Evening star., 1925-06-28

"a Gently "dlk6Q INTO POST ONCE
4 a headquarters at Twelfth and
the Avenue and delivered 8
package of bills to Chief Inspector
Rush d. Simmons. The money haC
been stolen from registered mai
pouch some time previously, anC
realizing the futility of ultimate es
cape, the bearer was seeking i'm
munity.
The records of hundreds of mai
thieves who have gambled and lost
IN their game with Uncle Sans posi-
office inspectors are contained in the
f1les of the postal inspection service
which has its headquarters in the ole
Post Office Building. There are the
records also of criminals under in
dictment but who have not yet beer
apprehended. These are closed only
when the criminal has either died OF
is locked behind prison bars.
Take the case of Portland Ned
who was brought to term after a
chase that lasted 16 years. Portland
Ned" which was an alias for James
johnson, was arrested August IA, 1914
at Danbury, N. c., on an indictment
covering the burglary of the post
office at Plymouth, n. c.. on June 13
1893. johnson, when confronted with
the charge, asked the inspector
whether the graveyard was being
Saked up against him. The bandit was
sentenced to seven years impriSon-
1nent, and the records of the depart
ment show that he is now doing an
additional 14-year stretch in the State
penitentiary at Raleigh, n. C.
Nearly 100000 investigations, rang
ing from simple mail thefts to the
spectacular 81 100000 mail robbery at
Rondout, ILL.,, have been made by the
service during the past four years un-
DER the direction of Chief Inspector
simmons. During the past fiscal year
alone over 2,2O0 persons were con-
Victed for violating postal laws, ap-
proximately 1,500 of this number be.
ing convicted for using the mails to
defraud.
Perhaps the biggest mail train rob-
oery that ever took place anywhere
was that at Rondout, ILL.,, when an
exclusive mail train was held up, and
$1,000, 600 in negotiable papers and
currency was obtained from 60 regis.
tered pouches. All Of the bandits are
now serving time, including William
r. F'ahy, so-called lace" of postal in
spectors, who thought he was ingeni-
Gus enough to outwit his fellow in
Spectors
When this robbery was first re-.
ported to me- Postmaster General
New declared, in discussing the case,
called into conference Chief In
spector Simmons and other attaches
o1 MS office. 1t was my belief, as well
as that of the inspectors, that this
robbery was pulled off as a result of
information furnished by some one
who had intimate knowledge of post
ONCE matters, and who was thorough
ly acquainted with the movements of
trains, their arrival and departure.
We were all greatly shocked when
The facts were laid before us connect
ing the name of Fahy with the rob-
berry. Fahy was regarded as one of
the best inspectors in the Post Office
Department, and his record up to that
time had been one of the best on the
force. The whole thing goes to
illustrate the efficiency of post office
inspectors in rounding up those who
are guilty of violation of the Federal
laws. whether inside or outside the
Government service
The ingenuity of these postal in
spectors is shown in the recent case
of continued rifiing of registered mail
matter in the Southwest. The thefts
were finally narrowed down to one of
six post Offices, but the question as
10 which one Of the six was not easy
to determine.
A feature of all of the thefts was
that the letters and packages were
resealed after they had been opened
This gave one of the inspectors on
the case an idea which, for fear of
ridicule, he put into practice without
disclosing his secret to any one.
He prepared six lots of mucilage,
each having different perfume-lilac,
violet, lily Of the valley. mignonette,
rose and heliotrope-which were dis
tributed among the six offices under
suspicion. A few weeks later, when
he was handed another letter that
had been opened rified and resealed,
he moistened the mucilage on the flap,
held the envelope to his nose, and an
nounced that the thief would be ap-
pretended within a week.
X X X
THE Postal Inspection Service dates
= back to 1880. when one clerk
was employed to detect depredatorS"
as part of his general activities. The
post Office inspectors in those days
were known as special agents. There
was increasing need for the service of
such agents to run down mail rob-
bers and a so-called system of spe
cial agents was organized in 1910 un-
der Postmaster General Amos Ken
dali.
Thirty thousand dollars was appro-
priated in 1S45, providing specifically
agents" with the limitation that mo
greater sum shall be paid to any mail
agent of any description than 81, 900
per annum," and not to exceed So
per day for travelling and incidental
expenses. BY 1855 the organization
was composed of IS special agents,
each assigned to a district.
Old records of the department dis
close the names of two Washington
MEN who did conspicuous work as
chief inspectors of this service, which
now numbers some $50 trained in
vestigators distributed among 10 in
spection districts, which cover the
entire country. These men were
David Il. Parker, who was the first
chief inspector. as such being appoint
ed in 1878 and serving for five years.
and William A. West, who served
from 1887 to 1889.
Train hold-ups, the burglary of
post offices, fires-in fact. any hap
penings involving the loss or de-
struction of mail. postal funds or
property come within the province of
the inspection service. Persons who