The morning news., 1899-12-20
AS INNOCENT AS A LAMB.
ID. A. TYSON sURRENDERED AND
PROTESTED HIS INNOCENCE.

The Alleged Leader of the Band Of
COnspiratOrs Came Into the City
Accompanied by -Four Bondsmen
and Entered Into a RecOgnizance
for His Appearance Mt the Next
Term of the District Court In the
sum of S2.5OO--said He Would Have
Surrendered Before, But Waited to
Arrange His Bond-His Appearance
Here Simultaneous With an Effort
to Get j. r. Hammond Out of Jail.
Daniel "A. Tyson said by the government
officers who have been engaged in the in
vestgation OF the case, to be the leader of
the alleged band to defraud merchants
through the use of the mails, whose men,
bers have been indicted for conspiracy by
the grand jury of the Federal District
Court, surrendered to Deputy Clerk S. F.
B. Gillespie yesterday morning and gave
81, 500 bail for his appearance at the next
term of court.
Tyson came in on the early morning
train and Clerk Gillespie found the alleg
ed conspirator, with four prospective
bondsmen, at his office when he arrived.
Tyson stated the object Of his visit in few
words and proffered the friends by whom
he was accompanied as sureties on his
bond They looked to be solid and re-
spectacle country farmers and merchants,
and their affidavit to the qualifying clause
in the bond was readily accepted.
Before District Attorney Erwin left for
Macon he had fixed the bond at $500.
This is five times as much as the lowest
bond accepted for any of Tysons fellow
defendants, $500, and more than three
times as much as the highest, $500. The
dozen other defendants have all had their
bonds fixed at one or the other of these
smaller amounts, most of them at $780,
Tyson has been regarded as the leader,
and is sIill so regarded and of him the
larger bond, with good security, was de-
manded.
When the amount Of the bond he would
be required to give was communicated
to Tyson he answered that he could offer
ample security for any breach of its con-
dition, and introduced his friends to Clerk
Gillespie. Dennie burden of Vidaha
which Tyson claims as his home, qualified
in the sum of $500; j. T.. Dix of Vidalia
in the sum of 81 500, II. @. Neal of Meeks
in the sum of 81, 500, and j. r. Odom of
Laff in the sum of $500. The bond would
seem to be ample.
To the officers of the court, Deputy Clerk
Gillespie and Deputy Marshal Charles j.
White, Tyson stated his reasons for fail
ing to surrender at an earlier date. He
said that from newspaper stories he had
learned that he was regarded as the lead
er of the alleged band of conspirators, and
surmised in consequence that the govern
ment would require of him a larger bond
than was exacted of others. He had an
aversion, he said, to being locked up in
jail and therefore had postponed his sur
render until he had arranged to give bond
in any reasonable sum that might be re-
qured
So far as the matter of the indictment
goes, and the charges growing out of it
that have been made against him, Tyson
Is indignant He claims that he has had
no connection with the scheme to defraud
directly or indirectly, and that his name
has been forcibly drawn into and mixed
up with an alleged criminal conspiracy of
which he knows nothing and. until his in
dictment for completely he cared less. The
| charge he says, has injured him in his
business.
Tyson's arrival in Savannah was coin
cldent with the first effort that has been
made to get J. T. Hamond out of Jail
since he was arrested and confined there
some four or five days ago. Hammond
is the man who was first arrested and
carried before Commissioner Lewis six
weeks ago. and charged with the crime
that he and his companions have since
been indicted for conspiring to commit.
At the hearing before the commissioner,
Hammond sought completely to exonerate
himself and to place the blame for the
fraudulent acts he was charged with on
the shoulders of the brothers Hutchin-
son, j. II. and w. E.
While his memory was fatally defective
as to many of the details of the plan, he
yet managed to give the officers, in his
guileless way, a very fair idea of the way
the scheme was worked. Acting upon
the statement made by Hammond at that
time and upon other facts in their pos
| session, Postoffice Inspectors Peer and
| OBrien have continued the investigation
and worked up the evidence upon which
the indictments for conspiracy. implicat-
ing Tyson and a dozen others, have since
been found.
Since Hammonds first arrest and his
statement then made, there is external
evidence of the fact that his former friends
have given him what is termed in the YER
nacular the icy shoulder, the frigid stare
and other cold and clammy salutations
of the same nature. 1t would appear that
his proueness to give up what he knows
on slight provocation had disgusted those
! with whom he had been on terms of busl-
ness and social intimacy, and they have
/ since permitted him to wander and Craze
for himself at his own sweet will. There
fore when he was arrested, there was no
! bondsman ready to become surety for his
appearance. though, in the case of the
other defendants. they appeared promptly
with their principals.
| This condition changed with the first visit
of Tyson to the city since his Indictment.
| Though 1t is not known even
now that he has taken a per-
I sonal interest In the matter, IL
! is still rather strange that with his
| arrival there also arrives man from the
country, who tries to arrange to get Ham
mond out of Jail. This friend of the pris-
oner had a power of attorney from an
other friend to sign Hammond's bond as
surety, but as the qualification affidavit
in the bond must be made by the surety
in person, the power of attorney would
not answer Nevertheless, a bond was
made out and when the surety qualities
before the Ordinary of the county in which
he lives and the bond is executed by Ham
mond and the surety and approved by the
court officers here, Hammond will be re-
leased from custody. If this effort pro
ceeds from Tyson, as 1t appears to do. II
would seem that he is more mind