The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-03-24
One Who Has Served Long In the
Work Tells Of the Tricks of the
Long-Fingered Employees, and How
They Are Detected.

carried on at the local pOStOHlCe, Ds
federal inspectors which have invari
ably resulted in capturing those who
tamper with the mails, a recent in
terview with a United States govern
ment inspector, stating how the work
of running down postofice thieves is
accomplished and the cases In which
he himself was interested, are parti
cularly interesting.
During the course of his converse.
ton he said:
mo thief is harder to entrap than
the one who robs the United States
mails and in looking after this class OF
people last year the government spent
s347,44S.4S during the fiscal year.
Postoffice Thief Ingenious.
The methods of the postoflce thief
are so ingenious, his plumbers is east
1y hidden or destroyed and his rascal
ity is so well masked by the honesty
and integrity of his associates. that
tits an extremely hard task to locate
him. The culprit not infrequently
continues his operations for years be-
fore he is finally overwhelmed with
the proof of his guilt, disgraced and
sent to prison. Though letters and
valuable ones, too, are stolen every
day and keen eyed inspectors are
hunting high and low for the thieves.
arrests for this class of crime are
comparatively few. There is very
good reason for this, as the govern
ment postoffice inspector has to be
reasonably sure of his man before the
guilt is established and an arrest will
never be made unless the inspector
is sure OF his ground. Many months
elapse before guilt can be established.
The postoffice inspectors take no
chances of failure and when they ar
rest a man for tampering with the
malls they are confident that they are
in the right. Otherwise in many In
stances. where the culprit has always
borne the best of reputation they may
easily prove an alibf. Yes sir the In
spectors have to catch a man with
the goods on him. Circumstantial evil
dence plays no part whatever. 1t must
be positive evidence before the man
is arrested. The inspectors keep a
close watch on the out of office ac-
lions of the men under suspicion and
when it is reasonably established that
he is spending more money than that
which his salary will justify. trap is
laid and he falls in sooner or later.
Occasionally tn IRE is a verdict of
mot guilty" when a man is tried be-
fore the courts, but he is given to I'M
derstand that he is not wanted in the
service any longer after he receives
such a verdict. 1t would indeed be
he Of ole ~
constitute the great mail army of the
country were all honest men. 1t would
be stranger still if all of them could
withstand the temptations that con-
stantly arise as they handle the mil |
lions of precious letters and parcels
which are carried in pouches through
all the qualifications of the railway
systems. The government does not
guarantee the safe delivery of letters
or parcels, but as a matter of precau- |
ton it provides the money order and
register letter system to prevent the
sending of valuable letters and parcels |
through the general mail. But even
letters and parcels sent by money or
to the mail thief He robs them with |
rs ltlle lHlpuilily DIS the HuIIlDleSt let |
ter that falls into his possession.
CuIprits Generally Caught.
1.-The only protection against the |
thieves which the public has is the |
postoffice inspector. His influence |
over the morals of the men through |
out the great and intricate postoffice |
department is simply amazing as his |
ways and actions are always mys- |
FERROUS and he seems to be the proven |
bal Johnny on the spot l do not |
want you to feel that l am flattering |
myself while talking, as l am not I Il
am speaking of the postoffice inspec-
tors throughout the United States. But |
at any rate a postoffice inspector is /
his prey. 1t may take weeks and it |
may take months and sometimes years
or probably only single day but in
the long run the culprit generally
meets the fate of which he is deserv-
ing.
The United States inspectors are
confined to fifteen different divisions
and they work in tracing criminals
under the direction of a chief Ours
Is the greatest detective system in
the world. With our badges on we
can go into any postoffice and gain
access to the books. stamps
and cash. 1t makes no difference to
us whether the postmaster is looking
for us or not, We do not care. Our
best work is accomplished when they
are not looking for us. Of course in
hunting for criminal employees we
have to consult with the postmaster
in all cases and he has to help u.s.
Postmasters Easily Caught
Crooked postmasters are much
easier TO catch than clerks and car
riers who rifle letters. This is due
to the fact that all postoffices are in
spected at regular intervals and
should there be any delinquencies in
the books We are bound to catch them
sooner or later. Postmasters cannot
keep up their crooked work long with
out detection, but crooked clerk or
may go for years without the
slightest suspicion. in that he is bet