The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-08-06
NEGR0 OR DBBED MAIL.
EILLIA114LOwE,EA RURAL CAR
AyrR, Is ARRESTED. {


William Lowe, negro rural mail
0elivery carrier on Route No. 5, Mount
Meigs Road, is in a cell at police head
ru..rters. charged with embezzlemcnt
apo destroying mail matter. t
Specifically. Lowe is accused of open
ing and destroying two test letters"
mailed at 2:35, O'Clock yesterday After
room in the, Montgomery postoffiee ry
pcstoffice inspectors and extrac ling
lherefrom SIS.
The ares. of Lowe was the result
Of a neat bit,of work on the part o.
Inspectors M w. 'McCrea. stationed
in Montgomery. and Lake Jones, sta
tic ned at Waycross, Ga.
The negro WIN be -arraigned fo- his
preliminary hearing before United
States Commissioner Dawson at y
o'clock this morning. E A~
For two or three weeks complaints
have reached Postmaster G. W. Bulk
ley that special delivery letters mailed
in the Montgomery Office had gone
astray. The complaints became SO fire.
quent that Inspectors were assigned the
duty of making an investigation.
Yesterday Inspectors McCrea. and
Jones placed 81 in one letter which
was addressed to Marietta, Ga. In a
second letter they placed IS and ad-
dressed II to Atlanta, Ga. These iot-
t,rs were stamped as special delivery
mail and were dropped in the letter
box at 1875 o'clock. Memoranda was
made of the numbers on the bills plac-
ed in the llters.
AS In the ordinary course the letters
would have gone to Atlanta On the
vtniffg train the inspectors went t. the
Cnfonf Railway Station and in pected
the outgoing mails. The test letters"
were not there. Then they knew that
the trouble was in the Montgomery of
fee g F.
At 8 o'clock last night every clerk
in the Montgomery Office was as EN-
bleo I'm the room of the pos master,
which is temporarily -on the second
floor of the big red building. Assist
ant Postmaster Henry F. Irwin was
present and he told the clerks what
had happened, announcing that each
clerk must submit to an examination
The mailing clerks reported that VIII.
liam Lowe, rural carrier on Route No
8, was in the Office when the Atlanta
mail was made up yesterday afternoon
and had volunteered to assist them. He
had gathered the mail letters from the
box In which the test letters" had
been dropped.
AS each OF the clerks examined made
a satisfactory showing, the inspectors
decided to seek Lowe at his home on
the corner of Jefferson Davis Avenue
and Holt Streets.
Bysthis time it was 1880 o'clock, but
inspectors McCrea and Jones and AS
sistant Postmaster Irwin called car
rage eand drove to the home of Lowe
who IS married and has two children.
They Aawakened Lowe, who received his
salary yesterday. and demanded to see
his money. AS soon as the negro pro-
duced the money, the Inspectors cora
pared the numbers on the bills and
placed the negro under arrest.
Only S13 of the money was recov-
cred. The negro said he had gotten
change" for s. bill at a nearby
stores The inspectors went to the store
and found the 50 bill bore the correct
number and was the same bill they had
placed in the test letter."
Lowe was brought down town in the
carriage and was ldocketed at police
headquarters, where he spent the night.
Commissioner Dawson was sum.
moned to his office after midnight and
made out the necessary legal papers.
The preliminary trial will take place
early this morning, so as to enable
The inspectors to leave the city.
William Lowe is 2s years old. He
was for some time employed in the
mail transfer office at the Union Rail-
way station. Later he secured a posi-
lion at the postoffice as special delivz
cry messenger. 1t is a coincidence that
4 esucceeded Alton Timothy, the me-
gro special delivery messenger. who
vas convicted about two years ago of
'obbing the mails.
Two years ago Lowe stood a success
'ul examination and was appointed a
rural carrier on the Mount MeiSs road
route.