Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 1

Ten Years Among the Mail Bags.

by James Holbrook.

PREFACE.

The idea of preparing the present work was suggested to the author by the universal interest manifested in regard to the cla.s.s of delinquencies to which it relates, and the eagerness with which the details of the various modes adopted in successful cases to detect the guilty parties, have been sought after by all cla.s.ses. He was also induced to undertake this series of narratives by the hope and belief that while it afforded interesting matter for the general reader, it might prove a public benefit by increasing the safety of the United States mails, and fortifying those officially connected with the post-office and mail service, against the peculiar temptations incident to their position, thus preserving to society some at least who, without such warnings as the following sketches contain, might make s.h.i.+pwreck of their principles, and meet with a felon's doom.

It has been said that whoever acts upon the principle that "honesty is the best policy," is himself dishonest. That is, policy should not be the motive to honesty, which is true; but taking into view how many there are who would not be influenced by higher considerations, it is evident that whatever serves to impress on the mind the inevitable connection between crime and misery, if not between honesty and happiness, will aid in strengthening the barriers against dishonesty, too often, alas! insufficient to withstand the pressure of temptation.

The author has endeavored to enforce these truths in the following pages, and he relies for the desired impression on the fact that they are not dry, abstract precepts which he presents, but portions of real life; experiences the like of which may be the lot of any young man; temptations before which stronger men than he have fallen, and which he must flee from if he would successfully resist.

The most elaborate treatise on rascality would not compare in its effects on the ma.s.s of mankind, with the simplest truthful narrative of a crime and its consequences, especially if addressed to those exposed by circ.u.mstances to the danger of committing offences similar to the one described.

Two objections to the publication of a work like the present, occurred to the author as well as to others whom he consulted, and caused him to hesitate in commencing the undertaking. First, the possibility that the detailed description of ingenious acts of dishonesty, might furnish information which could be obtained from no other source, and supply the evil-disposed with expedients for the prosecution of their nefarious designs. Second, the danger of again inflicting pain upon the innocent relatives and friends of those whose criminal biography would furnish material for the work.

In reference to the first of these objections it may be said, that, although descriptions of skilful roguery are always perused with interest, and often with a sort of admiration for the talent displayed, yet when it is seen that retribution follows as certainly and often as closely as a shadow; that however dexterously the criminal may conceal himself in a labyrinth of his own construction, the ministers of the law track him through all its windings, or demolish the cunningly devised structure; and that when he fancies himself out of the reach of Justice, he sees, to his utter dismay, her omnipresent arm uplifted to strike him down; when these truths are brought to light by the record, an impressive view will be given of the resources which are at command for thwarting the designs of dishonesty, and of the futility of taking the field against such overwhelming odds. And in addition to the certainty of detection, the penalty inflicted for offences of this description is to be taken into the account. Doubtless many employes in Post-offices have committed crimes of which they never would have been guilty but for a mistaken idea of security from the punishment to which they were making themselves liable. It is well for all to be correctly informed on this subject, and to know that offences committed against this Department are not lightly dealt with. Information of this character the author has fully supplied.

Again--Comparatively but few of the secret modes of detection are exhibited, and he who should consider himself safe in evading what plans are here described, will find to his sorrow that he has made a most dangerous calculation.

As to the second objection above mentioned, namely, the danger of wounding the feelings of innocent parties, the author would observe that fict.i.tious names of persons and places are generally subst.i.tuted for the real ones; thus avoiding any additional publicity to those concerned in the cases given. And furthermore, he ventures to hope that few of the cla.s.s to which this objection refers, would refuse to undergo such a trial of their feelings, if by this means a wholesome warning may be given to those who need it.

There are other wrongs and delinquencies connected with our postal system, of a mischievous and immoral tendency, and of crus.h.i.+ng effect upon their authors, which, although not in all cases punishable by statute, yet require to be exposed and guarded against. Descriptions of some of the most ingenious of these attempts at fraud, successful and unsuccessful, are also here held up to public view.

It was the author's intention to give two or three chapters of an historical and biographical character,--a condensed history of our post-office system, with some notice of that of other countries, and brief biographical sketches of our Post Masters General. But matter essential to the completeness of the work in hand, as ill.u.s.trating the varieties of crime in connection with post-offices, has so acc.u.mulated, that the chapters referred to could not be introduced without enlarging the volume to unreasonable dimensions; and the author has been compelled to limit his biographies of the Post Masters General to a short chronological notice of each of those officers.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE POST MASTERS GENERAL.

Under the Revolutionary organization, the first Post Master General was Benjamin Franklin. He was experienced in its duties, having been appointed Post Master of Philadelphia in 1737, and Deputy Post Master General of the British Colonies in 1753. He was removed from this office, to punish him for his active sympathies with the colonists; and one of the first acts of their separate organization was to place him at the head of their Post-Office Department. It is a singular coincidence that this eminent philosopher, who cradled our postal system in its infancy, also, by first bringing the electric fluid within the power of man, led the way for the electric telegraph, the other great medium for transmitting intelligence.

The necessities of the Revolutionary struggle, demanded the abilities of Franklin for another sphere of action. Richard Bache, his son-in-law, was appointed to succeed him as Post Master General, in November, 1776. He was succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard, who subsequently compiled the valuable Historical Collections bearing his name. He held the office until the inauguration of President Was.h.i.+ngton's Administration.

In relation to the several Post Masters General, since the adoption of the Federal Const.i.tution, the author regrets that he is compelled, contrary to his original intention, to confine himself to brief chronological notes. The succession is as follows:--

1. SAMUEL OSGOOD.--Born at Andover, Ma.s.s., Feb. 14, 1748. Graduated at Harvard College in 1770. A member of the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature, and also of the Board of War, and subsequently an Aid to Gen. Ward. In 1779, a member of the Ma.s.sachusetts Const.i.tutional Convention. In 1781, appointed a member of Congress; in 1785, first Commissioner of the Treasury; and Sept. 26, 1789, Post Master General. He was afterwards Naval Officer of the port of New York, and died in that city Aug. 12, 1813.

2. TIMOTHY PICKERING.--Born at Salem, Ma.s.s., July 17, 1746. Graduated in 1763. Was Colonel of a regiment of militia at the age of nineteen, and marched for the seat of war at the first news of the battle of Lexington. In 1775, appointed Judge of two local courts. In the fall of 1776 marched to New Jersey with his regiment. In 1777 appointed Adjutant-General; and subsequently a member of the Board of War with Gates and Mifflin. In 1780 he succeeded Greene as Quarter Master General. In 1790 he was employed in negotiations with the Indians; Aug. 12, 1791, he was appointed Post Master General; in 1794, Secretary of War; and in 1795, Secretary of State. From 1803 to 1811 he was Senator, and from 1814 to 1817, Representative in Congress.

Died at Salem, June 29, 1829.

3. JOSEPH HABERSHAM.--Born in 1750. A Lieutenant Colonel during the Revolutionary War; and in 1785 a member of Congress. Appointed Post Master General Feb. 25, 1795. He was afterwards President of the U.S.

Branch Bank in Savannah, Georgia. Died at that place Nov. 1815.

4. GIDEON GRANGER.--Born at Suffield, Ct., July 19, 1767. Graduated at Yale College in 1787, and the following year admitted to the Bar. In 1793 elected to the Connecticut Legislature. Nov. 28, 1801, appointed Post Master General. Retired in 1814, and removed to Canandaigua, N.

Y. April, 1819, elected a member of the Senate of that State, but resigned in 1821, on account of ill health. During his service in that body he donated one thousand acres of land to aid the construction of the Erie Ca.n.a.l. Died at Canandaigua, Dec. 31, 1822.

5. RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS.--Born at Middletown, Ct., in 1765. Graduated at Yale College in 1785, and subsequently admitted to the Bar. In 1788 emigrated to Marietta, Ohio, then the North Western Territory. In 1790, during the Indian wars, he was sent by Gov. St. Clair on a perilous mission through the wilderness to the British commandant at Detroit. In the winter of 1802-3, he was elected by the Legislature the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the new State. In October, 1804, he was appointed Colonel commanding the United States forces in the upper district of the Territory of Louisiana, and resigned his judges.h.i.+p. In the following year he was appointed as one of the United States Judges for Louisiana. April 2, 1807, he was transferred to the Territory of Michigan. In October following he resigned his judges.h.i.+p, and was elected Governor of the State of Ohio, but his election was successfully contested on the ground of non-residence. He was chosen at the same session as one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State; and at the next session as United States Senator, for a vacancy of one year and also for a full term. In 1810 he was again elected Governor of Ohio, and on the 8th of December resigned his seat in the Senate. In 1812 he was re-elected Governor.

On the 17th of March, 1814, he was appointed Post Master General, which he resigned in June, 1823. Died at Marietta, March 29, 1825.

6. JOHN MCLEAN.--Born in Morris Co., New Jersey, March 11, 1785. His father subsequently removed to Ohio, of which State the son continues a resident. He labored on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he applied himself to study, and two years afterwards removed to Cincinnati, and supported himself by copying in the County clerk's office, while he studied law. In 1807 he was admitted to the Bar. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1814. In 1816 he was unanimously elected by the Legislature, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1822 he was appointed by President Monroe, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and on the 26th of June, 1823, Post Master General. In 1829 he was appointed as one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, which office he yet holds.

7. WILLIAM T. BARRY.--Born in Fairfax Co., Va., March 18, 1780.

Graduated at the College of William and Mary. He was admitted to the Bar, and in early life emigrated to Kentucky. In 1828, he was a candidate for Governor of that State, and defeated by a small majority, after one of the most memorable contests in its annals.

Appointed Post Master General March 9, 1829. In 1835 appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, and died at Liverpool, England, on his way to Madrid.

8. AMOS KENDALL.--Born at Dunstable, Ma.s.s., August 16, 1789. Graduated at Dartmouth College in 1811. About the year 1812 removed to Kentucky, and in 1815 was appointed post master at Georgetown, in that state. In 1816 he a.s.sumed the editorial charge of the _Argus_, published at Frankfort, in the same State, which he continued until 1829, being, most of the time, State Printer. In 1829 he was appointed Fourth Auditor of the United States Treasury; and, May 1, 1835, Post Master General. He resigned the latter office in 1840, and has, since the introduction of the electric telegraph, been mainly employed in connection with enterprises for its operation. He is yet living.

9. JOHN MILTON NILES.--Born at Windsor, Ct., August 20, 1787. Admitted to the Bar in December, 1812. About 1816 he removed to Hartford, and was one of the first proprietors of the _Hartford Times_, and had charge of its editorial columns until the year 1820. In 1821 he was appointed Judge of the Hartford County Court, which office he held until 1829. In 1826 he represented Hartford in the Connecticut Legislature. In April, 1829, he was appointed post master at Hartford; which he held until December, 1835, when he was appointed United States Senator to fill a vacancy, and in the ensuing May was elected by the Legislature for the remainder of the term. In 1839 and 1840 he was supported by his party, though without success, for the office of Governor of the State. May 25, 1840, he was appointed Post Master General. In 1842 he was elected United State Senator for a full term.

Mr. Niles is yet living.

10. FRANCIS GRANGER.--Born at Suffield, Ct., Dec. 1, 1792. Graduated at Yale College in 1811. Admitted to the Bar in May, 1816. He was elected a member of the New York Legislature in 1825, and again in 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1831. In 1828 he was a candidate for the office of Lieutenant Governor, but was defeated; and in 1830 and again in 1832, he was run for Governor, with the same result. In 1834 he was elected to Congress. In 1836 he was a candidate for Vice President, and received the electoral votes of the States of Ma.s.sachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. He was again elected to Congress in 1838 and in 1840. Appointed Post Master General March 6, 1841, but resigned the following September. His successor in Congress thereupon resigned, and Mr. Granger was again elected to that body. On the 4th of March, 1843, he finally retired from public life, but is yet living.

11. CHARLES A. WICKLIFFE.--Born at Bardstown, Kentucky, June 8, 1788, and was admitted to the Bar at an early age. He was twice elected to the State Legislature during the war of 1812. He twice volunteered in the Northwestern Army, and was present at the Battle of the Thames. In 1820 he was again elected to the Legislature. In 1822 he was elected to Congress, and was four times re-elected. During his service in that body, he was appointed by the House as one of the managers in the impeachment of Judge Peck. Upon leaving Congress, in 1833, he was again elected to the lower branch of the State Legislature; and, upon its a.s.sembling, was chosen Speaker. In 1834 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State, and in 1839, by the death of Gov. Clark, he became Acting Governor. He was appointed Post Master General, September 13, 1841. In 1849 he was chosen as a delegate to the Const.i.tutional Convention of Kentucky; and, under the new Const.i.tution, he was appointed as one of the Revisers of the Statute Laws of the State. He is yet living.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

12. CAVE JOHNSON.--Born, January 11, 1793, in Robertson Co., Tennessee. His opportunities for education were limited, but made available to the greatest extent. In his youth, he acted as deputy-clerk of the County, his father being clerk. He was thence led to the study of the law. In 1813 he was appointed Deputy Quarter Master in a brigade of militia commanded by his father, and marched into the Creek nation under General Jackson. He continued in this service until the close of the Creek war in 1814. In 1816 he was admitted to the Bar. In 1817 he was elected by the Legislature one of the Attorneys General of the State, which office he held until elected a member of Congress in 1829. He was re-elected in 1831, 1833, and 1835. Defeated in 1837. Again elected in 1839, 1841, and 1843.

Appointed Post Master General, March 5, 1845. In 1849 he served for a few months as one of the Circuit Judges of Tennessee; and, in 1853, was appointed by the Governor and Senate as President of the Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville. He is yet living.

13. JACOB COLLAMER.--Born at Troy, N. Y., about 1790, and removed in childhood to Burlington, Vt., with his father. Graduated at the State University at that place in 1810. Served during the year 1812, a frontier campaign, as a lieutenant, in the service of the United States. Admitted to the Bar in 1813. Practised law for twenty years, serving frequently in the State Legislature. In 1833 he was elected an a.s.sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, from which position he voluntarily retired in 1842. In the course of that period, he was also a member of a convention held to revise the Const.i.tution of the State. In 1843 elected to Congress to fill a vacancy, and re-elected for a full term, in 1844, and again in 1846. Appointed Post Master General March 7th, 1849. In 1850 he was again elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont; and in 1854 he was chosen United States Senator, which office he now holds.

14. NATHAN KELSEY HALL.--Born at Skaneateles, N. Y., March 28th, 1810.

Removed to Aurora in the same State in 1826, and commenced the study of the law with Millard Fillmore. Removed with the latter to Buffalo in 1830. Admitted to the Bar in 1832. Appointed First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1841. In 1845 elected a member of the State Legislature, and in 1846 a member of Congress. He was appointed Post Master General July 20, 1850; and, in 1852, United States Judge for the Northern District of New York, which office he now holds.

15. SAMUEL d.i.c.kINSON HUBBARD.--Born at Middletown, Ct., August 10, 1799. Graduated at Yale College in 1819. He was admitted to the Bar in 1822, but subsequently engaged in manufacturing enterprises. He was Mayor of the city of Middletown, and held other offices of local trust. In 1845 he was elected a member of Congress, and re-elected in 1847. He was appointed Post Master General September 14, 1852. Died at Middletown October 8, 1855.

16. JAMES CAMPBELL, the present Post Master General of the United States, was born September 1, 1813, in the city of Philadelphia, Pa.

Admitted to the Bar in 1834, at the age of twenty-one years. In 1841, at the age of twenty-eight, he was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas Court for the City and County of Philadelphia, which position he occupied for the term of nine years. In 1851, when the Const.i.tution of the State was changed, making the Judiciary elective, he was nominated by a State Convention of his party as a candidate for the Bench of the Supreme Court of the State, but was defeated after a warmly contested and somewhat peculiar contest, receiving however 176,000 votes. In January, 1852, he was appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which he resigned to a.s.sume the duties of Post Master General. He was appointed to that office on the 8th of March, 1853.

INTRODUCTION.

A mail bag is an epitome of human life. All the elements which go to form the happiness or misery of individuals--the raw material, so to speak, of human hopes and fears--here exist in a chaotic state. These elements are imprisoned, like the winds in the fabled cave of aeolus, "biding their time" to go forth and fulfil their office, whether it be to refresh and invigorate the drooping flower, or to bring destruction upon the proud and stately forest-king.

Well is it for the peace of mind of those who have in temporary charge these discordant forces, that they cannot trace the course of each missive as it pa.s.ses from their hands. For although many hearts are made glad by these silent messengers, yet in every day's mail there is enough of sadness and misery, lying torpid like serpents, until warmed into venomous life by a glance of the eye, to cast a gloom over the spirits of any one who should know it all; and to add new emphasis to the words of the wise man, "He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." But until they are released from their temporary captivity, the letters guard in grim silence their varied contents. Joy and sorrow as yet have no voice; vice and crime are yet concealed, running, like subterranean streams, from the mind which originated, to the mind which is to receive their influence. The mail bag is as great a leveller as the grave, and it is only by the superscription in either case, that one occupant can be distinguished from the other.

But leaving these general speculations, let us give more particular attention to the motley crowd "in durance vile." If each one possessed the power of uttering audibly the ideas which it contains, a confusion of tongues would ensue, worthy of the last stages of the tower of Babel, or of a Woman's Rights convention. Indeed matters would proceed within these leathern walls, very much as they do in the world at large. The portly, important "money letter," would look with contempt upon the modest little _billet-doux_, and the aristocratic, delicately-scented, heraldically-sealed epistle, would recoil from the touch of its roughly coated, wafer-secured neighbor, filled to the brim, perhaps, with affections as pure, or friends.h.i.+p as devoted as ever can be found under coverings more polished. Would that the good in one missive, might counteract the evil in another, for here is one filled with the overflowings of a mother's heart, conveying language of entreaty and remonstrance,--perhaps the traces of anxious tears,--to the unwary youth who is beginning to turn aside from the path of rect.i.tude, and to look with wishful eyes upon forbidden ground. Need enough is there of this message to strengthen staggering resolution, to overpower the whispers of evil; for close by are the suggestions of a vicious companion, lying in wait to lure him on to vice, and to darken the light of love which hitherto has guided his steps.

In one all-embracing receptacle, the strife of politics is for a time unknown. Epistles of Whigs, Democrats, Pro and Anti-Slavery men lie calmly down together, like the lion and the lamb, (if indeed we can imagine anything lamb-like in political doc.u.ments,) ready, however, to start up in their proper characters like Satan at the touch of Ithuriel's spear, and to frown defiance upon their late companions.

Theological animosity, too, lies spell-bound. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, Old and New School, Protestant and Catholic, Free Thinkers and No Thinkers, are held in paper chains, and cease to lacerate one another with controverted _points_. Nor in this view of dormant pugnacity, should that important const.i.tuent, the Law, be left out of sight. An opinion clearly establis.h.i.+ng the case of A. B.