The Portland daily press., 1896-04-28
THE RowsE CASE.
Other Matters of Interest in the q. 5. DIS
trict Court Yesterday.

anu reported Gn1rJy -One plllS. " 'AN
number four were made public. VI Ohe
four cases made public one was an lnolct-
ment against Lee r. Hussey of Bingham
for using the mails for transmitting in
formation regarding obscene piotdres.
Hussey who is held in tho sum of $4,000
will be arraigned shortly and given
trial.
Another was that of Ida Maloon OF
South Norridgewook who is only fifteen
years old indicted for stealing money
order OF $50. This girl is morally per-
verified. SO the physicians who have ex-
amined her say. She does not seem to
be able to distinguish between right and
wrong and can't tell The difference be-
tween truth and falsehood. About three
months ago this girl went to the post
office in South Norridgewook and called
for the mail in box S6. This was given
her and 1t turned out to be the mail box
OF man named Gilman. In one of the
letters taken from the box was found a
money order for $50 addressed to him.
This the girl attempted to cash but was
arrested. Her case is now under consider
alton.
A third was against William Cullen
Rouse of Portland. He was indicted for
taking a letter containing 81 from the
mail in his charge as postal clerk on the
Portland and Island Pond run. Rouse
pleaded guilty to the Indictment.
| Upon the coming in of the court in the
afternoon the case of William G. Rowse,
stealing from the United States mail was
called up for sentence. Hon. ]. Fl.
Fogg, counsel for the prisoner said he
would like to make statement. He
stated that his client at the very first
pleaded guilty and had declined to put
the government to any expense to con
vict him. For ten years he had been in
the postal service, and most efficient
clerk. He spoke of the disgrace that had
come upon the prisoners wife and lovely
children, and claimed that he took the
money through the pressure Of poverty
and the claims of conditions with the in
tention OF returning it as soon as he was
paid his salary by the government. He
had retained the envelope that had con-
tanned the stolen money and told the de-
tectives where to look for 1t when he was
arrested. He quoted "a case IN the United
States District court Of Georgia in which
the court hold that stealing decoy letter
was not embezzlement. He urged
lenienoy and that the sentence be worded
SO that it should be worked out in Cum
berland county jail.
Judge Webb then read United States
supreme court decision in which it was
settled that taking decoy letter was en-
bezzlement.
District Attorney Bradbury claimed
that leniency was not due to Rowse on
the ground that he had been guilty of but
one embezzlement; that the detectives
stated that he acknowledged to them
having stolen small sums FOR several
years.
Mr. Fogg said that was the statement
the detectives put in the prisoners
mouth; not what Rowse said.
Judge Webb then took the case and
said that the policy of the law demands
full protection of oil letters of whatever
value, whether OF great or less amount
He wanted it understood that it was of
no use to put before him the previous
characters of violators of the law. 1t was
his duty to go by the law, to proceed up
on the Indictment The jail at Portlsnd
was so full he didn't think it proper to
sentence the prisoner there. He could
send him to Auburn Jail or Thomaston,
He believed that there was feeling with
some that it was not so much Of a dis
grace to be sent to jail as to Thomaston.
He did not share that feeling. He then
sentenced Rowse to eighteen months in
Auburn Jail.
The case Of Mary Agnes Malone, also
indicted for stealing from the mails was
passed over as the judge said he desired
more time to think the case over
Rowse's sentence is considered very
light one.
Mrs Annie Morton of West Newfield,
who was arrested for embezzlipg S419 81
from the post office in that place, of
which she was in charge was also in
dicted. She will be arraigned and her
case heard today. 1t is probable that
she will plead guilty.
The case of Mary. Agnes Malone is very
peculiar. She is but Is, and yet is
charged with high crime. She went to
the South Norridgewook post office and
called for letter for Ernest Gilman,
My brother" as she called him. She
opened the letter and took out a money
order for $50, and tried to get IL cashed
without the necessary transfer and find
ing that impossible went off and came
back with the signature of Ernest Gilman
attached, but Mr.. Gilman denied that
he signed it. and she was arrested. The
physicians who have examined her find
her perfect puzzle. Apparently she
hasn't the slightest conception that her
act was legally or morally wrong. She
wanted money and took that way to get
it.
THE MUNICIPAL COURT.