The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-12
OBSCENITY IN THE NAILS.
A Young Woman Arrested on a
Serious Charge.

Mamie oliveira Held by Order of Post
office Inspector Bulla for Sending
Obscene Matter Through the Mails.
She Is Charged With Annoying Peo-
pie With Scrurrilous Letters.
Mamie Oliveira was arrested yesterday
morning by Deputy United States Mar
shall Buckner on a.warrant sworn out by
Postoffice Inspector Bulla, charging her
with sending obscene literature through
the mails. The literature which she is
charged with sending is of the filthiest
kind, and the charge is likely to prove a
very serious one for her if it is sustained
The case is very likely to prove a very
sensational one when it comes to trial.
The letters which Miss Oliveira is
charged with sending, will make racy
reading before the United States court
The testimony will surpass anything of
the kind introduced in the celebrated
Breckenridge trial.
For several months various parties in
the city have been receiving letters, many
of them of the most filthy and insulting
character, and rejecting upon the con-
duct sometimes of the recipients, and in
other cases upon the character of those
with whom they were familiar The Ian
guage in many of the letters is too filthy
to bear repetition.
TOOK TO STREET RAILWAY MEN.
Several motormen and conductors of
the Electric railway and the City and
Suburban railway were most largely IA
vored in this manner. They received sew
eral letters and many postal cards, ridi-
cullng them in most cases in a scurrilous
manner and calling attention to the pre-
tended evil actions of their associates In
several cases the addresses themselves
upon the letters and postals were scurril-
Gus, the parties being addressed as sneak
thieves" and 'chain-gang birds" Sew
eral women were also favored with these
epistles,
Numerous complaints were made to the
postOttice department by the recipients of
these uncomplimentary communications
and Inspector Bulla was set to work upon
the case. For a long time he was unsuc-
cessful, but at last he hit upon a clew
which put him on the track. A letter
was put in his hands by a wo-
man in the southern section of the
city which she had received signed
Mamie Oliveira, replying to some
reflections which the latter believed to
have been cast upon her by the other
woman. Unfortunately for the writer,
several other letters were afterward re-
ceived at the same house and by other
residents of the vicinity. These letters
were anonymous and of a scurrilous char
acter. The letters were compared and
the recipients concluded that the hand
writing was the same as that of the one
signed Oliveira.
ATTACKED HER FORMER FRIEND.
There was another clew. Mrs. Emma
Hodges had formerly been on very
friendly terms with Miss Oliveira. The
two women had a falling ont fta1, ic
Mrs. Hodges received several anonymous
letters, all in the same handwriting, ad-
dressing her IN the most scurrilous terms
and accusing her of the grossest immor-
ality. Mrs. Hodges believed these let
tiers were the work of her former friend
Those received by the motormen and con-
ductors also referred to Mrs. Hodges in
the same manner. The letters showed a
determined spite upon the part of the
writer against her.
When Inspector Bulla began his inves-
tigation he found that all the letters were
mailed at the box at Abercorn and
Broughton streets, near which Miss
Oliveira lives with her mother. This, to-
gether with the similarity of the writing,
satisfied him that the young woman was
the guilty party, and he accordingly or
dered her arrest. A preliminary exami- |
nation was held yesterday after |
noon before United States Com
missioner Isaac Beckett. Inspector Bulla |
introduced a large batch of the letters |
and postal cards in evidence. Miss |
Oliveira was represented by Henry Nc |
Alpin, Esq The examination was con
tinued until this morning at 10 o'clock, |
and Miss Ollveira was released on bond |
The young woman is well known She |
lives with her mother, who keeps small |
shop on Broughton street, between Aber- |
corn and Lincoln streets