The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1888-05-17
THE TRIAL
OF WILLIAM P. MCKEE,
CHARGED WITH THE ROBBERY
OF THE POSTOFFICE, BEGUN.
The Evidence is all in, and the
Argument will Begin this
Morning,

morning OF December 2Sth, 1887,
was begun in the Federal court.
The defendant with his counsel,
Mcssrs Garter anu Armfeld were IL
court, and occupied a seat almost
directly in front OF his Honor and
facing the jury, which was compos-
ed of the following named persons:
G. ". Roberts. J. NJ. Roane, Wesley
Shook, J. NJ. Jarrett. y. NJ. Howell.
Isam Wilson, Geo. w. Cole, w. NJ.
Enlowe, Daniel Walker, David
Sharp, l. A. Lqnninc and G. w.
Justice.
District Attorney Jones being in
disposed the government was rep
resented by Assistant District At
torney Bason.
After the jury mad been impan-
ne'edandcharged by his Honor,po
master " T. Weaver was placed on
the witness stand and testified about
as follows: "l ma postmaster in
this ci'y; on the 9Th day of Decem
Der, 1887, | wrote a certain letter
addressed to Mr.. Weaver; enclosed
q $500 bill This was in the fore
noon; made horizontal marks
across bill and took its number; this
was a decoy letter; had been miss
ing money; had reason to believe
that some one in the office was
crooked; this was Friday afternoon
l then went off, and when | re-
turned asked Mr.. Mckee for a 50
bill, said he did not have one. He
said he did haye one but had spent
it at Mr.. +. l.. Browns at Sawyer's.
l went to Brown and got bill, and
called his attention to marks and
number. | had taken down both
in a memorandum book before |
placed it in the letter. Mckee was
in the postoffice when L went back; l
asked him where he got the bill; he
said he had received it from Mr..
Connally. l told him that it wasn't
so. then told him all about the
ecoy and how l had fixed it.
He said that he had de-
stroyed the letter. Fr0r1T fr7r1T 70 go
and see his father about it. His
father asked him if it was true that
he had done this. Mckee said
Yes" [ went TO the office and
made him give up the keys,
and had a settlement with him. Ten
or fifteen days after this l received
two keys from postal clerk; one of
these keys was key 10 the door.
Young, the postal clerk, wanted to
know where Mckee was. On the
night cf December 2Sth, the mail
from the east was late. l live some
distance from the postofice; went
home to supper and did not return
until $50 o'clock next morning.
When l went in l found that the
safe was unlocked; l went to the
iron box to insert a key; saw it was
fractured; looked at another drawer,
it was shiYered. l then took out
the pieces and found that nearly all
the funds had been taken. The
amount in the safe was S611; the
amount stolen was S595.47." Mr..
Weaver then testified as to the ar
rangement of the safe, drawers. how
they were made; size of rooms; he
Lad keys to each door; there were
five keys in use. Mckee carried
one, Saunders had one, Jim Weaver
the postmaster had one, and West
all had one. Mr. Weaver was SUBJ
jected to a heavy cIoss>fire from
defendants counsel just here, in
which he was forced to admit that
he had been careless in the manage
ment Of his Office. He then
detailed his testimony to the close
of the examination, the trip to
Morristown, the money being put
in the bank and the conversation
he had with the defendant. We
could not get Mr.. Weaver's testi-
mony in full, which we regret. He
denied sending a comic valentine to
Mckee, ETC., etc.
e. L. Brown was next sworn. He
testified that he was salesman at
Sawyer's, AID assistant manager of
the Opera house. Mckee purchas.
! ed three or four tickets. Did not
pay for them then, but did pay for
them on December 7th, 1887, at
about s o'clock in the morning. He
paid me s4, two dollars in silver
and a 50 bill. Shortly after Mr..
Weaver came il and asked about
I the bill. 1 gave it to him; he eyed
it awhile and then said "that's all
right" He showed me the marks
on the bill and the number of the
same which corresponied with a
memorandum he had and produced.
H. remembered the marks; was
shown the bill and identified it as
being the bill according to the best
of his knowledge and ability. The
money belonging to the OF era house
was kept separate from other mon
les. I didn't notice marks on bill
when Mckee paid it to me. | did
not receive any other bills that !
remember.
J. L. Witt was sworn. He testi-
fed that he was chief of police OF
Morristown, Tenn, and that he had
arrested Mckee on the 29th Of De-
cember, 1887, on a telegram sent
from Asheville. This telegram was
received at 10 o'clock in the morn
ing. I arrested Mckee on the east
bound train, just outside of the corr
poration; he was in the smoking car;
I told him to consider himself un-
der arrest. He asked me if 1 wasn't
| mistaken in the man. I told him /
was not. He then said "You have