Waterbury Democrat., 1901-01-28
IS NEELY THE SCAPE GOAT
He Says His Arrest is to Protect
 Higher Officials.


 He Accuses the Administration of
 Playing Him False-Oficial Close to
 Imprisonment If He Plead Guilty,
 So That "the Scandal May Be End
 ed-Neely Says Administration Off
 cials are Afraid to Have His Trial
 In This Country.
 New York, Jan 2S.-Charles F. w.. Neely, who Is now on the way to Cuba 10 De tried on charges of robbing the hlted States government of more than $20O.OOO while in charge of the postal service in Cuba, says that he is being railroaded to prison to protect higher officials. He asserts that the aamlnlstration is afraid to give him trlal in this country where he could compel the attendance of witnesses and could cfoss-examine his accusers and prove his innocence, but Is send ing him to Cuba where he will be con- victed and will receive sentence sui flc1ently long to make certain his death in q tropical dungeon.
 He asserts that a republican office holder, very close to President McKin- ley, promised him d sentence of one year if he would voluntarily return to Cuba and plead guilty so that "the scandal may be ended.''
 He offers circumstantial proof to show that his claim of being absolute 1y innocent is true, and asserts that records in the office of the secretary of war-if they have not been de stroyed-will prove him to have fol lowed instructions direct from Wash. ington in transactions which are now alleged to be fraudulent
 One of the principal charges against Neely is that he did not destroy stamps worth s39OOOO, but that he burned paper instead and afterwards sold the stamps. Nicely declares that he burned the original packages as they came from Washington with the government seals intact, and says that ". H. Reeves, chief of the registry di vision at Havana. an Ohioan named Maytield and F. Fl. Bristow, Major Rathbone's chief clerk, aided him checked off the stamps and saw that they were destroyed.
 The stamps which were ordered tC be burned were United States stamps surcharged Cuba" After an issue o1 stamps for Cuba had been prepared t!lcSe SulSIldISSu SldIupS were ut longer needed, and the postoffice de partment- ordered their destruction with the exception of 5000. whict were to be kept for sale to collectors.
 MT Neely claims that it would have been impossible for him to dispose o1 the stamps if he had saved them, aS | the entire postal receipts of the island were only $222 GOO in 1S9S and tha in 1899 the monthly business amount ed to from $17,OoO to $22,O0O pei month.
 The decrease in receipts immediate l ly after the destruction of the Stamps Mir Nicely attributes to the withdrawa of Amerieaetfoop and not to the fac that he was furnishing stamps to post masters to be accounted for to him. II had no personal acquaintance ! with more than two or three postmas- ters, none of whom spoke English adds MT Nicely, while did not speak q word of Spanish. The assertion thai there was conspiracy between my self and these various postmasterS pre- supposes communication among us. could neither talk to them nor they to me save through an interpreter, and as for forming and carrying out sucE q conspiracy through the medium o1 letter writing, the idea is ridiculous
 Mir Nicely denies that there was o1 is any shortage in his accounts. He says that his office was inspected by q capable postal expert n week before his arrest and that everything was found satisfactory.
 The alleged shortage, he says, was | found by Captain George E. Burton an army officer, who knew nothing o' postal matters. He says his alleged l discrepancy was figured by adding the receipts of each Cuban postoftice sep | arately and then comparing the | amount with the receipts of the Ha vana office, which supplied stamps te 1 all the other offices on the island.