The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1874-04-30

Josiah T. Holmes was. last week, found
guilty Of an indictment for enibezzling regis
tered packages from the U. S. mails during
the time he was postmaster Of this city. The
evidence upon which the Indictment was
found and upon which he was convicted was
very yOlumlnous, the trial lasting over week.
There were five indictments, covering ffy-
two counts. The L. s. special mail agent.
John NJ. Crowell, had upwards Of sixty wit
nesses supGnaed and in attendance on behalf
Of the government, many Of them from other
states. Everything was done on the part Of
the government that could be done to secure
conviction. No stone was LEFT unturned, no
link left out, no suspicious circumstance over.
looked which would tend to aid the prosecu-
ton or to substantiate the charge of the Off
cials. The reception of the news of the jury's
verdict produced profound sensation in our
city last Saturday. While everybody conceded
less and negligent officer, yet but few thought
him really c-iminal and for one, we must
confess that, after hearing all the evidence the
government had TO offer, We believe an inno-
cent man has been condemned. True, he did
not deny, nor did he attempt to deny, that the
larger portion Of registered letters traced to
this Office were received by him, for he had
in good faith receipted for them, but that they
were stolen by other parties we firmly believe.
either while in this office or elsewhere. Many
of our citizens knew of the loose way in which
the affairs Of the Office were conducted, of the
irresponsible characters that had free access
to the mail ROOM and Of the many changes
made by him in his clerks, one Of whom in
particular, man BY the name Of King Price.
turned out to be gambler. a companion of
bad men and lewd women. And while he
had paid, an stood ready to pay, every loss
occurring in his Office, Yet all this went for
naught in a criminal prosecution where 1t was
found impossible to fasten the guilt upon any
one else. We..believc the boy innocent, from
the fact that not only all his subsequent ac-
tons went 10 prove it, but from the fact that
he never attempted to flee from trial which
honor and his word to his friends alone bound
hi, to undergo. We have no fault to find
with government officials or with the jury or
the prosecuting attorneys. They simply, we
suppose, did what they conceived to be their
sworn duty, yet our judgment rebels and our
sense Of justice and right sickens at the thought
that innocence may have been by the law and
evidence condemned, while the real criminal
has gone unwhipped of justice. The evidence
disclosed, further, that, except in two in
stances, these registered packages were missed
between Saturday nights and Monday morn
ings, and the exceptions disappeared on q
night of club dance that Doc. was in the
habit of recording his registers before mig lit
and throwing them into the boxes. from which
they were emptied into pouches the next
morning without examination. When We take
the defendant was away from his office every
Sunday night; that the back door had a tran
som window that was not fastened half of the
time; that the door had only common lock |
that Frank Tully had seen man trying to get !
through the transom one night when Doc. was
at party; that key was one night left In the |
door by thief who was trying to get in, but |
was prevented by the appearance OF Holmes, |
which key exactly tit the door, one can see
how possible, even probable, that some other |
than Josiah L. Holmes was the cuprt. And !
now, after he has been found guilty by twelve |
Of his countrymen, 1t transpires that when this |
aforementioned King Price went away from !
Wichita he left in the hands OF the proprietor |
OF the Daily House trunk for an unpaid board |
bill, which trunk upon being opened was |
found TO contain several registered package |
envelopes, which fact Mr.. Fred. Daily and his
wife will testify to, but which, unfortunately,
never occurred to their minds until it was
called up by hearing comments upon the trial |
and conviction. Holmes had been in former
years deputy sheriff and constable in Shaw
nee county, and numbers of men of high stand |
ing In the capital city testified to his honor
and integrity as man. An effort was made
to drag in his arrest by Sheridan in the Indian
Territory. but, as for ourself. 1t had no weight,
for we had been informed by one high in place
at Washington that the whole thing, after
careful examination, looked very much like
persecution. In conclusion We have only to
add that personally Homes is nothing to us
we even found fault with him as an officer, but
with many others Of Our citizens we believe,
in spite of the evidence that convicted him,
that he is innocent OF criminalty, and we
hope he may be granted another trial.