an.

He admitted, however, that the facts of the losses were stubborn and
that the circumstances were peculiar, and, having now a good knowledge
of all the conditions he thought the tests should be applied. It was
accordingly arranged to remove from the Wabash mail every day for a
week every registered letter of natural origin that would pass through
the Alvin office, and substitute decoy or test letters.

These would remain in the Alvin office about two hours, when they would
be placed in the postal car going north on the Eastern Illinois, where
they could be hastily examined. It was more of a difficult task than
the reader can imagine. The work of preparing the test letters, so
that they would appear exactly like genuine ones that had been mailed
at the various offices along the line of the road, occupied several
days, but by the end of the week we were ready to begin on the
following Monday.

Two lists of the letters to be sent through each day for six days, and
a minute description of the contents of each letter, were prepared.
Henshaw, who was to go along the Wabash and attend to the delicate task
of removing the genuine and substituting the false ones, took one of
the lists, and the other was retained by Bedell and myself, who were to
examine the letters when they came from the office and were placed in
the north bound car. It would necessarily become our duty also, in
case anything was wrong, to strike while the iron was hot and secure
the transgressor.

On Monday the letters came through in good condition. Tuesday and
Wednesday brought no good results. By making haste we could usually
get them out of the pouch and have them examined before the train left
the Alvin station. By so doing it would give us an opportunity to step
off the train, and thereby save time, if the examination proved that
the letters had been meddled with.

On Thursday, while the train was still standing at the depot, we found
our letters, examined them, and, as usual, pronounced them correct.
The train pulled out and had proceeded probably a mile before we had
opened the letters to examine the contents, when, to our surprise, we
discovered that two of the eight had been rifled and the money was
missing.

Quick as lightning the bell cord was pulled, and long before the
engineer had come to a full stop, Bedell and myself could be seen
walking hurriedly down the track toward the station. We entered the
post-office as coolly as t