The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-04-04
"Lost-$l0O,OOO!"


,..t,, formerly OF the secret serv-
as hc settled back comfortably
,, enjoy an evenings chat. There
,,- sor.,, professional reformers who
maintain that tho great American
r"h,t OF silently working the jaws
.c,sr a vad OF chewing gum IL harn-
WI In tho extreme, but II you'll look
f1to fhc matter you'll find that agi-
,,to-s of that type want you to cut
ami all habits except those which
tpey are addicted to.
"personally. I'm not habitual
. vorshipper at the shrine OF the great
rtd Gloom, but there's no use de-
nylug the fact that It does soothe
ones nerves occasionally. incident
agv IL has other useS-as Elmer Al
llson discovered not very long ago"
"Yes2" inquired, sensing the
fact that Quinn had story up his
s,.cvr and was only awaiting the OPP
nornnity to spring 1t. Didn't you
mention a poSoffice case in which Il
vad OF gum played n promlnen,
Iole?'
That's the one" said the former
government operative, easing his
wounded leg into a less cramped po-
Rition. Here, have couple of sticks
iust 20 get the proper atmosphere
and I'll see If / can recall the de-
tails"
For some reason that's hard to
dofine--Quinn went on. after he had
peoled two of the dun-colored sticks
and commenced work on them
Srooks in general and amateur
crooks IN particular seem to regard
the United states mails as parucu-
larry easy prey. Possibly they figure
that, as millions OF dollars are han
died by the postoffice department
every year. a little here and there
won't be missed. But IL they knew
tho high percentage OF mail rob-
berries that are solved they wouldn't
be go keen TO tackle the game.
Lifting vnluables, once they have
passed into the hands of Uncle
Sans postman Is "A comparatively
easy crime to commit, There are
dozens OF ways of doing it--meth-
DDS which range all the way from
fishing letters out of postbox with
a piece of string and a hair-pin, to
holding up the mail car in desert
cd portion of a railroad track. But
getting away with it is, as our Yid-
dish friends say, something else
again.
The annals of the postal inspec-
ton service are filled with incidents
which indicate that the high cost or
living Is down around zero com
pared to the high cost OF crime
when said crime is aimed at the
mails. There are scores of men in
Atlanta. Leavenworth and other fed
eral prisons whose advice would be
TO try murder, forgery or arson
rather than attempt TO earn dis
honest living by stealing valuable
letters.
The majority of persons realize
that 1t pays to register their money
and insure their packages because,
once this precaution has been at
tended to, the government exercises
kneclal care in the handling of these
and 1t makes It extremely difficult
Dr. crooks to get anywhere near
them II a registered letter disap-
pears there Is q Clean-cut trail of
,sIgncd receipts to follow and some
Jbody has to bear the burden of the
: loss. But, oven with these precau-
tions, the registered section Is looted
every now and then.
one OF the biggest cases of this
KIND on record was that which oc-
CURED In Columbus when letters
with naggregate OF 100000 just
vanished into thin air. or course,
they didn't disappear all at one time.
but that made it all the more mys-
terious-because the thefts were
spread out over q period of five to
SIX weeks and they went on, in spite
OF The precautions TO the contrary.
Big sum yanishes.
Tho first of the losses, as recall
IL. WAS ShinDnlnt nf 1arUA hills
sent by Chicago bank to financial
concern in Columbus. When work
ing on that single case, of course,
lhe officials of the department were
more or less in the dark as to the
precise place the disappearance had
tdken place, in spite OF the fact that
mere were the usual signed slips in
u'uauhg mat tho package had been
received at Columbus postoffice. But
c.'INs who are in a hurry sometimes
olHn receipts without being any too
areiul to check up the letters or
Ile packages TO which they refer-a
nlshly r'prehensible practice, but
one which is the outgrowth OF the
Sanorlase OF help on the part of the
Sparuhent. 1t is quite within the
,1ouhds OF possibility for example,
I the package to have been alb
tittc,eo irom the Chicago office
~.tholt tho loss being discovered
unui columbus checked up on the
"d5l winch was due there.
ut' week or 10 days later,
6HIne me second OF the mysterious
oappehrances --- another envelope
p'",HIns por bulls Of large donomina-
bN. hs time enroute from Pitts
los.sn 10 Columbus. When a third
ibo occurred the following fortnight
,i'e"ul luarters OF the postal in
fu.lon department. i'm Washlng zion
ueaine distinctly excited and every
Ioos. VINO could be spared WAS turned
Ion, VI an effort to solve the prob
All - 'luers were given to shadow
.rbo 'me employees who had access 10
disca,r.tlstered mail. with a view Ia
rrad.' ,llus whether or notathey had
habit any change. in their personal
an ne, me- whether they had displayed
- unusual amount of money within
f,,, past month or whether their
tionaiy mad shown signs OF excep-
Ial prosperity.
for ms ~as while the chief was waiting
blow, te reports that Elmer Allison
ana s,roID Washington unexpectedly
grey.s'aO,l.leu Olleu INTO the room I'm the big
The noe lower of what was then
with ,holIlce department buildina q
the "nlue news that he had solved
and uuu pen case in Kansas CIV
Else 'S ready TO tackle somethins
Tho hlhson's IdttIc Joke.
me chief, 10 .pI,t ~ ~,i,,,,.