Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1912-11-22
NATIONWIDE RAID
MADE ON DOCTORS
Involves Arrest, Practically
simultaneously, of l33 Per-
SONS in Principal Cities.

A nationwide raid. involving the
arrest. practically simultaneously, of
1873 persons in the PRINCIPAL clties
throughout the country, was made to
Wednesday by postoffice inspectors
and United States marshals upon doc
tors and druggists. consecutiyely
charged with the misuse of the mails
to solicit criminal medical practice or
to dispose of medicine and intruments
connected with such practices.
The raid WINS the most extensive
aud far reaching ever made by this
department of tho government, and
wns made under the direction of Post
master General Frank IL. Hitchcock
and Chief Inspector Robert Shart. of
the postoilice department. SO carefully
had its details been guarded, that un-
til the first arrest had been made earlv
todny. practically nothing was known
OF the governments action.
Working with clock like precision.
the inspectors force spread over
twenty-three states and carried out
the prearranged plan The postoffice
department has received word that
practically all of the designated per
sous had been arrested. The results
Of the crusade arc still being received
by the inspector's division of the
postoflicr department, in form of
dozens of telegrams from various
divisional headquarters.
In isolated instances it was found
to be imprncticablo to effect the
arrests. but the suspected people for
whom warrants have been issued nre
under the closest surveillance and
will probably be unable to escape.
Chief Inspector Shart and large
part of his force of 800 inspectors
had been engaged for several months,
under orders from the postmaster
general, in the work of reporting the
scores of individual cases I'm which
arrests were made today. Muny who
were taken into custody were members
of prominent wholesale drug con-
Germs or physicieos well known in
their communities.
The government will prosecute all
of those arrested, according to post
master Gene raj Hitchcock. 1.-THE
work of the postoflice inspectors In
the elimination of IA crusade in
stituted two years ago against the
fraudulent uso of the mails,' said
the postmaster general. "In that
brief time we have
wiped out existing concerns which
have mulcted from the people of this
country more than 800. 900, 900 by
fraud perpetrated through the use of
the mails and the courts have sent
many of the promoters of these
fraudulent schemes to the peniten-
tiary. When il is seen, however, the
wide publicity given to the arrests
made, 1t is believed that it will do
more to put an end to this particular
kind of criminology than any number
of practically unknown prosecutions
of widely separated cases."
On person raided is Chinaman
"""' ~ 10 o'cBeui pTucIlccu MS CALI
ing upon women of his own race and
upon those Of the lower strata of so
ciety.
All arrests were made for alleged
violation of section 211, of the penal
code, barring from the mails any vile
or obscene matter whether sealed or
unsealed, any letter, advertisement
or circular proposing or suggesting
criminal practices or any package
containing any substance, drug or
thing intended for use in immoral or
unlawful purposes. Chief Inspector
Sharp and his force of 800 inspectors
Throughout the United States have
worked on the case for months. An
effort will be made to send every
culprit TO the penitentiary. Approxi-
mately twenty per cent Of the men
arrested today have already been in
dicted by federal grand juries in
various parts of the United States.
The cases of the others will be pre-
sented as rapidly as feasible.