St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1857-12-03
New Theory of Stealing.

1t has been announced that James
o. Brayman, an editor of the Chicago
Democrat, was on the 29th Oct.
sentenced to four years hard labor in
the Penitentiary, for stealing letters
from the Post Office in that city. The
Democrat of the 9th ult. says:
so far as Mr.. Brayman's connection with
this office is concerned, we have only to say
that he was highly recommended to us by
both the editors of the Buffalo Commercial
Advertiser and Buffalo Courier, papers of OPP
positc politics He had been connected with
both offices, and was in the Courier Office pre-
vious to his leaving Buffalo for this city His
position in this Office was what is known
among newspaper men us paragraphist.
He was naturally of a religious turn of mind,
and passed most of his leisure in reading re-
ligious papers and writing therefor. One of
our assistants, as a counterpart to Mr.. Bray
mans sectarian zeal, effected an exchange
with the Boston Investigator, an intidel paper.
We have IA distinct remembrance on two sew
cral occasions, in the absence of our assistant
that this paper fell into Mr.. b. hands. and
that he manifested his Indignation at it and its
contents by stamping it Indignantly under his
teet. The drawers and shelves in his editorial
room We're always crowded with Baptist items,
giving the whereabouts of different clergymen
revivals in their churches, &C.
We had entire confidence in Mr. Brayman' 5
innocence until the return of his brother from
the East. We supposed he would then have
an examination. To our great surprise the
examination was waived. The affair is indeed
an inexplicable one, and We are yet to fathom
his motives
We take the following in relation
to Mr.. Brayman from the Milwaukee
Wisconsin
1.-The case of James o. Brayman now on
trial in Chicago, for larceny. is, litelallv. one
of the most extraordinary that ever happened
in any country. 1t seems, literally, crime
without motive. His habits were abstemious
and frugal. He had a salary not only ample
for his wantsbut more than he used II,
has been honest and honorable in every rela,
ton of life, and yet he has broken open letters
and taken the money thcrefrom.
In Buffalo he was regarded as one of the
most honest and exemplary men in that great
city. The only motive that we can imagine is
that he may have possessed the miser insa-
table thirst for gold and could not restrain
his volition whenever he came within sight OF
the charm of money. Up to the present time
!
of the Baptist Church.
! We notice that some of the secular uewspa-
pers have cast it as slur upon the Baptist de-
nomination. that Mr.. Brayman was deacon
of one of their churches. They have no cause
to do SO, for the gentlemen connected with our
office have had better opportunities of knowing
him than any Baptist in the City, and there
is no one of them but that will testify that
outside OF this act, his conduct has been that
Of an exemplary Christian in every respect"
1t is alleged that the stealing pro,
pensities of Brayman were attribu-
table to insanity or monomania. The
following is the testimony of the Buf.
falo Advertiser, in the office of which
he was once employed
During his engagement with us we were
often puzzled by the traits of character he ex-
hibited. As a doer of all work his services
were very valuable. His taciturnity was re-
markable, and it was the hardest thing i'm the
world to keep up any conversation with him
We never knew him to laugh heartily. nor to
express any strong likes or dislikes for men or
things; in fact he seemed utterly without
passion of any kind except for work One pc
culiarity he had that sometimes gave us no
little annoyance. That was the habit of tuck
ing away in the queerest places pieces of manu-
script, and slips cut from exchanges, such as
usually litter an editors table, so that they
could be found by nobody but himself A
phrenologist would say secretiyeness was his
largest organ. In his personal habits he was
singularly abstemious and frugal, and allowed
himself none of the ordinary amusements of
society, beyond intercourse with those COM
posing the limited circle which he knew