The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-10-17
THE HANDWRITING
ON THE WALL
The Case Of the Anonymous Letter
Writer Of Philadelphia

The reason for the prevalence OF
the anonymous letter writing evil Is
because Of the apparent safety Of the
person guilty of this nuisance. A man
Of the anonymous letter writing type
has an enemy. He La afraid to face
him in the open, but he wants to hurt
him. What easier or what more safe
-apparently-than to write an un.
signed letter containing information.
alleged or real, or SANDER, which IL
certain to cause the assailed person
harm, or at least considerable annoy
ance?
There L. a certain type Of cowardly
person to whom the anonymous letter
appeals as does the vengeful stiletto to
the vicious bIackhand criminal. It Is
q means to harm, andTapparently-a
safe one. What easier than to write
q few lines In a disguised hand? Or
on q typewriter? How can anybody
trace letter prepared in such a way
and dropped in the mail box by stealth
and in the dark Of night? True, ad-
mits the letter writer to hims elf-Or
herself, for women are numerous
among this element, such letters have
been traced and their authors caught.
But, reasons the intending writer, they
did not take the necessary precautions
to hide their tracks. 1t looks like a
cinch. 1t looks safe. But 1t isn't.
Any crime or misdemeanor that will
place In the hands Of a trained de-
tective piece Of writing, pen or type
writer, or a piece of printing, or, in
fact, any physical trace OF a PERSONS
expression, Is the least safe sort Of
wrong-doing in the world. No sort Of
wrong-doing Is safe, of course, but the
kind that leaves a trace Of a persons
identity in the hands of the men who
get on the track is the kind most GER
tain to be run down eventually.
This does not mean that it usually
is a cinct for the detective to run
down the average anonymous letter
writer
On the contrary it is usually very
hard, for the wrOng-dOer invariably
has taken a multitude of precautions
to throw his followers off the track
But the point is that the detective has
in the letter a tangible clue to follow,
and in the end it is practically certain
that the writer will be caught.
My first experience with an anony-
nous letter writer came about in queer
fashion. One day a young man, who
looked the part of the bookkeeper
that We afterwards found him to be,
came into the New York office Of the
Burns agency and planked down three
anonymous letters that he had receiv-
ed during the past few weeks. Here
Is one of them that gives the gist Of
the three missives:
Dear Sir:
you will never know who this let
ter comes from, but you may be as
sured that it is from a friend. You
have a friend named Carlin, who Is
treasurer for the Blank Heating COM
pany. II you will spend more time in
Carlin's company we will reward you
In a manner that will surprise you, on
the condition that you let no one know
that you ever received this letter. Els
pecially do not let Carlin know."'
The name Of the man who brought
the letters in was Blake. He had come
to us for advice.
I'VE aren't giving away advice"
said the Office manager. IF you want
US to find who wrote those letters to
you and why they were written, we'll
be glad to give you a man for So a
day and expenses. 1t may take some
time to find the writer, SO your bill
probably would run up pretty high"
"Oh, couldn't afford to hire de
tective." said Blake.
81 thought not" said the manager
And there the case ended for the time
being.
Three months later, almost to q day
We got call from q business house
In large nearby city to send q mar
over there at once. happened to gst
the case. I found my people to be The
Continental Heating company. Th<
name Of the general manager wal
Haney. didn't like him from thu
start.
"Mr. Cornell" said Haney, when
had introduced myself, I'm glad to 90
you, glad to see you, indeed. View
got a little matter here In this ONCE
Q queer matter. that we can't quit
understand. We thought We had bst
ter have a detective In TO look tn
thing over"
What 10 it," I asked.
For answer he turned TO his des
and drew out three letters and ham
cd them to me.
"Those letters, Mr.. Cornell, hav
been received in this Office In the Las
two weeks" said Haney. 'Take
good look at them
7 did. The letters were simply a.
dressed Dear Sir" without the nam
Of the firm being mentioned The
were all about In the same tone. Hsz
- q sample:
ADear Sir: