Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-01

The Examination of TOomer Before
Commissioner Erwin Yesterday-he
is Held to Appear Before the United
States Court.

Comm SSl0ueE EENAn AEHNCA0N@
is Held to Appear Before the United
states Court.
The examination Of L. b. Toomer,
cOlored. recently Superintendent OF the
Mail Carriers Delivery, an account oil
whose arrest On the charge Of opening
official letters in the post office appeareu
in yesterday MORNING NkWs. loon
place before United states Commissioner
Erwin Yesterday afternoon i
The investigation developed sumclent
evidence Of guilt 10 warrant the ConlIlls-
sioner in holding the accused 10 appear
near before the next term OF the nlted
states Court. ,;..
while the only charge preferred against
1,,ompr by the Inspector was that OF tam
r.erinr with official letters, the testimony
II the witnesses sworn brought OUT
the facts of his shortage IN inc
due postage stamp account Win
the office and also the loss OF sew
pral registered letters. which We're traced
into his possession and were unaccouhtec
for. This discrepancy, amounting 70
Sa52 however. had been settled. ana the
Testimony was brought direct upon the
charge Of tampering with the Official cor
raspSndence between Inspector Booth ana
the department at Atlanta. j. }. Abrams,
ESQ. appeared for the defendant, and
United States District Attorney Darnel
for the prosecution.
The first witness sworn was Inspector
Booth. The envelopes believed TO have
been opened were produced. They were
the usual large size, with the ofnclal stamp
Of the Post Office Department, ana were
addressed TO the Inspector at savannah.
The first one bore the pOst-mark Atlanta.
where it was mailed last satur-
dav afternoon. and the receiving
r,srh artia a "
il was delivered to the inspector on Mon
dav afternoon. The length of time in It's
transmission and the delay In Its delivery
excited his suspicious. and upon eXaml-
nation he became satisfied that it had been
tampered with. In order to prove
the truth of his suspicious he
prepared a test letter. and leaving the
city Tuesday night went as far as No.
on the Central Railroad, where he remain
ed all night. Wednesday morning he
boarded the early train and placed the
letter which he had addressed TO himself
in an official envelope among other Official
letters in the Atlanta package 10 SaYan-
nah. He returned to the city on the same
train and awaited developments. Before
leaving on Tuesday night he had acqualnt-
ed Assistant Postmaster j. L. McLaWs
with his movements and had shown him
the .sdecOy." at the same time giving
him instructions TO watch for il on Its ar
rival. About nine O'Clock Wednesday
morning the inspector went TO the post
office and received the letter in the Post
masters private room. 1t was examined
and believed TO have been opened.
Upon this belief and the knowledge
that the letter had been in TOom-
er's possession warrant was issued
and the arrest was made. The cores
pondence between the Inspector and the
department at Atlanta was concerning
the loss of several registered letters
which had been traced into IOomer's pos
session and We're unaccOunted for. He
believed TOOmer TO be anxious to know
the nature of this correspondence, and
since the letters were in his possession
and bore marks of having been tempered
with he believed him to be guilty of the
Offense.
I In reference TO the shortage in stamps
/ he had found in the course of his inspec
ton discrepancy in the post office ac
/ count which. on being traced. was found
/ to be in TONERS department. The
/ stamps were not. however, the regular
/ postage stamps used for the transmission
4 Of mail matter. but due postage stamps
! which were issued TO TOOmer for use in
/ the carriers department by the Assistant
/ Postmaster on his order and charged
! TO his account. The shortage covered a
/ period of about two years. since the due
I ttUSLdZC duAJS NClc AnAlbNuNE0 AAltO AAAC
office. This shortage, together with the
value of several registered letters, as was
/ shown BY the evidence further in the
| examination. was made good by TONERS
| friends and the Inspector had agreed not
! to recommend his removal.
| The loss Of the registered letters which
were receipted for by TOOmer, and which
| he acknowledges ne had not delivered,
| but denied being able to account for, Oc-
CURED in February.
The evidence OF Amos Cannell. a col
ored porter in the post office, who also
assists in stamping the letters with the
| post and receiving marks, was taken In
| reference to a conversation held with
| TOOmer on Wednesday morning when the
/ official letter to Booth was received,
/ and also in regard to TONERS move
ments in handling the letter which
| he took from the package as 1t was emp
/ tied from the mail pouch, with the remark
/ that he would deliver it at once 10 the In
| spectOr.
| Assistant Postmaster }. I. McLaws
was the third witness sworn. and his
/ examination occupied considerable time.
/ The principal feature of his evidence was
/ the watch he placed upon TONERS move
ments in handling the mail to be delivered
| to the Postmaster, and the discovery
| upon TONERS desk, after the regular
/ mail had been delivered, of
/ lELl6F WHICH, ne btllCNEu " BG luC
one addressed to the Inspector and pre-
/ pared as a ''test." Acting under instruc-
| tions of the Inspector he had afterwards
/ taken from the desk the blOtter used as a
! desk covering. and fitting the test
/ envelope to lines made on the blotter in
I applying mucilage believed to be used in
| resealing the envelope after it had been
| opened, he found them to correspond
| exactly with the test" The blOtter was
| introduced in evidence and the envelope
| applied. the Commissioner being satisfied
| that the lines might have been made as
| claimed.
The accused, on being sworn and con-
| fronted with the better, denied that it
| had ever been on his desk. He denied
| having any knowledge OF the contents of
any letters addressed to the Inspector, or
that he had any reason for wish
ing to know their contents, or that
he had opened any such let
tiers, or any other letters that he
was not privileged to open. He acknOwl-
edged the deficiency charged to him in the
due postage stamp account and the loss
of the registered letters which he had re-
ceipted for, but stated that the
matter was settled. The evidence
of witnesses was afterwards introduced
to show the manner of settlement
which had been effected by his friends on.
| Tuesday morning, and on Wednesday, the
morning of his arrest, he was relnstated
in his position, from which he had been
temporarily removed, and assigned to
duty.
The examination was mainly with ref
erence to the opportunity TOomer had be-
| tween the arrival Of the mail at the office,
during its distribution, and up TO the time
of the delivery Of the ''test" letter to the
Inspector in the Postmaster's private
room for opening the letter, and whether
he did open it.
At the conclusion of the examination
the case was submitted without argu-
ment. The Commissioner, in reviewing
the evidence, stated that in his opinion it
was entirely circumstantial. There was no
direct evidence that would lead to the
inevitable conclusion that the accused
was guilty of the Offense with which he
! was charged. There were evidences that
the first envelope introduced in the case
had been tempered with. In regard to
the second enYelope-the ''test''-the tes-
timony of the Inspector showed that it
had been placed in the mail with no marks
of mutilation. In its condition as intro
duced in the case there were mutilatiOns,
hut whether the evidence was conclusive