New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1846-12-03
The Van Ness VIII Case.

. LClYet poE1SoCe d ne IF4DAIr-
wAsHtse1oS, Dec. !. l-i5.
This il n. eleventh dsy of the Van Meas case,
which becomes Of deeper interest as 'hs case Tor
the defence proceeds.
By coasen. Of The Counsel for the defence Ihos-
Ken one Ct .he plaintiff & witnesses vas called %
the stand. Stated that the plaintiff came 70 MS
store 20 look at some stoves. Some days afterTard
/ General Van Ness came TO the store and ordered
stove 20 be put up al the plaintiff hoase. When
he took the stove, plaintiff objected 70 II because
!, was .oo small. Witness told hsr he could rot
put up larger one. unless she would consent to
pay the balance she replied that It would all be
right. He then put Up larger one. which Gen.
/ Van Ness aiterward consented 70 pay Tor ont o.
! the second quarter This was al the conversation
| he had with Gen Van Ness the SUBJECT. W II
ness had also lined the f0or with sheet ron, which
was deemed necessary 70 MAKE the hoor alc the
house secure against ire. he mao no feCo4ec'io.i
that De did any other work except such as was connect
ed with the stove he mad no reco.iec.'oh ga ne a3
seen the carriage Of Gen Van Ness al painSi; oooI
M Reese was then recalled to the stand Tor me de-
fence when discussion took place Is ~ tae production
OF paper ia the plaintiffs possession, "ncn was Cd
iec,.d 70 By her Counsel until ther cross examination
should take place The Court after snoTt dehoeraaon
! directed thai the paper should o. produced
Witness was then examined be had seen this paper
before I; was in the hands Of Nj Hepburn who called
?, tho Post Office, Philadelphia on tuesday last; ana
asked 10 be shown the stamp OF the cent rate WV
ness produced the stamp and Nh Hepburn then pulled
this envelope from MS pocket and asked II the I'M
preston OF the = was made BY the stamp. 1oid nun
! dis,nctly that IL not Mr. Hepburn and witness
then made some impressions from the genuine stamp
on TWO pieces Of paper Could not succeed IN produc-
ing any impressions similar TO those on the envelope
There appeared 20 have been some alteration suose'
quen,ly made IN the stamp he attention Of witness
then called me postrnark and figures Examined
the figures in the Office stamps and found the hgures oil
the small stamp which made in BLOCK OF rcn are
TOO large TO & in the holes Vi the large stamp Called
sir HepbUrns attention this difference in the hGures
after which he and his friend went away stating t1at
thus far the investigation was not very san;ac2J On
! the next day, which was "Wednesday M hePouih
called again in company with Mr MOTIFS, saying tuhI
he came on the business OF another, and was pretty
certain that nc mentioned Nj Brent AID asked the ies
dence OF the person who made the cent rate stamp Tor
| the Office Told him ne lived in an cut Of the way
place and would 90 with them and show them !ney
together to NJ. B.nney-in;roduced MI Hepburn
70 hun They took the cent rate stamp with them
and asked Mr.. Bnney If he made the stamp SHOWN
hun After some examination. Mr.. Binney said
tha, ne did not Witness then took from his pocket
impression OF the genuine day'stamp ana
asked him compare II with the impression on tne en-
veope. Mr.. Bnpey took magnify ing glass ana par
ct compasFc and after FIVE minutes epent IN examining
said that both the impressions on the envelope were
orgeries There also difference between the nguref
20 on the genuine impression and those IN that on the
envelope To this witness called the attention oi MI
Hepburn while in the Post Office. Mr. Norris then sug-
ge.ied the propHety OF offering reward Tor the proouc
ton of the letter and advertisement was stter"erd
published Offering reward OF 10 for the discovery OF a
letter dropped into the Philadelphia Post Office between
July % and August T. I3i5 addressed TO Irs Mary a
Conner Witness produced the advertisement OF the
is OF letters remaining i'll the Post Office on Inc 2oth
July in order show that there no letter Tor MIS-
Connor in the list The clerks were al employed IN
making out these lists and while employed other busi
ness suspended lie had been clerk in the Post Once
twelve or thirteen years. Previous TO the new LAT" IN
1915 drop letters not rated, and only the day
stamp was impressed on them. When the TWO stamps
were put on the city drop letters, it the uniform
practice put the cent rate stamp on the right hand
side and the day stamp the Left Counsel Tor defence
showed the envelope which the stamps were reversed
in their position There was only single ring round
the cent rate stamp on the envelope and IN the sehu
inc stamp there was double ring round it.
In crossexsmination greater part OF the afternoon
consumed Plaintiff s counsel insisted on the meas
urcmen of the impressions from the genuine stamp and
on the envelope that the witness might testify wherein
they differed lie of opinion that the discrepancies
every print Counsel for plsinuh handed Il
letter postmarked in Philadelphia and said TO have been
received to-day. Witness examined ihe stamps, and
threw il from him. saying this was manufactured Tor
the occasion Aiterward he cXplaned-,hat If 1t was
stamped in tho Philadelphia office the practice OF the
Office had been violated by the manner IN which It was
done.
Mr. Binney typeiounder, of Philadelphia, sworn
lie gave his opinion that the impression the envelope
counterfeit He had examined the impressions and
compared them about week ago with the genu,
inc stamp the request of two gentlemen who called
with Mr. Reese and asked him the question He cor
roborsed throughout that part OF the testimony OF ohe
last witness In what he was concerned