Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 9

He went on for some little time in this strain, displaying a high regard for his wife's affection and good opinion, and an apprehension that he might have forfeited them by his misconduct; an apprehension utterly groundless--so far, at least, as regarded affection, for the undying flame of love in a true woman's heart cannot so be quenched.

Mrs. B., as I afterwards learned, was a most estimable woman, whose influence had doubtless been of great benefit to her husband. Alas!

that the power of his good angel could not have triumphed over the temptation to which he yielded!

When he had recovered sufficiently to walk about, the Marshal took him in charge, and conveyed him to a neighboring town, where the United States District Judge resided, for examination. His friends, who were highly respectable, were informed by telegraph of his arrest, and gave the required bail for his appearance at trial.

Thus we have traced out an important part of the career of one whose character was laid low, not by his enemies, but by his own hand. And whenever I pa.s.s through the pleasant town which was the scene of these transactions, a shade of melancholy comes over me, entirely at variance with the general cheerful appearance both of the place and the surrounding landscape.

On one of the last occasions that I was in that vicinity, the train on which I was traveling stopped for a few moments at this station. It was a delightful summer's day, and if the objects which met my eye, as I gazed up and down the street, had not been, many of them, monuments to me of a melancholy history, I should have thought that the place yielded in beauty to few of the villages which adorn New England. But a stranger occupied the store where the unfortunate B. maintained the contest with his rivals; the post office was in other hands; and I was just turning away from a scene that suggested nothing but unpleasant reminiscences, when Squire W. emerged from the station-house, and cordially addressed me. This was the first time I had seen him, since our memorable interview in his office.

"Good morning, Mr. H.," said he; "how is the rogue-catching business now? I suppose you have disposed of a good many since you despatched B. so summarily. When I first heard of his arrest, feeling sure of his innocence as I did, I don't know that I should have been much surprised if you had come after me next; and I felt a little sore, to tell you the truth, to think that my endors.e.m.e.nt of him had so little weight with you. But I have since seen that you were perfectly right about it, though I am sorry that poor B. should have turned out so badly."

Here the iron horse began to manifest indications of impatience, and shaking hands with the worthy Squire, we went our several ways.

CHAPTER IV.

High Crimes in low Places--Honest Baggage-masters--Suspicious Circ.u.mstances--Watching the Suspected--Shunning the Dust--Honesty Triumphant--An Episode--Unexpected Confession--The Night Clerks--Conformity to Circ.u.mstances--Pat the Porter--Absents himself--Physician consulted--The Dead Child--Hunting Excursions--"No Go"--Pat explains his Absence--His Discharge--The Grave-stones--Stolen Money appears--The Jolly Undertakers--Pat at the Grave--More Hunting--Firing a Salute--Removing the Deposits--Crossing the Ferry--Scene at the Post Office--Trip to Brooklyn--Recovery of Money--Escape--Encounter with a Policeman--Searching a Steamer--Waking the wrong Pa.s.senger--Accomplices detained--Luxuries cut off--False Imprisonment Suit--Michael on the Stand--Case dismissed.

Public confidence in the United States Mail, and in the integrity of those connected therewith, never perhaps received a severer shock than that which it suffered from the extensive robberies committed in the Summer and Fall of 1853, by Pat R., at that time a night porter in the New York Post Office. The range of _his_ ambition was by no means commensurate with his humble station in life and the post office, and his menial occupation did not repress aspirations which could render him a fit rival to such men as Swartwout and Schuyler, both by the extent of his schemes of villany, and the success with which they were carried on.

He was no petty thief, content with doing a small but comparatively safe business at filching, or at least, satisfied to begin with the "day of small things;" but he had hardly taken the oath of office before its strength was tested, and it proved no greater restraint to him than a spider's thread to a wild buffalo. He at once plunged into the tempting field which lay before him, and grasped with a greedy clutch at every opportunity to enlarge his increasing store of ill-gotten wealth. He would sometimes add thousands to his h.o.a.rd in a single night, and carried on these bold depredations for some time unsuspected, not because he was _above_ suspicion, but because he was _below_ it.

In other words, after these robberies had been pretty satisfactorily traced to the New York office, it was necessary to establish the innocence, so far as these losses were concerned, of a large number of clerks, before suspicion fairly rested on the guilty party. Thus, when the investigation was commenced, he was buried up, so to speak, beneath so many protecting layers, all of which were removed before he came to light. I will not attempt to give any idea of the quant.i.ty of labor necessary in this and similar preliminary investigations.

Some of the numerous complaints made to the Department and the post master of New York, involved large sums of money. Among them was a package of $2000 in bank-notes, mailed at Middletown, Conn., for Philadelphia, Penn. Another of $1800 from Bridgeport, Conn., to Zanesville, Ohio. Still another of $1400 from Joliet, Ill., to New York, and many other smaller sums, from $50 to $1000; also drafts, notes, checks, &c, to an enormous amount in the aggregate. None of these valuable remittances had been seen by any persons properly interested in them, after they had pa.s.sed out of the hands of the senders.

Doubtless to those unacquainted with such matters, it may not prove much for the efficiency of the Special Agent to state that the thefts were occasionally repeated even after he had entered upon this investigation. But the Agent employed in this instance always preferred to catch the rogue, rather than frighten him, thereby leaving innocent parties under the ban of suspicion, as well as destroying all chances for the recovery of the property already stolen. And the benefits and propriety of that course were fully realized in the result of the important case under consideration.

As "it is the last straw which breaks the camel's back," so it is often the stealing of the last letter which aids in bringing to light the depredator of former ones.

I propose here to relate some details, which may be interesting, of the means taken to "narrow down" and trace out those extensive robberies, not so much on account of anything novel or original, adopted at this or any other stage of the investigation, as to demonstrate the value of a character that is proof against trying temptation; and the dangerous position of those who are not at all times thus fortified, although they may be innocent of the particular offences charged.

With but few exceptions, the mails in which the missing letters and money packages should have been conveyed to New York, would have come from the East by the express night trains, over the Boston and New York Railroad. Upon those trains, the mails were in charge of the baggage-masters, the regular mail or "route agents" being confined to the way mail-trains running at different hours of the day. A variety of circ.u.mstances, besides their good reputation, conspired to avert suspicion from these baggage-men. The mails were in "through bags,"

and it required a mail-key to obtain access to their contents; and besides, the robberies could not well be perpetrated in that way without collusion between several persons,--the express agents, and the conductors, all reliable men, having occasion often to visit the baggage car, which was always well lighted.

Accompanying the night express trains there were also "through baggage-masters," so called. Their duty was performed by two persons, one of whom left Boston and the other New York on each evening.

On privately consulting the officers of the railroad company as to the running of these men, it appeared that about all the losses had happened on the nights of one of them: a discovery which, as had been shown by experience in similar cases, was by no means conclusive, and yet of too much importance to be overlooked.

The individual thus involved knew me well, and it required no little manoeuvring to get over the route as often as was necessary, without being observed by him. One night when thus endeavoring to avoid him, a very amusing incident occurred.

The regular conductor soon after leaving Springfield, was taken suddenly ill, and procured the services of this identical baggage-master for a short distance, unknown of course to me. I was sitting curled up in the corner of the saloon of the first pa.s.senger car, when the door opened and the well known call of "Tickets, gentlemen," apprised me that he had found me out before I had recognised him, or at least had discovered that I was "aboard." But I made the best of it, simply remarking that there was the least dust there of any spot on the train.

Up to this time my ground of suspicion was mainly confined to the coincidence already mentioned between the dates of losses, and his presence on the cars. The investigation had not proceeded far, however, when another matter came to light, which increased suspicion in that quarter.

A citizen of New York called on me and stated that recently, just as the night train was starting from the depot in Ca.n.a.l Street, he handed this same baggage-master a letter containing money, which he asked him to take charge of, not having time to carry it to the post-office. He at first declined, on the ground that the conveyance of letters out of the mail was illegal, but finally proposed to receive it, and, if possible, to get it into the proper bag through one of the small openings between the staples. This was the last that was ever seen of the letter by the sender or his correspondent. The former having called on the baggage-master, had been told that, the letter was crowded into the right mail-bag, as promised; but the statement was not believed, and the circ.u.mstance happening in the midst of other troubles on the same line, seemed to const.i.tute an important step in the progress of discovering the author of all this mischief.

A very shrewd acquaintance of the man of trunks, in Boston, was confidentially employed to ascertain something of his habits, and the state of his finances. After a fair and faithful trial, he reported to me, that the aforesaid superintendent of baggage was "as steady as a model deacon, and as poor as a country editor within fifty miles by railroad, of a large city." And that "although always ready, like many other clever fellows, to partake of the hospitality of his friends when strongly urged, yet you might as well try to get a smile out of a dead man without the use of a galvanic battery, as to induce him to spend a dollar unnecessarily."

The justice of this report was speedily confirmed, and the problem for the thousandth time satisfactorily worked out, that suspicion never yet injured a really honest man, although seemingly well founded in the outset.

Connected with the mailing of one of the large money packages already described, were circ.u.mstances which made it necessary, as is often the fact in a series of robberies, to investigate it as an isolated case, unconnected with the theft of the other packages and letters, none of which would go into or pa.s.s through the office in which this one was deposited.

The statement of the cas.h.i.+er went to show that he took the package to the post-office himself, and handed it to a clerk who happened to be alone in the office, and but a short time before the mail left for New York. This was confirmed by the clerk's own statement, and by his entry in a book kept for the registry of valuable letters and parcels.

About the habits of this clerk, and his manner when examined, there was nothing which appeared in the least to implicate him. The cas.h.i.+er thought it out of the question that anything could be wrong there.

The young clerk was a member of his sabbath-school cla.s.s, from which he was never absent, and he believed him to be "all right."

And yet he had an excellent opportunity to have kept back the package, and the temptation would indeed have been a dangerous one to older and more strongly fortified persons than he was. I determined, therefore, to put him to the test of a direct charge of having purloined the package, which I lost no time in doing, intimating that a confession and restoration of the money was his first duty. But he met the charge fearlessly, and firmly a.s.serted his innocence as to the important remittance in question. The faithful monitor within, however, would not let him rest there. Believing, probably, that I knew more about other transactions of his than the one I had accused him of, he addressed me as follows:--

"I mailed that bank package, and know that it left our office. What could I have done with so much money, if I had been bad enough to have taken it? And I _was_ just bad enough! I am willing to tell you all I have done, and will very gladly restore the ill-gotten funds, for they have made me miserable."

I will omit the details of this unexpected confession, but the first case owned was the $40 letter that had been handed to the through baggage-master, to be crammed into the locked mail-pouch, the failure of which letter, as has been already shown, had given so much force to suspicions against him!

By way of corroborating this part of his admissions, at my request, he described the address of the letter, the kind of money it contained, and to complete the ident.i.ty, he mentioned that it came there loose in the mail-bag.

This discovery relieved the baggage-man amazingly, and at the same time aided me in deciding at what point the heavy losses had occurred; for if the large package started from this office, and was not disturbed on the cars, it must have been stolen in the New York or Philadelphia office, where it was destined.

Another fact transpired about this time, which a.s.sisted still further in locating these alarming robberies. Among them was one of a letter mailed by the cas.h.i.+er of a bank in Vermont, for an office in one of the Western States, and enclosing a quant.i.ty of the notes of that bank. The bills had peculiar marks upon them. They all found their way back to the bank through the usual channel of redemption, within a week of the time they were mailed; hence, of course, the letter could not have gone beyond New York. Besides, it was sent to that office for distribution, and the post bill was on file there, and described this identical letter, by its unusual rate, and as being pre-paid by stamps.

In all the other cases, the post bills were not to be found, either in New York or other distant post offices, and they must have been taken with the packages themselves.

The fact that the night mails had suffered chiefly, warranted me now in confining the investigation princ.i.p.ally to the night clerks. They were generally a worthy and reliable cla.s.s of gentlemen, some of them having held this responsible station for many years. In the inquiries and examinations which I was obliged to make, I found some instances of conformity to circ.u.mstances and limited means, that would confer credit on any men, or any age.

But it will perhaps be said, that cunning men may be dishonest, and yet keep their ill-gotten gains out of sight; surrounding themselves with the appearances of frugality and even poverty. This may be so sometimes, temporarily, but it is nevertheless a fact that rogues _steal money to spend it_, and for the comfort and ease which they _expect_ it will confer, which expectation, however, never is realized. For it is the universal rule that money, or any other property not honestly obtained, "bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder;" and realizing the fabled vulture of Prometheus, unceasingly feeds on the undying life of him who steals, not fire from heaven, but a baser thing from earth.

The sad experience of thousands who have thought themselves cunning enough to cope with the shrewdest officers of justice, will show that however artful and ingenious may be the devices adopted, there are ways enough to meet and expose them. Honesty is, therefore, not only the best policy, but the only safe and impregnable barrier against suspicion, detection, and misery.

Pat R. was appointed as a night porter, at the urgent solicitation of a prominent, and at that time, somewhat influential citizen of the First Ward. He was recommended as a robust, athletic man, just suited to the drudgery which somebody must undertake in such an office, of attending to the lifting, handling, and removing of heavy mails. In that capacity it was not expected that he would discharge any of the more responsible duties of a regular clerk, such as making up and a.s.sorting mail-matter; but the labor of the office acc.u.mulating, he gradually added to his nightly employments that of "facing up" the contents of the midnight mails, after they had been emptied out, and separating the letter from the newspaper packages. Had this last fact been furnished me at an earlier date, by the head clerk of that department, this troublesome investigation would probably have been sooner brought to a satisfactory termination. But, supposing from Pat's position and legitimate duties, that he had not the requisite opportunities for committing depredations, he was about the last one to be looked after. And when I did conclude to extend my particular attentions to him, I was somewhat startled by the discovery, from an examination of the "time register"--a book in which each clerk is required to enter his name and the time of his arrival at and departure from the office--that Pat had not been on duty for nearly a week! This was of course known before to the then first clerk of that department, but the sickness of the absentee, and the death of one of his children, which had been alleged as an excuse, (through another porter,) seemed to be a plausible and satisfactory explanation.

But the Agent thought otherwise, under the circ.u.mstances, and deemed it best, at all events, to ascertain in a careful way its truth or falsity.

By the aid of a reliable day clerk, who lived in Brooklyn, in the neighborhood of Pat, I learned the name and general standing of the physician whom he had employed. An interview with him, supposed on his part to be for the purpose of ascertaining whether Pat was a man of strictly temperate habits, and in all respects fit to be employed in a post office, confirmed the part of his story relating to the child's death, but disproved the rest of it, about his own illness. But the doctor went the whole figure in regard to Pat's good character and fitness for any place which was not too intellectual. I could see, however, that my referee cared more about keeping a paying customer, (all professional charges, as he stated, having been fully liquidated up to that date,) than for posting me up in any matters that would jeopardize so good a situation, where all the monthly payments were in hard and legal currency.

By this step I obtained the first tangible justification of my suspicions against Pat. He had a.s.signed, in part at least, a false reason for his absence. At about the same time, I consulted one of the Brooklyn penny-posts, whose beat took in Pat's residence, and who reported that he had on several occasions recently met him with a gun on his shoulder, apparently starting on a hunting excursion.

He was very poor when he entered the office, and by way of testing his ability to live without work, it was arranged with an agent for procuring laborers for a Western railroad, to call on him, and offer him a chance to go to Illinois as foreman of a gang of hands. But it was "no go." His health was too precarious for that.

Thus matters went on for some time longer, when one day, very much to my surprise, Pat entered the post master's room, and with a woe-begone look, and most melancholy tone of voice, commenced apologizing for his apparent neglect of duty. I was busily engaged in writing at the time, and so continued, hoping that he would not recognise me, as it afterwards appeared he did not.

"Misther Fowler," says he, "I wish to spake to your honor about meself. Ye see, sir, I've been unfortunate, and didn't come to me task; and the cause is, sir, that I've been sick meself with a terrible diarrhoee (placing his hand on his abdominal region,) and what is more painful than that (still keeping his hand in the same position, instead of changing it to the region of the heart,) I have buried a darling boy, your honor; and sure isn't it enough to turn the brain of a poor divil? Ah, may the like on't niver happen to yourself, sir!"

And a big tear rolling down his cheek, attested the _sincerity_ of his grief.

A momentary fear that the post master might intimate something of our suspicions, was speedily relieved by his shrewdly remarking that he was sorry for his (Pat's) misfortunes, and that he had no fault to find, except that he ought to have sent more particular word as to the cause of his detention.