OBSTRUCTING THE MAIL.
A sound Principle--A slow Period--A wholesome Law--"Ahead of the
Mail"--Moral Suasion--Indignant Passengers--Dutch Oaths--A
Smash--Interesting Trial--A rowdy Constable--The Obstructors
mulcted.
The proper adjustment of the various interests, great and small, which
are involved in the every-day life of a nation like ours, is a problem
not always very easy of solution, yet one of vital importance to the
well-working of the social machine. Indeed, it has ever been an
important part of legislation to determine the relative magnitude of
different interests, both public and private, and to assign to each
its proper place in the scale.
Republican principles require that the less should yield to the
greater--individual convenience to public good. And an excellent
illustration of the practical application of these principles by the
wisdom of Congress, is found in the provisions which that body has
made to secure the uninterrupted transmission of the mails.
It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the vast importance of punctuality
in this branch of the public service. Time, as an element in business
transactions, is increasing in value in proportion to the
multiplication of devices for obtaining the greatest results possible
from each passing moment. An hour in the present year, represents
more--more business--more planning--more results of various kinds,
than did an hour thirty years since.
To take, for instance, the matter of traveling. The state of things no
longer exists which will permit public conveyances to take pretty much
their own time in starting and in arriving at their destinations. That
was a distressingly "slow" period, when horses were in their glory,
and wayside taverns afforded comforts and luxuries which are poorly
replaced by the eating, or rather devouring department of a rail road
depot, where ravenous passengers, like the Israelites of old, are
obliged to dispatch their repast, girded up for flight, at a moment's
notice, instead of comfortably and deliberately sitting down under the
auspices of "mine host," to a meal which deserved more respectful
attention than could be given it in a less space of time than half an
hour; the driver, meanwhile, being easy in his mind on the subject of
"connecting," inasmuch as he, the _connector_, felt quite certain that
the _connectee_ would not leave him in the lurch, as "lee-way" of an
hour or two was allowed, and often required, by the exigencies of
traveling. But since, by the agency of steam, an hour swallows up
thirty miles instead of four or five, minutes become correspondingly
precious, and the locomotive infuses somewhat of its own energy into
every mode of progression.
The inexorable hand of the rail-way clock waits not for dilatory
drivers, and makes no allowances for detention, unavoidable or
otherwise. Here comes in the application of our republican principle.
If it were in the power of any one to delay the progress of the
vehicle containing the mail, to suit his whim or convenience, the
public interests would often be seriously interfered with; and, in
order to prevent such contingencies, the following law was enacted by
Congress:--
_And be it further enacted_, That if any person shall, knowingly
and wilfully, obstruct or retard the passage of the mail, or of
any driver or carrier, or of any horse or carriage, carrying the
same, he shall, upon conviction for every such offence, pay a
fine not exceeding one hundred dollars; and if any ferryman shall,
by wilful negligence, or refusal to transport the mail across any
ferry, delay the same, he shall forfeit and pay, for every ten
minutes that the same shall be so delayed, a sum not exceeding ten
dollars.
It is obviously right that the pleasure of an individual should not
weigh for a moment in the balance, with the interests of thousands
depending as they do, in a degree, upon the prompt transmission of
correspondence. Were all the consequences of simply impeded delivery
of important letters to be made known, the record would be a
melancholy one indeed.
In crowded cities especially, through whose streets the mails are many
times a day conveyed to steamboats and rail road stations, it is
particularly important that all obstacles in their way should be
removed; and pains have been taken to make the law on this subject
generally understood, so that at the approach of the wagon bearing the
magic characters "U. S. Mail," the crowd of vehicles which throng the
busy streets, separate to the right and left, and do homage to that
supreme power--the Public Good.
A curious trial under the law I have cited, was held in Boston before
the United States Court, about two years since.
It appears that the regular mail-coach from Worcester to Barre, left
the former place on the afternoon of January 8, about half past four,
full of passengers, and ornamented, as well as distinguished, by the
words "U. S. Mail," painted in conspicuous letters on both sides of
the foot-board.
The passengers were beginning to develope those sparks of sociability
which are elicited by the collisions with one another, and the
stimulus to the brain resulting from sundry jolts inseparable from the
vicissitudes of stage-coach traveling. In other words, the coach had
proceeded about two miles, when, arriving at a place where there was
some ascent in the road, it overtook three one-horse wagons, which
made way for it to pass. Very soon, however, the two occupants of the
hindmost wagon, (whom we will call Stark and Baker,) whipped up their
steed, and rushed by the coach, like some saucy cutter shooting ahead
of a seventy-four. After this demonstration, their horse, having
gained four or five rods on the coach, subsided into a walk.
The correspondingly moderate movements which the driver of the coach
was compelled to adopt, did not very well suit his views, as the icy
road and his heavy load formed a combination of circumstances which
rendered him anxious to make all possible speed, in order to fulfil
the requirements of the U. S. Mail, as well as those of his
passengers. But he was obliged to retain his humble position of
follower to the wagon, for the road at that point was too narrow to
admit of passing, and as no other means of attaining his object were
at his command, he proceeded to try the effect of moral suasion.
"I say, you, there," shouted he to the obstinate couple in the wagon,
who were smoking very much at their ease, and apparently busily
engaged in conversation, "I wish you'd drive on faster, or let me go
by you."
"Couldn't do it," replied the provoking Stark, "unless you'll race."
"It's none of my business to race," returned the driver; "all I want
is to go on."
"Well, let's see you do it, then," said Stark, checking his horse
still more.
They soon came to a wider portion of the road, and the stage driver
attempted to pass the wagon, but was foiled by the dexterous
manoeuvring of Stark, who so accurately adjusted his motions to
those of the stage-coach as to check-mate its presiding genius. Upon
coming to a still wider place, the driver outsailed his persevering
tormentor, and pushed on at a rapid rate, say seven knots an hour,
indulging the sanguine hope that he was rid of his Old Man of the Sea.
But this expectation was short-lived, for, on arriving at a curve in
the road, where it was narrow and icy, he was compelled to "shorten
sail," whereat Stark added wings to his speed, and ran by the
coach, directly afterward reining his horse into a walk as before.
[Illustration]
A succession of similar manoeuvres was kept up till the coach
reached Holden, a distance of three or four miles, and during this
time the facetious Stark, not content with these highly aggravating
proceedings, added insult to injury by personal reflections on the
skill of the driver and the character of his horses.
"Hallo, you driver!" shouted he derisively, "why don't you _drive_? If
there's any of your passengers in a hurry, I'll take 'em on, and tell
the folks that you'll be along in the course of a day or two."
To this the driver wisely answered nothing, but his tormentor did not
profit by his example. After some ineffectual attempts on the part of
the U. S. functionary to pass the wagon, which were foiled as before,
Stark again essayed to beguile the time with a further display of his
conversational powers.
"Guess your horses ain't very well trained to keep the road, are they?
They seem to go from one side to the other as if they couldn't draw a
bee-line. May be, though, they are kinder faint, and that's what makes
'em stagger about so. I'll try 'em."
So saying, he proceeded to open a bag which lay in his wagon; and,
taking from it a handful of oats, he allowed the horses to come nearly
up to him, when he held out the grain to them, calling "k'jock,
k'jock," as if he was desirous of enticing them along.
Before this time, the occupants of the coach had become aware of what
was going on, and were naturally highly indignant at the imposition
practised on them by the audacious Stark and his fellow conspirator.
One irascible gentleman did not bear the infliction with as much
equanimity as his "guide, philosopher, and friend," upon the
coach-box; but, every time that the wagon passed the coach, he popped
his head out at the nearest window, and fired at the enemy a volley of
reproachful epithets that could be likened to nothing but the
"nine-cornered Dutch oaths," which on special occasions were wont to
rumble through the gullet of William the Testy, at the hazard of
choking that illustrious individual, as we are assured by the grave
and matter-of-fact historian of New York.
The persevering repetition of the provocation at last excited a degree
of rage in the breast of our peppery friend which could not be allayed
by the expedients we have mentioned. He called out, "Driver, I say,
stop and let me out, and I'll see whether this sort of thing will go
on much longer. Why don't you stop? Do you suppose we are going to
stand this for ever? How the deuse do you think we shall ever get to
Barre, at this rate?"
The driver advised him to keep cool, telling him that very likely they
would get rid of the wagon before long; with which opinion another of
the passengers coincided, who knew the men, remarking that they
belonged in Hubbardston, and would probably turn off at the road
leading to that place. This road was beyond Holden, where the coach
stopped at the public-house. Here the men in the wagon came up, and
expressed a wish to exchange their horse for the four coach-horses,
provided sufficient "boot" were offered them. To this impertinence the
driver made no reply; but the fiery passenger intimated to them that,
if they would come within his reach, he would give them _boot_ enough
to make their accounts _foot up_ even.
After leaving the mail, the coach started out of Holden, preceded by
the wagon, which dodged back and forth along the road as heretofore.
They passed the Hubbardston road, but the men did not turn off; and,
about a mile from Rutland, they made that once-too-often attempt which
such mischievous individuals usually make somewhere along their
course. The patience of the much-enduring driver had become finally
exhausted; and, as the annoying wagon was in the act of passing him,
at a rather narrow place in the road, he drove on without particular
reference to that vehicle, and experimentally tested the relative
strength of the fore wheel of the coach and the body of the wagon. The
latter structure was "nowhere," or, to speak more accurately, it was
resolved into its original elements; while the aforesaid wheel rolled
away uninjured, bearing its share of the triumphant passengers.
The occupants of the smashed vehicle survived the "wreck of matter;"
whether with a whole skin or not, does not appear, as the personal
knowledge of the driver, as stated on the trial, was summed up in the
words, "_I left 'em there!_"
In consequence of the proceedings which have been described, the coach
arrived at Barre an hour and a quarter behind the time.
It having been thought advisable to prosecute these men for
obstructing the mail, a suit was brought against them in the U. S.
District Court of Massachusetts.
The evidence on the part of Government went to show that they must
have known the character of the coach: that it carried the mail, for
the words "U. S. Mail" were conspicuously painted on the coach; and
the sign "Post-Office" was up at the place in Holden where the mail
was taken out, and where they saw the coach stop. Also the men were
known by sight to some of the passengers; and one of them had been a
stage-coach proprietor, and the other had driven a coach. Indeed, one
of the passengers, while they were at Holden, addressed Baker, whom he
knew, by name, and told him "he should think that he had been in the
stage business long enough to know better."
The passengers were unanimous in considering the case as clearly one
of wilful detention.
The testimony for the defence was rather lame. The post master at
Rutland testified that the mail from Worcester was due at 7 P. M.,
though he had known it three-quarters of an hour later. He thought it
arrived, on the evening in question, at 5 minutes past 7; but could
not say certainly that the 8th of January was the night when the mail
arrived at that time, though he had no doubt of it, nor had he looked
at his register since that night. In short, his evidence amounted to
a rough guess, which could make no impression on the Gibraltar of
opposing testimony furnished by a coach full of passengers, as well as
other witnesses.
Another witness for the defence testified that Stark's horse was
"smooth-shod," with the view of establishing the extreme improbability
of the alleged performances, as the road was icy, and rapid motion
therefore hazardous to an animal thus shod. But, as the quadruped in
question was shown actually to have done the thing, this ingenious
theory was set aside, although a slur was thus cast upon Mr. Stark's
character as a prudent driver.
But the crowning shame of Stark's delinquency consisted in the fact
that he was constable and tax-collector of the town of Hubbardston.
History is not without instances of monarchs and others high in
authority, who have descended to the indulgence of freaks inconsistent
with the dignity of their station; and Shakspeare has immortalized the
frolics of Prince Henry. But neither historian nor poet has hitherto
been able to record of a constable and tax-gatherer that he amused
himself with maliciously driving a smooth-shod horse, so as to
obstruct the progress of the United States Mail.
This man, set to be "a terror to evil-doers" should have been a terror
to himself; indeed we may conceive of him as smitten with compunction,
and arresting himself--Stark the constable tapping himself on the
shoulder. At least he should have arrested his own progress, before he
fell from his high estate, and degenerated from a constable into an
unlucky buffoon.
The questions for the jury were, First, Did these men obstruct the
United States Mail? And, secondly, Did they do so knowingly and
wilfully? If they did so obstruct the mail, then as a man is presumed
in law to intend what is the natural and necessary consequence of his
acts, in the absence of controlling testimony otherwise, the inference
would inevitably follow, that their conduct in this affair was the
result of "malice aforethought."
They were both convicted, and sentenced as follows,--Stark, the driver
of the wagon, to a fine of thirty dollars, and Baker to a fine of
fifteen; thus footing up the pretty little sum of forty-five dollars
for their evening's diversion, besides the destruction of their wagon,
which was taken into the account in determining the amount of the
fines.
Thus ended this piece of folly, the record of which it is hoped will
serve as a warning to any who may be disposed to try similar "tricks
upon travelers," since they might not get off as easily as did the
pair of worthies, whose brilliant exploit we have briefly sketched.