The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-16
A HYPoCRITE, scoUNDREI AND THIEF
Eighteen Months a Mail Robber.

From all accounts, the man Cowles. head
clerk in the postal service on the Daven-
port and Council Bluffs route, and one of
the Oldest clerks in the service, was a very
mean thief. He is in good circumstance
owns fine stock farm near Kellogg, Iowa,
and is most respectfully connected, his wife
being a half-sister of ex-Vice President
Colfax. Years ago he was a prosperous
merchant at the east He is fifty-two years
Of age. He has nine children-the eldest
a son of q, the youngest child being i've
years old, For years he has been mem
Der of the Congregational Church, respec-
ted by all who knew him. Mrs. Cowles IS
a talented woman. She was prominent
member of the Iowa State Grange, and
now fills the station of Flora in that organ
ization. On Monday last she left her home
for Buchanan, Mich. having been sum-
moned by telegraph to attendance at the
bedside of her dying father, Mr. Mathews
He expired on yesterday, (the 18TH and
she was with him. Better had it been the
death-bed of her husband.
Cowles is in Jail at Council Bluffs. The
penalty for his crime is mot less than one
year, nor more than five years contine-
ment in the penitentiary for each offence
every letter taken being distinct offence.
He will probably be found guilty, or in
dictments enough to keep him in prison
most of the balance of his life, should he
live twenty years longer. A more pitable
ruin of character and good name is not Of
ten seen.
He had been suspected for sometime,
and detectives Stuart and Furay were put
on his track who caught him with decoy
letters The Gazette says Stuart operated
from this end of the road, and Furay from
the west end. Last Monday (the 12th)
Stuart mailed several money letters at the
| Davenport Office, all with different post
marks. Among them was one TO a banker
in California, containing SIS. 1t failed to
reach Omaha. So on Wednesday morn
ing, at Avoca, Iowa, when Cowles entered
his car, he found Stuart and Furay already
in possession of it. He greeted them with
a pleasant good morning" and passed in
to another apartment. Stuart followed
him and asked for drink of water.
Cowles returned to show him the pail and
then started for the other ROOM Stuart
followed him again, and then told his bus
mess. Says Cowles, You'll have toprove
that, before arresting me. Replies Stu
art, We want no parleying about this
we have indubitable proof that you We
been robbing the mails For one thing, you
took $l5 from a letter yesterday. Zone
minute more and you wouldn' have caught
me, replied Cowles, turning pale. Then,
knowing that he would be searched he took
from his satchel letter. he had intended
to deliver to his son in Kellogg, which con
tanned the Identical money that was placed
in the California letter. He also took from
his pocket the stolen letter and its envel
ope, and surrendered them He told the
J agents that he had been
STEALING MONEY LETTERS FOR A YEAF
AND AHALF!
! and that lie intended to make a good thins
} of it, rake in something big very soon, anC
then resign the place. He said he com
menced the business in the summer of y
soon after the department forced him t.
; pay one-half the value of the contents Of a
: missing registered letter, the loss of which
lay between him and the postmaster OF
the route-the latter paying $50 and he $50
He could not tell the number of letters h.
had rihed and destroyed sometimes onl,
two or three day, and sometimes fftee,
to twenty. His usual practice was 20 tax
. letters on his eastward run, directed to east
j ern publishers, as it would be almost i'm
3 possible to trace the loss of letters directe
3 to distant points, east or west. He usual
enclosed the stolen money in an envelop
, with note, and delivered it to his wife, @
: one of his children, who would be waitin
1, = to see him at Kellogg, where they lived.
IS Only on Monday night, Cowles assistan
;. saw him open two letters at his desk. al
stract the money, and afterwards throw Ell
velopes and letters into the stove He ha
= become astonishingly bold in his Opera
70 tons
:, Cowles was appointed clerk in 1857, an
u in August 90 he was promoted to hea
:, clerk. In a postal car it is the duty Of tn
3 head clerk to assert the letters while I'll
- second clerk attends to the papers an
u mailing