The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-05-31
THE SPECIAL AGENTS APOLOGY.
Room for More Cards!

lame and bungling piece of compost
ton. 1t is, in fact, just such Il tumble
OF absurdities and contradictions as
must leave the impression that the
writer, instead of taking the offensive
boldly in a matter Of duty, is covering
behind suggestions and unmanly sub
terfuges 20 prevent clear insight into
the great crime committed and which
it was his sworn duty to inquire hon
estly into. For an official, who has
assumed the role of Il fearless investiga-
tor, who thus truckIes and sllirks, we
can feel nothing but contempt. We
have patiently read his statement, and
we stand amazed at the effrontery of Il
man and al officer who will endeavOr
to palm off upon an enlightened people
such transparent stuff as that "oscilla-
ton" will cram letter through:t crack
in Il ceiling, tear the envelope open,
and within the same week, if not the
same day, thus dispose of two letters
containing two photographs each; or
as that n mail robber can rip to pieces
the inside of mail car and rob letters,
and then place the material back with
out the knowledge of the route agents
or as that postal route agents will leave
they can be opened with impunity,
then to be chucked into an accessible
part of Il mail car. These hypothesis
being so transparcntIy absurd, the in
ference is conclusive that Selyc has not
done his duty in this matter and is
hopclessly confused between the facts
and his manifest desire to have the in
vcstigation end in nothing. What his
reasons are, is not susceptible of proof,
but the sudden collapse of his detective
energies and the goading which has
been necessary to plunge him into
II bcNga,iv defense, indicate clearly
enough that his reasons lack the cour-
ageous faith accompanying always a
manly, honest course.
1t is not necessary to analyZo Sclyc's
statemcnt,-a statement which is the
fruition of Il special railroad visit from
New Orleans to Monroe but II word
or two may not be inappositc to show
the worthlessness of his theory. This
Agent knew, (because he called upon
Pcttibonejusta after he reached Monroe,)
that Pcttibonc uEyst discovered the
letters" The first discovcrer, Sclye
states "is probably the guilty party"
Did he ask Mr.. Grant if he found any
of these letters? Has he ever asked
Mr.. Parlee if he saw any of them .
These men found the letters, and there
could have been no other "iirst" dis
coverers-and they must be guilty Of
the robbery, according to Sclye's thco-
~. Why are they not arrested and the
robbery boldly charged upon them?
Was it fair, honest, or upright in
"Major' Selyc to tempt, by "traps"
and "decoys," route agents OH the rail
road-as he positively asserts he did do
who could not possibly have been
guilty of robbing the mails, they huv-
ing been employed after the robberies
were committed: Did this Agent de-
liberatly set "traps," in order that more
robberies should be committed: If he
did not we want to know uncquivocal-
ly why he set straps" and started ..dc-
coys" after December, 1872, when tho
robbcries were committed bcto,.c Dc
cenber, 1872, and when ut least two of
the route agents had then loft the road i:
Did he, by setting these 'uraps' and
starting these "dccoys," intend to cor
rupt unsupported Ag>ntS: If he did
not, what did he mean:
1t is stated that these letters were all
opened Gin the Same manner" This
is untrue. We have seen two of the
envelopes, and they were torn open in
an entirely dissimilnr manner.
cit IS supposed" (hy this Agent
''that the letters in question found their
way from the distributing case at ditlr-
rent times through the crcviccs into
the space between the rcilinwand outer
plank through the motion of tho car >,
The letters never did any such tbin".
The distributing case was mt TIE .2,,y Of
the car, and the letters werc found h,-