cover picture
making known the object of this interview, and accordingly spoke to three or four persons who had been attracted to the place by the unwonted movements, requesting them to call one of the police officers, some of whom were generally in the vicinity of that rail road station.
During this delay, and in order to prevent any attempt at escape, I put a series of questions to the baggage-master, calculated to allay the suspicion which began to be strongly indicated by his looks.
"Did you," I inquired, "find, in this morning's train from H——, a pocket-book, lost there by a passenger? If we can recover the papers, the money is less of an object."
This seemed to relieve his fears considerably, and he replied in a cheerful tone.
"I have found no such thing. It isn't my business to go through the trains, but this man's," pointing to the other person present.
"Ah, it's my mistake. Didyousee anything of a pocket-book." I asked, turning to the person indicated.
"No," was the answer; "have you lost such an article?"
I was relieved from the difficulty of this question by a rap on the door from the Chief of Police, who was the man of all others whom I wished to see.
As he entered, I intimated to him, in a whisper, what was on foot, and then turning to the baggage-master, without any preamble or formality, I requested him to hand me the mail-key, which he had in his possession.
"I haven't any mail-key," was the dull response. "Very well," said I, "then we shall have to search you."
He turned pale, and remarked, with assumed calmness, "I suppose I know what you want."
One of the side pockets of his over-coat appearing somewhat distended, I commenced my investigations with that. The first article that appeared was the large package of letters made up that evening for delivery at the neighboring city, before alluded to, and the next dive brought to light a heavydistribution package for the same office. Several other packages of less size were afterwards drawn forth. After the search had been completed, the culprit was hand-cuffed, and lodged in jail within half an hour from the time when he had committed this last depredation.
After we had dispatched this part of the business, we turned our attention to the companion of the unfortunate baggage-master, who had been observing our proceedings with the utmost equanimity, though not without interest.
"That's rather hard on Ed," said he, as the door closed on the culprit.
"Yes," replied I, "it is. But I believe we must search you, for I think you are concerned in this affair."
"I never was searched in my life," said he, smilingly, "excepting when I've searched my own pockets, and then I never found much. Perhaps you'll have better luck; at any rate, it won't hurt me to have it tried;" and so saying, he laid aside his cigar, and presented himself to undergo the ordeal. But nothing was found to implicate him in any way.
I then expressed my fear that he might still be an accomplice, as I noticed the baggage-master open and shut the door of the little room, while rifling the mails that night.
An honest laugh followed this remark, and an explanation was given me, which satisfactorily accounted for the suspicious circumstance.
It seems that his dishonest companion, fearing that he would come out of the room and detect him in the act, had opened the door, telling him that he would have to be locked in till the train arrived, and turned the key on the outside. This passed for a joke, and the imprisoned person thought little of it, as he would have no occasion to leave the room until the train arrived, when it would be his duty to inspect the cars. It also appeared that this locking up trick had been played several times previously, no doubt for a similar purpose.
Thus, was an honest man subjected to suspicion, by circumstances beyond his control. A satisfactory explanation ofthem, however, was not beyond his power, and his experience goes to increase the array of testimony, to show the inestimable value of a clear conscience in all exigencies whatever.
The key of a private desk in the baggage room was taken from the robber, and in this desk was found about $40,000 in bank drafts, checks, &c., and more than a hundred rifled letters, which, as their post-marks showed, must have been the proceeds of one or two nights' robbery. Everything taken from the mails, except money, had been committed to the flames, as the criminal himself afterwards confessed. A large portion of the available funds which he had accumulated, was recovered and restored to the rightful owners.
In less than a week from this time, he was tried, and sentenced to the State Prison for the term oftwenty-seven years.
The discoveries here detailed, gave rise to great surprise and excitement among all who knew the guilty individual, for he had sustained a good reputation for sobriety, honesty, and industry.
His innocent family received the warmest sympathy of the entire community, which indeed they deserved, for the culprit's wife was a sincere Christian woman;—a living exemplification of the religion by which she professed to be guided.
Some of the interviews at the prison between her husband, children, and herself, were painful to behold; yet, after the first terrible shock, (and how terrible it was, can be realized by those only who have seen a beloved one suddenly metamorphosed from a fancied angel into a "fallen spirit,") she became more resigned to the overpowering calamity which had overtaken herself and her children.
She had no reproaches for her sinning husband, nor did she allude in his presence to the sufferings which he had brought upon his innocent family; but her aim seemed to be, to induce him, by means of his bitter experience, to begin a new and a Christian life.
One day, when I called to see the prisoner, in company with a gentleman who was anxious to learn the fate of a packageof valuable papers which he had lost, we found the afflicted woman sitting by her husband,—one arm thrown lovingly around his neck, and an open Bible lying in her lap. We apologized to her for the interruption. She looked up mournfully, a tear stealing down her wan cheek as she said.
"It is no matter, I was only reading to poor Edward." Then looking at him fondly, she continued,—"He has been a kind, good husband and father, and hadn't any bad habits or companions that I knew of; and I have often thought that if he only had religion, he would be perfect. And if this trial, bad as it is, will only make him a Christian, it will be all I shall ask."
Meanwhile her two little children were thoughtlessly playing about the door of the cell, unconscious of the ruin which had been wrought in the hearts and the prospects of their wretched parents. The youngest one, while we were there, tried to play at "bo-peep" with its father, but was immediately checked by the poor mother, who cried out in an agonized voice, "Oh Eddie, don't!"
Ever since her husband was sent to prison, this devoted wife has visited him twice a month, (having been furnished with a free pass by the officers of the rail road which passes near the prison,) and to judge by the report of those who have an opportunity of observing him every day, the prisoner has commenced that Christian life, to which the prayers and loving efforts of his wife were designed to lead him.
Nothing can be said that would add to the force of the lesson contained in the facts here narrated. If a life-time of imprisonment, and the blighting of the hopes and happiness of loved ones, do not show with sufficient impressiveness the result of crime, imagination will in vain attempt to supply the deficiency.
I append a letter received by me from the criminal, some time after his committal to the State Prison:—
W——, July 18, 1854.Kind Friend—For I must consider you as such, because through your instrumentality I have been saved, perhaps, from a worse fate than has befallen me. I think through this, I have been taught to see what a sinner I am. I am truly penitent for this crime, as well as all my disobedience to the just laws of God. I mean, through the help of Almighty power, to serve my Creator the remaining years of my life.It is strange how I was tempted to do that crime. I never was inclined to do evil or keep bad company. In fact, I kept no company hardly, except that of my wife and little ones. Oh! how my heart throbs to break loose and join them! Look upon yours as you can in freedom, and think of me. It almost suffocates me to call them before me in my mind.Oh, horrors! little did I ever think such a fate would befal me! I cannot tell why I did it, more than this—to pay my debts. How they did trouble me—how should I ever pay them? But this was not the way to cancel them.I do not love money—not at all. I never desired to be rich, only to be square with the world. I became indebted by inexperience and pride.I would tell you the little story of my life, if I could. My connections, except my father, are pious people. My mother was a good Christian, and died in the happy hope of Heaven. She called me to her bedside about two months before her death. That was the last time I saw her alive; and when she parted with me, she clasped me to her bosom, with these words—"My son, obey God and meet me in Heaven!" Oh! how full of meaning, and a mother's love.But this is too painful. I cannot write of this.You can imagine my feelings at this time. But the evil tempter has left me now, and I pray to God, never to return.Do warn others of my sad fate, to shun the road to ruin.God, in his infinite goodness, has looked upon me with compassion, and calmed my troubles in part. At least all that I have desired, He has done for me, or how could I have lived?Will you not call and see me some time? Don't despise the thief; Christ did not.Many thanks to your kind heart. Also please thank the Government Attorney, and the Post Masters of H——, and N—— H——. May God watch over and preserve you all.Your unworthy servant.E. A. S——.
Kind Friend—
For I must consider you as such, because through your instrumentality I have been saved, perhaps, from a worse fate than has befallen me. I think through this, I have been taught to see what a sinner I am. I am truly penitent for this crime, as well as all my disobedience to the just laws of God. I mean, through the help of Almighty power, to serve my Creator the remaining years of my life.
It is strange how I was tempted to do that crime. I never was inclined to do evil or keep bad company. In fact, I kept no company hardly, except that of my wife and little ones. Oh! how my heart throbs to break loose and join them! Look upon yours as you can in freedom, and think of me. It almost suffocates me to call them before me in my mind.
Oh, horrors! little did I ever think such a fate would befal me! I cannot tell why I did it, more than this—to pay my debts. How they did trouble me—how should I ever pay them? But this was not the way to cancel them.
I do not love money—not at all. I never desired to be rich, only to be square with the world. I became indebted by inexperience and pride.
I would tell you the little story of my life, if I could. My connections, except my father, are pious people. My mother was a good Christian, and died in the happy hope of Heaven. She called me to her bedside about two months before her death. That was the last time I saw her alive; and when she parted with me, she clasped me to her bosom, with these words—"My son, obey God and meet me in Heaven!" Oh! how full of meaning, and a mother's love.
But this is too painful. I cannot write of this.
You can imagine my feelings at this time. But the evil tempter has left me now, and I pray to God, never to return.
Do warn others of my sad fate, to shun the road to ruin.
God, in his infinite goodness, has looked upon me with compassion, and calmed my troubles in part. At least all that I have desired, He has done for me, or how could I have lived?
Will you not call and see me some time? Don't despise the thief; Christ did not.
Many thanks to your kind heart. Also please thank the Government Attorney, and the Post Masters of H——, and N—— H——. May God watch over and preserve you all.
Your unworthy servant.E. A. S——.
Safety of the Mails—Confidence shaken—About Mail Locks—Importance of Seals—City and Country—Meeting the Suspected—Test of Honesty—Value of a String—A dreary Ride—Harmless Stragglers—A cautious Official—Package missing—An early Customer—Newspaper Dodge—Plain Talk—A Call to Breakfast—Innocence and Crime—Suspicion Confirmed—The big Wafers—Finding the String—The Examination—Escape to Canada—A true Woman—The Re-arrest—Letter of Consolation—The Wife in Prison—Boring Out—Surprise of the Jailor—Killing a Horse.
Inour larger cities, and indeed throughout the country, there are thousands of persons engaged in the transaction of business, who if called upon would testify that in the course of their employment of the mails, involving in the aggregate the collection and disbursement of millions of dollars, no part of their correspondence, valuable or otherwise, had failed or had ever been delayed through any fault of the Post-Office Department.
Such, up to the year 1849, had been the experience—an experience extending through many years—of a firm in Northern New York, extensively engaged in manufacturing and real estate operations, which required the frequent transmission of heavy remittances between their place of business and New York City. For a long time they confined themselves to the use of drafts, checks, and other representatives of money, but as everything went on smoothly for years, they finally remitted money itself, in the shape of bank-notes, whenever conveniencerequired, without bestowing a thought upon the insecurity or danger of such a course; and for a time the prompt acknowledgment of the receipt of the various sums thus sent strengthened their confidence in the safety of the mails, and the fidelity of their management.
Therefore the rifling of one money letter directed by them to New York caused but little alarm; but when this was followed in rapid succession by the loss of the contents of a second, third, and even a fourth, they began to think that there was "something rotten in the state of"—New York, and accordingly called upon the Post-Office Department for aid in ascertaining the locality, and detecting the perpetrator of these robberies.
The losses could not be attributed to misdirection, or any other of the long catalogue of causes not of a criminal nature, though occasioning much alarm and inconvenience. For in the present case the rifled letters had reached the parties addressed. They had been opened, robbed, and resealed.
The route over which the letters passed was a long one—some four hundred miles—and the first look at the case seemed almost to forbid the hope of success in its investigation; for it appeared probable that the robber might defy detection as effectually as "a needle in a hay-mow;" and a belief of this kind no doubt encouraged him in his course. There was, however, another fact in connection with the matter, as will presently be seen, of which he was ignorant, which might have caused him at least to hesitate in pursuing his designs, had he known it, for it very much curtailed the limits within which investigation was necessary.
The course of the mail on this route was, first to Ogdensburg, some sixty miles, by stage, the mail being overhauled at each of the intermediate offices, eight or ten in number. At Ogdensburg, all matter for New York was put into a "through bag," which was furnished with a brass lock, and not to be opened until its arrival in New York.
It may be well here to state that two kinds of locks are usedin the mail service; the iron lock for short distances and upon routes where the mails are frequently overhauled, a key to which is in the possession of all the post masters and "Route Agents;" and the brass lock, used for greater safety only between large places and on important routes; the intermediate offices being supplied with their mail matter without the necessity of opening the through bag. Consequently the brass key is in the hands of comparatively few post masters, (only those who are connected with the offices where the through bags are opened,) and of none of the Route Agents.
The reader will see from this statement, and others hereafter to be made, that the robberies were probably committed somewhere between the first-mentioned place and Ogdensburg, and that thus it would be necessary to pursue the investigation only on the latter route, some sixty miles as has already been mentioned.
Thesealsof the rifled letters were important witnesses in this case. In the resealing, uncommonly large wafers of a peculiar shade had been used, as well as a particular kind of stamp, which circumstances satisfactorily proved that all the robberies were the handi-work of one person, and probably at a single locality. The letters had in each instance been detained somewhere one day longer than the time usually required for their passage over the route.
Now there are certain features or symptoms, so to speak, in cases of mail depredations which go far to assist one accustomed to their investigation in determining whether they have occurred in large or small post-offices, and to distinguish with tolerable accuracy, between city and country embezzlements. A city depredator seldom if ever confines his operations to letters passing over a particular route. Indeed he could scarcely do so were he to attempt it, for in the usual division of labor, a dozen letters arriving on separate days would be likely to be taken charge of by as many different hands, and if letters were passing each way on the same route, it would be still more difficult for the same person to purloin from both, as thereceiving and forwarding departments are generally if not always entirely distinct.
Neither is it a city symptom to reseal and replace a letter after it has been rifled, for the reason, among others, that the depredator is not willing, after having succeeded in purloining it, to incur the additional risk of smuggling it back again. While in country or village post-offices, the thefts must in most cases be confined to one route, and there is more leisure and better opportunity for the resealing and returning process.
For similar reasons, the loss or robbery of a number of letters addressed to the same party or business firm, although arriving by different routes, would not necessarily place a city post-office clerk under suspicion, since he could scarcely have a motive for such a selection among the thousands of valuable letters coming into his custody. On the contrary, if he were disposed to be dishonest, he would be more likely to take A.'s letter to-day, B.'s to-morrow, and C.'s the next day. Neither would it, in the case just supposed, be probable that there was a rogue on each of the different routes. The theory which experience and observation have established, would be that the repeated embezzlements had been carried on by some dishonest messenger outside the office who had in his power only the correspondence with which he had been intrusted. At all events, such a conclusion would be fully justified by the very frequent discoveries of similar delinquencies in our cities and large towns.
The peculiar features in the present case showed quite plainly that neither the New York nor Ogdensburg offices were implicated, and that the depredations had occurred somewhere between the latter and the mailing office.
An important question now arose, namely, what postmaster between these points used wafers similar to those upon the rifled letters. Having entire confidence in the Ogdensburg post master, I requested him to write to each of the post masters on the suspected route, asking for information on indifferent subjects and requiring replies. One was requestedto send a copy of the post-bill from his office to Ogdensburg of a certain date. Another was inquired of to know whether a letter remained in his office addressed to Timothy Saunders; another to know whether there was once a clerk in his office by the name of Philip Barton, and if so, where he was at present residing. In this way letters were obtained from all these post masters in the course of a few days, and the mode of sealing was in each case particularly examined. Upon one of these letters the large wafer was found! There was not only the kind of wafer, but the stamp identical with that used upon the rifled letters.
For a few days after this, the exterior of all the letters received at Ogdensburg, and which passed through the suspected office, were carefully examined to see if they had been disturbed. This examination showed plainly that a number had been opened, and resealed either with the large wafer, or by the use of the original seals, which of course were mutilated.
Careful inquiry of some who knew the suspected post master, showed that he was a merchant in good standing, against whom no charge of dishonesty had ever been preferred.
The next thing to be done was to visit a point beyond him, in order to pass decoy letters through his hands, on their way to the Ogdensburg office.
Accompanied by a citizen of Ogdensburg, whose services I had secured as a guide, I started in a private conveyance, and when we had arrived within ten miles of the office of the big wafers, we turned into a by-road so as to avoid passing through the village in which it was situated. At a short distance from the village upon the road aforesaid, we saw a sleigh approaching, (it was the month of December, and capital sleighing,) and as it drew near, my companion remarked that he believed its occupant was Mr. Willis, the very person we were endeavoring to avoid! My friend knew Mr. W. by sight, but was not sure that Mr. W. knewhim.
We concealed our faces as well as we could under the circumstances, and passed at as rapid a rate as was compatible with the muscular powers of our Rosinante. It afterwards appeared that Willis was out on a collecting tour that day, and that neither of us were known to him, nor had he the least suspicion of our business.
The mail which had so frequently suffered the loss of its valuable contents, passed over the route in the night, leaving Fort Covington at about ten P. M. and reaching the suspected office a little before midnight.
An interview with the victim of the former losses, resulted in his preparing a letter containing one hundred dollars in bank-notes, addressed to the same New York correspondent to whom the other letters had been sent. A full account of the bills was taken, and the letter sealed with asmallwafer. A post-bill was prepared by the post master at Fort Covington, and the letter enclosed in a wrapper directed on the outside to New York City.
For the first time it occurred to me that thestringto be put upon the decoy package, might be made to play an important part in supplying evidence of crime. If the letter should be robbed, and then destroyed together with the wrapper, and the money secreted, no proof of the deed would remain excepting the circumstance that the package went into that office and never came out. But the most cunning depredator would never think of destroying a thing so insignificant as a string. So I concluded to make it available in the experiment about to be tried. Among my notes of this case, I find the following description—"A white cotton string, twelve inches long; a knot exactly in the middle, another an inch from one end, and another two inches from the other end,—the last-mentioned end dipped in ink."
The package, tied up with this tell-tale string, was then thrown into the bag, and we soon set out on our return in the mail conveyance. The road lay for the most part through thick swampy woods, upon whose grim silence the cheerfulsound of our sleigh-bells made but little impression. Nor did we possess any other means for dispelling the gloom around us than the red glow of a couple of cigars, with which we resisted the encroachments of Jack Frost, so far as our noses were concerned. These (the cigars, not the noses) must have appeared like feeble imitations of a pair of coach lamps.
We had passed over about half the distance through the woods, when an incident occurred serving at least to break the monotony of our ride. A dark object by the side of the road, made conspicuous by the snow upon the ground, attracted our attention and that of our horses, who attempted to halt, and required a smart application of the lash to induce them to resume their pace. A moment after we could distinguish the forms of two persons stepping nearer to the middle of the road as we approached them. Not a word was said by either of us, as we were too much engaged in speculating on the character of the unexpected apparitions, to indulge in conversation; but the driver had evidently made up his mind to forestall any nefarious designs which they might entertain. Requesting me to "raise up a little," he drew from the sleigh-box an instrument effectual to lay such phantoms, to wit, a revolver. There was, however, no occasion for its use, for the personages before us turned out to be two French Canadians too far gone in intoxication to be very formidable antagonists, had they entertained hostile intentions, which they were far from doing, as their energies were entirely devoted to maintaining a perpendicular position, and keeping somewhere within the bounds of the road. Their erratic course rendered it somewhat difficult to avoid running over them, but we finally left them behind, muttering "sacre" and staggering about in a very social manner.
When we had arrived at the village and were within a quarter of a mile of the office, I alighted from the sleigh and walked on, leaving it to overtake me, my object in this being to keep out of sight of the post master, whose suspicions might possibly be excited by seeing a stranger in the sleighwith the mail carrier, although the mail carriage occasionally conveyed passengers. Perhaps this was an excess of caution on my part. At any rate, it did no harm, and I prefer in all such cases to give a wide berth to possibilities.
Once more on our way, my mind was chiefly occupied with conjectures as to the result of that night's experiment, and in determining what steps were to be taken in case the money package had been abstracted. The post master himself had changed the mails on this occasion, the driver in the mean time having gone over to the hotel at my request, in order to afford the former a good opportunity for committing the depredation if he entertained any such design.
The distance to the next post-office on this route was about six miles, and nothing further could be ascertained respecting the condition of the package, till our arrival there. An excellent account had been given me of the post master at this place, and his assistant. The former boarded at the hotel nearly opposite the post-office, which was kept in his store. As he was crossing the street with the mail bag on his way to the office, I overtook him, made myself known to him, and under an injunction of secrecy, disclosed to him the object of my visit at such an unseasonable hour. I furthermore expressed a desire to examine the packages contained in the pouch.
"It may all be right," said he, "but I hardly think I ought to allow an entire stranger, especially at this hour of the night, to know anything of the contents of the mails."
I was glad to find in this gentleman such a degree of caution and faithfulness to his public trust, and I was disposed to test it a little further.
"Well, sir," I said, "if you are to obstruct an Agent of the Department in this way, while in the discharge of his duties, you will be reported at head quarters for removal."
"Can't help that," replied he, "I intend to go pretty straight while I am here, and if the Post Master General himself were to appear here and want to overhaul my mails, hecouldn't touch them, unless he satisfied me that he was the very man. That's just as the case stands."
"Very well," I remarked, "the driver knows who I am, and if he says it's all right, I suppose that will do."
"Not a bit of it," was the decided answer; "he may be deceived as well as any one else."
I now drew from my pocket the official evidence of my authority, bearing the signature of the Post Master General, and the seal of the Post Office Department. After inspecting this document rather closely, the cautious officer observed that there was no mistaking the signature of N. K. Hall, and that he believed he must "give in."
I expressed my gratification at the fidelity which he had displayed, and in a moment more the contents of the bag were spread upon the counter. A careful search, several times repeated, failed to discover the decoy package. Its absence, of course, showed that it must have been stopped at the office which I had intended to test.
I informed the driver that I could go no further with him that night, and procuring another conveyance, I returned to look after the stolen letter, and its dishonest possessor. Directly opposite the post-office was the village tavern, and there I arrived about daylight, intending from that position to watch the post master, and introduce myself as soon as he entered his store.
After watching about an hour, I observed some one removing the outside shutters of the store windows, and was informed by the landlord that it was the proprietor and post master.
I deemed it important not to be seen by him until I had entered the store, when it would be too late to destroy or secrete anything that he might have taken from the mail the night previous. In this I was successful. When I opened the store door, he was stooping down near the stove, engaged in preparing "kindlings" for making his fire. I came upon him so suddenly that he started to his feet almost with a spring, and looked rather more flurried than one would naturallybe who expected to see no more formidable a personage than some early customer for a codfish or a quart of molasses.
"Thus Conscience does make cowards of us all," thought I, as I observed his futile attempts to recover his self-possession. After returning my salutation, he resumed the occupation which I had interrupted, that of splitting up a knotty piece of pine; but in his embarrassment he endeavored in vain to strike twice in the same place, hitting the floor quite as often as the stick which he was attempting to dismember.
Several common-place questions and answers passed between us while he was thus engaged. With the view of giving a temporary relief to his nerves, and of ascertaining what part of the store was appropriated to the post-office, (for there was nothing of the kind in sight,) I inquired,—
"Is there a letter here for Albert G. Foster, Jr.?"
"No, there is no letter in the office for any one of that name," replied he, apparently much relieved by the inquiry.
"You must have a paper for me," said I, "will you look?" He dropped his hatchet, and I followed him into a counting-room at the further end of the store, which was devoted to the postal department. The transient newspapers were examined, but not a paper could be found for Albert G. or any other Foster.
By this time the gentleman had nearly recovered from the effects of my first sudden appearance, but the calm was destined to be only of short duration.
"Mr. Willis, you have been talking to an Agent of the Post-Office Department, who has been sent on here for the purpose of detecting you in your frequent depredations upon the mails passing through your office, particularly the letters of Messrs. A. & Co. And last night you repeated the experiment once too often. Now I want the letter that you then robbed, and the hundred dollars which you found in it. It is a shameful thing for any one, much more for a man of your standing and connections, to convert, as you have done, a position of public trust and responsibility into a sort of place of ambush, whereyou lie in wait for the letters of your unsuspecting neighbors, and other members of the community, and thus abuse the confidence reposed in you. It is worse than highway robbery."
He gazed intently at me for a few moments with a look designed to be one of surprise and injured innocence. The attempt was a miserable failure, however. Conscience would lend her aid to no such cloaking of guilt, but proclaimed it through the wavering of his eye, the forced expression of his countenance, and the general agitation which he vainly attempted to conceal.
"That is plain talk, sir,veryplain talk," said he; "and I think you cannot know much about me or my standing in society, to come here and accuse me in the way you have done."
"Your standing," replied I, "can have but little to do with last night's transactions. I must have the hundred dollars, even if you have destroyed the letter; and it is also important that I should recover what you have taken from the mails on previous occasions."
"You seem to be sure that you are safe in making these charges, sir," said he; "but all you have yet stated is nothing but assertion without any proof."
Just then the front door of the store opened, and a pleasant voice was heard, "Breakfast is ready, father." A sweet little child stood in the door-way, and her innocent, careless face, contrasted strikingly with the anxiety which displayed itself in the features of her guilty father. Would that her voice could have called him away from the course of villany and dishonor which he had taken!
As her father did not at once reply to her, she came skipping up to him, and as she caught hold of his hands and playfully attempted to draw him along, he looked at her and then at me, with an expression that said as plainly as words could say it,—"Have you the heart to come between us, and destroy the happiness of my innocent family?"
I felt the force of the appeal, but was impressed still morestrongly with detestation of the conduct of a man who could deliberately risk involving the members of his domestic circle in misery and disgrace for the sake of enriching himself at the expense of those who had confided in his integrity.
"I can't go now, my dear," said he, withdrawing his hands from hers, "I am very busy. Run along and tell mother not to wait for me."
So away tripped little Innocence, joyfully humming a simple air, and leaving us to deal with the grim question before us.
I now commenced a search among some waste papers scattered upon the floor and one of the tables, for the wrapper in which the decoy letter had been enclosed, but I could find it nowhere. I however continued the search, hoping to find the string, if nothing else; and my perseverance was rewarded by the discovery of the package at the back part of a drawer in a desk. The package appeared to be in a perfect state, except that the string was missing. Holding it up, I inquired of the post master, "What is this package doing here?"
"It must have been thrown out by mistake in overhauling the mail last night," replied he.
I removed the wrapper, and immediately found a full confirmation of my previous assertions, for the letter itself had been broken open, and the large wafer substituted for the original seal. In fact it had been served exactly like its rifled predecessors, and was now waiting to go forward to New York by the next mail. I also observed a quantity of the large wafers lying upon the desk, a few of which I secured for the purpose of comparison. The evidence of the string now became of little importance, but I wished to find it if possible, and after a few moments' search, I discovered it lying on the floor behind the counter of the store.
The probability is that after the mail had passed that night, he took the stolen letter to the store, and there opened it.
Against such overwhelming proof as this, it was worse than useless to contend. So thought the unfortunate post master, whose tone now changed considerably. He refunded on thespot the proceeds of the last night's robbery, and proposed to make over a portion of the goods in his store as security for the restitution of the amount previously purloined, if by such a step he could save himself and his young family (consisting of a wife and the little girl already referred to,) from the crushing effects of public exposure.
But this tender regard for the happiness and honor of his family came too late. Such considerations, if others are insufficient, ought to restrain one from the commission of crimes; and it has always seemed to me that when a man in the full possession of his faculties can thus compromise the comfort and peace of mind of his innocent family, he deserves little sympathy or pity from any quarter, however sincerely he may regret his folly.
Willis was arrested by a local officer, and taken before a Justice of the Peace in that neighborhood, who, notwithstanding the efforts made to impress upon him the importance of holding the accused for trial, fixed the bail at a few hundred dollars, which sum was readily furnished by responsible parties.
As several weeks were to elapse before the session of the Court, it was my intention to re-arrest him under a United States warrant, as soon as one could be obtained, but during the night he made over a portion of his property to his sureties, and hastily filling a few trunks with articles of clothing and other personal property, he decamped with his family to Canada, leaving behind a deserted home and a disgraced name.
As soon as the crimes of Willis became known in the town, universal sympathy for the wife of the criminal was felt and manifested. She was a refined and accomplished lady, connected with a highly-respectable family in a neighboring county, and had endeared herself to all who knew her, by her kindness and other excellent qualities. Like a true woman, she remained constantly at the side of her husband, after his arrest; overlooking all his offences in her devoted affection,and palliating them to others as far as she could, on the ground of pecuniary embarrassments.
Some weeks elapsed before a clue was obtained to his whereabouts. The deputy Marshal, to whom this business was intrusted, entered upon the search with great energy, and finally succeeded in arresting him, and conveyed him to Utica, New York, where he was examined before the United States Commissioner, who held him to bail in a large amount, for trial before the United States District Court. Being unable to obtain this heavy bail, he was sent to jail a few miles from Utica, to await his trial. His wife, on his second arrest, returned to her father's house. It was soon after this that she wrote him the following letter, which was left in the jailor's possession:
F——, Feb. 6, 1850.My dear William.It goes to my heart to feel that we are separated, even for a time, and above all, to thinkwhat it isthat separates us. But, William, my love for you is such, that I had rather you were thus than dead."I ask not, I care not, if guilt's in thy heart.But I know that I love thee, whatever thou art."Oh! what strong temptation you must have had to struggle with, before you yielded to it! And I know that you meant to restore the money to those it belonged to, at some time or other.I sometimes find it hard to elude Julia's artless inquiries. She wants to know "why Father went away with that man and didn't come back." Poor child! must she ever know that her father is in a——? I can't write the word.God forbid, my dear, that I should speak a word of reproach, but perhaps I can say in a letter what I might find it hard to say if I were with you. I am sure, William, that you have fallen into error for my sake and Julia's, but let me assure you, from the bottom of my heart, that I had far rather sink with you into the depths of honest poverty, than rise to affluence, leaving an approving conscience behind. Never think of me for a moment, I beseech you, as a wife whose wishes must be gratified at whatever expense, but reckon on me as one who will ever be ready to undergo any self-denial which the adoption of a straight-forward course may involve. I reproach myself that I had not been more free to confide to you my views onthis subject before your misfortune. Had I done so, perhaps we might have been differently situated now. But the past cannot be changed. The future may be a new life to us, if we wish it; and shall we not?As to the bail, I have strong hopes that it can be arranged before long. I hope to be with you as early as next week.Julia sends a kiss to Father, and says, "Tell him I want him to come and see me and mother." I send the same for myself. Good night, my dear, and many good morrows.Your affectionate wife,Ellen.
F——, Feb. 6, 1850.
My dear William.It goes to my heart to feel that we are separated, even for a time, and above all, to thinkwhat it isthat separates us. But, William, my love for you is such, that I had rather you were thus than dead.
Oh! what strong temptation you must have had to struggle with, before you yielded to it! And I know that you meant to restore the money to those it belonged to, at some time or other.
I sometimes find it hard to elude Julia's artless inquiries. She wants to know "why Father went away with that man and didn't come back." Poor child! must she ever know that her father is in a——? I can't write the word.
God forbid, my dear, that I should speak a word of reproach, but perhaps I can say in a letter what I might find it hard to say if I were with you. I am sure, William, that you have fallen into error for my sake and Julia's, but let me assure you, from the bottom of my heart, that I had far rather sink with you into the depths of honest poverty, than rise to affluence, leaving an approving conscience behind. Never think of me for a moment, I beseech you, as a wife whose wishes must be gratified at whatever expense, but reckon on me as one who will ever be ready to undergo any self-denial which the adoption of a straight-forward course may involve. I reproach myself that I had not been more free to confide to you my views onthis subject before your misfortune. Had I done so, perhaps we might have been differently situated now. But the past cannot be changed. The future may be a new life to us, if we wish it; and shall we not?
As to the bail, I have strong hopes that it can be arranged before long. I hope to be with you as early as next week.
Julia sends a kiss to Father, and says, "Tell him I want him to come and see me and mother." I send the same for myself. Good night, my dear, and many good morrows.Your affectionate wife,Ellen.
Not far from two weeks after the committal of Willis to jail. Mrs. Willis called one day late in the afternoon, and requested permission of the jailor to spend the night with her husband. This officer was a kind-hearted old gentleman, and the lady-like deportment of the applicant, whom he had seen on former occasions, had won his entire confidence. He made no objection, and his native gallantry, and sympathy for the lady, prevented a very thorough investigation of the contents of a large basket that she brought with her, which presented to his eye nothing but a goodly array of such delicacies as are not usually included in a prison bill-of-fare. So she was ushered into her husband's place of confinement, basket and all.
The jailor retired to rest that night with the happy consciousness of having done at least one kind act during the day, and slept soundly,—perhaps more soundly than usual—till morning.
When going his accustomed rounds, he noticed sundry shavings and chips of a decidedly new and fresh appearance on the floor outside of Willis's door. He further noticed that the door was partly open, whereupon he hastily entered the room in no small perturbation of mind. Nor was his disturbance diminished when he found that there was but one occupant of the bed, and that, the fair lady whom he had admitted the night before! She was apparently fast asleep, and although the spectacle was one of a picturesque description,
cover picture
the old gentleman would have derived much more satisfaction from a sight of her liege lord. He looked in all directions round the room, with the vague idea that his prisoner might start up from behind a chair or table; but no such phenomenon occurred, and the conclusion forced itself upon him that he had been made the victim of misplaced confidence; in other words, that Willis had escaped by the aid of his devoted wife and her treacherous basket. An auger, concealed in its depths, had been smuggled in, and used in boring off the door-hinges, and now lay on the floor.
"Mrs. Willis," cried the now indignant jailor, "Mrs. Willis. I say!" But the slumberer stirred not, and he repeated the call in louder tones,—"Mrs. Willis, where's your husband?"
Rising up on one elbow, and looking about the room, apparently much confused, she replied.
"Where's my husband? have you taken him away without letting me know it?"
She steadily refused to give any information concerning the time or mode of his escape, and was equally careful not to deny that she furnished the means for securing his exit. She was therefore arrested and taken before an United States Commissioner, charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner; but such was the public sympathy in her behalf, that she was discharged from custody, and no doubt, soon joined her husband, who had proved himself so utterly unworthy of such an affectionate, devoted, and heroic companion.
Not long after this escape, a suit was brought in one of the lower courts, against a brother of Willis, to recover the value of a horse killed by hard driving on the night of Willis's disappearance. It was more than surmised that the two circumstances were in some way connected.
Startling Complaints—Character against Suspicion—The two Clerks—Exchanging Notes—The Faro Bank—Tracing a Bill—An official Call—False Explanation—Flight of the Guilty—The fatal Drug—The Suicide—Sufferings of the Innocent—The Moral.
Theclose of the year 1839, and the opening of 1840, were marked in the Post-Office Department with frequent and startling announcements of the loss, by mail, of valuable letters from Southern Virginia, and Eastern and Northern North Carolina, directed to Richmond and other commercial cities farther North.
These cases, as they reached the Department, were duly prepared and submitted to the Special Agent for investigation. Search and inquiry were promptly instituted. But for a time the utmost vigilance failed to obtain any clue to the supposed embezzlements. The cases of loss continued to multiply; and at length the Agent's attention was particularly drawn to the Distributing Post-Office at P.
A circle of numerous facts pointed unmistakably to this spot as their center and focus. It was here that the lines of circumstantial evidence from every quarter converged and met. The post-office at P., therefore, became an object of special interest in the eyes of the Agent.
However, investigations in this direction proved at first no more successful than elsewhere. The high integrity of characterfor which the post master was distinguished, and the excellent reputation of his clerks, stood like a wall of adamant in the way of all evidence and all suspicions.
The Agent seemed destined to be baffled at every point. Yet a stern truth stared him in the face, and fixed its immovable finger over this Distributing office. Every missing letter, although reaching P. by various routes, had been mailed at points South of it for points North of it. Here they must all concentrate, and here only. It was therefore at this place only that all the losses could have occurred.
Several days were passed by the Agent in P. and the vicinity, quietly pursuing his investigations. No person knew the secret of his business. He became acquainted with the post master and his two clerks, studied their characters, and their social circumstances.
The first was a man of position and competence, whose honor no breath of calumny had ever dimmed, and who could not possibly have any motive for periling the peace and prosperity of his family by a dishonest course. Neither did the unflawed respectability of the clerks betray any chink or crevice in which to harbor a doubt.
The elder of these, and the superior in the office, was a young man of education and refinement. We will call his name Carleton. His face was frank, his eye steady and clear, his manners always self-possessed and easy. The Agent liked and admired him from the first. He learned too that he was a favorite with all who knew him—that his connections were among the first families in the State; and that by his talents and high-toned generous impulses, he had so far nobly sustained the lustre of his family name.
Another circumstance was greatly in Carleton's favor. Although descended from the "aristocracy," the fortunes of his family had run somewhat low in the later generations; and now, his father being dead, he devoted himself zealously to the maintenance of his aged mother, and the education and support of his only sister.
The junior clerk was a youth of minor pretensions. He was uniformly retiring in his manners. Although by no means a person of forbidding aspect, there was something measured and guarded in his movements, far less prepossessing than the free and chivalrous bearing of Carleton. This apparent prudence might arise from various causes. The Agent could not believe that it was the result of a secretive and dishonest disposition. If such was the case, however, that same discretion had effectually succeeded in covering the poverty of his moral character from public scrutiny.
Foiled at every point where he attempted to hang the sad burden of criminal facts, the Agent resolved upon striking a bold and hazardous blow. He sought a private interview with Carleton.
"Do you know," said he, "that I am here on very delicate and peculiar business?"
"I had not thought of such a thing," replied Carleton.
"Well, sir, I will tell you. I am convinced that you are the very man to assist me. If you will, you may do me and the Post-Office Department a signal service."
"I do not understand you."
"No, but you will. First, however, give me your pledge that what I have to divulge shall be held in strictest confidence and honor by you."
"Certainly," said Carleton, "if you wish it."
The Agent then stated the business that had brought him to P——. Carleton expressed some surprise, but cheerfully promised to afford the Department any assistance and information in his power.
"Have you mentioned the subject to Mr. B.?" he asked.
"Not yet; he is the nominal post master, it is true, but you have a far more intimate knowledge of the details of the office than he has. I have another reason for not speaking with him. I dislike to disturb his confidence until the establishment of strong proof renders it my duty to do so."
"You can speak to me with perfect plainness," said Carleton.
"I trust so," replied the Agent. "And I am sure you will do all you can to set me right, if I am going wrong. Nor will you, I am convinced, suffer me to injure an innocent person in your estimation. To come to the point, then, I wish you to open your inmost thoughts, and tell me if you regard it as possible that your fellow-clerk can be guilty of these depredations upon the mails."
"You shock me," said Carleton, not without emotion.
"Speak freely," continued the Agent.
"Why, I could almost as soon think of suspecting Mr. B. himself," exclaimed the other. "I believe Howard to be perfectly honest."
"Certainly, I know nothing to the contrary; and I sincerely hope your judgment is well founded. But," continued the Agent, "our public duty should not be altogether biassed by private opinion. You will not, therefore, fail to unite with me in tracing the embezzlements to their true source, no matter at whose door the blame may be laid."
"I will do all in my power," said Carleton. "Although I would be almost willing to pledge my own reputation that the losses have occurred outside of the office, I will use every exertion to discover any dereliction from duty that may come within my sphere of observation."
The Agent expressed his thanks for the clerk's ready promise of coöperation, and took his leave.
Meanwhile he did not neglect other measures that he had adopted for tracing the robberies. By a singular coincidence, within an hour after this conversation with Carleton, he was able to seize a certain clue, which he had long been in search of, and despaired of obtaining.
On his return to the hotel, the landlord thus addressed him:
"You asked me if I could give you any more large bills, in exchange for small ones. I think I can accommodate you thismorning. I have a one hundred dollar bank-note, which, if you are sending money by mail, will be very convenient."
"Thank you," replied the Agent; "it will be a great accommodation."
The landlord passed the bank-note over the counter. One can imagine the Agent's secret triumph on discovering, at last, one of the very bills he was in search of, one that had been lost in a letter passing that post-office only a week before; and of which he had an accurate description from the Department.
Having made the purchase, he held the bank-note up to the light.
"I suppose you will warrant this paper to be genuine?" he suggested.
"There is no doubt about it, sir," said the landlord.
"Of course you know from whom you had it?"
"To be sure! I took it of one of my boarders this morning. Captain Wilkins."
"I have no doubt but the bill is good," said the Agent, putting it in his pocket. "You are sure you had it of the Captain?"
"O, yes! 'twasn't an hour ago he gave it to me."
"By the way, who is this Captain Wilkins? He's a very gentlemanly-appearing fellow."
"O, he's a capital fellow!" said the landlord.
"What's his business?"
"He keeps a faro bank."
To a Northern reader, the two clauses of this statement may seem inconsistent with each other. But allowance must be made for the freedom of Southern manners and society. To bet at a faro bank is considered no serious stain upon the honor and respectability of gentlemen in Southern cities. The keeper of a faro bank may pass, as we have seen, for a "capital fellow." But the Agent felt pained to know from what source the landlord had obtained the bill. Already a dark picture of temptation and crime arose before his eyes.It is a significant and too often a tragical word—the Faro Bank!
Captain Wilkins had gone to ride. The Agent pretended to transact a little business, mailed two or three letters, and read the newspapers until his return. The rattling of a light-wheeled buggy before the hotel steps announced the expected arrival.
Captain Wilkins—a soberly-dressed and polite individual, whom one might have taken for a clergyman—stepped out of the vehicle, accompanied by a friend, pulled off his driving-gloves as he entered the house, and lighted a fresh cigar at the bar.
The Agent took an early occasion to accost him.
"Can I speak with you a moment?"
"Certainly," said Captain Wilkins. The two walked aside together. The Agent exhibited the bank-note.
"Did you ever see that paper before?"
"Yes, and very recently. I passed it with the landlord this morning."
"As the bill is of so high a denomination, you probably remember from whom you received it?"
"Perfectly well. I had it last night from one of the post-office clerks, who was betting at my bank, and for whom I changed it."
"May I ask from which one?"
"O, from Carleton. He is a reliable fellow. Have you any doubts about the bill?"
"No, if you are sure you had it of Carleton."
"I am sure of that."
"You could swear to it as the identical bank-note?" Captain Wilkins glanced at the paper again.
"It's the identical rag," said he; "I can take my oath of it."
This startling revelation gave a different phase to the business. The finger of discovery seemed to point directly at the senior clerk. Again the Agent, on leaving Wilkins, recalled Carleton's every look and word, in the conversation he had withhim that morning. He could not recall the faintest indication of guilt. And he could not but hope that the young man was as innocent as he appeared; and that circumstances would prove him so. However, there was no way left but to follow the thread of evidence he had so far successfully traced.
He strolled towards the post-office, and found Howard there alone.
"Where is your brother-clerk?" he asked.
"He went to dinner about five minutes ago,—rather earlier than usual."
"Very well; perhaps you can do my business for me. I mailed a letter here this morning, which I would like to recover from the mails, if it has not already gone out." A description of the letter was given. All this was done to prevent Howard from suspecting the Agent's real business with Carleton. The letter had gone, as the inquirer well knew, and he left the office.
But now his pace was quickened. He knew not what might be the result of his interview with Carleton. It was a significant fact that he had gone to dinner at an earlier hour than usual. If guilty, what more natural than that he should take that opportunity of destroying any evidence of his guilt to be found among his papers at home?
The Agent had already learned where Carleton lived, and he hastened at once to his house.
The young man's mother received him in a truly lady-like and hospitable manner.
"He just came in," said she, graciously. "Sit down, I will have him called. He remarked that he had some trifling affair to attend to before dinner, and immediately went to his chamber. You may speak to him, Sarah."
"I have only a word to say to him," replied the visitor. "Perhaps it will be as well for me to go to his room, instead of calling him down."
"As you please. My daughter will show you the way."
Sarah, a beautiful and stately girl of eighteen, conductedthe caller to her brother's chamber, and knocked at the door. Presently Carleton appeared. A slight paleness overspread his features on recognising the Agent, but without losing his self-possession, he invited him to enter the chamber.
"I have strange feelings on seeing you!" he observed in a very natural tone of voice. "What you said to me about Howard, has troubled me more than I would have thought it possible. Take a seat. Do you smoke?"
"Not before dinner," replied the Agent. He made a rapid observation of the chamber, as he sat down. "You are very comfortably situated here."
"I have nothing to complain of. We live rather humbly, but we are not ambitious."
Carleton then spoke of his mother and sister, in a manner which touched his visitor deeply. Could it be possible, thought the latter, that he was destined to destroy the peace of that happy family? He shrank with indescribable repugnance from the performance of his duty; but it inexorably urged him to finish what he had begun, and he produced the fatal bank-note.
"Not to detain you," said he, "I have some question in my mind with regard to a bill I took this forenoon. I have been referred to you as the person who passed it. Will you see if you recognise it?"
Again the swift pallor swept over Carleton's face; but this time it was more marked than before, and his fingers trembled as he examined the bill.
"Certainly," said he, "I recognise it. It's a note I changed with Captain Wilkins last night."
"It also happens," observed the Agent, "to be a note which, according to an accurate description I have of it, was recently lost in the Southern mails. This is as painful to me, Mr Carleton, as it is unexpected; and I hope you will be able satisfactorily to account for the manner in which you obtained this money."
"It is still more painful to me than it can be to you," replied Carleton; "and heaven knows I heartily wish I couldnot tell how that bill came into my possession. I remembered it, after you left me this morning; and I had a presentiment that trouble would come out of it. I am afraid, sir," Carleton added, after some hesitation,—"I am afraid your suspicions of Howard will prove too well founded!"
"Do you mean to say, that Howard is responsible for that bill?"
"I will tell you all I know about it, sir. I yesterday sold a colt I had been training the past season. He proved too high-spirited for our use, and I preferred to own a horse my mother and sister would not be afraid to ride after. I sold it to a neighbor of ours, Mr. Fellows. He was to pay me one hundred dollars down,—and this is the money he gave me."
Carleton hesitated. The Agent begged him to proceed, as no time was to be lost.
"I was trying to recall the conversation that passed between Mr. Fellows and myself. It was to this effect:
"'I'd quite as lief you would give me small bills, if convenient,' said I, 'for I shall have several little sums to pay out of this in a day or two.'
"He replied that he could do no better by me, and added that he thought Howard would like to change it for me. 'How so?' said I.
"'You remember,' said he, 'that Howard bought a house lot of me, some time ago. The last payment came due yesterday. He seemed reluctant to part with this bill, and said if I would wait, he would give me specie for it in a day or two.' Something more was said about Howard's good luck in making payments for the house lot, so promptly, and so we parted."
"Where will I find this Mr. Fellows?" asked the Agent.
"I saw him not ten minutes ago enter a store in the village."
"You are sure he will corroborate your statement?"
"There's no doubt of it. He's a plain, practical man, who tells a straight-forward story."
"Come, then," said the Agent, "we will go and find him."
Carleton readily assented, and the two left the chamber.
"I've a little business to transact before dinner, mother," said the young man, as they passed out. "If I am not back in a quarter of an hour, do not wait for me."
But little difficulty was experienced in finding Mr. Fellows. He was such a person as Carleton had described; but he turned out to be very deaf, and the Agent deemed it expedient to retire with him and Carleton to some secure place, where their loud talking would not be overheard. The clerk proposed that they should make use of the private room of the post-office. The Agent readily agreed to this, for he was somewhat anxious to make sure of Howard; and he now resolved that the latter should be present at the interview. This plan was also proposed by Carleton, and when they had arrived at the post-office, the senior clerk informed the junior, in a low and serious tone, that his presence was requested in the private apartment.
"But who will attend in the office?" asked Howard.
"I'll speak to one of the clerks in the store; they accommodate us very often in this way," Carleton added, addressing the Agent. "It's only around the corner."
The thought struck the Agent that it would be safe enough to accompany Carleton. But to do so, it would be necessary to leave Howard, who, if guilty, might by this time have suspected the danger at hand. Besides, it seemed not at all probable that Carleton could have any motive for attempting an escape. His position in society, his family circumstances, his frank and manly demeanor,—everything tended to disarm suspicion. Furthermore, nothing could be more satisfactory than the story he had related of the manner in which he obtained the fatal bill. He was accordingly suffered to leave the office. As there were persons passing in and out, the Agent did not consider it proper to broach the important subject until Carleton's return.
But some minutes passed, and he did not reappear.
"I thought he said he had only to go around the corner," said the Agent.
"It is probable," Howard replied, "that the boys have gone to dinner. In that case, if your business is important, he has possibly gone to call the post master himself."
A quarter of an hour passed. Carleton had had time to walk to Mr. B.'s house and back, but still he did not make his appearance. The Agent grew uneasy. He waited five minutes longer, then resolved upon a decisive step.
"Mr. Fellows," he cried, in the deaf gentleman's ear, "did you ever see that bill before?" Fortunately, Mr. Fellows' sight was good, though his hearing was bad. He examined the paper without spectacles, and decided at once that he then and there saw it for the first time.
"Did you not buy a horse of Carleton yesterday?"
"No," said Mr. Fellows; "I have talked of selling his mother a pony, but I never bought anything of him."
The truth flashed upon the Agent's understanding. For his credit let it be declared, Carleton had played his game with a consummate art that would have deceived "the very elect."
No time was lost in obtaining traces of the young man's flight. The Agent judged rightly, from his character, that he would not attempt to leave town. He anticipated a more melancholy fate for the unhappy youth. Some inward prompting seemed to direct him to an apothecary's shop not many doors distant, and on inquiry he learned that Carleton had just been there.
"Which way did he go?"
"In fact, I am not certain he has gone," said the druggist. "He purchased some medicines, remarking that he wished to write out some directions for its use, and stepped into the back room. I have been very busy, and he may have passed out without my seeing him."
The Agent sprang forward. The door was locked upon the inside.
"What medicine did you sell him?" asked the Agent.
"Oh! you needn't be alarmed, he has studied medicine, and knows how to use these things."
"He knows how to use them too well! This door must be forced. His life depends upon it,—if it is not already too late!"
Too late, indeed, it was!
On breaking into the room, Carleton was found lying upon the floor, with an empty vial beside him, and an unfinished letter to his sister on the table.
In that letter he confessed his guilt, and besought his sister not only to support the mortal affliction he had brought upon her, with fortitude, but also to sustain and console their mother. The young man was not yet dead. Medical assistance was speedily procured, but all efforts to save his life proved unavailing. He was already past consciousness, and never spoke again.
A veil should be drawn to exclude the scene of horror, agony, and distress that awaited his family. The brokenhearted mother survived the tragical interruption of her late happy days but a few months. And though the sister was afterwards happily married, it is said that, from the date of her brother's disgraceful end, a continual cloud of melancholy rested upon her mind during the remainder of her life. She has since passed into that land where kindred souls are destined to meet again; and these allusions to her sad family history will give her no pain.
The secret of Carleton's lapse from virtue is soon told; and the lesson is one that every youth, who considers himself secure from temptation, should heed and carefully remember. The devil never boldly enters the citadel of rectitude, at the outset. He first walks around, and passes by; then holds a parley, and "makes the worse appear the better reason;" and ends by gaining permission to walk in justonce, promisingthenceforward to cease his solicitations, and keep aloof. But once admitted, he goes artfully to work to destroy all our defences, and before we are aware of it, he is a permanent occupant of the castle.
Such was undoubtedly Carleton's experience. He was not a hardened sinner. He was truly a man of generous and noble impulses. But little transgressions of the stern law of conscience had in his boyhood weakened his moral force, and prepared him for more serious offences. Then, in an unguarded hour, he formed an attachment for a fascinating, but gay and heartless woman, under whose influences his soul fell from the truth and purity of manhood. It was her hand which indirectly administered the deadly drug that destroyed his life. To meet her necessities for dress and dissipations, he resorted to the faro bank. Although fortunate at first, he afterwards lost extensively, and became pecuniarily embarrassed. He borrowed money, which he was unable to return. Only one course seemed open to him, to save his honor in the public eye. At first, he purloined cautiously and abstemiously from the mails, hoping, no doubt, that success at the faro bank would swell those unlawful gains, and cancel the necessity for further depredations.
But let us not pursue the sad topic. The end we have seen, and we will hasten to turn the last leaf of this melancholy chapter.