Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-04

He Says he is the Victim of a COnspi-
racy to get him out of the Mail Ser
vice.
The further hearing of the case of the
United States VS.. James A. Sykes before
Commissioner Beckett, was postponed
Yesterday until Feb. ii to enable the gov
eminent to Get a witness from Cincinnati.
The facts as proven in the case so far are
as follows:
In February, 1884, ). f. Love, Of Gar
denia, Ca, ordered patent lamp and
reflector and shaving set from firm in
Cincinnati. The goods were packed in
pastebOard box and mailed at Cincinnati
Feb. 30. A bill of the goods was sent by
letter to Mr.. Love and received by him.
The package in passing through the mails
would travel by the Cincinnati and
Southern Railroad and the Western and
Atlantic to Atlanta thence by the Cen
trail Railroad to Macon, and from there by
through pouch to Albany, Sykes was
running as route agent from Albany to
brunswick, and the package, according
to the schedule, reached Albany Sunday
morning. March ,, and lay over there I'M
til Monday. On that dav Sykes made the
run from Albany to Brunswick, Gardenia
being or his route. According to the
schedule the package should have left
Albany that morning in the mail in Sykes
charge, and should have arrived at Gar
denia about II O'Clock that day. 1t was
not delivered at the latter place, however,
at that time, but was delivered in the
mail brought back from Brunswick that
evening by Sykes and which arrived at
Gardenia about O'Clock. When the
Postmaster at Gardenia opened the mail
pouch Immediately after its arrival he
saw that the package had been tempered
with. The string around it had been cut,
and il was evident that the lid of the box
had been taken off and put on again. He
called the attention Of a young man
named MURRAY to the condition Of
the package and Murray took it to a
store near by where Love was in the habit
Of getting his mail. Mr.. Love opened the
package soon after and found that the
shaving set was not in it, but found
rubber stamp of Sykes name used by him
u stamp packages, in the box on top of
other articles together with lot of circu-
lars.
Sykes went on the witness stand and
testified that he lost his stamp Feb. %, the
daY before the package was mailed at Gin
cinnati, and explained its presence in the
package by claiming that it was either
stolen or found by an enemy and put
there with a view to his ruin. He intro
duced evidence to show that on Feb. IS
he called the attention of the conductor
OF the train and Of the car cleaners to the
fact that he had lost his stamp.
When the trial of the case was COM
menced the bill of the goods in the pack
age was introduced as evidence to show
its contents, but the counsel for sykes
claimed yesterday that the bill was
not admissible for that purpose, and
the case was postponed to obtain wit
ness from Cincinnati to prove definitely
the contents of the box when it was
mailed. Sykes claims that he is the vic
tim of a conspiracy organized to bring
about his removal from the service with
the view to putting another in his place.
The evidence thus far introduced has
failed to develop sufficient strength to
warrant his commitment.
The value of the property which he is
charged with stealing is about 81 80. The
finding of his stamp, which he testified to
have lost, inside the package, and which
he would know would at once be strong
evidence against him, looks as though
there might be some ground for the de-
fence. Unless the witness is brought
from Cincinnati on Feb. IA Commissioner
Rocket will dismiss the case.