The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-03-31
THE STOLEN LETTER.

TIE HERALD has waited severa
hours for the explanation by Mr.. Post
master Lynch, as to why private
letter addressed to a private citizen
and duly received in this city. reached
newspaper office and was published tC
the world, instead of being handed tc
the owner. The explanation has not
come-the Postmaster maintaining q
discreet, or indiscreet silence in the
matter. Does the gentleman propose
to laugh it away, or is he taking time
to discover the facts in the case2 In
some towns such an occurrence would
cause the prosecution of the Postmaster
for violating the mails; and such may
be the result here, though it is hardly
probable as the Postmaster is a pro-
nounced anti-Mormon and the gentle
man whose letter was carried to the
anti-Mormon newspaper ofice-the
organ of the posteffice official
is weII-known Mormon. The
men who should !aprosecute are
not anxious to proceed against men
who are recognized as opponents of the
Mormons. The fact nevertheless re
mains that crime has been committed
and the responsibility of 1t
at present lies between the
Tribune and the Postmaster. If the
latter has allowed the Tribune editors
access to the postoffiee and permitted
them to examine private letters, he has
violated has trust, and If the Tribune
gained such success without the knowl-
edge of the Postmaster, and stole the
letter, they are guilty of crime which
should cOnIgn them to the Peniten
tiary.
Whatever may be the facts in the
case of Mr.. Best's deter, our +
ton will not be denied by those
who send and receive mail matter
through the Salt Lake Postofice,
nameIy-a successor to Mr.. Lynch was
appointed meme too soon to please them.
If there is one place more than another
in which the people want absolute con-
fidence it is the postofice, and there
cannot be such confidence when private
letters are first seen by their owners in
the columns Of an .unfriendly news
paper.
After the above was in type the fol
lowing was received:
SALT LAKE CITY, March 80, 1886.
To the Editor of THE HBRALD:
GeatIemdn--The letter referred to in
YOUR issue of the 30th, said to have been
written TO A. Best Of this city, and
published in the Tribune some days
since. was not lost through the fault of
this Office. The Tribune managers
assure me that neither tn eSaIt Lake
postoffice nor any of its CLERKS are in
any manner responsible for the letter
or its publication.
Respectfully Yours,
JOIN T. LYNCH,
Postmaster.
Mr.. Lynch's letter not only further
mystihes the matter, but makes it
plain that the crime of extracting let
tiers from the United States mail has
been committed, and at present the re-
sponsibility lies with the Tribune. The
letter was written on the Esd, and duly
posted at Franklin, Idaho. Mr.. Lynch
fails to say whether or not the letter
passed through his postofice, but Ger
tain it is 1t appeared in the Tribune on
the morning of the 18th, as early
as it could have been printed
if it had been directed to the
Tribune and encountered no delays
in transit. II the letter did not reach
the Salt Lake postofice, it must have
been stolen from the mails somewhere
between Franklin and this city and car
ried direct to the Tribune Office. The
case is one demanding the attention of
the District-Attorney and the Grand
Jury. We shall see whether the affec-
ton for and tear of his newspaper Or
gan will keep the District-Attorney ST
lent, or whether he will perform his
duty to the government and the people
as theoretically in this instance as be
would if he we're prosec lting a Nor
mon. ......r-.-..-
The NEW Postmaster having arrived