The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-30
FINDINGS OF THE COURT
RathbOne Bought Liquor with
 Government Funds.
Also shown That He Paid the Ex- pensss of His Family With Money Belonging to the
 pcstoface.

Cuban postal frauds cases as given out. finds c. F. ". Neely. W. H. Reeves and Estes c. Rathbone guilty of the main charge of embezzlement of over s1oo,ooo and that Nicely and Reeves originated the Idea. of burning the stamps. to which Rathbone consented. profiting thereby, though to what extent could not be specified. Neely and Reeves. according to the verdict, appropriated s2.ls7.22 by a series of entries. charging to the postal fund certain amounts for wharfage, lighterage and other matters. for which there were no warrants or vouchers Rathbone also was found guilty of parti- cipation in this. These entries were made in what was known as the miscel- Ianeous account.
 Rathbone. it was alleged charged the department of posts with private ex- penses, such as washing. repairs to his coach. express charges. three boxes of liquor. Japanese lanterns, gas and certain household accounts, amounting to S1572o. He was found guilty on this charge. but was acquitted on that of paying for furniture for his house. the bill of a New York store for furniture and other articles. on the ground that num- Der of army officers in Cuba had obtained similar articles at the expense of the gov ernment and that these expenses had been passed subsequently, by the Senate. Neeiy and Reeves were found guilty of having issued duplicate checks for the salaries of postofiice employees. the amount involved being N.o27.ss. They were siso held responsible for N.sss. .a2 for st&mps sold.
 Neely alone was held to be guilty of fraud, n the issuing of four duplicate warrants for $, ,057 .6i for salaries of cisfks in the Havana postoffice and for the pur- chase of mules. He was found guilty also of having drawn duplicate check for s12,0o0 nominally Issued for the trans fer of funds from the postal account in the bank to the account of the treasurer and of having given Corydon M. Rich, his former assistant 5000 worth of stamps to sell. He took his salary of s225 before going to the United States the last time.
 It is alleged also that he received com mission in connection with the Neely Printing Company and the Keyless Lock Company, profiting by this means to an amount greater than s13. .282s For thls, however, Neeiy was not indicted by the Fiscalf as he was extradited on the charge of embezzlement. It was also charged that he asked Reeves to arrange the books. giving him $4,600 to do so. He was acquitted of this for the reason given above. It was charged that Neely also appropriated $1,s00 in money resulting from the sales of stamps by Moya and Mascara, stamp clerks at Havana.
 Rathbone was found guilty of having paid the expenses of his wife and family on a trip to Santiago and on a second voyage to the United States, he being unable to separate his private from his oficiaI expenses. and also of issuing two warrants for $500 each.
 Reeves appropriated $675 which was re- turned to him by Rathbone. The latter was acquitted on the charge Of having unlawfully taken a daily allowance of s allowed his claim.
 Rathbone, Reeves and Neely were found guilty jointly under the postal code of the embezzlement of $i02.974, fine in which amount was divided between them Neely was guilty alone of the embezzle- ment of s21 .S57, Reeves of $673 and Rath- bone of Sl 1000, while Nicely and Reeves jointly embedded $1,036
 In summing up, the court said the facts brousht out showed that various means had been used by Reeves, Neely and Rathbone to appropriate the postal funds but that these should be taken to con- stitute only one infraction of the law. each item not being regarded separately.
 Rathbone's attorneys have applied to the court for a writ of habeas corpus.