New Orleans Republican., 1873-06-01
Mall Depredations on the North Ii Ouisiaua
and Texas Railroad.

| From the Louisiana lntellyencer.
The O,acl,ita Telegraph of May con
tanned three columns of loaded matter re
| ating to the mail robberies on the Nortl
Louisiana and Texas railroad. The articl
was partly made up by the reproduction 0
vituperative editorial paragraph, which
made its appearance in our contemporary
issue of April 20. The main purpose of tina
| paragraph seems to have been to refiec
suspicion upon the young Messrs. Ray, anG
to strengthen the cause, Major Selye was
dragged in.
In our issue of the seventh instant we pub
Iished card from Mr.. James B. Ray, route
| agent on the road referred to above; and or
| the fourteenth a card from Mr.. w. H
| Hanna; but in regard to Major Selye, We
| throught proper to refrain from all com
| ments until an opportunity to confer with
that gentleman personally. Major Selye
| favored us with call yesterday, and from
| brief conversation with him we cleaned
| the following:
| Shortly after receiving an official notltica
ton from the Postoffice Department rela-
| tive TO the depredaticns alleged to have
| been committed on the road above referred
| to, Major Selye started numerous decoys
| over that route, and made use of other de-
| vices in order to trap" the route agents
| running that road, in case any OF them were
| tampering with the mails. For weeks a
| watchful eye was kept on those route
| agents, and every train passing over the
road Including the one on which Mr.. Ray
| is employed) was subjected to the closest
| scrutiny by the Major in person; but in
| variably the .'decoys" forwarded through
| the mails reached their destination without
| bearing the slightest marks of having been
| tampered with.
The very nature of detectives calling
| renders it essential to the success of his
plans that they be not heraded through
| the press Hence it was that the move
| ments of Major Selye did not appear in the
| columns of the Telegraph,
In his card, published in the Telegraph of
| May II. Mr. McCranie again refers to Ma
| ior SeIve in connection with the seventeen
| letters found broken open, impatiently in
| curing why this matter had not been in
| Vestigated. Major Selye is responsible to
| the Postotfice Department and not to the
| Je!egroph, and understands his duty better
Il n to expose his plans before hisinvestiga
| tons are concluded.
We learn from the special agent that the
| case stands thus:
In the latter part of the December. 1872,
| a workman in the repair shops of the North
| Louisiana and Texas railroad, located in
| th. city, while overhauling freight car,
| which had been used as a mail and bag
| gage car, found number OF letters between
| the outer and inner lining of the car. The
| pos, marks of these letters extended from
July 8, 1872, to November %, 1872
| When these letters were received by the
special agent from Mr.. Pettibonne, they
| had all be opened. Mr.. PettibOne is the
person who claims to have found them
| while in the act Of epairing the car.
The person who broke open the letters
| has not as vet been discovered. The facts,
so far as developed by Major Selye, justify
but one theory, to wit: The letters were
| not opened by either of the four different
route agents through whose hands they
passed at different periods. as the records
of the Vicksburg and Monroe postotfices
show, but were opened by but one person.
as they were all opened roughly, in the
manner, and seemingly by the same rough
hand.
1t is the custom Of the route agents while
in charge Of the mails to distribute the same
| in the mail room Of the car while the train
| is under way, a set of pigeon holes or dis
| tributing case, attached to the ceiling of
| the car. being used for this purpose. The
| car in which the letters were found was a
| dilapidated concern, and oscillated very
much while in motion, and it Is supposed
| that the letters in question found their way
| from the distributing case at different times
! through the creyices into the space between
! the ceiling and outer plank through the
motion of the car. This hypothesis is
strengthened by the fact that a valueless
| newspaper enclosed in a wrapper was found
among the letters in question, also two let
ters which were not broken open, evidenced
| by the following extract of a communica-
ton written by Mr.. c. S. Pettibone to the
Postoffice Department at Washington, an
nouncing the discovery Of the letters:
| II found also, between the walls Of the
| lat< p,a:lar at& &bio ,,Iaoo IirootaH
to st. Louis, Missouri, and one for Crow
Lake, Louisiana, with seals unbroken.'
1t is fair conclusion that there has been nc
robbery whatever by the route agents, but
| that the letters were opened by the frs;
| finder, who, after breaking open a portion
of them and examining their contents
threw them back between the ceiling and
outer lining of the car.
1t has been conclusiveiy ascertared by
the special agent that each OF the tour route
| agents employed on that route at ditferen'
times, had in charge one or more Of the let
| ters found.
1t would be very unreasonable and untall
| to suppose that all four of the route agent;
and two or three other young men who
acted as such, would have opened letters
and then have adopted the same plan o
disposng Of the letters broken open. N
man with the least sense of Justice or fair
! Cd, Ao "dA CASCpO ouO
dishonest and dishonorable in all his in
| stincts, would adopt such d mOnstrou!
theory as the only means by which suspicion
might be thrown on number of younG
| men who have always stood we'll IN the es
tiInaton of the public
| The person who first discovered the let
ters is probably the guilty party. Petit
| bone was the first to notify the department,
| and forward them to Ma or Selye, bu
some one else may have examined the ca
previous to Pettibone, and after Opening
the letters deposited them where Pettlbont
says he found them.
Well and widely as it is known that there
is not a more efficient and untiring member
of his profession than Major Selye, he hav
ing in the prosecution of his official duties
pursued to the penitentiary the first ant
| only mail robbers convicted in this Stat
since the war, it may seem unaccountabl'
why the Telegraph should have referred t.
him in the abusive language used. Suci
blackguardism being glaringly inapposit'
| to any conceivable case. we undertake t.
shed ray Of light on the matter: During
the late presidential campaign Major Sely'
! ,abored most diligently to elect his friend
Hon. Frank Morey, to Congress, thereb.
| greatly aiding in the defeat of 6. W.. NC
| Cranie. This may furnish theory whlcl
will account for the Telegraph mans enmlt,
toward Major Selye, who, we may add, IL
conclusion, is abundantly able to take car
| of himself.