The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-10-30
CENSORSHIP IN RUSSIA
Forging Seals on Letters and Replace
ing Stamps.

FoFHtHa seals on LSttSFs ana h0PaAS-
ing Stamps.
The mOdus operandl Of the political
postal censorship, which has for some
time past been unusually active In its
scrutiny Of private correspondence, has
not materially chan~ed since the time
when the nihilist propaganda hrst
aroused its energies.
The boiling kettle and steam vapor
application are still in vogue, except
where the intercepted letter bears a
wax seal or seals. To open and re-
close a sealed letter without leaving
any easily noticeable traces Of It hay
ing been tempered with is a process re-
curing some little dellcacy 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
IL used, but II this is done clumGily,
writes the Odessa correspondent Of the
London Standard, then, unless the let.
ter be appropriated or destroyed,
new seal must be made This Is ef-
fected by taking a mold of the seal
with a substance whose chief ingredi-
ent Ii gypsum and the elaborate APP
pliances of the cabinet noir quickly fur
nlsh from the mold a new seal of the
same kind OF wax practically indistin-
guishable from the old one. It ls Gus
tomary In this country to attach the
postage on a letter as a wafer In
stead Of a 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 invarlable custom rem
ders the application Of the steam ket-
tie q 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 celebrating stamp of the place Of
origin is again applied A suspect let
ter may be opened at the pOstoflce of
its destination, but that is OF no con-
sequence, as every branch cabinet noir
possesses obllterating stamps for ev-
cry city and town In the empire, and
should the intercepted eplstle be OF for
eign origin the expert officials can very
rapidly prepare perfect counterfeit Of
the obliteratlng stamp.
A different process, and a 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 Ii carefully cut with a mar
row and extremely 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 to match the particular shade Of
envelope operated upon. The natural
crease In the fold Of very thick paper
greatly assists the success Of this proc
eBs.
II was first publicly revealed some
twenty years ago through a curious
blunder on the part of a postal inQuisi-
tor In st. Petersburg. A member of the
clerical stan at the Quai dOrsay had
written a private letter on Official pa
per to a 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 recipient
was astonlshed to find inclosed a Rus
sian translation Of the same in pencil
script. The postal inquisitor had mad
vcrtently inclosed his Russian tran
script. The indignant receiver made q
very strong protest In the proper quar-.
ter, and six weeks later he was polite
ly informed that the "errlng Official"
had been severely reprimanded and
that there would be no repetition Of
the irregularity.