The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-01
GETS ROAD AGENTS WITHOUT SHOOTING Always Make It a Point to Get
 Drop First" SAYS INSPECTOR PERKINS A Well Known Boston Federal Official Gives Some of His Experiences
 in the Western Country
 With Outlaws.
SAYS INSPECTOR PERKINS

From the Boston Herald
 | When Postoffce Inspector c. M. Per kins returned to Boston recently after leading a number of inspectors in sue cessful roundup at Omaha of gang of train robbers that had terrorized the northwest he nonchalantly settled down to his desk in the federal building as if nothing had happened. Only the deep tan of his face and arms testified to weeks spent in the saddle securing plain and foothll on clues for the bad men,
 "'Twasn't anything remarkable" said the inspector when asked by a Herald reporter to talk about the capture, 'I didn't do any more than any of the other boys. Course I caught 'em Always make it a point to catch em-'s what I'm paid for.
 Was there any shooting? My dear sir, don't you realize that the west isn't all wild and wooly still? In all my ex- perience never shot up man. Always make it a point to get the drop first, and then it isn't any use for them to pull, and it saves unnecessary spilling of blood"
 Further than this and the bare facts of the capture as already told in the Herald, the inspector refused to go, both on account of his modesty and the fact that the postmaster general has recently issued an order that all news regarding the department must come directly through the postmaster-generals office.
 Born in Boise, Ida, MT. Perkins enter ed the railway mail service In 1SS9 at the time when a young arsenal was car red in each mail car on the western lines and the necessary qualifications of the mail clerk included nerve and quick eye. In 1898 he was made inspec- tor, serving the next six years in the Spokane district, where he matched wits with some of the cleverest hold-up men in the country.
 Five years ago he came to Boston, but when all attempts at landing the latest gang behind the bars had failed, it was Charlie" Perkins who was sent into the west with some of his old associates, and now the law reigns once more. All of the bandits come up for trial in Sep tember
 In some of the western postal districts, where the population Is sparse and the postoffices few and far between, the duties of the inspector are varied in the extreme the official exercising almost plenipotentiary powers in his domain
 When I was first appointed to the office," said the inspector there was one route in Montana 390 miles long. which I had to traverse in a stage or in the saddle to inspect four small post offices. The trip usually took me 10 days. In Cook county, Mont, there Is one little office which Is only accessible | to horse travel during a few months in the summer, the mall being carried in l winter by Indians on snowshoes 90 miles across Yellowstone park.
 'Tt was my duty to keep all of these little places going. Complaints often fil- tered in to the postmaster-gen that the postmasters had forsaken their offices or that death had left the malls unat- tended. There was q small office in northern Montana 90 miles by a rough stage route from the nearest railroad which was reported to be acting queer ly. I found that the office was in a sheep herder's cabin, and, in default of a postmaster the herders and cowboys helped themselves to their mail.
 "A man at the office ordered A new pair of boots from Chicago. and they came by registered mail. Now. while the men had no scruples about opening ordinary mall, they did not dare to at tack the registered stamp, so when the return mail went out 1t carried the shoes Of course. the shoes were sent back to their addressed destination, and the game was kept up for several months of send ing the shoes back and forth. Finally the cowboy needed the footgear so much that he rode to the postoffce at the railroad where the mail was put on the stage but the postmaster could not de- liver the article at a postoffice to which it was not addressed
 Amid great exclamation delivered the shoes to the man, and, loading the postoffce on the stage, I took it eight miles west and appointed new post master. The equipment in those offices consists usually of a canceling stamp. bottle of ink and few dollars worth of postage stamps. Although I exceeded my powers by moving the office, the depart ment ratified my action and the appoint ment of the new postmaster.
 "A complaint reached me once of the ritling of registered mails In postoff1ce in southern Idaho. Investigation showed that the regular postmaster had died and the man who had been put in his place temporarily couldn't support his large family on the s5 per month which he re- | ceived as salary from the federal govern