Seattle Post Office Clerk Caught Stealing Marked Mail
A postal employee was arrested after inspectors planted marked currency in the mail to catch a serial thief.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
John O. Hopkins, a clerk in the mailing division of the Seattle post office, was arrested at 8 o'clock last night by inspectors C. L. Wayland, A. R. Butler, and C. J. Backus. The arrest was the result of investigations begun last Friday. Hopkins was taken to the county jail by Deputy United States Marshal Fred Laiho and charged before United States Commissioner Augustus Armstrong with stealing from the United States mails. For some time, it had been reported that valuable letters were being stolen from the Seattle post office. Last Friday, a letter containing currency marked by inspectors was placed in the mail. By Monday and Tuesday, more marked letters were planted. A watch was inaugurated, and the letters were traced to Hopkins' station. When searched, inspectors found several of the marked bills on his person.
“A watch was inaugurated over the mailing room, and the letters were traced to Hopkins' case.”
Internal theft within the federal postal service remains a consistent issue in news reporting, though the methods of detection have shifted from physical surveillance by inspectors to complex digital and forensic tracking. This account offers a snapshot of early 20th-century federal law enforcement techniques.
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