Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1915 — STAMP THIEVES VERY NUMEROUS [ARTICLE]

STAMP THIEVES VERY NUMEROUS

Postmasters Ordered to Guard Stamps and Other Papers of Commercial Value More Carefully. Washington, Oct. 26.—Postoffice burglaries have been so numerous of late that an order went forth today to all postmasters except of the first class throughout the country to keep on hand a smaller number of stamps and other papers of a commercial value and to guard them more carefully than in the past. Reports to the postoffice department accounting for last year’s business shows 1,400 claims aggregating a loss of $190,000 resulted from burglary of postoffices. They were received from nearly every section of the country. Inspectors were unable in most cases to find any trace of the stolen goods because of the lack of identification marks. Their investigations, however, have led department officials to believe that stamp brokers in a number of the larger cities make it their business to dispose of stolen goods. The department is pursuing its investigations along these lines and alo is endeavoring to develop some means for identifying stamps and other papers. B. B. is the coal that makes the cook happy.—Harrington Bros. Co.