The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1884-08-21
A Mysterious Case.

costly MISTAKE OF POSTMASTER MlIcl-
'-'''' VI '''' IN
| Every lawyer is familiar with cases
where the crossest Injustice w0u}d have
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'NN'' ''''N '"' 'V' 'i'' 'N' 10y
lawyers IN ehc}llng an the lacIS mat
| bore upon the result. one Of the most
an,arloIla of thasn WIS ,.1,taJ in r1,n
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"'l''' "S ''le Ne''e' ""'e 'u'2' V''-
! Sprague, about year before his death.
| TpOn rpuutst. tlis diStinpushed man re-
ducad the f,cto t,,., primo and tr,n ,,n
liV'o lel'Io""eeu'
In 1881, while residing III Maine.
went to Nlscasset to attend The cucmt
court Of the United States. Soon after
entering The conrt house stranger came
! to me, and said he wished to engage me.
we stepped into lobby. and asked
| him what the ease was; in reply he said
that his name was MtIllman, that he
was postmaster at Camden and that he
had been bound over on a charge OF ab-
| stracting money from the mail. said.
z if you are bound over, YOU have had q
hearing before magistrate; what Was
| the evidence IN that hearing tell mr
| fully as Nun can. He replied that there
were three witnesses against him: Nr.
| Mitchell, the postmaster at Portland,
| Mr.. Plckard, the mail contractor, ana
the driver OF the stage Alc. Mitchell
| testified that letters containing moncr
| having been severa, times lost from the
eastern mail, he was employed hy the
| postmaster general to detect the Offend
erS, that, for that purpose he went 10
| Belfast. and there he and Mr. Packard
| the mail contractor. prepared a letter
| addressed to General Mcclellan Of Bath,
| purportiug to contain remittance from
a debtor: that, lnto this letter, they put
a sum Of money in bank bills, and made
| it up in such a manner as to appear to
contain something, and be easily distin-
guished from other letters: that they
| put it into the mail bag, which was taken
! by the driver into the stage: that they
| (Mitchell and Pichard) took a GhaiSe and
accompanied the stage, leaving Belfast
in the night; that they arrived at post
office, between Belfast and Camden
that the bag was carried into the office,
and in due time brought out. ard then
examined by all three, Mitchell, Pack
ard, and the driver and the letter to
Mcclellan was found in it that they
| then proceeded on their way, till they
came to thc post office in Camden: that
the mail bag with the letter to McLellan
| in it was taken into the office, ana after
| the usual time, WAS brought cut and pat
INTO the stage that they then drove
some distance from the village. there
| stopped, took the bag from the stage and
carried it to the chaise and there they
opened the bag, took out all the letters
and papers and placed the letters on one
| seat of the chaise, and the papers on the
| other and then they all examined the
bag; that they took each letter ana each
| paper by itself and put them back into
the bag, and the letter to General Nc
| Lellan was not there. The bag was
| then taken by the driver to the stage
ana ne proceeded on ms way. Mitchell
| ana iicharu returned To tne N'IlagP' anu
| mao Ihe postmaster arrested lof abstract
| IliG inull'H Hpil Iile ll'IS'
MI ich"Ia testllleu TO the same iatlS,
| cohlFMlng MI MltcheIl IN every partlc,
uidi. ne lflVef alSo was witness, ana
| c"iiiiilned an lllat had oeeh teslllled, as
10 hlS participation IN the business
| III answer 10 oquestlolls, Mefllmah stat
| ed mat All thfee OF the witnesses S"oFe
tlai the lettef 10 General Mcclellan was
IN the mailbag when 1t went INTO me
| once at Camden, and was not m the
bag when 1t came out; and the driver
testified that there was no one in the
office but the postmaster. ! asked my
client what evidence he had. lie replied
| o.
| asked him what he had to say : he ans
| WeItd that ali he could say was, he was
III ms ONCE that morning alone lhe
| mailbag was brought to nm; he open
ed IL as usual, took out the letters Tor
| Camden, put in those that We're ta Q"
forward, closed the bag. locked 1t, ard
delivered 1t to the driver who carried It
away, and that was all he knew about
It,
Such was the case ofny client. as pre-
sented hy himself What was my duty /?
| II is true he denied that he was ouiltX.
| but so can every criminal. and all do who
employ counsel He admitted that he
| had not the slightest evidence to offer
against the testimony of three rrsnrctnhle
| witnesses. and that he had not a word TO
say in exclamation. Ouoht TO have
tlared m with yirtuous indipnatjon. and
AT once refuse 70 Aid 4 man ia esrane
punishment who was so paluab)v ouiltl 2
| That was not nv course but. after re-
Hecting few minutes, | said "Uave vou
ever caused inquiry to be made of Gener
al Mcclellan whether he received that
letterg7 He REPLIED. "No. / never
thought Of such thing" then advised
him to send a person Immediately to Bath
and ask General Mcclellan if he had any
| knowledge of such letter. and also to
make the same inquiry of the postmaster
at Bath. He sent a man accordingly.
who in due time returned and reporttd
that General Mcclellan said that he did
receive such a letter. on the dav which
he named. and which was a short time
only before. When he received the letter.
he had no recollection of the writer but
sunposed if was all right, The messen-
ger then went to the postmaster who
said that he recollected such a letter.
that it came by the eastern mail. ON a
dav which he named. that he opened the
mail bag himself, and seeing a letter d.
rected to General Mcclellan. which looked