Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
FIND MANY RACKETS
Mail Order Houses Are Victims of Bad Check
Makers, and Gullible People Re-.
spond to Swindle Call.


Bv DOy0fhea J. Lelyis.
<ITHE mail must 60 through"
said the pony express. the
railroads and now the air
Il mail.
But 1.-THE mail that goes through
must be legitimate mail" say the sos
inspectors of the United States Post
once Departments postal inspection
service.
This service is rich in tradition, be-
ing the granddaddy of all inspection
services. In fact, it is really older
than this country, since the inspectors
consider Benjamin Franklin the first
of their number, and he did his in
speeding in 1897, when it was still
"his majesty's mail Other famous
INSPECTORS were Noah Webster. before
he wrote his dictionary, and Allen
pinkerton, before he started his de-
tective agency.
Todays SIS have almost every
racket known to man to deal with in
making good their legitimate-mail-
only statement. They chase down
everything from users of already used
stamps to murderers. Fraud is easier
by mail; there's no need to look any
one in the eye.
In the feudin' country of old Ken
lucky some mountaineers got their
groceries, their clothes, their cabin
furnishings, their stock, if they wanted
to start up in business, by just writing
bad checks and sending them to the
big mail-order houses.
They did this year after year and
nothing happened to them. The mail
order houses records weren't very eff
Gent, the law and order wasn't too
strict. and the three favorite sports
of the Kentucky backwoods were
moonshinin', feudin' and beatin the
companies.
Certain rural postmasters, In their
one-room wood shanty post offices,
chewed pencils and helped the neigh
Dor boys think up fake names for the
checks, and then they'd deliver the
proper packages to the proper forgers
when they arrived. regardless OF Jim
Doe or John Smith addresses.
One mail-order house did send two
young women handwriting experts into
Clay county to get copies of hand
writing and other evidence, but about
the time they obtained SO autographs.
the mountaineers caught on and the
ladies left In a hurry-hidden under
the hay IN a farm wagon
FINALLY the howls of the cheated
companies reached Washington
and the Post Once Department. It
straightway dispatched two inspectors
to the hills. It didn't know if they'd
be killed or not. The inspectors wor-
ried little. too.
They spent nine months in the
mountains, riding horseback along
creek bottoms, such as Hell-fer-S artin
Creek or the waters of Kingdom Come,
climbing steep trails, sleeping in noun
tain cabins. tracing down the forgers.
They got shot at just once.
They found some Of the forgers be-
cause Of the size of the clothes Or
dered-size IL shoes and 10 shirts,
which would only fit certain huge boys
Another they discovered in Jail over
at Fighting Greek. on chicken-steal-
ing charge, cheerfully smuggling out
bad checks for his brother to use.
Well, these two inspectors finally
got about 200 convictions Their big
gest day was in London, KY, when in
one session Of court, they got 1877 con-
victions. The hill folk poured in from
all sides that day to see their kin in
court-the men in overalls riding
horses and the calico-clad women in
ancient wagons.
And as they would go into the court
house, old Gran'pa Dove Henson. lean
ing heavily or his cane and with his
long flowing beard badly stained with
tobacco Juice. would stor them and ask
them to plead for his boy, Joe. When
court ended. gran'pa was jubilanr.
Joe had pleaded guilty, but had been
given suspended sentence. Gran'pa
climbed into the wagon with Joe to go
home up through the cedar hills OF
Laurel County. when suddenly he re-
membered that they didn't have any
groceries. He climbed out again, and
bought ST worth of supplies in the
grocery store. He paid for it by check
-Four days later the check came
back, marked forgery"
THE Post Office Departments list Of
- frauds for which the mail is used
and which have apparently always ex-
listed, and always will exist as long as
the public is gullibIe, consists princi-
pally Of many, many schemes based
on those twin desires to get rich quick
and to get something fot nothing.
Because Of these desires it is easy for
. man in Oshkosh to represent him.
self, via mail as fair young woman
much interested In matrimony, and If
he writes good enough letters can
probably draw in great deal Of
money from number of suitors for
''the sick mother or little brother, :"
who must be cared for before the mar
yiage can take place.
Turf tipsters, gold and silver mine
owners, fortune tellers. astrologers,
gentlemen named Omar or Koran,
patent attorney who encourage would
be inventors. oil-well promoters and
men who promise to pay old-age
pensions can flourish Just as easily,
and do.
A mining company promised to ex-
tract gold and platinum from the
Pacific's sands and collected $500, 00o
before being caught.
A favorite fraudulent scheme is that
Of hunt for "lost heirs tc fabulous
estates. For 20 years a group in Iowa
preyed on The credulous and collected
money by mail from men and women
whom they assured they would be able
10 prove were heirs to tremendous
estate left by Sir Francis Drake Of Eng
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