Show I ORDERED OFF HIS ROUTE I 1 Masked Men Stop Rural Free Delivery Carrier HIS LIFE IS THREATENED Warned Not to Continue In Service Outragein Tennessee Which May Become Be-come a Second Indianola Case Rigid Inquiry Ordered th Washington May 7The Postoffice department was notified officially today to-day that John C Allgood colored rural free delivery letter carrier while making mak-Ing his regular trip near Gallatln Tenn was stopped by men armed and masked and he und his colored sub arrlers were warned not to continue In the service under penalty ofdeath PostmasterGeneral Payne hns suspended sus-pended service on the route pending Investigation and if the report the Affair be confirmed summary action vlll follow The Incident may become a second Jn la lOla caseS case-S The reports reached the Postoffice department today In the following telegram tele-Gram from the postmaster at Gallatln Carrier rural route No1 while mak ing trip today held up by masked men ordered not to make another trip Advise Ad-vise S SPECIAL AGENT TELEGRAPHS The next dispatch came from Special Agent Condon in charge of the rural free delivery service with headquarters headquar-ters at Nashville Tenn as follows Rural carrier No1 colored Gal latin Tenn in an Interview with me tonight advises that he was stopped on route today by armed masked men and his life threatened if he continued In service Threat also applied to colored col-ored subcarriers Warned not to divulge cause of his removal but to assign other reasons No time allowed to await upon appointment of successor suc-cessor Believing It hazardous he will not serve route tomorrow unless assurances as-surances are given him that no vie ence will be coihmltted Please advise ad-vise me what instructions will be issued Is-sued In the premises An immediate answer will be greatly appreciated UNDER CIVIL SERVICE This rural route was put In on March 1st last There were five applications under the civil service rules for appointment ap-pointment as carrier The three men passing the highest on the list were ill colored Under the civil serviqe rules the PostmasterGeneral says there Is no option with the department except to appoint the person who stands highest on the list Therefore Allen F Dillard colored was ap poiiitod He resigned about three weeks I ago and pn the 26th of last month the civil service board certified the second man on the list John C Allgood col S ored INVESTIGATION ORDERED Postmaster Geneial Payne today telegraphed tel-egraphed Mr Conder as follows Investigate In-vestigate fully case of John C All good rural free delivery carrier who was opposed by > armed masked men and his life threatened if he 1 continued in the service and report In them the-m anltme service on the route will be suspended until your report upon the facts In the case is received TWO COURSES OF ACTION Postmaster General Payne later said If the facts were as represented only two courses of action would be open namely to nbollsh the route and leave the people thereon without that service serv-ice or to send soldiers to tho scene to protect the carrier In the performance of his duty Mr Payne said the former for-mer case was the more probable He called attention to the civil service status of the carrier and said that the appointees were secured through the civil soivlce commission their selection se-lection therefore not being optional with him It is said at the department that the penalties provided by law for finch offense arc covered In sections I 3SGD and 3095 of tho Revised Statutes The former reads as follows WHAT STATUTE SAYS Every person who wilfully and maliciously ma-liciously aaaults any letter carrier who is in uniform while engaged on his route in the discharge of his duty as a letter carrier and every person who wilfully aids or assists therein shall for every offense be punishable byline a by-line of not less than 100 and not more than 1000 or by Imprisonment for not leas than one year and not more than three years The other section provides that any person who shall knowingly or wilfully obstruct or retard the passage of mail carriers shall for even such offense be punished by a fine of not more than 100 It is pointed out that the difference between the penalties hinges on the wearing of the uniform and also that tho word assault within the meanIng mean-Ing of the law contemplates Just such an offense as that reported |