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Ep. 11 - Lost $100,000 · True Tales of The Secret Service

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Chapter eleven lost one hundred thousand dollars. I stopped on my way here to
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night and laid in a supply of something that I don't often use, chewing
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gum, said Bill Quinn, formerly of the Secret Service, as he settled
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back comfortably to enjoy an evening's chat. There are some professional reformers who maintain
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that the great American habit of silently working the jaws over a wad of chewing
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gum is harmful in the extreme. But if you'll look into the matter,
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you'll find that agitators of that type want you to cut out all habits except
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those which they are addicted to. Personally, I'm not a habitual worshiper at
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the shrine of the Great God Gum, but there's no use denying the fact
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that it does soothe one nerves occasionally. Incidentally, it has other uses,
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as Elmer Allison discovered not very long ago. Yes, I inquired, sensing
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the fact that Quinn had a story up his sleeve and was only awaiting the
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opportunity to spring it. Didn't you mention a Post office case in which a
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watt of gum played a prominent role. That's the one, said the former
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government operative, easing his wounded leg into a less cramped position. Here have
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a couple of sticks, just to get the proper atmosphere, and I'll see
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if I can recall the details. For some reason that's hard to define,
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Quinn went on after he had peeled two of the dun colored sticks and commenced
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work on them. Krooks in general, and amateur krooks in particular, seemed
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to regard the United States mails as particularly easy prey. Possibly they figure that,
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as millions of dollars are handled by the Post Office Department every year,
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a little here and there won't be missed. But if they knew the high
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percentage of mail robberies that are solved, they wouldn't be so keen to tackle
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the game. Lifting valuables once they have passed into the hands of Uncle Sam's
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postman is a comparatively easy crime to commit. There are dozens of ways of
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doing it, methods which range all the way from fishing letters out of a
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post box with a piece of string and a hairpin to holding up the mail
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car in a deserted portion of a railroad track. But getting away with it
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is, as our Yiddish friends say, something else again, the annals of
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the Postal Inspection Service are filled with incidents which indicate that the high cost of
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living is down around zero compared to the high cost of crime when said crime
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is aimed at the mail. There are scores of men in Atlanta, Leavenworth
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and other federal prisons whose advice would be to try murder, forgery, or
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arson rather than attempt to earn a dishonest living by stealing valuable letters. The
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majority of persons realize that it pays to register their money and ensure their packages,
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because once this precaution has been attended to, the government exercises special care
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in the handling of these and makes it extremely difficult for krooks to get anywhere
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near them. If a registered letter disappears, there is a clean cut trail
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of signed receipts to follow, and somebody has to bear the burden of the
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loss. But even with these precautions, the registered section is looted every now
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and then. One of the biggest cases of this kind on record was that
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which occurred in Columbus, when letters with an aggregate value of one hundred thousand
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dollars just vanished into thin air. Of course, they didn't all disappear at
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one time, but that made it all the more mysterious, because the thefts
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were spread out over a period of some five or six weeks, and they
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went on just as regularly as clockwork, in spite of the precautions. To
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the contrary. The first of the losses, as I recall, it,
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was a shipment of ten thousand dollars in large bills sent by a Chicago bank
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to a financial concern in Columbus. When working on that single case, of
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course, the officials of the department were more or less in the dark as
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to the precise place that the disappearances had taken place, in spite of the
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fact that there were the usual signed slips indicating that the package had been received
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at the Columbus post office. But clerks who were in a hurry sometime sign
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receipts without being any too careful to check up the letters or packages to which
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they refer, a highly reprehensible practice, but one which is the outgrowth of
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the shortage of help. It was quite within the bounds of possibility, for
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example, for the package to have been abstracted from the Chicago office without the
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loss being discovered until Columbus checked up on the mail which was due there.
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But a week or ten days later came the second of the mysterious disappearances,
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another envelope containing bills of large denomination, this time en route from Pittsburgh to
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Columbus. When a third loss occurred the following fortnight, the headquarters of the
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Postal Inspection Service in Washington became distinctly excited, and every man who could be
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spared was turned loose. In an effort to solve the problem, orders were
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given to shadow all the employees who had access to the registered mail, with
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a view to discovering whether they had made any change in their personal habits,
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whether they had displayed an unusual amount of money within the past month, or
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whether their family had shown signs of exceptional prosperity. It was while the chief
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was waiting for these reports that Elmer Allison blew into Washington unexpectedly and strolled into
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the room in the big gray stone tower of what was then the Post Office
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Department building with the news that he had solved the poison pen case in Kansas
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City and was ready to tackle something else. The Chief, to put it
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mildly, was surprised and inquired why in the name of the seven hinges of
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Hades. Allison hadn't made his report directly to the office by mail. That
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was a pretty important case. Chief Elmer replied, I didn't want to take
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any chances of the findings being lost in the registered mail. Then, grinning,
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he continued, I understand you've been having a bit of trouble out in
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Columbus. Who told you about that? Growled the Chief. Oh you can't
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keep things like that under your hat, even if you do succeed in keeping
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them out of the papers. Retorted Allison, A little bird tipped me off
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to it three weeks ago, and and you determined to leap back here as
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soon as you could so that you would be assigned to the case. Eh,
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you guessed at Chief. I wanted to try at the Columbus affair,
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and I was afraid I wouldn't get it unless I put the matter personally up
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to you. How about it? As it happens, you lost about two
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days of valuable time in coming here. Instead of wiring for further instructions from
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Kansas City. The Chief told him I had intended taking you off that anonymous
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letter case by noon tomorrow, whether you'd finished it or not. For this
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is a far more important detail. Somebody's gotten away with fifty thousand dollars so
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far, and there's no pardon me, sir, but there's a wire which
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has just arrived from Rogers in Columbus. Thought you'd like to see it at
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once, and the Chief Secretary Lady Yellow slip face upward on his desk.
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Allison, who was watching closely, saw a demonstration of the reason why Official
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Washington maintained that the chief of the Postal Inspection Service had the best poker face
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in the capital. Not a muscle in his countenance changed as he read the
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telegram, and then glanced up at Allison, continuing his sentence precisely where he
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had been interrupted. Reason to suppose that the thief is going to stop there
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This wire from Rogers, the postmaster at Columbus announces the loss of a fourth
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package of bills fifty thousand this time. That's the biggest yet, and it
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brings the total deficit up to one hundred thousand dollars. Rogers says that the
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banks are demanding instant action and threatening to take the case to headquarters, which
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means that it'll spread all over the papers. Congress will start an investigation,
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some of us will lose our official heads, and in the mix up,
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the man who's responsible for the losses will probably make a clean getaway. Then,
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with a glance at the clock which faced his desk, there's a train
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for Columbus in twenty minutes, Allison, can you make it. It's less
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than ten minutes to the station, replied the operative. That gives me plenty
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of leeway. Well move and move fast, snapped the chief. I'll wire
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Columbus that you've been given complete charge of the case, but try to keep
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it away from the papers as long as you can. The department has come
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in for enough criticism lately without complicating the issue from the outside. Good luck,
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and Allison was out of the door almost before he had finished speaking.
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Alison reached Columbus that night, but purposely delayed reporting for work until the following
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morning. In the first place, there was no telling how long the case
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would run, and he felt that it was the part of wisdom to get
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all the rest he could in order to start fresh. The poison pen puzzle
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hadn't been exactly easy to saw, and his visit to Washington, though brief,
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had been sufficiently long for him who absorbed some of the nervous excitement which
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permeated the department. Then too, he figured that Postmaster Rogers would be worn
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out by another day of worry, and that both of them would be better
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for a night's undisturbed sleep. Nine o'clock the next morning, however, saw
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him seated in one of the comfortable chairs which adorned the postmaster's private office.
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Rogers, who did not put in an appearance until ten, showed plainly the
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results of the strain under which he was laboring. For he was a political
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appointee who had been in office only a comparatively short time, a man whose
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temperament resented the attacks launched by the opposition, and who felt that publication of
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the facts connected with the lost one hundred thousand dollars would spell ruin both to
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his own hopes and those of the local organization. Alison found that the chief
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had wired an announcement of his coming the day before, and that Rogers was
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almost pitifully relieved to know that the case was in the hands of the man
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who had solved nearly a score of the problems which had risen in the service
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during the past few years. How much do you know about the case inquired
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the postmaster. Only what I learned indirectly and from what the chief told me
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was Allison's reply. I understand that approximately one hundred thousand dollars is missing from
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this post office. Here Rogers instinctively winced as he thought of the criticism which
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this announcement would cause if it were made outside the office. But I haven't
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any of the details. Neither have we, unfortunately, was the answer.
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If we had had a few more we might have been able to prevent the
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last theft. You know about that, of course, the fifty thousand dollars.
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Yes, the chief told me that you had wired well. That incident
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is typical of the other three. Banks in various parts of the country have
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been sending rather large sums of money through the mails to their correspondence here.
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There's nothing unusual in that at this time of the year. But within the
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past five or six weeks there have been four packages or rather large envelopes of
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money which have failed to be accounted for. They ranged all the way from
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ten thousand dollars the first loss, to the fifty thousand dollars which disappeared within
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the past few days. I purposely delayed wiring Washington until we could make a
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thorough search of the whole place, going over the registry room with a fine
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tooth comb, thus warning every man in it that he was under suspicion,
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muttered Allison. What was that? Rogers inquired? Nothing, nothing at all,
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just talking to myself. Far from a good habit, But don't mind
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it. I've got some queer ones. You didn't find anything, of course
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in the building, No, not a thing. But I thought it best
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to make a thorough clean up here before I bothered Washington with a report.
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What about the men who've been working on the case up to this time?
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Now one of them has been able to turn up anything that could be dignified
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by the term clue, as I believe you detectives call it. Yes,
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that's the right word, agreed the operative. At least all members of the
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Detective story Writers Union employ it frequently enough to make it fit the case.
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What lines have Boyd and the other men here been following at my suggestion they
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made a careful examination into the private lives of all employees of the Post Office,
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including myself. Rogers answered a bit pompously. I did not intend to
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evade the slightest responsibility in the matter. So I turned over my bank book,
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the key to my safe deposit vault, and even allowed them to search
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my house from cellar to garret. Was this procedure followed with respect to all
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the other employees in the building. No, only one or two of the
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highest personal friends of mine, whom I could trust and keep silent. I
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didn't care to swear out search warrants for the residences of all the people who
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work here. And that's what it would have meant if they had raised any
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objection and their cases. The investigation was confined to inquiries concerning their expenditures in
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the neighborhood, unexpected prosperity, and the like, with what result none at
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all. From all appearances, there isn't a soul in this building who has
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had ten cents more during the past six weeks than he possessed in any like
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period for two years back. Did Boyd or any of the other department operatives
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asked to see the plans of the post office? Inquired Allison, taking another
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tack, though, what the plans of the post office? The blueprint prepared
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at the time that the building was erected. No, why should they I
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thought they might have been interested in it. That's all, was Allison's answer,
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But anyone who knew him would have noted that his tone was just a
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trifle too nonchalant to be entirely truthful. By the way, added the operative,
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Might I see it the blueprint? Yes, you will probably find it
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in a safe, if you'll have some one look it up. I'll be
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back in half an hour to examine it, said Alison. Meanwhile, I'll
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talk to Boyd and the other men already on the ground and see if I
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can dig anything out of what they've discovered. But Boyd and his associates were
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just as relieved as Rogers had been to find that the case had been placed
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in Allison's hands. Four weeks and more of steady work had left them precisely
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where they had commenced, several miles back of that point, as one of
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them admitted, for three more stunts have been pulled off right under our eyes.
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The personal as well as the official record of every man and woman in
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the Columbus Post Office had been gone over with a microscope without the slightest result.
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If the germ of dishonesty was present, it was certainly well hidden.
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We'll try another and more powerful lens, Allison stated as he turned back to
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the postmaster's private office. By the way, BOYD, have you or any
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of your men been in the service more than four years? No, I
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don't think any of us has. What's that got to do with it?
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Not a thing in the world as far as your ability is concerned. But
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there is one point that every one of you overlooked because you never heard of
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it. I'm going to try it out myself now, and I'll let you
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know what develops with that. Allison turned and sauntered back into Rogers's office.
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There, spread upon the desk was the missing blueprint, Christ and dusty from
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disuse. First time you ever saw this, eh, Allison inquired of the
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postmaster the first time I even knew it was there? Admitted that official.
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How'd you know where to find it? I didn't. But there's an ironclad
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rule of the department that plans of this nature are to be kept under lock
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and key for just such emergencies as this. But I guess your predecessor was
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too busy to worry you with details. Rogers grunted. It was an open
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secret that the postmaster, who had preceded him had not been any too friendly
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to his successor. Alison did not pursue the subject, but spread the plan
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upon the unoccupied table so that he could examine it with care. If you'll
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be good enough to lock that door, Postmaster erected, I'll show you something
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else about your building that you didn't know, but I don't want anybody else
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coming in while we're discussing it. Puzzled but feeling that the government detective ought
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to be allowed to handle things in his own way, Rogers turned the key
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in the lock and came over to the table where Allison stood. Do you
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see that little square marked with a white star and the letter, l asked
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Elmer, Yes, what is it? What is this large room next to
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it, counted the operative. Why that's the Registry room, precisely and concealed
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in the wall, and a spot known only to persons familiar with this blueprint
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is a tiny closet or lookout. That's what the L means, and that's
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the reason that there's a strict rule about guarding plans of this nature very carefully.
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You mean to say that a place has been provided for supervision of the
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Registry division, A room from which the clerks can be watched without their knowledge
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exactly, and such a precaution has been taken in practically every post off is
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of any size in the country. Only the older men in the service know
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about it, which is the reason that neither Boyd nor any of his men
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asked to see this set of plans. The next step is to find the
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key to the lookout and start in on a very monotonous spell of watchful waiting.
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You have the bunch of master keys, of course, yes, they're
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in the safe where the plans were kept. Just a moment and I'll get
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them. When Rogers produced the collection of keys, Alison ran hurriedly over them
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and selected one which bore on the handle a small six pointed star, corresponding
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to the mark on the blueprint. Want to go up with me and investigate
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the secret chamber, he inquired. I certainly do, agreed Rogers. But
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there's one point where this room won't help us in the slightest How did the
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thief get the mail containing the money out of the building. You know the
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system that maintains in the registry room. It's practically impossible for a sheet of
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paper to be taken out of there, particularly when we are on guard as
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we are. Now. That's true, Alison admitted, But it's been my
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experience the problems which appear the most puzzling are, after all, the simplest
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of explanation. You remember the Philadelphia mint robbery, the one the Drummond solved
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in less than six hours. This may prove to be just as easy there.
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Allison was wrong, dead wrong, as he had to admit some ten
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days later, when worn with the strain of sitting for hours at a time
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with his eyes glued to the ventilator which masked the opening to the lookout,
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he finally came to the conclusion that something would have to be done to speed
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things up. It was true that no new robberies had occurred in the meantime,
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but neither had any of the old ones been punished. The lost one
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hundred thousand dollars was still lost, though the department, with the aid of
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the Treasury officials, had seen that the banks were reimbursed. The decoy letter
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thought, Allison is probably the oldest dodge in the world, But who knows,
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it may work again in this case, provided we stage manage it sufficiently
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carefully, with the assistance of the cashier of one of the local banks,
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Elmer arranged to have a dummy package of money forwarded by mail from New York.
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It was supposed to contain thirty five thousand dollars in cash, and all
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the formalities were complied with precisely as if thirty five thousand dollars bills were really
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inside the envelope instead of as many sheets of blank paper carefully arranged. On
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the morning of the day the envelope was due to reach Columbus, Allison took
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up his position close to the grill and the lookout. His eyes strained to
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catch the slightest suspicious movement below. Hour after hour passed uneventfully until almost immediately
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below him he saw a man drop something on the floor. Two envelopes had
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slipped from his hands, and he stooped to pick them up. That was
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all, but what carried a thrill to the operative in the lookout was the
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fact that one of the envelopes was the dummy sent from New York, and
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that when the man straightened up, he had only one of the two in
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his hands. The dummy had disappeared. Allison rubbed his eyes and looked again.
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No, he was right the postal clerk had in some manner disposed of
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the envelope supposed to contain thirty five thousand dollars, and he was going about
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his work in precisely the same way as before. Wait a minute, Allison
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argued to himself, there's something missing besides the envelope. What is it.
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A moment later he had the clue to the whole affair. The jaws of
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the clerk, which Allison had previously and subconsciously noted were always hard at work
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on a wad of gum, now were at rest for the first time since
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the operative had entered the lookout. The chew gum and the dummy packet had
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disappeared at the same time. It didn't take Elmer more than thirty seconds to
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reach Rogers's office, and he entered with a startling announcement that an envelope containing
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thirty five thousand dollars had just disappeared from the registry room. What, demanded
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the postmaster, How do you know I haven't received any report of it.
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No, and you probably wouldn't for some time, Elmer retorted, But it
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happens that I saw it disappear, then you know where it is. I
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can lay my hands on it and probably the rest of the missing money inside
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of one minute. Let's pay a visit to the registry room before entering the
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section. However, Allison took the precaution of posting men at both of the
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doors. After I'm inside, he directed, don't allow anyone to leave on
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any pretext whatever, and stand ready for trouble in case it develops. Come
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on, mister Rogers. Once in the room devoted to the handling of registered
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mail, Allison made directly for the desk under the lookout. The occupant regarded
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their approach with interest, but apparently without a trace of anxiety. I'd like
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to have that letter supposed to contain thirty five thousand dollars which you'd dropped in
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the floor a few moments ago, Elmer remarked, in a quiet, almost
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conversational tone. Except for a sudden start, the clerk appeared the picture of
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innocence. What letter he parried? You know what? One, snapped Allison,
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dropping his suave manner and moving his hand significantly toward his coat pocket.
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Will you produce it or shall I? I don't know what you're talking about,
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stammered the clerk. No, well, I'll show you, and the
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operative's hands flashed forward, and there was a slight click as a pair of
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handcuffs snapped into place. Now, mister Rogers, you'll be good enough to
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watch me carefully, as your evidence will probably be needed in court, I'll
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show you as simple and clever a scheme as I've ever run across. With
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that, Allison dropped to the floor, wormed his way under the table desk,
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tugged at something for a moment, and then rose, holding five large
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envelopes in his hands. There's your lost one hundred thousand dollars, he explained,
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and a dummy packet of thirty five thousand dollars to boot. Thought you
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could get away with it indefinitely, a he inquired of the handcuffed clerk.
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If you'd stopped with that one hundred thousand dollars, as you'd probably intended to
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do, you might have. But that extra letter turned the trick too bad.
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It contained only blank paper, and he ripped the envelope open to prove
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his assertion. But but I don't understand, faltered Rogers. How did this
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a man work it right under our eyes? He didn't, declared Allison.
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He tried to work it right under mine, but he couldn't get away with
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it. The plan was simplicity itself. He'd slip an envelope, which he
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knew contained a large sum of money, out of the pile as it passed
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him. He hadn't signed for them, so he wasn't taking any special risk,
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drop it on the floor, stoop over, and if he was,
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and being watched, attach it to the bottom of his desk with a wad
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of chewing gum. You boasted that you went over the room with a fine
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toothed comb, But who would think of looking on the underside of this table.
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The idea, of course, was that he'd wait for the storm to
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blow over, because the letters could remain in their hiding place for months if
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necessary, and then start on a lifelong vacation with his spoils as capital.
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But he made the error of over capitalization. And I very much fear that
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he'll put in at least ten years at Leavenworth or Morgantown. But I'd like
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to bet he never choose another piece of gum. That continued Quinn, as
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he tossed another pink wrapper into the waistebasket. I consider the simplest and cleverest
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scheme to beat the government that I ever heard of, better even than Cochrane's
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plan in connection with the robbery of the Philadelphia Mint, because it didn't necessitate
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any outside preparation at all. The right job, a piece of gum,
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and there you are. But you may be sure that whenever an important letter
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disappears nowadays, one of the first places searched by the postal inspection operatives is
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the lower side of the desks and tables. You can't get away with a
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trick twice in the same place. End of Chapter eleven.