1908-09-07 – MAIL THEFTS INCREASING

MAIL THEFTS INCREASING.

More Than Ever, Despite a Larger Detective Force, Says a Postal Official.

One of the chief officials of the New York Post Office, in conversation with a Times reporter a few days ago, made the statement that thefts from the mails by employes of the department have greatly increased despite salary increases and although the Post Office here now has a bigger staff than ever before especially detailed to ferret out mail robberies.

For this state of things the official blamed particularly dishonest pawnbrokers and saloon keepers who would cash checks and money orders at a discount of about 25 cents on the dollar, taking good care not to find out whether the checks had been stolen or not, and taking the chance of getting the full amount back from the bank.

In several cases, he said, the Post Office detectives had traced three signatures on a stolen check.  They usually found that one signature was that of a respectable citizen, the second that of an east or west side pawnbroker in a doubtful neighborhood, and the third that of a Smith or Jones, really the endorsement of the man who stole the letter.  When asked if he remembered cashing the check the pawnbroker would usually admit that he had done so to oblige some customer who wanted to pay his rent or the butcher’s bill, but he never could tell the name or just where he lived.  In cases of this kind, said the official, the Post Office authorities are powerless, as they only look for a conviction in the criminal courts, and do not sue to recover the money on a stolen check, which must be done by the sender of the letter.

Instancing another difficulty the postal authorities had to contend with in stopping thefts from the mails, the official complained bitterly of what he said was the lukewarmness with which the City Magistrates regarded their efforts.  As an illustration he cited the recent case of a postal clerk who was found with the marked money in his possession after he had been seen to take the letter, addressed to the Redemptorist Fathers, and go to a cloakroom, where he opened it, took out the money, and tore up the envelope.

It was proved, said the postal official, that this man had robbed the charity of more than $400 which had been sent in by subscribers.  When the case came up in the court the prisoner’s friends brought forward a girl to do what is now called by crooks “the Evelyn Thaw baby act.”  She wept copiously on the stand, said what a good husband he had been to her, and told the Magistrate a pitiful story of her hardships with a non-existent baby boy, and the thief was only sentenced to a month’s imprisonment.

So angry were the postal officials over this that the case was called to the attention of District Attorney Jerome, said the official, and the Magistrate was compelled to have the prisoner brought into court again.  He was eventually sentenced to a year’s imprisonment.  “The whole trouble,” added the postal official, “is the lust for money obtained by any means whatsoever.  It was estimated some months ago that the people of New York are robbed annually of $20,000,000 through thefts from the mails and the fraudulent use of the Post Office by crooks to send out their circulars.  Chicago is equally bad and Pittsburg is worse.

“We have a case in hand now of a postal employe who stole second-class mail matter in sackfulls at a time.  Several sacks have been recovered from his rooms unopened.  The contents will be made known shortly and the owners can come forward and claim their missing property.”

Originally published on September 7, 1908 in the New York Times

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