Story of a Chew of Tobacco

The Chicago Evening Post relates an extraordinary case of detection of a mail robber through the latter’s use of plug tobacco. A registered letter was forwarded to Chicago, which ought to have contained five one hundred dollar bills. When the envelope was opened the money was missing. The matter was placed in the hands of an experienced and skillful detective. The envelope had arrived intact at Chicago, and to all appearances had not been tampered with in the least. There was not the slightest clue to the robber, and the detective finally abandoned the matter in despair of success. But one day, from what motive he did not himself realize at the time, the officer took the envelope, soaked it in water and carefully removed the portion where the sealing process had been effected. By the assistance of a microscope he found that small particles of plug tobacco still adhered to the paper, and from this fact became convinced that whoever wet the mucilage of the envelope had used that description of the weed. Here, then, was found a faint clue upon which the investigation might be continued. He determined in the first place to ascertain if any of the offices through which the letter had passed used tobacco of that description. Office after office was visited, from Chicago to the locality where the letter was first mailed, but in not one of these was there a single person who masticated anything but “fine cut.” He arrived at the last office with a faint heart, fully convinced that the last clue by which to entrap the guilty party had utterly failed in its… Read More