Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 25

Thus ended this piece of folly, the record of which it is hoped will serve as a warning to any who may be disposed to try similar "tricks upon travelers," since they might not get off as easily as did the pair of worthies, whose brilliant exploit we have briefly sketched.

CHAPTER XV.

A dangerous Mail Route--Wheat Bran--A faithful Mail Carrier--Mail Robber shot--A "Dead-head" Pa.s.senger.

An old Offender--Fatal a.s.sociate--Robbery and Murder--Conviction and Execution--Capital Punishment.

Traveling in Mexico--Guerillas--Paying over--The Robbers routed--A "Fine Young English Gentleman"--The right stuff.

In the early annals of our country, many instances of mail robbery are found, some of which occasioned the display of great intrepidity and daring, as the perusal of the following pages will show.

While the country was yet thinly settled, and the mails were transported on horseback, or in different kinds of vehicles, from the gig to the stage-coach, often through extensive forests, which afforded every facility for robbery, the office of stage driver or mail carrier was no sinecure. Resolute men were required for this service, who on an emergency could handle a pistol as well as a whip.

Some thirty or forty years ago, a mail-coach ran in the northern part of the state of New York, through the famous "Chateaugay woods." The forest was many miles in extent, and common fame and many legends gave it the reputation of a noted place for freebooters and highwaymen.

One morning the stage driver on this route had occasion to examine his pistols, and found, instead of the usual charge, that they were loaded with _wheat bran_! A daring villain had, through an accomplice, thus disarmed the driver, preparatory to waylaying him. He drew the charges, cleaned the weapons, and carefully loaded them with powder and ball.

That afternoon he mounted his stage for his drive through the Chateaugay woods. There was not a pa.s.senger in his vehicle. Whistling as he went, he "cracked up" his leaders, and drove into the forest.

Just about the centre of the woods a man sprang out from behind a tree, and seized the horses by the bit.

"I say, driver," said the footpad, with consummate coolness, "I want to take a look at that mail."

"Yes, you do, no doubt, want to overhaul my mails," replies the driver; "but I can't be so free, unless you show me your commission.

I'm driver here, and I never give up my mails except to one regularly authorized."

"O, you don't, eh? well, here's my authority," showing the b.u.t.t of a large pistol partly concealed in his bosom. "Now dismount and bear a hand, my fine fellow, for you see I've got the doc.u.ments about me."

"Yes, and so've I," says the driver, instantly leveling his own trusty weapon at the highwayman.

"O! you won't hurt n.o.body, I guess; I've seen boys playing soger before now."

"Just drop those reins," says the keeper of Uncle Sam's mail bags, "or take the consequences."

"O! now you're joking, my fine lad! but come, look alive, for I'm in a hurry, it's nearly night."

A sharp report echoed through the forest, and the disciple of d.i.c.k Turpin lay stretched upon the ground. One groan and all was over. The ball had entered his temple.

The driver lifted the body into the coach, drove to the next stopping place, related the circ.u.mstances, and gave himself up. A brief examination before a magistrate resulted in his acquittal, and highwaymen about the Chateaugay woods learned that pistols might be dangerous weapons, even if they were loaded with wheat bran, provided they were in the hands of one who knew how to use them.

Another exciting case occurred near Utica, early in the present century, when Western and Northern New York was a wilderness.

An old rogue, who had long been steeped in crime, finding his companions nearly all gone--the prisons and gallows having claimed their own--and his material resources nearly exhausted, sought for a profitable alliance. He succeeded in getting into familiarity with a very young man, son of a gentleman of standing and reputation, a worthy citizen and an honest man. These two laid their plans for robbing the mail. Considerable sums of money were known to pa.s.s constantly in the great mail running East and West.

Watching their opportunity, they stopped the coach one night when there were no pa.s.sengers. The driver was bold and faithful to his charge, and made a stout resistance. They tied him to a tree, and opened the mail. Fearing detection and not obtaining much money, the veteran villain drew his pistol and shot the poor driver. As in most criminal transactions, fortune went against the perpetrators. They were both taken, and sufficient evidence being produced, they were sentenced to be hanged.

Though there was but one opinion as to the comparative culpability of the two individuals, no one could say but that both were equally guilty, in a legal sense, of the murder. Out of respect to the parents of the young man, great efforts were made to obtain a pardon, but they were unsuccessful.

Both the sentences were carried into execution. The circ.u.mstance gave rise to a thorough discussion of the policy, the humanity, and the right or wrong of Capital Punishment. One of the most powerful arguments ever made against the death penalty, was written by the father of the younger criminal, and obtained a wide circulation in pamphlet form.

In the summer of 1851, a company of travelers were seated in the mail stage that runs from Mexico to Vera Cruz. Marauding parties of _guerillas_ had often stopped the mail, and when practicable, robbed the pa.s.sengers. Sometimes returning Californians, and other travelers, gave these freebooters a rather warm reception.

On the present occasion there were but three or four pa.s.sengers, some of whom were armed with small revolvers. Suddenly a party of mounted guerillas appeared, nearly a dozen in number, and at once stopped the coach and ordered the pa.s.sengers out.

Either from fear or collusion, the drivers never interfere, but remain neutral. Probably, if they resisted, their lives would pay the forfeit. The pa.s.sengers, supposing there was no hope of escape but to give up their watches and money, commenced "paying over."

A young English gentleman in one corner of the coach, immediately took up a double-barreled gun and shot the villain at the door of the coach, and then with the other barrel killed another of the party, by shooting him off his horse. He then drew a revolver, and jumped out.

The other travelers concluded, like Wellington's reserve at Waterloo, that they might as well "up and at 'em," and, quite unprepared for such a reception, the freebooters--the surviving ones--fled with precipitation. The papers resounded with the praises of "this fine young English gentleman, all of the modern time."

His father was a distinguished member of Parliament, and soon had the pleasure of meeting his son, who had been abroad and shown that he was made of the right kind of stuff for a traveler in a dangerous country.

CHAPTER XVI.

The tender Pa.s.sion--Barnum's Museum--Little Eva--The Boys in a Box--The Bracelet--Love in an Omnibus--Losses explained.

As Shakspeare, after having displayed Falstaff in his ordinary character of rascal and rowdy in general, represented him as a "lover sighing like furnace," so we, in the course of our researches among juvenile delinquents, find that they are sometimes the victims of what they consider the tender pa.s.sion. And the ardor excited in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s is not always innocent in its effects, but, as in the case of "children of an older growth," sometimes leads to the commission of heinous crime, as is exemplified in the instance we are about to relate.

While the drama of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was running at that Museum of Natural and _Un_natural History, commonly called Barnum's, four boys, the eldest apparently about fourteen years of age, were observed night after night occupying a stage-box in the theatre attached to that establishment, and watching, with admiring eyes, the movements of the young lady who represented "Little Eva." Boys are gregarious in their loves and hates, and it appeared that in the present instance, the three younger ones were not smitten with the aforesaid damsel, _per se_, but simply as friends or satellites of their older companion, accompanying him in that capacity, to encourage him, and witness his hoped-for triumph over the heart of the young actress, and possibly for the sake of sharing in the "treats" of various kinds which he dispensed to favored ones with a lavish hand.

Not content with sighing at a distance for the object of his affections, and on one occasion making a decided demonstration, by throwing a gold bracelet upon the stage, intended to encircle her arm, the enamored youth often watched for his charmer as she descended from the world of imagination to that of real life,--from the theatrical stage to that humble, but useful vehicle, an omnibus; and having ascertained which one was irradiated by her presence, he madly rushed after, and purchased, with the slight outlay of a sixpence, the enrapturing consciousness of being included within the narrow walls that held the mistress of his heart.

But "the course of true love never did run smooth." Sometimes unfeeling parents obstruct; sometimes "no" is a decided obstacle; but neither of these was the immediate cause of the rough "course" in the present instance. It does not appear that our stricken youth had ever approached near enough to his "bright particular star" to admit of any confidential disclosure of the state of his feelings; much less had he opened any negotiations with the "powers that be." The rocks on which he split were, the manager of the Museum and a police officer!

When the reader is informed that the lad in question was not the son of wealthy parents, and had, or ought to have had no other pecuniary resources than those which he derived from his occupation in the employ of a bookseller, he will readily conjecture whence came the means for the indulgence of such extravagance and folly as have been described. Such an unusual occurrence as the hiring of a stage box by a boy, for several nights in succession (the expense of which was five dollars a night), attracted the attention and the suspicions of the manager of the Museum, who sent for the police, and on searching the boys, an empty envelope, addressed to "S----& Co., Fulton Street," the employers of our precocious young gentleman, was found upon his person. It was then ascertained that S---- & Co. had recently lost several money-letters, and the boy, being the person who took the letters out of the post-office for the firm, had appropriated the money to his own use. He was tried before the United States Court, and sent to the House of Refuge, where, it is to be hoped, he was cured of indulging his boyish whim at the expense of his employer's money and his own character.

CHAPTER XVII.

DETACHED INCIDENTS.

Bank Letter lost--The Thief decoyed--Post-Office at Midnight--Climbing the Ladder--An exciting Moment--Queer Place of Deposit.

A Post Master in Prison--Afflicted Friends--Sighs and Saws--The Culprit's Escape--How it was done--A cool Letter--A Wife's Offering.

Moral Gymnastics--Show of Honesty--Unwelcome Suggestion.

"A hard road to travel"--Headed by a Parson--Lost Time made up--A Male overhauled.