THE CONSPIRATORS' FATE.
A few weeks after the trial of Gunwagner for false imprisonment he was
again brought before the bar of justice to answer with Felix Mortimer to
the charge of conspiring to kidnap Herbert Randolph. Able counsel were
employed by the old villain, and a hard fight was made for liberty. But
the charges were so well sustained by the evidence of Herbert and Bob,
and that of the small boy who aided the latter in gaining admittance to
the fence's den, that the jury brought in a verdict of guilty.
Gunwagner was, accordingly, sentenced to serve a long term of
imprisonment at Sing Sing as a penalty for his villainous acts. He had
accumulated much money by crooked means, and now towards the end of his
life his own freedom was the price paid for the gold which now was
valueless to him.
Then came Felix Mortimer's turn. But for him Herbert Randolph would
never have fallen into the trouble that seemed to await him on his
arrival in New York. Young Mortimer, however, overreached himself. He
was not a match for Herbert Randolph and Bob Hunter together--neither he
nor all of his disreputable cronies.
His plans miscarried wofully, and now, after many long weary days of
confinement in the Tombs, he found himself sentenced to the House of
Correction for nearly four years, or until he reached the age of his
majority.
Felix Mortimer was splendidly endowed by nature for a brilliant man. He
had great ability, and was unusually bright and prepossessing. But
unfortunately for him, and for the community in which he lived, he
commenced life in the wrong way. He failed to recognize the fact that no
true success can be attained except by operating on the solid principles
of truth and honesty. His envy of Herbert Randolph had at last brought
him disgrace and humiliation, while the young Vermonter now had a well
paying and fast growing business of his own. How bitterly he must have
regretted his own foolish and evil acts, when he realized fully to what
they had brought him!
[Illustration: GUNWAGNER IN PRISON.]
He could look now upon Herbert Randolph and say to himself, truthfully,
"I had the ability to succeed as well as you have and to be as much
respected as you now are. My advantages, too, were superior to yours,
and yet here am I a prisoner in the House of Correction, deprived of my
liberty and in disgrace, while you have already entered upon a splendid
business career. And all this difference comes from my having made a
wrong start."
Alas! how many human wrecks scattered all along the pathway of life
could say the same thing, as they compare their present wretched
condition with that of the prosperous and honored citizens--the solid
men of the community--who were once their schoolfellows, and whose
early career was perhaps less promising than their own. And all this
difference, or nearly all, has grown naturally out of the right or wrong
start they took in life.
Peter Smartweed alone among the conspirators remains to be accounted
for, and this is something that the police could not do. They made a
careful search throughout the city for him, but his presence could not
be discovered. It was believed that, fearing arrest, he had suddenly
left his home and the city in which he had spent his life, when he
learned of the fate of Felix Mortimer, his companion in crime.