RINGS IN THE ASHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19993, 9 November 1927, Page 14

RINGS IN THE ASHES

CLUE IN MAIL-BAG THEFTS GUILTY POSTMAN’S STORY Burned remains of mail-bags discovered in a copper fire provided a clue to the nefarious operations of an cx-Lon-don postman who, while acting as a receiver of stolen property, tempted others to betray their trust. Amazing revelations concerning a business that had been going on for years behind the scenes were the features of a prosecution at the Old Bailey in which Henry Blackmore, a roadsweeper, pleaded guilty to receiving stolen postal packets. With him in the dock, similarly charged, was his wife, Sophie Blackmore, but Judge AtherleyJones took the view that she acted entirely under the influence of her husband and bound her over. Edward William Elliott, a postman, who supplied the greater part of the property to Blackmore, pleaded guilty to stealing the packets. Blackmore was a postman from 1904 to 1905, when he was convicted of stealing letters, and. sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment. Last March he was bound over at Marlborough Street for receiving meat, which he had induced a butcher to steal from his van. That case showed he was prepared to receive almost any kind of stolen property. How Elliott got in touch with him was explained by that prisoner himself. After his arrest, and while he was waiting to go before the magistrate, he asked Sergeant Wood if the Blackmores had been arres«e<T. The officer replied that that matter was under consideration. Statement by Elliott Elliott then made the following statement: —“It will go hard on me if they are not here. I got into trouble through Blackmore. ’I met him about 12 months ago when collecting with the van. He was employed by the Westminster City Council as a road-sweeper. He spoke to me several times, and one day told me he bought things and sold them again. He suggested I should steal things from the post office and take them to his place. It would be easy for him to sell them, he said, and I should get some of the money. I fell to the temptation. But for him I should not have stolen anything. I took a number of parcels from the office and left them at his house. I did not know what was in them. Mrs Blackmore has given me about 10s. I own I have been a fool; but I think they should be here as well as me. They have had more out of it than I have. ’ ’

Elliott had been employed at the South-Western District Office, where the repeated theft of parcels had given great anxiety. When the thefts had gone on over a year, watch was kept to discover who was responsible. At length Elliott was seen to take a mailbag to Blackmore’s house, and the police went to investigate. The Tell-Tale Rings

Blackmore’s cottage was particularly well adapted for the nefarious purpose of its occupier. To reach it, one had to pass through iron gates into a yard and then go along a narrow passage. Mrs Blackmore answered the door when the detectives knocked, and at once owned up that Elliott had been there with a bag. “Elliott/’ she added, “left it here, saying he was being watched. It is under the table.” The bag was found in the place indicated, together with a largo quantity of clothing.

In a coal cupboard under the stairs were 21 boxes of cigarettes and other things, whole brown paper wrappers in the scullery told of many other parcels purloined in the post, whose contents had been abstracted. In the course of the search, a policeman noticed a strong smell of burning, and asked Mrs Blackmore if anything was on fire in the house. “I have been burning some old fat and tobacco in the copper,” was her reply. Proceeding there, the officers found the fire contained smouldering ashes. When these were raked out, 49 mail-bag rings fell to the floor. This proved that at least 13 stolen bags had been set fire to at the time the detectives arrived at the house. Further search revealed seven more mail-bags in the outhouse. Audacity and Cunning Inquiries suggested that, although Elliott was the principal thief, others were involved in wholesale post-office thefts, and Blackmore had been carrying on the business of a receiver for over 12 months. The stolen property had been sold by him largely to people in the locality. Consisting mostly of dresses and. other articles of clothing, it found a ready sale. As Blackmore posed, as a dealer, his real trade was unsuspected. Elliott, the judge was told, showed audacity and. cunning in carrying out his thefts. He would walk into another office while off duty, pose as a relief postman, fill a mail-bag with parcels, and walk out on the pretence that he was going his round. Outside he would hail a taxi, and make his way to the hidden cottage of Blackmore. Blackmore received a sentence of three years’ penalt servitude, while Elliott was ordered 15 months f imprisonment in the second division.