The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-24
mln am rosT OFFICE sosszaRs.
Arrest or One Of th. Night Clerks in the New
York Once and One OF the Old Clerks I'm
the HaltlunOrA n01Oe.


Arrest or One OF tn. Night Clerks in the New
York Once and One OF the Ola Clerks In
the Baltimore O6nce.
James Fitsgbbon night Gle x and porter in the New
York Post Oface arrested y~terdsy morning on .
charge OF having purloned various money packages
from that ONCE the night previous The facts are
near as We can gather them, follows
The frequency Of complaints Of losses o. letters Of late
particularly those which should arrive by the night
mails had caused the Postmaster General 10 send pe
cis1 instructions to his agent at this point to- use every
effort to discover and remove the Of this serious
trouble possible; and from the result shoud Judge
these instructions have been faithfully executed.
Various discoveries, from time to time, caused spp
con to fall upon the porter above named, and author
m the special agent to apply tests in that particular
direction, and to keep q close watch all his
movements, Involving some pretty hard night ser
vice. On the night before lart, while thus obscrv
ing him, and soon after the ari'ai Of the late
mails, he was seer. to cpnopri,sc 70 himself, By
n sSsAst car.cca process, and scarete abcui his
person. several packages Of letters and money which
mailed at Newark and Bridgeport and addressed
points beyond this Office. An this was dope direct
y under the eyes OF the special agent who of coarse
did not make public proclamation Of his presence the
office Soon after leaving the Office at five O'Clock in the
morning, he "headed off, by Mr. Hobrook and
Of the principal clerks and being taken back to the
ofce the packages referred to were found in his pos
Session, though somewhat mutilated
1t is not known to what extent his depredstons have
gone. In mercantile affairs the practice prevails Of
turning the entire hef account the person
who is fairly detected Of who has had the
opportunity to commit former So It'll in Post Office
not that the unfortunste victim often finds himself
made the goat for all other delinquens to the
great relief and good luck oftentme no doubt Of many
slippery customer, equally guilty perhaps but
fortunate for the time being We say for the time be-
ing, for his turn for becoming the scape goat and the
of Of haIUo
sooner later, with the facilities at the command
Of keen and experienced officers selected for the purpose
Of protecting the public In this important respect.
II would seem, however, that there still those who
willing TO the risk Of detection, possibly
guilt proven to the entire satisfaction Of the public
II not to that OF the hair splitting, humane souls who
sometimes control the action OF uries in favor Of such
culprts, and yet who are the first to cry out against
what they call the inaccuracy and ineficency of the
Post Office Department when their correspondence
is deoyed or derangcd in the slightest degree We must
have less Of scky sympathy with those fairly detected
in this mean and mischieyous species Of crime and
abandonment Of or at least an Improvement in the
present system Of political appointments in post Offices
or the grand objects designed in the postal system
OF this country will become a total iaiiure.s
[From the Baltimore Sun, Nov. %
For time past considerable number Of letters,
containing checks and money, have been missing from
containing funds for the adjacent post Offices Mary
land have never come to hand, whilst remittances for
Baltimore have also failed to reach their destination
Suspicion has been directed against various agencies but
the authorities declined pushing the matter until the
facts communicated to Col James L. Mcguire the
special mail agent who immediately set to work to ar
rest the guilty party From the very first moment he
to suspect that the crmnalty perpetrated
in the Baltimore Post Office Accordingly, Saturday
morning. he deposited letter in the office directed to
person in Westminster. This letter contained guam
tty Of worthless bank bills and two genuine gold coins
one 80 and the other 81 gold piece marked money
the outside in such manner to enable him TO
cognze them. full description Of the money then
described on paper.
This letter, with another sent by Mr. Cockey to Mr.
Reese ut the Office, not mailed, Col Mcguire
min Tho Mat ana
that the letters not III the bag He returned to Bal
tmore, and yesterday morning proceeded to the Balt
more Office; and after interview with COL Henry Sny
der told him that Of the two clerks must be the
at the time stating that he suspected VIM H. Mar
tin, the principal distributing clerk Martin then
informed of the suspicion, wherenpon he accom-
panied Col. Mcguire to his residence Exeter street.
where the premises searched. Che Colonel, upon
searching chest Of drawers about 500 in
gold and $50 in silver and amongst the former discover
ed the Two identical pieces he had marked They then
returned to the Office when Col Mcguire informed Col
Sny der of his discovery. Major j. Wesley Watkins, the
United States Marshal then sent for and arrested
Martin, whereupon the premises again searched,
but without discovering any thing further. Martin was
committed to jail to by John Hanan Esq, the
United States Commissioner.
The officers state that the residence Of the accused
furnished In the most elegant style and that the
general interior arrangements such as to have
cited suspicion In the minds OF any who knew that
the occupants salary Of late but 81 900 per
The authorities at loss to account for the
which induced the accused thus to About twenty
years ago. whilst the late lr. John Skinner Post
master, young Martin received into the Office In the
humblest capacity through the kind Offices OF Chas. T.
Maddox Esq, late Postmaster and since that had
always proved Of the most industrious clerks in the
Office The officers have thus ascertaned that the accnsed
has deposited 81 in the Savings Bank Of Baltimore In
his name and 81 800 the account of his mother
from which II is fair to presume that the depredations
must have been going for some time, and for
siderable amount