The sun., 1908-05-17
lBlEF THEY goUEDN'g CATCH
DETECTIvPs COMMENT on THE
MAkKED, STAMP sCHEME. M
Tracing Leak In d stamp Drawer--'Two
SionIns or wRtcnmg Wfthesit Results
III Postage stamps Are Perforated
for fdentification WIN It Realty Help?

| III Postage stamps Are Perforated
for fdentincaticn VIII It Realty Help:
Postmaster. General M yer amended the
postal regulations recently 30 that firus
using large quantities OF postage stamps
may perforate them for purposes Of identi-
/ fication. the idea being 10 protect those
firms from theft The III ory 10 that any
firm which employs thie method Of mark
ing the stannps used In its offices will be able
! to identify its stamps II they are stolen or
used by others. and that the authorities will
be able to prosecute those who are caught
with marked stamps.
That Ia the theory, In talking over the
| matter with Central Office detective the
other day Sun reporter got hold OF rather
| interesting story which illustrates the dif-
ference between theory and practice. First
Of all. this il what the offlcer had to say
about the thsory,
The order provides. that the holes made
! in the stamps shall not exceed one-sixty-
| fourth Of an inch in diameter and that the
whole space occupied by the mark shall
not be more than a third OF an inch square
The o,se OF ink is forbidden.
There are several Thousand firms in New
York city alone that use more than Ave hun
| dred stamps day. What will be tho result
II each and every one Of them perforates
| it's stamps2 Either the possible variations
in the markings would be exhausted on ac-
count Of the small space available. or the
markings would become 80 common that
the majority Of the stamps used would be
perforated and no one would take any
notice Of them.
Now for the practical part OF the question.
| the detection OF the stamp thieves by tho
| authorities. Every business man knows
that stamps are stolen from almost every
office in which the stamp drawer is access
sible to the employees. It may be only an
occasional stamp that Is taken for a letter
written during Office hours; it may be half
| a dozen taken for homo use. or II may be q
! quantity large enough to be sold for pur-
poses of revenue.
It is the last OF these that will attract the
attention OF the authorities II the stamps
are marked. Now for the detectives
theory and practice story:
Just twenty years ago there was an Office
on Fifth avenue that did very large mail
order business when the mail order business
was a new thing, This particular ofiice re,
ceived about thousand letters day and
mailed an average Of 600 circulars eacl,
| requiring one cent stamp, about 200 letters
recurring from two to six cents postage
| each, besides q number OF foreign and other
letters requiring from ten to. fifty cents
1 postage on each.
| When a new manager took charge Of the
! business his attention was quickly drawn
| to the difference between the amount spent
| for postage stamps and the amount that he
figured should be required to cover the mail Y
| that the stamps were actually bought in
| the quantities charged, and then he carefully
counted the mail for q few days. with the
result that he found leak OF about a day
ssrs Tss s'fp beips afSe Ave People in thbaok ooe
who handled the mail, all Of whom had
aocees to the stamp drawer. the problem
was, to find out which was the thief
After thinking over several plans the
manager went around 70 Malnerry stIses .ss,
| was placed at his disposal to look over the
! ground. A careful examination Of the
premises and the manner in which the busi-
ness was conducted led to the suggestion
owed for a week, special attention being
paid to the clerk that carried the mail bag
10 the branch post office twice q day.
Day and night these employees were
watched. Every person they spoke to. every
store they entered, every house they visited,
| was noted What money they spent was
reported and the character and connec.
tions Of their friends were looked up. All
this time the disappearance OF the stamps
continued. but there was not the slightest
clue as to where they went or who was
taking them. -i
The next step. suggested 6y the man:
| ager, was to mark the stamps. As this would
have to be done every day and for every
stamp used. 1t was an appalling job, but the
manager undertook It..
The detective would come in about, 10
O'Clock at night, and in his presence the
manager would 60 to the stamp drawer.
open Il. and make a careful sketch OF the
exact position Of the top sheet OF stamps.
sheet underneath would be sketoh9d. and
80 on down to the bottom OF the drawer,
80 that there should be no trace OF the
stamps having been touched during. the
night in case any employee had been
cunning enough to arrange them In such q
manner as to detect the fact that they had
been counted
Each Individual stamp was then marked
| with dot of India ink between the U
and the Of the line 81. s. Postage which
! appeared on the stamps In those days.
Then the whole batch were replaced ex-
actly as they were before.
Facsimiles Of the stamps thus marked.
together with samples Of the handwriting
Of every employee In the office. were dis
tributed to every branch post office In New
York city by the detective In charge Of the
case, and q special watch was set on all
letters to see IL any could be found which
bore one OF these marked stamps but did
not carry the return envelope imprint OF
the firm that marked them.
This watch was kept UP for five weeks,
but not single letter bearing marked
stamp was ever found in the mails, except
those taken to the branch post Office by the
Arm that had marked the stamps in the
first place.
Although none Of the employees Of the
Office ever visited any Of the places at
which stamps were bought, those places
were all watched and their stamps ex-
amined but not marked stamp was ever
found in their possession.
The only explanation Of the mystery
that the detective could offer was that the
thief mailed the stamps TO some friend,
perhaps out OF town, and that the letter
| or package containing them was probably
put into the same bag as the firms regular
mail and taken to the branch post Office.
In order to test this theory every letter
mailed by any one In that offlce was ex-
amined, and when 10 could be identified by
the handwriting was examined to see IL Il
contained stamps. The mail bag. whicbwa
taken to the bran6h post office twice day
had It's contents set aside until the manager
could como up at night with the detective
and open every letter and package to see