Daily Kennebec journal., 1881-05-24
R0BBING UNCLE SAN.
Hx-Postmaster Boyd Of Houlton in More
Trouble.
arrested for Breaking Open Letters and
Abstracting Money.
A ">ioed Fellow nov..n

rive short lines sent to the Associated
and appearing in the Monday morning aa;,;o-
.eiis a prlef story of the shame of William 7
n'yd OF houlton' for years prominent and
popu'ar resident OF that town. The despatcb
leaos tx-Postmaster Boyd was arrested
saturday night for robbing the Houlton nos,
olhce OF letters containing money. Tbav
were found upon his person. and be ..L,ui
edged his guilt
on the 3lst of last March Mr.. w II
blgelow Of Augusta, U. ). Post OHca
inspector, visited the post Office in
Houlton for the purpose of examining tho =.
counts OF the postmaster. 1t had been sus.
pected for some time that the incumbent. Mr.
Boyd, was defaulter of the general nos,,,
funds He was just making out his quarterly
postal accounts wheE Mr. BigeIow dronne,
IN upon him. Upon full inventory taken
OF all property in the post Office and of cash
on hand. it was found that he was short in
his accounts to the extent of some $1,000
Postmaster Boyd endeavored to deceive Nh.
inspector by counting the funds on hand
twice, but Mr.. Bigelow caught him in the
act. The Nan then reluctantly con-
fessed that he was guilty of embezzle.
ment, and asked that he be dealt with
as lightly as possible. 1t was a hard case
NO man in Houlton was more popular. B,vd
had been gallant soldier in the civil war.
| serving with great credit in the first Maine
cavalry. He had endeared himself to the
townspeople by his cordial manner, kind
heart. and apparently upright life Mr.. Bige-
low reported his case to the department, and
was instructed to put the office in charge of
Mr.. Boyd's bondsmen-Hon. Llewellyn
Powers. A. A. Burleigh, AID Dr. Buzzell-
and notify them that they must make good
the amount to the government. The prose-
cutiOn of the erring postmaster was left en-
tirely to the discretion of these gentlemen.
Soon after, Hon. Eben Woodbury. was nomi-
mated for the postmastership, but owing to
the deadlock in the Senate he was not con-
firmed until a few days ago, and will not en-
ter upon his duties till June 1st. The affairs
of the office, meanwhile, are conducted by
the bondsmen.
Houlon is one of the most important post
Offices in northern Maine. 1t is the separat-
ing Office for Aroostook county. All the mail
| for the county comes first to Houlton. where
it is assorted and sent on to its destination
1t is essential, in order that the people in
ArOOst0Ok may obtain their letters and pa
pers as speedily as possible, that the clerk
Il. 1 Il. Al
ly understand his business. After several
persons had tried to give satisfaction but had
failed, Mr. Boyd was put in to assist on the
arrival of the Western and Northern mails.
He had been thus employed but short
time, when complaints began to pour in from
all sections of the State, that letters contain
ing money and passing through the HoultOn
post Office never reached their destination.
In order that the thief might be detected,
decoy letters containing marked bills that
could be easily identified were put into the
pouches passing through this office. directed
to parties in upper Aroostook and to business
houses in various sections of the State. Mr..
Bigelow did not wish to go to Aroostook rer-
feared the guilty party might take the alarm.
He sent the local mail agent of Augusta, Mr..
Z. G. Stevens, to Houlton to look out for the
decoys and also to get some parties in the
post Office to watch the movements of Boyd.
Bv arrangement, the other clerk in the post
office uas taken SICK and had TO stay out
fer days. Boyd thus had the whole work
to do alone, and at once eagerly fell into
the trap so cunningly set for him. He was
seen to take several of the decoy letters con-
tanning the marked bills, open them, take out
the money and destroy the envelope and pa
per. He was at once arrested and lodged in
Houlton jail This was on Saturday evening.
The fact having been telegraphed to Mr..
Bigelow he directed the authorities to hold
Boyd in custody until process can be is
sued bv the United States court at Bangor,
to which place he will be brought for trial
on Wednesday, He will be arraigned on two
counts-for embezzement of funds and for
robbing the U. S. mail.