Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 29

Being satisfied that a young lad of sufficient abilities to compose these doc.u.ments in such a style, could not have been made the innocent dupe of any one, especially a stranger, I determined to lay the whole matter before his employer, a prominent member of the New York bar. He had heard nothing of it before, and was much pained to hear my narration, for he was warmly attached to the young student, who, up to that time had enjoyed his entire confidence, and for whose improvement and legal education he had taken unusual pains.

A moment's reference to the Law Register, a work containing the names and residences of all the members of the legal profession in every State in the Union, and to be found in almost every law office, showed the source whence he had obtained the list which had been "dropped by carelessness" into the post-office, for pencil marks appeared against the names of most of the _country_ lawyers, but including none of those that had ever been correspondents of the firm with which he was connected!

The opinion that there was no accomplice, nor even princ.i.p.al, in the case, beyond the boy himself, was fully coincided in by his employer, and it was at once decided to call the lad up for a private examination.

I thought, as he entered the room, cap in hand, and with an air of perfect _nonchalance_, that I had seldom seen a more expressive and intelligent countenance. His high forehead, adorned with graceful curls of brown hair, his full and laughing eye, and the regular features of his face, seemed made for some better use than to delude unwary victims.

"George," said his employer, "what do these Jolliet letters mean, that you have been sending all over the country?"

_Boy._--"I will tell you all I know about it, sir. Some weeks since, as I was coming in town one morning, in the Harlem cars, a man calling himself Jolliet----"

_Agent._--"Stop, George, and hear me a moment before you go further.

We don't want to hear that story. We know there is no such person as Jolliet, and if you go on with such a statement before Mr. F.," (his employer,) "your pride will render it harder for you to make the acknowledgments that I know you must come to. You have had no accomplice, and if you will bring me the Law Register, I will show you where you got the names of the lawyers to whom you sent the letters."

_Mr. F._--"Now, George, you see that Mr. H. knows all about it, and I hope you will not attempt to deny the truth. I am deeply pained to find that you have been guilty of such misdemeanors; and I trust, for your own sake, that you will make a clean breast of it."

After a pause of a few moments, the young man acknowledged, that, being "hard up," he had resorted to this plan to obtain funds, and that he knew no such person as "William H. Jolliet."

_Agent._--"How then could you have sworn to the statement you sent to the Brooklyn post master? You must have been aware that in so doing, you were committing perjury."

_Boy._--"Ah! but I did not swear to it. My name is attached to the affidavit, it is true, but having prepared it beforehand, I spoke to the Commissioner just as he was leaving the officer, and he signed it, but in his hurry he forgot to administer the oath."

_Agent._--"But that omission must have been merely accidental.

Supposing he had required the usual ceremony, what would you have done?"

_Boy._--"I have so often seen him omit it, that I took that risk. If he had insisted, I should have backed out."

Subsequent inquiry satisfied me that the Commissioner in question, having often had occasion to sign affidavits for the young man, in the course of the office business, was not always particular in administering the oath, and that it was no doubt neglected in the present instance.

The punishment inflicted in this case, was all that the most indignant victim of the fraud would have demanded; and there is reason to believe that a permanent reformation in the character of the young man has been the result; and that the rare talents which he possesses, will yet be found arrayed on the side of honesty and virtue.

Answers to the Jolliet letters continued to arrive from all parts of the country, for some time after the discovery of the fraud, as here related. The letters that had acc.u.mulated in the Brooklyn Post Office, were sent to the Dead Letter Office, opened, and subsequently returned to their respective owners, with their contents, accompanied by a proper explanation.

In nearly every instance, the dodge had been successful. The six s.h.i.+llings, or that amount in postage stamps, were duly enclosed; and, in some instances a dollar, to make even change, with directions for forwarding the mysterious package.

Such an unexpected notice had no doubt given rise in many cases to sundry visions of heavy fees, which were to flow in upon the fortunate correspondent of Jolliet, for conducting the business of some wealthy capitalist of the old world, who, attracted by his professional fame, was about to confide to him matters of great weight and importance--perhaps some complicated law-suit, the successful issue of which would bring him a wealth of reputation and money, compared with which the outlay of six s.h.i.+llings was an item too contemptible to be regarded.

Or some sanguine individual might scent out a legacy in the "package from Liverpool."

People were dying every day in England, whose heirs lived in this country. It was not very unusual for persons to inherit immense fortunes from those whose names they had never heard. It might make the difference of thousands of dollars to a man whether his name was Brown or White, when some possessor of one or the other name came to leave his property behind him. And it would be a pity to lose the chance of securing a handsome property for one's self, or the opportunity of acting as agent for somebody else, though the whole affair might prove but a hoax, and the chance of thus finding a fortune rather less than the prospect of drawing a prize in a "gift lottery."

It was amusing to peruse the letters which the Agent received from those who had been swindled, acknowledging the safe return of the letter and money which they had sent to Jolliet. Most of them were "well satisfied" when they sent the money, "that it was all a hoax,"

but then it was a small sum that he applied for, and they thought they would send it to the fellow for the ingenuity he had displayed in "raising the wind!" All, however, seemed very glad to get their money again, even at the risk of allowing such talent to go unrewarded.

Some wary old heads, too acute to be caught by such chaff, took the precaution to request Jolliet to call on their friends in New York, leave the package, and get the six s.h.i.+llings. Another directed that it should be left at the Express Office, the expenses paid there, and when the parcel arrived, the entire charges would be promptly met.

Two or three, not content with informing Jolliet that he had not taken them in, indulged in a somewhat sarcastic style of correspondence. The following are two specimens of this kind of reply:--

P----, Feb. 2, 1855.

Mr. Wm. H. Jolliet,

Sir:

I am in receipt of a note from you, informing me that you have in your possession a package for me from Liverpool, Eng., on which there is a charge of 6s. sterling, and which you will send to me on receipt of the above sum.

Sir, I cannot but think it a little strange that my large circle of friends and correspondents in Liverpool (a circle which may be represented thus, 0) should have thought it necessary for parcels which they send me, to pa.s.s through your hands, unless you have some connection with the friends aforesaid, unknown to me. Before I send you the _sterling_ money, I should like answers of the like quality, to some or all of the following interrogatories:--

1st. Who are you?

2d. Who knows you?

3d. Who do you know?

4th. Is "Wm, H. Jolliet" the name given you in baptism?

5th. Wouldn't you receive less than six s.h.i.+llings, if you could get it?

6th. Do you think you have taken me in?

7th. After reading the above, please inform me whether you remain _Jolly yet_.

Not your victim,

JNO. S----.

H----, Jan. 28, 1855.

Sir:

I know I am ambitious. I have my aspirations. My fame may be extending. Perhaps it is, I had thought it was local; confined to this county, certainly to the State. But it seems that I am known abroad, and you wish me to pay the moderate sum of seventy-five cents for verifying the fact. Sir, I am an Anglo-Saxon. I rejoice in it. And I don't doubt that somewhere between Adam's time and mine, some of my progenitors have inhabited England. But I believe they have all died or moved away. So you see it isn't likely that I have any relations in Liverpool, whence came the package you say is in your hands.

In the next place, sir, living as I do in an inland town, I know little of those "who go down to the sea in s.h.i.+ps." (David, Psalms, Cap. 107.) And all my particular friends are in this country, according to the best of my knowledge and belief. But no others than the individuals I have cited, would be likely to send me packages from foreign lands. It therefore follows, sir, that the aforesaid package is not _in rerum natura_. I shall be happy to receive from you any facts which may vitiate this conclusion.

Pending this, I remain yours, &c.,

ED. B----.

Mr. Wm. H. Jolliet.

We have allowed the lawyers to lead off in the melancholy procession of victims of rascality which we have undertaken to display to our readers; and it is our design, in marshaling our regiment of "the Great Deluded," to place the clergy second in order. Lawyers are (or ought to be) hard-headed, with little faith in mankind at large; while it is the general characteristic of clergymen to be soft-hearted, and to trust, sometimes "not too wisely, but too well," in the integrity of their fellow men. In addition to the weak points which they may have in common with all, and through which they are liable to be successfully a.s.sailed, the cultivation of that spirit of charity which "thinketh no evil" makes them slow in suspecting villanous designs on the part of others; and renders them an easy prey to those who are unscrupulous enough to use their unsuspecting disposition as a means of carrying into effect their own base purposes.

In making these remarks, we are far from wis.h.i.+ng to cast any slur upon the native shrewdness or penetration of the clergy, which would be unjust to them, (for there are few keener intellects than those that are possessed by some who are members and ornaments of this body,) but our object is simply to mention some of the causes which often make them the victims of imposition. Many of them, especially those who live in the country, occupied as they are with the duties of their calling, in the retired life of the study, and in intercourse with the comparatively honest and virtuous community in which their lot is cast, are somewhat secluded from the world at large, and know little, except by report, of the innumerable forms of deceit and iniquity that people enact, who live outside of their own quiet boundaries. This is, perhaps, less generally true at the present time than it was years ago, before the increased facilities for communication had given equal facilities to rogues, who have chosen our large cities as a field for their nefarious operations, and have extended them, by means of the mails, to the remotest corners of the country.