The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-10-28
Rev. VIM. Louis woodruff's Case

From the Baltimore Sun.

for violating the Postal Laws.
From the Baltimore San
The charges against the Rev. VIM LOUIS 1ust
Woodruff, who was arrested 1n NJ {Go ~
,uaaI, hv Postofice Inspector w. i. Hender-
cor was heard Tuesday by United states
Commissioner Rogers. Mr.. WoodruH has
been acting for the past three months as pas
for of Emanuel Reformed Episcopal Cnurcn'
Hoffman and Eden streets, though noI Ies
lary ordained to the ministry OF tnat Gnut bns
He was formerly CongregatlonalsI,, pus nas
preached for congregations OF other churT Ts
He is tall in person, with rather an ins1 s;nce
nal and keen face. He had been IN JAN slllc I
Thursday, unable to give the bail requmlr5sui
$4,000. He has family living on Euei
street, near the church. ~
The government was Represented ny Dio
trict Attorney Stirling, and the DEFENSE ny
Mr.. E. J. Bond. IT.
The first witness was Mr.. Henderson. he
said that his attention was first called 10 the
matter by Mr.. Sultzer, of the Baltimore Guy
postoffice. who told him that complaint ha9
been made by Mr.. R. II. Lawrence, OF Drulu
Hill avenue extended, that some one had peen
tampering with his mail Mr.. Lawrence
showed witness some letters, one Delng lIom
Fl. Jefferson, of Des PLANES, ILLINOIS, lnclos-
ing others. One of them was letter from
Mr.. Jefferson to r. II. Lawrence, dated oc-
tober l, as follows: l3.
"Mr. Lawrence-Dear Sir: | can pay you
$3.50 for that note in 80 days. That is the
best can do. ID. JEFFERSON. I.
On the back of this letter was an answer as
follows: Dear Sir: If you will send me
certified check for $3.50 soon l will give you
the note for $3.50. Unless l receive 1t soon
l will not agree to it. Respectfully yours, ;,
LAWRENCE, Box 30.
Inclosed was also card sent with this an
swer, as follows: ga. P. Lawrence Il Co.,
advertising agents, No. 9 Hoen Building, Bal
timore, Md; postoffice box 30. 4
Witness put letter addressed h. ID. Law
renee in box 2lO, as if from jefferson. Wood
ruff took that letter out and was arrested on
a car and brought back to the postoffice;, In
reply to questions from witness, Mr.. Wood
ruff said he took out the letter thinking it was
for A. f. Lawrence. His habit was to open
A. F. Lawrence's letters, and if there was
nothing in them in regard to the advertising
business. which A. F. Lawrence had turned
over to him, he would seal up the letters and
send them on to Mr.. Lawrence. This, he
said, he had intended doing with the letter he
had lust received. Witness asked him If he
did not notice it was addressed to K. h. Law
renee, and got no reply. He finally acknowl-
edged he had written the answer to Jefferson,
and stated that if he had got the certified check
he expected to be able to borrow some money
from A. F. Lawrence, of whom he had bor-
rowed $50 recently. Woodruff told the wit
ness he had been partner with A. f. Law
renee in the newspaper advertising business.
r. H. Lawrence testified that he lives on
Druid Hill avenue extended, i'll Baltimore
county; is lawyer by profession and prac-
ticed in Chicago, but for the past five years
has only been winding up his business. He
gave statement similar to Mr.. Henderson as
to his receiving the letters from FL. Jefferson
referring to the offer of $780, Witness wrote
to jefferson that he had never received the
offer or answered it, and probably somebody
was trying to defraud him or witness Did
not know Mr.. Woodruff at all. Bought coal
of A. F. Lawrence and knew him from that.
w. B. Smith, postoffice inspector, testified
that he heard Woodruff say to Henderson that
if he made the collection for A. L. Lawrence
his object was to get a small sum from him as
a loan on the strength of it. lie did not say
he would exact loan, though Mr.. Henderson,
in asking Woodruff if that was his object, used
the words exact Il loan.
Arthur F. Lawrence testified that he resides
at 525 Mount street, and has a coal-yard on
Freshman street. The first intelligence he had
of the matter was when he read it in The San
paper Friday morning. The card inclosed
was his former business card. He came to
Baltimore in the fall and started an adverts-
ing agency. Mr.. Woodruff came to see him
about some advertising he said he wanted
done, representing that he was with Rev. DIR.
jelly, at New Windsor College. Witness at
forwards removed his desk to the office of the
Presbyterian to give his attention to the ad-
vertising agency for that paper. To his sur
prise he found that Mr.. Woodruff had a desk
there The witness gave up the advertising
business and sold his desk to Mr.. Woodruff,
who had entered into a printing office partner
ship on Sharp street Witness gave him a
quantity of his cards and bill-heads that were
in the desk on emptying it. While at the
Presbyterian office they rented a box in the
postoffice together for three months. After
going into the coal business witness asked Mr..
Woodruff to continue to bring the mail. Told
him he was welcome to all the newspapers,
many of which, continued to come, with the
exception of one from Glasgow. The witness
never gave Mr.. Woodruff authority to open
his letters On last Friday week, the 18th
instant, he received note from Woodruff
asking to see him at the postoffice. Witness
met him there, and he wanted to borrow 500,
saving he had note to pay and he was anX-
ious not to disappoint the man. lie offered
witness as security a note of a gentleman Tor
S78, and also said he expected a certified
check. Witness said he would consider the
matter, and that night mailed Woodruff
check for $50 Witness knew of Woodruff
having some silver mining stock of deprecla-
ted value. He wanted to raise $500 on 1t.
One person sold Woodruff goods after asking
witness about him. and took the mining stock.
Witness always regarded Woodruff as man
Al o1r Y1r1dn or
circumstances. On two occasions Woodruff
opened witnesses letters and witness did not
then tell him not to do so again. Once wit
ness inserted an advertisement for Woodruff
in the Youths Companion. Woodruff said it
was not put in as he had contracted, and he
wanted his money back. Witness wrote to
Perry, Mason & Co. about it. letter from
them to the witness was opened by Woodruff,
who said he thought it was about his adver
tisement On another occasion he lnclosed
an opened letter to witness, stating he had
opened it by mistake. r FRI.
Mr.. Woodruff made statement. He said
that several times he had opened Lawrence
letters coming to their box. my idea" he
said. ''was that if the check passed through
nv hands / would have better chance of get
ting the loan was then negotiating for. L
signed his name once to business transac-
tlOn winch came Udch W Ills HduuS. l HCfCl
tried to initiate his hand, but on the contrary.
My only object was to get the loan by means
of it. never contemplated having the check
put in any other name than A. f. Lawrence.
The witness said he often asked correspon-
dents to address box 210, to which his had
been changed from 10. He said he had
written letters in the name of A. F. Lawrence,
and he never complained. Wrote letter to
Appleton Il Co. in his name, of this tenor:
81 can put you on the track of some one who
is about to open school, to whom you can
send your publications with view to their
introduction" Witness signed the letter to
Jefferson Lawrence. If he could not use his
name what use would the letter-heads have
been? He certainly thought he had right
to do so. t.
Mr.. Stirling said the whole case was in the
defendants testimony. He did not suppose
he intended to appropriate the check, but he
did open the letter to pry into the business of
A. f. Lawrence. Hsr
Mr.. Bond said he did not think the act
oama within the law of CONGRESS-