Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 21

But the most troublesome point of all to reconcile, was, how the official envelope had been obtained, for that was beyond a doubt genuine.

Introducing myself to the lady a.s.sistant, who happened to be alone in the office, I remarked,--

"I am in pursuit of a letter which should have come here from New York in March last, and I wish to see if your New York packages, during that month, were all regularly received. Where do you keep your transcripts, the books, or sheets, you know, upon which you copy your post-bills?"

They were taken from a desk and laid before me. Turning to the record of the month in question, not a single free letter was entered as received at that office for the last two weeks in March, from any quarter!

"Who made the entries in this book?" I inquired. "My husband," was the prompt answer.

Having the general style of the "order" in my mind, I glanced over a few pages of the book, and observed several peculiarities in the formation of some of the capital letters which I had noticed in the (to this time) fatherless doc.u.ment. It was written in bluish ink, and so were the pages of the records made at about the same time,--a trifling circ.u.mstance to be sure, but yet a link in the chain of evidence. The wafer too, used in sealing, was strikingly similar in size and shade to those contained in a large box upon the desk. The "order" was on a half sheet of letter paper of different size and stamp from the wrapper enclosing it.

It now remained to establish some reasonable theory to account for his possession of a genuine official envelope. Some farther reflection supplied that theory which in the sequel proved to be the correct one.

The date of the Was.h.i.+ngton post-mark I had before noticed, was very indistinct, in fact could not be made out, although the word "Was.h.i.+ngton" and "March" were tolerably plain. At that time the present style of envelopes were not much in use by the Department.

Could it not be an old wrapper, or the "fly leaf" of some former official doc.u.ment from head quarters? This idea was certainly favored by the fact that on one side it presented a ragged appearance as if torn from another half sheet; and if its fellow could be found on the premises, the two parts must necessarily fit together, and conclusively show that a branch of the Appointment office had really been temporarily established without authority of law, not far from that locality.

It was now late in the afternoon, and the post master still absent, though momentarily expected home. An invitation to take tea with the good lady, was the more readily accepted, from a desire to prevent any comparing of notes between them with respect to the inquiries and examination already made. At the table I ventured, for the first time, to broach the subject of the "stoppage" affair.

"I believe the last time I pa.s.sed over this route, you had two post-offices in town," I remarked.

"Yes," was the reply, "but it made so much bother, and did so little good, that it was abolished some months since."

In her manner of receiving this remark, I could discover no proof of a partic.i.p.ation in, or knowledge of the process by which the rival concern had been gotten rid of. And I might as well say in this connection as anywhere else, that I have never in my own official experience, known any instance of a wife or child being made an accomplice, partner or confidant, "before the fact," in the commission of serious post-office offences. Prying ladies have sometimes, however, from curiosity, rather than pecuniary considerations, exhibited a remarkable aptness in getting at the written contents of letters, without the consent or knowledge of the owners.

The cloth had not long been removed before the post master's approach was heralded by the scratching at the door of a large Newfoundland dog, the circ.u.mstance being at once noted by the lady as indicative of the safe return of her husband. In a moment more the sound of the horse's hoofs were distinctly heard, and as soon as the nag had been pa.s.sed over to a boy we had left in the office, the post-office annihilator entered.

"My dear," says the affectionate wife, "you have got back once more."

And with this salutation she announced her guest, as "a gentleman who had come to see about some post-office business."

He eyed me rather closely, and with a much less amiable expression than he a.s.sumed on learning that I was a near relative of his "Uncle Sam," which I saw it was essential to make known to him, in order to secure decent treatment; for he was decidedly savage in his looks and manners on the first introduction, taking me no doubt for some troublesome customer (as I eventually proved to be, by the way,) who had come to bother him about some trifling affair.

An intimation that I would like to see him at the post-office was sufficient. We soon found ourselves there alone, and I commenced interrogating him thus:--

"Did you receive notice from the Department in March last of the discontinuance of the office at P.?"

"I did, and was ordered to take possession of the property of the Department," he replied. "The old gentleman," said he, "rather hated to yield; but, when I showed him the doc.u.ments, he caved in and made the best of it. The fact is, the office never ought to have been created at all."

"When did the order reach your hands?" I asked; "and do you remember the circ.u.mstance of its arrival in the mail?"

"I well remember all about it," said he; "I opened the mail that day myself, as usual. I think it was one of the last days in March. I shall never forget the astonished look of neighbor N., as he perused the order converting him into a private citizen once more."

"He wasn't satisfied with a certified copy of the unwelcome doc.u.ment, was he?" I remarked. "And, by the way, what was the object of serving a _copy_ of the paper on him?"

"Well," he rejoined, with a slight embarra.s.sment, "the fact is, I thought I had better retain the original for my own protection, in case of any fuss. He had to have it, however, before he would shut up shop."

At this juncture I produced the "order," and laying it before him, requested that he would turn to the entry of a free letter on his "mails received," at the time of the receipt of this one. The search was in vain, as I well knew it would be; and he undertook to explain that circ.u.mstance by claiming that official letters frequently came from Was.h.i.+ngton without wrapper or post-bill.

By this time he evidently began to construe my inquiries into a suspicion of his fraudulent conduct; and, as in all such cases, every attempt to extricate himself only made the matter worse.

"Come to think of it," said he, "I was absent from home the day that letter arrived, and on my return I took it from my private box where my letters are put," at the same time pointing to a pigeon-hole in a small letter-case over the desk.

"And would your wife open the mail in your absence?" I inquired.

Receiving an affirmative answer, I requested him to call her, taking care that they should hold no private conversation. Exhibiting to her the outside of the letter, I asked if she recollected taking it from the mail and placing it in the post master's box. They exchanged glances, and, on the second look towards him, I was just in time to observe a trifling nod of the head by way of intimating that she had better say yes. But she thought otherwise, and was quite positive that if such a thing bad come loose in the bag, at any time when she opened the mail, she would have noticed it.

"To come right to the point," said I, "this doc.u.ment is disowned by the Department, and no authority has been given to any one to discontinue the other office."

A forced laugh from the post master followed this announcement, but the honest wife looked worried.

"Well," he answered, "if it did not come from the Appointment Office, then some mischievous clerk in the Department may have sent it as an April-fool hoax, as it was near the first of April; or some one may have slipped it into my private box un.o.bserved, though no one could well do it unless it was the boy that you see about here."

"I see no motive that he could have had for doing it," I observed.

"But he might possibly have been hired to do it," was the reply.

In accounting for the envelope, it now became an important point to settle whether or not the post master had been in the habit of preserving all official circulars from the Department. If so, and this envelope had been torn from one of them, the remaining fragment might still come to light as his certain accuser. A search of the files showed the preservation of all such doc.u.ments for two years previous, but nothing appeared to match the covering of the "order."

Still believing it was obtained in that way, I adjourned the investigation for a few days, and meantime applied to the Department for duplicates of any printed circulars that had been sent to this office, and the return mail brought me one that was so sent, but a few weeks previous to the fraud in question. Its absence from the postmaster's files, while all other similar doc.u.ments had been carefully saved, was a strong circ.u.mstance to show that a part of it at least had been used for this dishonest purpose. But the d.a.m.ning proof was yet to come. In the printed words "Official Business," which were in capitals on the outside of the duplicate circular, there was a defect, or "nick" in the letter O, and the last S, in business. On comparing this with the covering of the spurious order, exactly the same bruises were found in the same letters, identifying the one with the other in the most positive manner, as the coincidence would be almost miraculous of the same type being battered in precisely the same way, upon circulars printed at different times.

Nor was this all. In folding the circular before the ink was fairly dry, some parts of the printed words in the body of it had "struck off" upon the inner side of the "fly leaf," which parts of words could, by a strong light, be distinctly observed upon several lines directly under each other. Referring to the printed page of the entire circular received for examination and comparison, a copy of which was known to have been sent to this post-office, _the same words were found to occur, and precisely in the same relative positions_.

Thus was the final link in the chain of evidence closed and riveted; a chain which held the guilty one in its unyielding grasp, and set at nought all attempts at evasion or escape, had he been disposed to make them. His only alternative was silence or confession, and of these he chose the latter.

A full report of all the facts above stated was made to the Department, and the tricky post master soon received an official letter from Was.h.i.+ngton, concerning whose genuineness the most sceptical could have no doubt. In this case, "the engineer was hoist with his own petard." In stopping his neighbor's office he was himself stopped; and, furthermore, received a reward for his misdeeds, the nature of which any future post-office stopper will learn by sad experience.

The defunct office was resuscitated, and its former inc.u.mbent reinstated in all the rights and privileges of which he had been deprived by the treachery of his unscrupulous opponent.

Nothing but the most obstinate determination to carry his point, at all hazards, could have impelled this man to the extreme measures which he adopted for ridding himself of his rival. Forgery is a crime of sufficient magnitude, one would think, to deter from its commission any one that is not prepared to go all lengths in the execution of his designs. And the present case shows how far pride and self-will may carry a man who yields to their suggestions, and how small a matter may be sufficient to raise them to an irresistible height, and create a tide which may sweep away conscience, and honor, and all that is valuable in character, to say nothing of an enlightened regard to self-interest.

The man whose discreditable exploit we have recorded, paid dearly for his short-lived triumph; and whoever is in danger of suffering his pride or obstinacy to hurry him beyond the bounds of prudence and virtue, will do well to "sit down first, and count the cost."

CHAPTER XI.

Indian Depredations--The model Mail Contractor--Rifles and Revolvers--Importance of a Scalp--Indian Chief reconnoitering--Saving dead Bodies--Death of a Warrior--The Charge--A proud Trophy.

Sunset on the Prairie--Animal Life--A solitary Hunt--The Buffalo Chase--Desperate Encounter with an Indian--Ingenious Signal--Returning to Camp--Minute Guns--A welcome Return.

Previous to the year 1850 there was no regular mail service between the valley of the Mississippi and New Mexico and Utah Territories. In selling lands to settlers and taking these communities under the protecting care of the nation, the Government was bound in good faith to give them a regular mail. This, like all other mail service, is carried on without much regard to the question whether the actual receipts from the locality will be remunerative or not.

The commencement of this service in 1850, called out the energies of some of our most daring and enterprising business men. A tract of country nearly one thousand miles in extent had to be traversed, where there were no civilized inhabitants, and but one or two military posts.

The Indian tribes, finding their game disappear before the unerring rifle of the white hunter, and learning the taste of the luxuries of civilized life without the industry to procure them, became at first sullen and despairing, then hostile and revengeful. A detailed account of the "hair breadth 'scapes," the dangers, losses, and tragedies in encounters with hostile Indians, in transporting the United States mails across these plains, would form one of the most remarkable chapters in the postal history of the world.

One mail contractor on the route from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, by his success in transporting the mails safely, and his daring and diplomacy with the Indians, has become eminent among his countrymen, and dreaded by the hostile tribes whom he has encountered.

The treachery so fatally prevalent in meetings between small bands of whites and these dark sons of the forest, and the cunning and boldness displayed in stealing the horses and cattle that belong to the "pale faces," have made it necessary that great caution should be used, and also that the Indians should be made to feel the force of that terrible weapon the modern rifle. The Indian has long since learned the superiority that the possession of "revolvers" gives to the white hunters. And he has also learned at what distance it is safe for him to approach the camp or the traveling party of his foes. They do not consider that there is much security in any distance less than three hundred yards, when well mounted and in rapid motion.