The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-03-29

decided as the loss would appear to be
from the Shawnee Office that I had bet
ter take it back there 1t occurred tc
me that unless the postmaster at shaw
nee remembered about his sending the
packages, which he was hardly probab bic
to do or he would have inquired OF us
before, he would be in a bad shape for in
| vestigation as he could offer no excuse
for the absence Of the packages, so I de-
| cided to get the money TO the Shawnee
| office before an investigation begun. !
hired q horse late one evening on the
| pretense of going home and rode over to
Shawnee and raped the money with a
| note around it in the mail bag at the
| old postoffice. knew the Office had been
moved into the new building and tried
| TO get in there first but could not and
seeing a light and the old fixtures at
| the old building. I crossed the street and
| dropped it in there. The only person that
met on the trip was a Mr.. Witherspoon
who lived west OF Tecumseh. He spoke
| to me as I passed him but I went hur-
rfedly on without speaking to him. The
/ note on the paper surrounding the
money was written by me with the in
/ tention Of conveying the idea that the
/ money had been stolen from the Shaw
nee Office without saying so direct. Ny
! previous knowledge Of the minute de-
/ scrpition of the bill, and the almost utter
/ impossibility of spending any amount of
/ them without detection caused me to
/ decide on the pretext of being afraid to
/ spend the bills as an excuse for bringing
the money back.
The note around the money was writ
! ten on every cheap note paper and in
writing it I tried to disguise my hand
writing as much as possible I thought
Mr.. Boggs stood so we'll with the de-
partment officials and any kind Of a
statement and especially the truth would
be believed from him. There was an in
vestigation Of the matter soon after the
occurrence, but as nothing came of it I
decided the matter had been passed, IN
til one day in the spring of 1898, I think
it was, I met Mr.. Moyfe, the former
postmaster, on the sidewalk in Tecum-
sch and was almost dun bfounded to
hear him say that the federal grand
jury had indicted Mr. Boggs for the Of
Tense It came like a thunderbolt to me
and almost unnerved me for awhile. 1t
seemed almost impossible for me to be-
lieve that evidence could be produced to
indict Mr.. Boggs, but nevertheless it
was true. 1 cannot describe the feel
ings that I had about the matter.
wanted to help him and show the world
that he was innocent, but could I do it
and not get myself into trouble? I wrote
and printed several letters to officials
Of the government and to parties inter-
ested in the prosecution and defense. In
fact I did not cease to think about the
matter and it was uppermost in my mind
to do what l could to put It away. At
one time I would have come forward
with the matter had not plans that 1
laid faleln through About the beginning
Of the term of court at which Mr.. Boggs
was tried, I went to L. E. Jones, who
was my roommate, and told him about
the matter in a general way, telling him
that 1 was afraid that Mr.. Boggs would
be convicted and asked him what he
thought about the matter. He informed
me that it was not likely that Mr.. Boggs
would be convicted and said that if he
was there would be no trouble about his
getting new trial and he would be sure
to come clear then, and said that If he
was me he would never reveal my con-
nection with the matter. After this I
went about my work more determined
than ever and made plans and assumed
responsibilities and shaped my life as
though nothing had crossed my path to
mar the happiness of the future. | was
arrested on December 81, 1859. on evil
dence furnished by L. E. Jones charging
me with the commission of the crime. I
waived my preliminary hearing and bond
was fixed at 50 900, which I furnished
and returned to my work at Avoca, o.
T. In the month of February, 1900 I
removed to Shawnee and on the 9th day
Of that month I was surprised to see
Mrs. Boggs come into the store and cali
for me. She was introduced and asked
to talk with me. She insisted in talking
about the case and urged me 70 write
the department and request a special in
spector to come and make an investiga-
ton of the matter. which I refused to do
in as courteous a manner as possible.
con September 4th received a letter
from Mrs. Boggs in which she made
second appeal to me. never answered
this letter and the way in which I was
situated at the time ] could not make
up my mind to act, but it convinced me
that I must do something in the matter.
have hoped, from my knowledge Of the
Boggs would in some way clear himself
Of the charge against him, and thereby
not make it necessary 20 come forward
with this statement.
at first I hoped for an acquittal, then
a reversal and new trial. then a pardon.
but they have ali failed and there is
nothing left for me to do but to sacri-
fee everything and tell the truth about
the matter and remove the sentence and
the suspicion Of guilt from him and L
state on my oath that the registered
packages for which Geo. c. Boggs had
been charged. tried and convicted for
breaking, concealing and embezzliDg
came to the Tecumseh postoflce in the
usual condition and that the same were
not broken. concealed or embezzled by
the said Geo. C. Boggs. but that the said
packages were destroyed by me as be-
fore stated. In addition &c telling J.. 2.
Jones / related the principal facts in the
case to my brother. Benton Lovelady- I
also told young lady. Miss Anna Good (
all. in the fan Of 1895 / did not give her
any names or any details. simply telling
her that I was IN trouble about some /
thing that I had done and that another
man was in trouble about It."
This IS all Of the confession and Il IS I
sworn To. In addition 70 this paper
there are anldavits from Iovelady 70
the effect that oBggs In no way paid /
him to make the confession and also an I
affidavit of Boggs TO the effect That he /
did net pay him for the confession.
the time set for the hearing on the +
motion for the rev trial is March -
1sl and il IS to De heard al Teclluseh- I