Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-09-13
STOLEN MAIL FOUND
IN BAD CONDITION
Hidden Under Bushes by Roadside
at Hunt Farm
Discovery Made Sunday Morning by
Charles II. Davis-checks Torn ana
Letters Mixed and Water Soaked.

Discovery Made Sunday Morning by
Charles H. Davls-checks Torn ana
Letters Mixed and Water Soaked.
Hidden under some low bushes and
nartly held down by two stones. the
letters stolen from the mail wagon at
the Central Vermont railroad station the
night of August 81 were found at the
Hunt farm at the southen extremity of
the village Sunday morning of this
week. Just one week after the mutilated
mail pouch was found in an old shed in
the freight yard. No clew was found as
to the perpetrator of the crime, but IN
dications are that the work was done by
an amateur 1t is not belived that much
more than half of the stolen mail has
been recovered, so 1t may be well LOT
everybody to be on the lookout.
Charles II. Davis of Estey street, who
conducts q general woodworking shop IN
West Brattleboro found the letters be-
tween and $50 o'clock as he was on his
way to his boat which he keeps in the
Connecticut river at the Hunt farm. On
reaching a point in the new highway
on the west side of the farm about OPP
posite the old house Mr.. Davis saw
few letters scattered along the road
He saw that they had been opened and
he remembered that on Saturday night,
the mail wagon after the arrival of the
o'clock train from New London and
that next morning a tramp found the
pouch, slit open with a knife, and re-
ported his find to employees at the pas
senger station
Mr.. Davis picked up the loose letters
and began looking around to see If he
could discover the bulk Of the missing
mail. Leaning over the railing on the
east side of the road, he saw through
an opening in the low bushes which
skirted the farm close to the highway
a large number of letters which had
been placed partly under the bushes
and which were held down by fiat
stone and a smaller round stone. They
were in wet, marshy place, below the
level of the road and had been rained
on, so their condition was very BAD
Apparently they had been placed there
hurriedly, as they were spread about
over a space two feet square or more,
but they may have been found and
spread about by other persons, as later
young man was seen passing along
the road reading one of the letters.
After making a good survey Of the
place Mr.. Davis went on to the place
where he and several others Keep their
boats and found that his boat was be-
ing used by Charles H. + Prescott of
South Main street, a conductor on the
street railroad. He told Mr.. Prescott
about finding the letters, and when they
returned home, shortly after 10 o'clock,
Mr.. Prescott ,telephoned to Assistant
Postmaster w. Wilcox, who went at
once to the place where the letters were
hidden. NJ Wilcox wrapped the letters
in a Newspaper and picked up every
scrap Of loose paper, parts of stamps,
ENVELOPES, etc, placed them in a paper
bag and took them to the post office.
The odor of the letters, due to their
being soaked in the swampy land, was
such that 1t was necessary to open the
windows in the post Office to secure
ventilation. A hasty examination showed
that the letters were not opened with
care, as a professional doubtless would
have opened them. In some cases the
ends of the envelopes were torn off rag
gedly and in others the envelopes were
torn in pieces by running the finger
through under the flaps. The thief did
not use scissors, a knife or any other
kind of letter opener.
In the mail were a good number of
checks, some for amounts upwards of 500,
orders, bills, receipts, private documents,
wedding invitations, personal letters and
other matter of the first class. One fact
which indicates that the thief was an
amateur in this particular line of work
is that he wasted time to tear up the
checks. A professional does not throw
away his time that way and has no dis
position to destroy that which he con-
not turn to his personal benefit The
letters were not returned to the envel-
opes, but were thoroughly mixed up
There is no way of telling how much
money and other articles of value were
taken from the mail, but wrapper ad.
dressed to the H II. Thompson jewelry
store indicated that some jewelry fount
its way into the thief's pocket Alfret
s. Thompson, proprietor of the store
states that as near as he can figure 4
out the package contained a diamont
ring.
Postmaster Kittredge Haskins sent &
message to the post Office inspector
Sunday notifying him Of the recovery O
the stolen mail, and on Monday tn,
work of Strengthening out the shuttle,
mass of correspondence was begun.
was difficult task as the ink on som,
OF the letters had completely blottet
the pages on becoming wet, some of tn,
INK had offset on other letters, many en-
eVelopes had been torn beyond repair
checks were torn in strips and had I,
be matched up, stamps which had beef
enclosed had become scattered ant
everything was in as badly mixed a con
clifton as one could imagine BY night
however, Mr.. Wilcox had things wei
sorted and arranged.
Chief-of- Police George Wilson an,
Mr.. Wilcox visited the Hunt farm Mon
day to see If they could gather an,
more facts relative to the robbery /
was known that an old shack stood 1,
the woods west of the farm and Chic
Wilson visited 1t. thinking that perhap
the letters might have been taken Their
and opened, but nothing was foun
there to sustain the idea. The shack 1
owned by boys on Prospect hill, an
some Of them were there when the chic
called. They said they had not see
anything of any letters near the shacl
But did you see that pile down by tn
river?" one of them asked. Then the
told Chief Wilson that they saw til
letters between the road and the rive
as early as last week Wednesday. Whe
asked why they did not report the fac
to the post office they said they though