, and six weeks later he was polite
| ~ Informed that the "erring official
had been severely reprimanded ant
| that there would be no repetition o.
| the irregularity.