The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-11-13
The Anonymous Letters
k Inspector Fieyvae 1vesdg

someMherc in tho district between Sixth
and Eighth avenues. Thirty-second and
Eor'ieth streets Go UP there and find
tributary to Station Q from which COL
lcctions arc regularly made"
In an hour Quade was back with the
report mat there were a hundred and
twelve boxes In all. not counting tho
various drops" in the sub-ststion IT.
self. For two weeks a man In plain
clothes from headquarters kept constant
street boxes. with orders to report on
or arrest any queer or suspicious char
acters seen approaching. But this plan
brought no results-the meshes Of the net
were too wide.
During this time the correspondence
with Victim was kept alive by judi
eiously jollying him alone;" also his
letters continued to be mailed from somc-
where In the postal district served by
Now Valentine prepared to strike, and
quickly He reQuisitioned from the gen.
eral postoffce for a single day a hum
drod and twelve letter carriers In regu-
lar uniform. With these he coupled as
many detectives In plain clothes. Car
TO each box and within sight OF each
other Thus every ono OF the hundred
and twelve boxes was watched by two
men.
Valentines ingenious instructions were
as follows: Every time a person depoe-
ted letter In street box the carrier
on watch was to step up. unlock the box
and read the address on the letter Just
deposited, while the detective kept an
eye, on the departing person who had
mailed the letter. II it was not addressed
to Shanhlin Skene the mail carrier was
TO snap rubber band around II TO dis
tlnguish !t from later letters which might
be mailed
On the other hand. If the envelope was
addressed to Skene. the mail carrier was
TO raise his cap, as sign TO the watch
ing detective, who was forthwith TO place
the suspect under arrest
But on the night before his vast trap
was Daltcd, decoy advertisement was
left TO be inserted in the Herald next
morning which Inspector Valentine be-
lieved would elicit an Immediate reply
from Victim" by mail the following day,
chlnery thus brought into play seems
like cunning for snipe with a gatling
gun it must be remembered that Valen-
tine had to deal with a Willy and clever
foe. All other means Of detection had
failed, Unless the inspector or his men
could catch Victim red-handed in the
letters the case looked hopeless.
However, nothing succeeds like success,
and Finney Valentines elaborate and
well-laid plot was justified by the re-
suit.
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon OF
the fateful day an elderly. well dressed
man of military typo and bearing. white
mustached and erect, carrying tightly
Thirty sixth street. between Seventh and
Eighth avenues The thoroughfare was
almost deserted. 1t being a quiet resi-
dcDce street
AS the gentleman reached the corner
lie drew from his oVercoat pocket let
ter, which he casually dropped in the
lamppost box, In the act of doing so
giving a quick glance around him. Then
he leisurely continued on his way west
on Thirty-siXth street.
The carrier on duty at that spot was
named Charles King. AS though in the
line OF duty he had the box open almost
as soon as the man had passed on. Even
had the latter turned his head 10 look
back II is probable that he would have
been unsuspicious. seeing merely uni
formed letter carrier collecting the mail.
Carrier King glanced quickly at the
topmost letter and gave tho agreed sig
nal The address was that OF Shanklin
Skene,
On tho northwest corner diagonslly op-
posite stood Riley Cannon from the Con-
lral office. while a. second officer, Dan
williams. stood OH the north side OF the
street, He also picked ur the signal.
Before he knew what was impending,
the two detectives had the whIte-mus-
tached man under arrest, On the way
to face Inspector Valentine at 900 Mul-
berry street the captive preserved cool.