The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-11

this section as well "a the 4Q<ss of
the rural free delivery carrierS III this
section. Financially the Bridgeport
post office Is the chief office in the
State and Mr.. Meyer handles the hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars every
month.
The reputation Of Mr.. Meyer in the
postal service was made as a post
office inspector. For almost nine
years he was going from one point
Of the country to the other straight
ening out the affairs of offices where
there was trouble and Strengthening
out other offices. In addition to this
work he was assigned a great deal Of
the time to the running down of
-"Yegg' post office thieves and all
manner of post office thieves. For a
long time Inspector Meyers associate
inspector was Joseph Jacobs of New
York. and so successful were the pair
in cleaning up many of the worst
criminal cases ever brought to the at
tention Of the department that they
became known as '"The Gold Dust
Twins"
Among the most famous post office
thieves brought to, book by Meyer
while he was an inspector were Billy
Dockery. alias Minneapolis Billy,
and George Brown. alias "Rocky
Mountain jack. regarded as two of
the most dangerous men in the North
west They had an invention for the
cracking Of safes without the use of
explosives BY inserting a punch with
highly tempered edge into a lock
and breaking the combination bar
with one blow of hammer. this pair
raided Western post offices at will for
several months and had scores Of
postmasters sitting UP all night to
guard their strong boxes.
The first capture of Meyers was of
We Haw. the leader Of a Chinese lot
s,,%o
systematic looting of letter boxes in
ST. Louis. Mo.
It also became the task of Jacobs
& Meyer to start the campaign of
breaking I'D many of the advertising
swindles operated through the mails.
In july. 1908. when Frederick Hunt,
cashier at the local post office died,
Mr.. Meyer decided that he had had
enough experience with Yeggs. swim
dlers. confidence men. and made ap-
plication for the position in this city
which had always been the place that
he called ''home" He having passed
the rigid examination for inspector
with high honor. and qualified as pos
sessing a thorough knowledge of pos
tai finance. was eligible to any posi-
unnecessary for him to pass another
examination and he was appointed to
the position In the local post office
Cashier Meyer began at the bottom
of the ladder in the postal service.
He was appointed sub-letter carrier
July 16. 1889: regular carrier, Dec. L.
1889: transferred to departmental SER
vice in Washington. D. c.. upon ex-
animation as clerk first class. MarcA
s. 1898: transferred from departmental
service to clerkship in the Bridgeport
Office July /. 1898: appointed superin-
tendent of East Side station, Bridge
port. January 1899: appointed inspec-
tor. Feb. 8. 1899: served as field in
spector in st. Louis and ST. Paul di-
visions; promoted to city inspector in
New York division. Nov. Is. 1901: ap-
pointed cashier Bridgeport post office,
July l. 1908.
During the recent shakeup in the
local post office the department Of the
cashier was found to be in apple-pie
order and previous to that he had re-
ceived two white cards from the Post
Office Department, denoting that his
accounts were absolutely free from
error or shortage White cards are
highly priced in the post office SER
vice.
Mr.. Meyer is past chief ranger of
Court Marina. Foresters of America;
a past grand master of Adelphian
lodge. I. 0. Q. F.: past president Of
Camp Woodbine; president of Camp
Lieber-Sprung; chairman of the board
of trustees of Adelphian LODGE; men,
Der of Stratfield Encampment; mem
Der of the Algonquin Club: and men,
ber of the board of Incorporation of
the Odd Fellows building