Mailboxes

[Chaucer]

The ONLY source for the information on the interception of any Zodiac letters by postal workers is Tom Voigt. Tom has provided no information on his source for this, nor has he weighed in on this matter to my knowledge.

I wish he would.

[Xcaliber]

Ok I'm promised myself that I was not getting involved in this again but best-laid plans of mice and men :-

You have 3 Hand Cancelled letters, One of which is the Belli letter which is Not to the SFC and is in completely different writing than usual. Tom Voigt is adamant that two letters were intercepted at source and as such would not have gone through the mailing system, logic would dictate that the two which he is refering to are the "Little List" & "Bus Bomb" letters. These coincidently are the only two with Sunday postmarks.

Also are we saying that EVERY other letter went through a machine which happened to have an error code at the time, did all machines at the time show codes (i.E. to enable staff to monitor how close the machine was to needing to be fixed), or was this only when a machine had a specific error.

Cragle, the understanding is that the Pitney Bowles machines showed the 2-digit codes as part of their standard postmark.

If the two letters were intercepted at the source, it's hard to justify why they received a postmark.

I guess one explanation might be so as to not alert the Zodiac that the letters had been intercepted?

[Cragle]

Sorry to clarify are you saying the letter/ number code is not an error or service code, or that postmarks only showed these codes when there is an error. No error = No code.

Also are you sure that the intercepted letters would have gone straight to the police. Forgive my ignorance but would it not be the Postal inspectors who saw these first ?

[shaqmeister]

Sorry to clarify are you saying the letter/ number code is not an error or service code, or that postmarks only showed these codes when there is an error. No error = No code.

The former. The Pitney-Bowes face canceller had no facility for flagging error codes in the postmarks. The evidence for this is summarised here.

Also are you sure that the intercepted letters would have gone straight to the police. Forgive my ignorance but would it not be the Postal inspectors who saw these first ?

You are right here. It would have gone to the postal inspectors, but still wouldn't have been given a postmark, IMO. The reason I would assume this is that a postmark is legally defined to show the date on which a letter comes into the possession of (specifically) the Sectional Center Facility. I have to assume any intercepted letter would not make it to the SCF processing, nor would it be the intention for it to do so, unless it subsequently cleared inspection. But this is, to be clear, just my supposition.

[Cragle]

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70.jpg

Ok explain this one ? I promise I'm not being obtuse

Also Is it not a federal offence to open mail without a warrant, I understand that there are certain circumstance when this is bypassed. Surely though it would have been quicker and easier for when it had been intercepted, which at this point only Z and the Postal worker would have touched it, gets hand cancelled (no need to physically touch) and then hand delivered to the SFC, thus meaning no laws broken. Minimal handling of the letter, and the quickest way of reading its contents.

Or am I wrong ?

[Simplicity]

Intercepted letter being SLA?

copy and paste

“After the February 10th 1974 Hearst letter, ending with "A friend", another Symbionese Liberation Army communication quickly followed (shown above). Both were intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex and both were addressed to Santa Inez Avenue in Hillsborough. The February 10th letter was postmarked CA 940 - so could have been mailed from Burlingame in San Mateo County, or Santa Clara County. The February 11th letter was postmarked Palo Alto, CA 943. Palo Alto is situated in the northwest region of Santa Clara County. Just shy of two weeks earlier, the Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked CA 940. The FBI determined that the Exorcist letter was mailed from either San Mateo County or Santa Clara County, just like the two letters above. “

And thankyou Shaq for the clarification. I sense that much could be gained by these slight differences in postmarks but that is a conversation to be had later.

[Chaucer]

Intercepted letter being SLA?

copy and paste

“After the February 10th 1974 Hearst letter, ending with "A friend", another Symbionese Liberation Army communication quickly followed (shown above). Both were intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex and both were addressed to Santa Inez Avenue in Hillsborough. The February 10th letter was postmarked CA 940 - so could have been mailed from Burlingame in San Mateo County, or Santa Clara County. The February 11th letter was postmarked Palo Alto, CA 943. Palo Alto is situated in the northwest region of Santa Clara County. Just shy of two weeks earlier, the Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked CA 940. The FBI determined that the Exorcist letter was mailed from either San Mateo County or Santa Clara County, just like the two letters above. “

And thankyou Shaq for the clarification. I sense that much could be gained by these slight differences in postmarks but that is a conversation to be had later.

FWIW, Richard G has done a nice job explaining why the SLA card is NOT a Zodiac letter.

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-ne ... a%20letter

[Cragle]

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70.jpg

Ok explain this one ? I promise I'm not being obtuse.

Also Is it not a federal offence to open mail without a warrant, I understand that there are certain circumstance when this is bypassed. Surely though it would have been quicker and easier for when it had been intercepted, which at this point only Z and the Postal worker would have touched it, gets hand cancelled (no need to physically touch) and then hand delivered to the SFC, thus meaning no laws broken. Minimal handling of the letter, and the quickest way of reading its contents.

Or am I wrong ?

Sorry the image did not show, the Dragon Card has a H not an A or B ?

[Simplicity]

Yes i am aware and never thought it was Zodiac just unsure what intercepted letter is being referred to.

However there might still be usual information regarding a postal center.

[Xcaliber]

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70

8 Dragon Card 4-28-70.jpg

Ok explain this one ? I promise I'm not being obtuse

Also Is it not a federal offence to open mail without a warrant, I understand that there are certain circumstance when this is bypassed. Surely though it would have been quicker and easier for when it had been intercepted, which at this point only Z and the Postal worker would have touched it, gets hand cancelled (no need to physically touch) and then hand delivered to the SFC, thus meaning no laws broken. Minimal handling of the letter, and the quickest way of reading its contents.

Or am I wrong ?

Hard to see police operating that way when they're trying to apprehend a serial killer before he kills again.