The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-11
CLERK HESTER IS ARRESTED Railway Mail Man Is In
 Jail. ROBBERY IS CHARGED Told of Hold Up By Lone Man On January z.
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 4

As he stepped from his car last night shortly after o'clock on reac1dng Montgomery from Selma. Eugene Hsa- ter, railway mall clark who resides with his wife and children at a0e H0I~ combe Street, was arrested. He apezs8 last night in the county jail.
 Hester is accused of robbing tho United States mails of something oyer ss,000.
 It will bs remembered thak on the evening of January z. Heater, who WnH then running mail car on trains ox the Atlantic Coast Line. between Mont. gomery and Waycross Ga. reported when he reached Montgomery that fso had been held up by Q lone hiKhwmy@ man as the train neared Montgomery and that several valuable registered letters had been taken. He described minuteIy the general appearances of tha highwayman. wfos he said. shot him through the right hand when he grap- pied with him. The robber. he said, left the train near Hendricks Afill, on the outskirts of Montgomery. In cor- roboration of his story. Hester showed his wounded hand. As soon as he had turned his car over to postal ofacials at the Union Railway Station. Hester was driven hurriedly to his homo, where . surgeon dressed his wounded hand.
 For some time Hester was kept as his home by his injuries He received postofice inspectors and other Govarn- nent onicera to whom he narrated tha story of the hoId-up in the most vivid style.
 Tranafsrrea t6 selna Isun.
 When he recovered and was ready to report for duty. Hester was trans- ferred from the Atlantic Coast Line to the western Of Alabama Railway. and has been running a railway car between Montgomery and Selma.
 Postoflice Inspector " ". 1EcCraa of Montgomery and H. EThieie of Mobile were assigned to fnvestiRata tho aI~ legged hold-up. Soon after queNtlonihm l1eeker Ahe .inapn annannhAa eraely that there was mi tho sAlShtesk nonht of the story told by the mail clerk Inspector McCrea said that lt waa doubtful f the lone highway would ever be captured
 It has been known for at least two weeks that the inspectors suspected Hester and that they were watching his conduct
 Inspector Mccrea yesterday swore out a warrant before United States ComnissioneF John A. Fillmore charN- ing Hester with abstracting money from letters The warrant accuses Hester specifically of appropriating s2,600 from a registered package matt- cd by the First National Bank of Dothan to the Hanover National Bank of New York. A second count in the warrant charges Hester with taking $l50 from another letter. It is claim- ed that the government will undertake to show that Hester secured other large sums from the dozen or more registered letters which he alleged were taken by the lone robber.
 The warrant sworn out by Inspector McCrea was placed in the hands of Deputy Marshal Frank c. Taylor, who went to the Union railway station last night and arrested Hester when the train came in from Selma.
 Hester was taken to the federal building where he was held until . messenger found Commissioner Elmors.
 Pleaded Not suaHfy.
 When Hester was arraigned before Commissions Fillmore about 8 o'clock he pleaded not guilty. His temporary bond was fixed at SS.O00 and in de- fault of bond Hester was committed to the county jail where he spent last night.
 Commissioner Fillmore said that Hes- ter would be brought before him this morning at 10 o'clock when the date for his preliminary hearing would bo agreed upon.
 When a representative of The AdEer- tiser called at the county jail shortly after Hester was committed there tA was said that he had gone tO sleep and had said he would not be disturbed No one had called at tho Jail to see him.
 Inspectors Mccrea and ThieIe declare that working on the robbery of tho Dothan money package they have thA strongest sort of evidence against tho mall clerk.
 Hester is about 30 years old. Ho has been in the railway mall service about twelve years and has many friends in Montgomery.