f the company; whether Maroney was
married, and, if so, any suspicious circumstances in regard to his wife
as well as himself--in fact, to keep me fully informed of all that
occurred. I should have to rely on his discretion until his reports were
received; but then I could direct him how to act. I also instructed him
to obey all orders from the Vice-President, and to be as obliging as
possible.

Having given him his instructions, I started him off on the first train,
giving him a letter of introduction to the Vice-President. On Porter's
arriving in Montgomery he sent me particulars of the case, from which I
learned that while Maroney was temporarily filling the position of
agent, among other packages sent to the Montgomery office, on the
twenty-seventh of January, 1859, were four containing, in the aggregate,
forty thousand dollars, of which one, of two thousand five hundred
dollars, was to be sent to Charleston, S. C., and the other three, of
thirty thousand, five thousand, and two thousand five hundred
respectively, were intended for Augusta. These were receipted for by
Maroney, and placed in the vault to be sent off the next day. On the
twenty-eighth the pouch was given to the messenger, Mr. Chase, and by
him taken to Atlanta. When the pouch was opened, it was found that none
of these packages were in it, although they were entered on the way-bill
which accompanied the pouch, and were duly checked off. The poor
messenger was thunder-struck, and for a time acted like an idiot,
plunging his hand into the vacant pouch over and over again, and
staring vacantly at the way-bill. The Assistant Superintendent of the
Southern Division was in the Atlanta office when the loss was
discovered, and at once telegraphed to Maroney for an explanation.
Receiving no reply before the train started for Montgomery, he got
aboard and went directly there. On his arrival he went to the office and
saw Maroney, who said he knew nothing at all of the matter. He had
delivered the packages to the messenger, had his receipt for them, and
of course could not be expected to keep track of them when out of his
possession.

Before Mr. Hall, the route agent, left Atlanta he had examined the pouch
carefully, but could find no marks of its having been tampered with. He
had immediately telegraphed to another officer of the company, who was
at Augusta, and advised him of what had happened. The evening after the
discovery of the loss the pouch was brought