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.
In our 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
convenience required, 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 used in 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.
The _seals_ of 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 the
receiving 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
requested to 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. knew _him_.
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 a _small_ wafer. 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 the _string_ to 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 cheerful sound 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 sleigh with 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, he couldn'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 naturally be
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, where you 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, _very_ plain 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 more strongly
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 the spot 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 think _what it is_ that 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 on this 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-likee 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, 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.
[Illustration]
"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.