The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-12-23

agent OF the PoSt-Ofhce department Ut hicH-
mond, was arraigned~ to answer three in
dctmcnts. charging him with embezzllnS
| two letters containing valuabies and with
dctaining mali matter in violation Of law.
To each indictment accused pleaded not
guilty. :,
The following Jury was sworn to try All
the cases together: A. S. McRae, a. Is.
Duesberry, Robert Kenney, George w,
Mayo, David W. A. Frayser, Joseph Terref,
J. G, Christian. Theodore Masters, =. H..
| Cooper, w. w. Coldwell, Il. r. barham,
John 2. Quarles. =
District Attorney /. J.. Lewis appeared
for tine Government and Messrs. james Nee
son and John Lyon for the accused.
THE TRAP SET.
! Several witnesses were examined for the
| Government. The most important OF these
. was <Special-Agent Troy. AS has Decn
I heretofore stated, in consequence OF the
loss Of mail matter in tranSitu an inyestiga-
lion had taken place which led the officers
| 10 believe that the depredations were COM
mtted ut Richmond.
On Monday, December Cd, Specia!-Agent
Troy concealed himself in closet III the
Dostai-car OF the northern-bound tram.
Holes had been bored through the partition,
and Troy thus had afullyiew OF the interior
of the Car. Upon arriving ut the BYRD
Street depot, as arranged with Mr.. Troy,
the clerks Went out OF the car to take break
fast at the restaurant near by, as they often
did. They locked the door oenino them.
Soon afterwards Mr.. Wilcox arrived with
| the Richmond mail. With his own key be
opeard the end door OF the postal car and
went in. r
'-.. SCENE
A little later, from his place Of conceal
| ment. Mr. Troy saw Mr. Wilcox take
package OF letters from pouch; then throw
| il back and take out another; then throw
that back, and finally take out 'th:rd, or
possibly fourth, package, which last he put
| in his side pocket.
subseo ouently, Mr. Troy says, he saw
Wilcox 60 to the pi9con-holes, run over
the letters, and thought he saw nm take
something out Of letter, aud then saw MIN
throw this letter into the stove
Wilcox, on his way to tho post-ollce on
| tho n3ail-Wa"ou, was arrested with the
package on his person. The package was
on its way from Camden, s. g., TO New
York, as appeared from letter turned lace
outward. ...-..,."t.. ..,..s'
| THE PRISONER ON TIE STAND.
| After the District Attorney had examined
| all his witnesses, defence called NUMBER
OF gentlemen who testified AS to the excel
lent character heretofore borne by MI. w IL
cox.
Mr.. Wilcox then went upon the stand.
His statement, III brief. was that Satufoay
night precedin" the Sunday Of his arrest,
when he was about to leave the post-olncc
for the sou,hern-bound train, captain DO
slah Crump, mailing clerk. handed MN a
package OF letters which had come IN after
| tnryarp-
somewhere about 4 dozen letters tied with
a cord--W ilcoX said he carried over TO the
derot. but forgot to mail on the postal-car.
Sunday morning at houle, in thepreSence
OF his father-in-laW, N. S. Day, and others.
he eypressed regret that he bad failed to
mail that package. When hewcnt' to the
Washington tram Sunday morning he car
ried the package with him. Soon after
going into the car he took the package out
of his pocket and threw it into a[NeW
York; pouch. A moments reflection, he
said, convinced him that he had done
wrong. he reached down into the pouch
to recover the package, and then placed II
in his pocket. Mr.. Wilcox is now sure
that, though his eye rested upon the rlSht
package, he took up another about the same
size. He admitted that he went to the pl'
geon-holcs, but only to place in them some
loose letters. Such letters, it was suose.
ouently proved, had been handed hun at
the depot. He declared that the letter
opened and burnt by him was bis oWn-an
old letter upon which he had some memo.
randa. The money on his person (about
eight dollarS) Mr.. Wilcox accounted for, II
seemed. ...t.. ..s
Il BULLDOZING. ~. ..r T..
: Mr.. Wilcox gave his statement in a quiet
/ straightforward way. Mr.. Lewis cross
questioned him closely without securing
any materially varying admissions. Viii.
cox said that he did not tell this story when
arrested because Troy tried to bulldozc
him. He did not deny that if he had told
this to Troy and the special agents will
, him rridball and Henderson, they could
: have tclegraphed and found il such pack
J are as Wilcox described could be found in
| the pouch.
| CAPTAIN CRUMP.
Captain Josiah Crump, placed upon The
stand, remembered having given Wilcox ;
package tied with string such as Wilcox de
scribed. Was sure, however, that the .ad
dresses were turned inwards. [The ad
dresses Of the package found on Wileo,
showed that it was from Camden, S. O., t'
New York. They were outward.1 StaIet
that il was quite common for them to mak
: upsuch packages for the transfer agents aIte
the muil-bags were closed. Wilcox had for
gotten before to mail snch packages. Wit
ness did not remember that Wilcox toll
} him that he forgot to mail this particula
package.
Mr.. Day testified that Wilcox expressed
regret Sunday morning that he had forgotten
to mail the package Crump gave him.
NO CONFESSION.
/, It also appeared III evidence that the Spe
cial agents had for some time been trying t
4 tran Wilcox with decoy letters, but hat
Il failed; that it was Troy's theory that II
! |takingth packages out of the New Iorl
4 pouch Wilcox tried until he got on
1.small enough to conceal in his pocket
that when arrested in rear OF Myers
bridge by the special agents Wilcox de
,t.nied having any letters but such a
\ were lawfully in his possession, ant
when asked how he accounted for the pack
laseiip question, said to the agent: If yot
mean that Fam thief, you are mistaken !"
that one Of the agents tried in vain to get
i,confession from Wilcox, and that in Post
s,master Forbes's.room, when Wilcox denlet
sthat ne had been guilty Of theft, Troy callet
him Ak did liar:s' sS
These are the facts, much compressed, j
is true, but, it is hoped, substantially accu
rate and fairly stated. ".l. =.
AboutS O'Clock, sill the, evidence beins
in. the court adjourned the iuay until II
o,sioek this morning, when the argument
wiHbe commenced. Il ~ ~. t.st.....srt...
! Mrs. Wilcox was by her husbend's side
dursag the DAY. They have lsssse family
OF chadren. ~. ~ a,t
|