Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1894 — GIVE UP IN DESPAIR. [ARTICLE]

GIVE UP IN DESPAIR.

POSTOFFICE DETECTIVES ABANDON SOUTH BEND. SUU Robberto* Coattnne Unabated tn Spite of the Effort* of Foetal Inspector* to Find the Thieve*—Stealing* Said tn Amount to SIO.OOO. Pilfer* Their Mail. Mysterious mail robberies, inscrutable detectives who cannot find the thieves, and hundreds of angry correspondents whose money hat gone astray, have lately been making life miserable for certain venders of patent medicines and cosmetics at South Bend, Ind. More than $10,090 is said to have disappeared in some mysterious way from the letters sent to Soutn Bend, and, notwithstanding the efforts of the poetoffice inspectors, the leak has not been discovered. Federal detectives have prowled around the postoffice in the Indiana town and have sent decoy letters through the mails. The thief L thieves declined to handle the decoys, and this scheme of catching the pilferers failed. The sudden disappearance of the inspectors caused a ferment among the sufferers. When they learned that the detectives had given up the job in disgust the medicine men threw up their hands and wondered whether they would have to go out of bnsinn**— complexions were being ruined irretrievably and there was no possibility of suing for damages. But the hardest loss is said to have fallen on the Indiana Traveling Men's Accident Association, which has its headquarters at South Bend. Secretary E. B. Russell reports the loss of l f (,00 letters, each containing #2 or more. Angry members claim they cannot be held responsible for the continuous theft of their dues and the association has suffered severely. Still the pilfering goes on. It reached its height when the inspectors had just warmed to their work. Audacity of the Robberies, However worked, the scheme of the thieves is one of the most audacious in the history of postal robberies. Every smploye in the South Bend postoffice has been watched and tested. Over the entire case an impenetrab e shroud of secrecy has been flung by the postoffice departments. Though complaints were filed in Washington months ago and inspectors had been sent down to South Bend, nothing else was apparently done. Letters are still being purloined and robbed of the ourrency they contain. Money orders never reach their destination and are evidently torn up by the thieves, as the presenters would be instantly detected. South Bend is the home of the ratent medicine man and the fair but elderly vender ot cosmetics. The latter is usually the wife of the former. Chief of Police Rose claims that there are 175 patent medicine and cosmetic factories in South Bend. The mail sent to the city is enormous, letters containing remittances being forwarded from every State in the Union and from Canada. where the letters have been diverted from th sir Intended destination is part of the mystery surrounding the thefts. Four postoffioe Inspectors have failed to discover at what point the letters drop out ot sight. Trawling Men Robbed. It was not until late in the fall of 1893 that the Indiana Traveling Men's Accident Association began to miss the i dues sent in by members. Dues for September failed to reach the secretary's hands, but he did not notice it until the next month's payment fell due. Then he notified the delinquent members and in reply he received a bushel of letters from indignant members who declared they had sent in their September dues. Secretary Russell wrote to Washington and was referred to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. Three weeks ago he went to Washington and pressed the investigation. Two inspectors had already been sent to South Bend, but their mission had soon become known and they had to return to Cincinnati. Shortly after Mr. Russell’s visit to Washington Chief Inspector Salomon, of the Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky division, went to South Bend and looked over the ground. Soon afterward Inspectors Fletcher and Holden established themselves in South Bend. Fletcher had 200 decoy letters sent to himself under the name of Wilson, but not one of them was touched. It was said more letters, " however, were stoleh while the detectives were at work than ever before.