The Leavenworth weekly times., 1876-07-06
R0BBlNG THE MAILS.
Thos. r. Taylor Route Agent on
the l., L, & G. Road Arrested and
Held to Bail in the Sum of
$4,000.
Special Agents Brewster Cameron
and Henry Booth Work up the
Gaze with Decoy Letters.
Their Evidence Very Strong Against
TayIo-.

the General Office at Washington, tina
letters containing money, which had bee
properly sealed, stamped and addressed
had never reached their Destination, an,
measures were set on foot by the Postmas
ter General to ferret the matter out an,
bring TO justice the perpetrators of tn
villainies The efforts OF the specia
agents seemed to be of no avail, however
for long time in pointing directly to tn,
culprit; but suspicion pointed IN a yer,
strong manner toward one of the rout,
agents on the line between Leayenwortt
and Coffeyville. The name Of the suspect
ed agent Is
THOMAS Il. TAYLOR.
The principal reason why he more thar
Others should be suspected seemed TO be The
TACT that he was too extravsgant in the ex
pendlture OF money, outside OF his family
for poor man who only received S75 pei
month salary for his services in the posi-.
ton he held. He had frequently been
seen to squander large sums OF money on
various occasions, not only in this city
where his home is, and where he has pro.
vided for an interesting and respected fam.
ily-but at other points on his route, where
he has had occasion TO stop over for any
length Of time. The general expression
was when Tom Taylor "held his finger up
that it was all right, for he always had
PLENTY CT MONEY.
During the psst year, alter he had been
suspected, several spies were sent out on his
route, upon one pretext or another, some OF
whom visited thus city and learned of his
extravaganza in money matters, and OF
course their reports only had tendency to
strengthen the suspicious Of those who had
the matter in hand. Several times he had
BEEN WARNED
by the fate of others who were taken from
similar positions to hat which he occupie d,
and sent to the State prison for offenses
like those with which he is charged but
seeming, possess a spirit OF self-reliance
In his own powers OF acuteness, to evade
detection, the officers think, he still carried
on the work he had begun, and it must be
said bottled the efforts of many to detect
anything wrong. Some time last April,
Special Agent Crowell tried his hand at
the capture of whoever Vas the party guilty
OF riHing the mails, and addressed 'decoy
letter." G, one addressed to a fictitious
point where it was to have been delivered.
This letter was destined 10 Coffeyville.
Maj. CrowelI went through to that point,
and as Taylor was then the agent, it was
to him he looked for the safe delivery Of
the letter. Crowell got off the train at the
station about the same time with Taylor,
and the latter seeing him, ran at once 10
him and exclaimed:
Il HAVE MADE A MISTAKE"
and explained that he had put letter off
at some other station, which should have
gone to Cofieyville. Maj. Crowell asked
no further question:, but satisfied that it
was his letter that had been left, returned
b ONE and nothing more of consequence was
which was only a prelude to the difficult
ties which were TO follow in case the victim
should prove willing TO fall into
THE TRAP,
which was af,erward to be prepared to en-
snare him. Still the complaints that
money was missed daily, continued without
abatement, and Tay lor continued 10 spend
money freely, drinking and having jolly
times with his sunshine friends, little
that day of reckoning was COM
ing on which he would be caught in tolls,
from which, it would be next to impossible
10 escape.
A week ago, last Friday morning, Special
Agents
BREWSTER CAMERON AND HENRY BOOTH
we're ordered by Col. +. w. Shourte, Chief
Of the ST. Louis division, to take charge OF
The business of bringing to speedy justice
the party Who had heen the cause of SO
much trouble to people sending valuable
letters over the l., l.. & G. road. They
started out Immediately and came to Kan
sas City, where they prepared two letters,
addressed one to ficticious Miss Mamie
Paxton, containing ten dollsrs in marked
money, to go to Cofeyville, and one
to a supposed John Burke, contain
ing four dollars, also marked, to
go 10 Colony Station. These they
placed in the hands of chief head rail
way clerk +. W. Camp, at Kansas City,
telling him to deliver them in package
with others to the route agent, at Ottawa.
This, as his appended evidence will sub
.tantiate, he did, and Taylor was the agent
who was to receive them, for delivery at
The offices to which they were addressed.
They never reached their destination, as
The sequel will prove.
Messrs. Cameron and Booth went on the
same trains with the letters, pretending to
the conductors that they were land buyers,
with apparent interest TO the his
IL ,l<
which they passed.
They arrived at Coffeyville in the after
noon, and at first did not pay much atten-
ton to Taylor, but soon got acquainted, and
it was not long before the three were
burning il" at a lively rate, drinking and
playing cards in saloon, kept by a man
named Zimmerman. This was kept up
until late hour, but the agents saw moth
ing to guide them on the chase. They all
put up at the came hotel, the Eldridge
House, and next day the same good time
was apparently enjoyed until in
the afternoon, when they began to
Dffer to bet each other sums of money, and
finally Taylor was induced to pull out his
roll of money, in which the agents imme
iiately saw So bill they had marked and
put in the decoy letter addressed to Mamie
Paxton. They afterward got him into
their room in the hotel, and introducing
themselves in their official character, de-
manded his money, which he delivered to
Booth, who, singling out the bill referred
10, attempted to hand it to Cameron, when,
hey allege, Taylor sprapg forward and
snatched it from his hand, and in Booths
sndeavor to regain it. the bill was torn.
- ..I<Sl L., -ha.. ha
( GOT THAT MONEY,
and he replied, frst, at the Leavenworth
then said he got it from q con-
auctor in change. In addition TO the
Eve dollar bill, they found in his possession
tvo two-dollar bills that had been marked.
When asked, sometime after his arrest, how
he vas going 70 account for the poeession Of
the money, hi. reply was thst he could not
account for IT. He did not deny being
guilty, but said they would have 70 prove
the charges they had made against him.
He was brought to this city, and his pre-
liminary examination was begun before
United States Commissioner Lecompt, on last
and was continued until yesterday
when it was concluded.
The above is in substance the evil
evidence of Cameron and Booth, the agents
who 20 successfully worked the case up
Chief Head Clerk, K W. Camp, Of Kansas
City, testified during the examination that
he received the two marked letters and put
them in the package that was to be deliver
ed to Taylor, At Ottawa, but said he did
not know Who they were intended for. but
knew something was wrong.
Harry Hook, Who was on the train at the
time, making . trip with Taylor, testified
that he saw the pouch thrown into the car,
At Ottawa, and Mr.. Taylor distributed the
ettefs; saw Taylor change money with the