Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-01-29
HEAVY ROBBERIES.
The Arrest of Elisha Cowles, Mail
Agent ON She Chicago, Rock Island
& Pacific Railroad, for Robsing the
nalls.
From the Davenport Democrat, Jan. Is


From the Davenport Democrat, Jan. Is.
One of the mos. as SOUNDING systems of
mail robberies ever known in this state
has lately been unearthed bv special
agents of the Post Office Department.
and the whole matter was made public
yesterday by the arrest OF Elisha Cowles.
Postal A gent ON the Chicago, Rock Is
land d; Pacific Railroad. To begin at the
beginning, suspicious were excited
against Cowles last fall, for the first time
On October q, 1873, Mr.. Charles Stewart,
the dry goods merchant of this city.
mailed a letter at the office in this CITY
containing $50, directed 10 a party at
Downey, Iowa. This letter left Daven-
port on the morning of October 9Th. on
Cowles' rum" but it never reached its
destination. Postmaster Russell ilnme
dlately reported the case To- the Depart
ment at Washington, and he, together
with Special Agents J. Z. Stuart, of Iowa
City, and j. B. Furay, of Omaha, proceed
oil to investigate the case. 1t took some
time 10 work up the matter so as to fas-
ten the robberies directly ur-an Cowles,
but thc agents were fully So Ii of his
guilt in a few days after tax the case
IN hand. So decoy letters were sent out,
purpose. On Monday morning last the
special detectives Stuart and Furay ar
rived in Davenport. anG were in consul
tation with Postmaster Russell for a long
time. They also remained here Monday
night, waiting for Cowies TO take his
run" they have at last brought the case
TO a focus. On Tuesday morning Cowles
lett the city in charge of his car, and the
detectives were also passengers ON the
same train. Yesterday morning Mr.. Rus
sci received dispatch from the detec-
tives, stating that they had just arrested
Cowies, in his car, near Avoca 1t is
stated that when arrested Cowles had
one of the decoy letters in his hard, and
Others i'll his possession. He made full
conf ssion OF al, his rob5eries The con-
fession will not be made public, bat it is
slated that he has been rifling letters for
years past, and that for several weeks he
has been stealing letters at the rate of
fifty day. He appears to have exercised
little caution ia his operations, and to
have broken into letters by the whole
sale in a perfectly reckless and indiscrim-
mate manner The prisoner was taken
to Des 1Ioines and placed IN jail
Elisha Cowles has had an eventful life,
anu mas seen mQCQ lrOuDle ana MANY
changes. lie is 81 years old, is native
of New England; he went into business
and amassed much wealth, being at one
time one of the richest men in the town
in which he lived. At the time he own
cd and operated two large saw mills, and
was prospecting finely when misfortune
came, and he was twice burned out, los
ing each time over $4,000 About eight
years ago he came to Iowa, bought a tract
of land near kellogg, Jasper county, and
upon this farm he has ever since resided
with his family. He has been married
twice, his second wife being half-sisser
to Schuyler Colfax He has large fam
lily, consisting of his wife and nine child
ren, the eldest being son of 20 years of
age
Covfles has been mail agent on the
Dave lport run" of the C., r. l. & p.
for 81 wen years; he has always been re-
gard ed IS good, reliable clerk, but never
as a very smart or efficient one. He had
always been regarded as strictly honest
up to the date of the disclosures last &C.
tober.