[ThirdMate]

How can the G-men track down a letter that went through a post office before the alarm was raised? Are they scanning or photgraphing every piece of mail that goes through the system?
Do I understand this article correctly? After it was realized that the anthrax letters passed through Hamilton, they were able to track down mail that had previously been processed? This is weird.

[maestro]

Correct!!

And,......exactly,.....what is the full address and full 'return' address on this mystery letter...?

And,.....the written 'contents' of the letter...?

Clues for Gum Shoes?

[okie01]

"How can the G-men track down a letter that went through a post office before the alarm was raised? Are they scanning or photgraphing every piece of mail that goes through the system?"

If I am not mistaken, the scanner that reads and sorts by ZIP code maintains a log.

In reviewing the log, the authorities found a letter addressed to the lady's ZIP code in Connecticut had passed through the scanner immediately after the Leahy or Daschle letter.

I imagine the Beebe, AR letter -- as well as several others -- were also in the immediate vicinity of the anthrax letter and the alert went out.

[muawiyah]

"Are they scanning every piece...."?

The answer is pretty much "yes".

What "they" are doing is using invisible ink to write information on the backs of letters. This is in turn read at the next stage of processing.

All of this operating information, including your scanned address, is "kept". Later on when it is discovered that you might have been subject to an anthrax attack, they can actually discover exactly who the people are who were most directly affected. What we have here is a letter that was "contaminated" by another source of anthrax. This could be from another letter, or from the letter tray in which this one resided for a while.

[genefromjersey]

I doubt it was "tracked down". It's more likely the Arkansas recipient was a "person of interest", and there was a court-approved "mail cover" on him, which turned up a letter from the Princeton/Trenton area.

The Postals probably intercepted and examined for type of envelope,appearance of handwriting, and return address.
They probably then delivered it to the recipient, who opened it in their presence, and probably showed them it was an invitation to a professional or alumni event, or fund solicitation, etc., and told them "You keep it, since you're so interested."

He probably also told them they should check it for anthrax, and they said "Yeah-yeah", triple bagged it, wrote up their report, and tossed the letter in the evidence locker.

I can't think of who it was,but I seem to recall there was a retired microbiologist living in the Beebe area,who had worked for USAMRIID at one time.