Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 3

Under cover of this sally, I made a triumphant retreat, the landlord leading Bob for a little distance, lest he should be inclined to repeat the entire programme. While thus engaged, Boniface explained the conduct of the horse, by informing me that he formerly belonged to a person who had taught him the trick, which he would always attempt to go through with when instigated thereto by such a sound as I heard when I mounted him. With many apologies for the occurrence, "mine host" let go the bridle, and I proceeded to find out what Bob could do with his whole force of legs. This performance was more satisfactory to me than his former one, and as we flew along, his tail and my coat-tails streaming in the air, I seemed to myself an embodiment of the design upon the seal of my commission, and was inwardly amused to think how soon the ideal post-rider and his steed had found their real representatives in the persons of myself and Bob.

In this style we dashed onward, and as I reined in my panting charger before the door of the hotel in G., the stage was just ready to start, the driver being seated on his official throne, whip and reins in hand, looking the picture of impatience. He would have been gone before this, had not the District-Attorney interceded for a short delay. This gentleman was standing in the door of the post-office, appearing very much surprised at my want of punctuality. A hasty explanation produced a smile, and the remark, that it was a "good joke."

A doubt which I suggested, as to the safety of examining the mail in the presence of the post master, was set at rest by my companion, who a.s.sured me that he was certain of the integrity of this functionary, and also informed me that he had been made acquainted with the object of our call, before my arrival. The post master being a merchant, there was, among the other miscellaneous articles which compose the stock of a country store, a fair a.s.sortment of gentlemen of leisure, sitting upon the counter, and reclining in graceful att.i.tudes upon the boxes and barrels. Our unusual movements inspired them with unwonted vigor, and an ardent desire was manifested on their part to know what hidden mystery lurked within the recesses of the mail-bag, which we were about carrying to a room above, in order to be out of the way of observation. Two of these gentlemen, thirsting for knowledge, hastily formed themselves into a committee of investigation, and followed us up stairs, until they were summarily relieved from the discharge of their self-imposed duties by a peremptory intimation from Mr. Pierce, that we wished to be alone for a short time.

As soon as we had secured ourselves from intrusion, the bag was hastily unlocked, and its contents turned upon the floor. Each package was taken up, separately and carefully examined, but the all-important one, whose absence would indicate unerringly the guilt of the suspected individual, was not there! This was the most trying and responsible moment of all, as it is always found to be in such investigations--the moment when it is discovered that the trap has been sprung, and the rogue is almost within your grasp. For experience has shown, that missing a "decoy-letter," and establis.h.i.+ng in a legal manner the guilt of the individual who is known to have intercepted it, are two very different things. Much caution is requisite in the management of these cases, in order to leave no loop-hole of retreat to the culprit. Too hasty movements might spoil all, by alarming him before he had put it out of his power to account plausibly for the detention of the letter; while a too long delay might enable him to increase materially the difficulty of obtaining direct evidence, by affording him an opportunity of disposing of the necessary proof,--the letter itself, and the contained money.

In the present instance, it was considered that a too speedy return to search for the absent package, might result in finding it in a perfect state, allowing of the explanation by the post master, that it had been left over by mistake in overhauling the mail, which would have put the case in a capital shape for a tolerably sharp lawyer to defend. We therefore concluded to allow several hours to elapse before making a descent upon the premises, the time being mainly occupied in drawing up the requisite papers, and procuring the attendance of a proper officer to serve them.

All things having been prepared, we started, at about nine o'clock in the evening, for the post-office in question. The office itself was in a small building, some twenty rods from the post master's house, and as we approached the premises, no light was visible, excepting in one of the chambers of the dwelling. There, accordingly, we directed our steps, and a few raps upon the door brought down the post master, light in hand, who at once recognised "Squire Paarce," as he called the District-Attorney. This gentleman politely requested him to step over to the office, to transact some business, the nature of which he did not then explain. The post master expressed his readiness to accompany Mr. Pierce, remarking that he must first leave him a moment, in order to go to another part of the house for a lantern. Some such manoeuvre on his part had been antic.i.p.ated, and he was closely watched--in fact, Mr. Pierce went with him--while absent on his errand, to deprive him of an opportunity of secreting any money that he might have on his person.

On reaching the post-office, he was introduced to the Agent, whose first object was, to get an admission from him, that he was present when the mail arrived from Boston that day, that he overhauled it alone, and that he had at this time no packages on hand to go by the mail Northward the day following. These points having been ascertained, the subject of the numerous losses on that route was broached, and the fact plainly stated, that they had been traced to that office; which piece of information was received by the post master with the utmost apparent self-possession. Indeed, he seemed exceedingly surprised to hear of the various frauds which I enumerated, and professed entire ignorance that anything of the kind had occurred, a.s.suring me that if such things had been done, my suspicions as to his office were utterly groundless.

"Do you receive much money in the course of your business, Mr. F.?" I asked.

"Some," was the laconic reply.

"Have you much on hand now, and is it here, or at the house, or where is it?"

"I don't know that my duty to the Post-office Department compels me to answer such questions--to strangers, anyhow," replied he, with an air of defiance.

"Then," said I, "_my_ duty to the Department will require me to dispense with further interrogatories, and proceed to satisfy myself as to the present state of your finances in some other, and more direct way."

"Well, Squire," said he, turning to Mr. Pierce, "I want to know if you have brought this man here to bully me, on my own premises, and accuse me of doing things that I never thought of, to say nothing of his impertinence in inquiring into my private business affairs. Let him find out what he can about them. I sha'n't help him."

The District-Attorney a.s.sured him that all was correct; that his rights should be protected; and that he had better furnish the required information as to his means, and allow us to examine any funds he might have on hand. This, the Attorney suggested, would be the course which a regard for his own interests should lead him to adopt.

After much grumbling, and giving vent to his dissatisfaction by the remark, that "he didn't see why he should be picked out, and treated in this way," he reluctantly complied with my somewhat urgent request to be allowed to look at the money in his possession. Handing me his wallet, he awaited the result of the examination with all the composure he could command. He must have inferred, from what had been said, that it was in my power to identify whatever money he had that was unlawfully obtained, yet with the consciousness that he was thus open to detection, he did not flinch, nor betray but in a small degree, the heart-sinking that a knowledge of his perilous situation could not fail to produce. These were my first thoughts, but I afterwards had occasion to believe that he was not aware of the overwhelming proof against himself which he supplied as he pa.s.sed his pocket-book into my hands. A hasty examination of its contents revealed unmistakable evidence of his guilt, for on consulting the description of the bills mailed that morning in Boston, to go some twenty miles above this point, every one of them was at once identified!

"Mr. F.," said I, "this money I saw placed in a letter in Boston, this morning, to go some distance above you; how came it in your wallet?"

For some time the unfortunate man was speechless. He had continued so long in his course of fraud, that the ground had begun to feel firm beneath his feet, when all at once this gulf opened before him, about to swallow up everything that man ought to hold most dear: character, liberty, the love and respect of his fellow men, and even property--a thing of comparatively little importance--for rest.i.tution would justly be required.

The words in which one of Milton's fallen spirits addresses a brother angel, might appropriately be applied to this victim of the l.u.s.t of gold.

"If thou be'st he;--but O, how fallen, how changed!"

Yes, indeed, how changed! He had occupied a high position in community, enjoying the confidence of every one; and had been elected to places of honor and trust by his fellow-citizens, before his appointment to this office by the general Government. What was he now?

What would he be when it should be known everywhere that the exemplary Mr. F. had been guilty of a felon's crimes, and was likely to meet with a felon's doom? How could he ever face again his children, already deprived of one parent by death, and about to lose another by that which is worse than death? Ah! if crime presented the same aspect before its perpetration that it does afterward, how vast would be the diminution of human guilt!

The District-Attorney and Sheriff having purposely retired for a few moments, I took occasion to represent to F., in as strong a light as possible, the disappointments and distress which his unprincipled course had occasioned among the pupils of the academy, at the same time urging him, if he had not destroyed their letters, to produce them at once, that they might be forwarded to their rightful owners.

He did not deny that he was the author of all the mischief; and stated that the letters he had taken had been destroyed, but that the money--several hundred dollars--was invested in real estate, and could be restored.

After I had ascertained these important facts, I consigned the criminal to the Sheriff's hands, in virtue of the warrant which had before been made out, as I have already mentioned. The Sheriff returned to the house with him, to allow him to make some preparation for a night's ride, and as they issued from the dwelling, I noticed that F. had on the identical Quaker coat, which had been to him what the robe of Nessus was to Hercules,--a garment bringing unforeseen destruction to its wearer.

The trial of the prisoner was held in due time, and its result furnished no exception to the truth of the Scriptural declaration respecting the way of transgressors.

Before closing this narrative, I should mention that measures were taken to secure the restoration of their money to those who had been defrauded by this man's dishonesty. It was, however, a slower process to heal the wounded feelings, to re-establish the broken friends.h.i.+ps, and to reproduce the lost confidence, of which he had been the guilty cause. Whether he ever regained his lost reputation, I am unable to say.

A long course of upright conduct may and ought to obliterate the memory of former crime, but the commission of such crimes ordinarily raises additional barriers in the way of a virtuous life; and too often it were as hopeful a task to collect the fragments of a diamond which has just been dashed upon the pavement, and attempt to reconstruct it in its original beauty, as to gather up the remains of a ruined character, and endeavor to restore it to its former l.u.s.tre.

CHAPTER II.

A competent a.s.sistant--Yielding to Temptation--An easy Post Master--Whispers of Complaint--a.s.sistant embarra.s.sed--Application to his Uncle--The Refusal--Value of a kind Word--Resort to Depredations--Evidences of Guilt--Decoy Letter taken--The Bowling Saloon--The Agent worsted--The Restaurant--Bother of the Credit System--The fatal Bank-Note--Keen Letter to the Agent--The Arrest--The next Meeting.

Those who are connected in any way with the administration of the law, find their sympathies excited in very different degrees by the several cases which they have in hand from time to time. Although the ruin of character is to be deplored under all circ.u.mstances, yet it never gives rise to greater commiseration and regret than when it destroys more than ordinary capabilities for adorning and profiting society.

Such were the capabilities possessed by Thomas L., the subject of the following sketch.

I have rarely, in my official capacity, come in contact with a young man who was more richly endowed with acuteness of intellect, brilliancy of talent, and fascination of manners; and in addition to these gifts of nature, he had received from a devoted mother those lessons of morality and religion which she fondly hoped would guard him from the dangers that might beset his path. Well was it for her peace of mind that she was removed to that world "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest," while yet her beloved son retained an unsullied character, and the respect of his fellow-men.

Such was the young man whose fall I have to record. His employer, the post master, was a man of ample pecuniary means, independent of the emoluments of his office, and, as is often true in similar cases, giving but little time or attention to the discharge of its duties.

Nor was his immediate superintendence necessary, so far as concerned the details of business, for his young a.s.sistant, though only eighteen years of age, kept everything in complete order, and so administered the office, with the occasional a.s.sistance of a younger lad, as to give perfect satisfaction to all who had dealings with it, and to render the angel-like visits of the post master a matter of very little consequence to the public. But this universal popularity, and the absence of supervision and of restraint, other than that supplied by his own conscience, were circ.u.mstances unfavorable to the preservation of his integrity, and laid him open to the temptations which so easily a.s.sail those of like character and similarly situated.

The most gifted and socially attractive are always peculiarly exposed to danger of this kind, and nothing short of firmly established principle can be relied on for safety. Doubtless, the truths which his departed mother had endeavored to impress upon his young mind often sounded their tones of warning in his ears; yet they were too weak to be heard in the roar of the stream which was bearing him along to destruction.

A few drops of water seem of little importance. They may sparkle as dew, they may form a rainbow; but when, united to others, they rush onward as a mighty torrent, sweeping everything before them, we may see how pleasing and often apparently trifling are the beginnings of evil, and how irresistible are its downward tendencies to those who put themselves within its power.

The usual enticements of a moderate-sized Ma.s.sachusetts country village,--the sleighing parties, dancing schools, b.a.l.l.s, refreshment saloons, bowling alleys, &c., conspired in this case to invite considerable expenditures, and the subject of this sketch, in his attempt to keep up with the course of extravagance and unthinking dissipation upon which his companions had entered, who could better afford the expense, found his means entirely inadequate to this end; but before making the discovery, he had been committed to the whirlpool of fas.h.i.+onable pleasure too far to extricate himself without much difficulty.

The first effects of this course began to show themselves in the frequent closing of the office in advance of the proper time, and the opening of it at irregular and often unseasonable hours. Whispers of complaint were heard on the part of business men, which, coming to the ears of the post master, were followed by some _gentle_ remonstrances,--gentle they necessarily were, for circ.u.mstances already related had given the boy too much consequence (rendering his services, as he well knew, quite indispensable) to allow him to bear patiently anything like a "blowing up" from his too easy employer. For a time, however, this remissness ceased, and like some n.o.ble s.h.i.+p struck by a heavy wave and brought to a momentary stand, while driving onward to s.h.i.+pwreck, this promising young man appeared to pause in his dangerous career, and for a while all seemed to be going on well. But the improvement was only temporary. The importunities of his companions, innocent perhaps of any vicious design, again diverted his attention from business, and he was soon fairly in the old track of pleasure-seeking, regardless of the sacrifice of time or money.

Having the entire control of the post-office funds, and not being required to account for the money collected till the close of the quarter, he at first ventured to use these funds in a limited way, to pay the more urgent demands upon him, trusting, as he afterwards expressed himself, that "something would turn up," he knew not what, to enable him to replace the money before the quarterly settlement with his confiding employer. As the time approached, he discovered with dismay that the deficiency amounted to some seventy-five dollars. How to make this good was a perplexing question, which occupied his daily thoughts and disturbed his nightly slumbers. He was proud-spirited, and up to this time, had enjoyed an unspotted reputation. Discovery must be averted at any rate.

At this juncture, the thought of some property which his widowed mother at her death had left for him in the hands of a relative living at a distance, came to his relief, and he resolved to lose no time in applying for aid in that direction. A frank and full statement of his real situation would no doubt have brought him the desired aid, but, as will be seen in his letter of application to his uncle, he was induced to give a false reason for his need of funds, and the cold, business-like reply which followed, is such as would naturally be expected from one who had no sympathy with the weaknesses of youth, and no disposition to inquire with a kindly interest into the affairs of his young relative. Had this reply been different in its tone, it might have drawn out the requisite explanation, and have effectually prevented what afterwards occurred.

Here are the letters:

E----, Ma.s.s., February 16th, 1849.

My dear Uncle,

I am in need of some funds, say seventy-five dollars. I have foolishly loaned about that amount in small sums to a friend at school here, upon whose word I thought I could depend, when he promised me he could replace it at any moment I desired. I shall consider it a great favor if you will accommodate me.

Your affectionate nephew,

THOMAS.

To this the following reply was received:--

New York, February 19th, 1849.

My dear Sir,