The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-08-21

them with me. Upon entering, they
found that the letters were all gone,
the money drawer empty, and y few
stamps, which the clerk informed
them we always left out Of the safe
at night, missing. And no trace
could be found of the safe keys.
Supposing that L had disposed of
them in order that the trace of my
guilt, which it was taken for granted
l had concealed in the safe, could not
be discovered, they brought lock-
smith, and after much trouble, forced
the lock. This labor served only to
show them that the safe had been
completely rifled, and that the sum
of $3, 600, which had been in it the
night before, was gone.
I found that the cause which led to
suspicion being fastened on me were
the three following facts: First, the
revolver with which the deed was
committed had upon the butt silver
plate. on which was engraved my
name. The clerk took oath that the
weapon was mine, and that I always
kept it in the office. When they pro-
duced it, I could not moment doubt
that it did belong to me. Second,
that the bag was unlocked, and not
cut open, showing that it must have
been done by some one having in his
possession United States mail key.
Third, that I had not been home
during the evening, and that when
summoned at the post Office, I de-
layed so long in making my appear
ance.
To combat these facts, argued
that the state of the office proved
conclusively that it had been robbed;
and that without doubt the keys and
revolver had been taken at that time.
Also, that no trace of any of the
stolen articles was found about ME,
my house, or my office; and that, fur
ther, if I had desired to rob the mail,
L might have waited until it had ar
rived at the Office, and thus saved
myself the crime of murder. Against
the third statement, / told the reason
Of my remaining in the office so late,
and brought forward witnesses to
prove that 1 often did so on Wednes-
day evenings, in order that the mail
might be delayed as little rs possible.
Further, that the reason OF my re-
manning SO long in the office was,
that could not open the door. and
brought forward the fact that the
keys were missing, to sustain my de-
claration.
Although these arguments were by
no means fully satisfactory to those
who took tho ground that I was
guilty, still, they were so far so that
was released on bail of $4,000,
which [ readily obtained. BY con-
sent of the Post Office Department,
turned the affairs of the Office over to
my assistant. was thus left free to
pursue every means to prove my in
nocence, which L felt could only be
done by discovering the guilty party
accordingly placed the best of
detectives at work, with orders to
communicate to me tie first suspicion
that they entertained, for I found
that it was anything but comfortable
to be looked upon as murderer,
although I knew that T was innocent.
Thus three weeks passed without
anything of interest occurring, and
at the end of that time 1 could endure
the suspense no longer. Therefore,
wrote to an old friend of mine, who
was then on the detective force of
P, at L, and together we
sat about the search.
A week passed without bringing
more to light, and causing us to
despond, for we feared that the mur-
derer had covered his track SO that il
would be impossible to discover him.
We had been to work two days in
the city of c., and being about
to leave, 1 entered the hotel office
to settle. Having no small bills,
there was considerable change handed
back among it q two dollar bill
which had been torn in two. AS l
turned it carelessly over, I found that
the parts had been fastened together
with the margin of a couple of
postage stamps, which had printed
upon it "Nc. 15-Plate," but the
"No." and"Plate" had been crossed
out, and substituted in their place
was "Mar." and 1884," making it
read 'Mar. 15-1S64," which was
the day before the robbery and muir
der. This may seem all common
enough, but to me it was a ray of
light and hope; for the change was
in my own handwriting. 1 also re-
membered perfectly well making the
change; also that 1 had placed my