"Well," said Harris, "that looks rather bad, but it isn't as bad as it might be. You'll get out of it yet, and I'll help you, if I can. I expect to get bailed out in a day or two, and if I can do anything for you, I will.”

“You are the man for me," said B., "and I shall want you to come and swear on my trial that you saw a person by the name of A- put the rail on, and that I wasn't there."

"But if you are innocent," replied Harris, "you will get clear; and if you are guilty, I don't believe I can help you." "You must, by heavens," said B. "If you don't, I'm a goner!"

Here the conversation ended that day, but the next morning B. directed his fellow prisoner to testify that his name was Grover, and that on the night on which the obstruction in question was made, he went with A- and saw him put the rail on the track. (So minute, by the way, was B.'s description of the place and the manner in which the obstructing rail was laid, that the deputy sheriff going there afterwards in company with Mr. P., easily found the spot, and identified the very tie under which the rail was placed, though it was the first time he had been there.)

"Well," said Harris, alias Grover, (who seemed to grow rapidly rich in names,) if I help you out in this way, what shall I get by it?"

B. replied: "If you get me clear I shall keep the confidence of the railroad company, and will introduce you to a set of good fellows who do nothing but big jobs, and my connection with the company will enable me to get you a position where you can pay yourself."

Having by such inducements secured (as he supposed) the aid of his companion, B. recovered his equanimity, and wrote as follows to one of the attorneys for the railroad company :

"To return to the obstruction east of Adrian in regard to my boots such as I can prove by J S that I mentioned in my last, by him I can prove where I was that night, as also where my boots were, and as for

the other man's evidence I am sure that I cannot be mistaken as to my success on trial or examination. I hope you will soon see Mr G again and be sure to have him at the time. As to the danger of my going to Adrian for fear I would fall into the hands of the engineers and firemen in that place, I will say for once and all, let me go to Adrian-& as to the danger of falling into the hands of rowdies I am not afraid of no! no! not if all the fiends of Pandemonium was to raise against me I will not shrink from anything as long as I am innocent or as long as I can have the protection of the law on my side Justice! Justice!! is all I claim and that I expect to have before a Court of justice and an independent & impartial Jury. if I can't swim there let me sink.

P. S. I will convince your Engineers & firemen that I was their friend, and that I have oftentimes run myself into danger for their safety, as well as that of the Company & the travelling public Yes & if they or the Co. have any feeling of gratitude in them I am sure that they will not show it by prosecuting me but first I must prove my title clear" & that I can do so Hurra boys, &c., three times three. Yours truly, A. S. B."

The railroad company could have no further doubt of his guilt. It was plain that he had entered their service to betray them; and though he had given the names of his accomplices, he had been careful not to catch them.

At his request he was removed to Adrian for trial. He told his counsel what he should prove by Grover; and was assured of an honorable acquittal.

At the trial, the counsel for the prosecution examined several witnesses in relation to the boot-tracks, which, for the time being, were as interesting to the legal fraternity, as are the ancient bird-tracks found in sandstone, to geologists.

The defence supposed that the counsel for the prosecution would there rest, and were confident that they had the game in their own hands, knowing, as they did, that the evidence thus far adduced was not sufficient to convict their client.

But the prosecution called "Wm. B.," (the deputy sheriff,) when, to the utter astonishment and dismay of the prisoner, his man Grover took the stand!

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THE LIFE-SENTENCE.

This unexpected transmutation at once dissipated the dreams of triumph and future villany in which he had been revelling; and as "Wm. B." testified to the facts in his possession, and the disclosures of the prisoner, this baffled scoundrel found the prop on which he had relied falling beneath him, and plunging him into that gulf from which he had made such desperate though vain efforts to escape.

He was found guilty on two indictments. On the first, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life, the judge remarking that he would suspend sentence on the other till the first had expired.

The interval between the pilfering of small sums and the deliberate plotting of wholesale murder for the sake of plunder, seems a wide one; yet no one who enters even the verge of the maelstrom of a dishonest course, can tell how far within the vortex he may be drawn by its ever strengthening current.

The case just related forms a culminating point in the series of villanies which we have recorded in this book for the benefit of those who, in defiance of the eternal laws of Providence, attempt to make the way of the transgressor easy.

CHAPTER X.

STOPPING A POST-OFFICE.

The Unpaid Draft-The Forged Order-A Reliable Witness-Giving up the Mail Key-A Lady Assistant-Post-Office Records--The official Envelope-Return of the Post Master-The Interview-Embarrassment of Guilt-Duplicate Circular-Justice secured.

ONE of the coolest and at the same time silliest pieces of post-office rascality that I have ever known, occurred a few years since in Rhode Island.

A small draft from the Post-Office Department having been presented by a mail contractor to the post master of P., payment was refused, on the ground that the office had been abolished some time before, and that there was little or nothing due the Department. No time was lost by the contractor in apprising the proper officer at Washington, of the non-payment of the draft, and the reason assigned therefor; when reference was at once made to the official records. They, however, failed to show the discontinuance of the office. Here was a mysterious and singular affair, and a letter was accordingly despatched to the seemingly delinquent post master, requiring an explanation of his course. A reply to this was very promptly sent to the Department, to the effect that some months previous he had received from the Appointment Office formal notice that his office had been discontinued, ac(181)

16

182

THE FORGED ORDER.

companied by an order to hand over all the mail matter remaining on hand, together with the mail key, and other property of the Department, to a neighboring post master, and that he had of course answered the demand.

A re-examination of the books still showing the office to be a "live one," he was written to, and directed to forward the original document upon the authority of which he had shut up his office. The papers were duly forwarded, and sure enough, there was the "Order," signed with the name of the Second Assistant Post Master General, who was then at the head of the Appointment Office. It read as follows :——

SIR,

Post-Office Department, March 28, 1846.

The Post Master General having decided to discontinue the PostOffice at P————, from and after the expiration of the present fiscal quarter, you will, at that time, please hand over all mail matter, the mail key, and all other property belonging to the Department, to the Post Master at M- on his presenting this order. Very Respectfully,

Your Obt. Servant,

WM. J. BROWN, 2d Asst. P. M. General.

Although a tolerably fair imitation of that officer's handwriting, it was at once pronounced a forgery. My services, ast Special Agent, were called into requisition, and all the facts, as they then stood, communicated to me. As speedily as possible I visited the scene of this perplexing and extraordinary official mystery. Arriving at the site of the late post-office, I found its former incumbent to be a highly respectable merchant, well advanced in years, and blessed with one of those countenances which, to a person at all accustomed to study character in that way, at once dispels all doubt and distrust. He was of Dutch descent, and, while intelligent on general subjects, was poorly "posted" in the arts and devices of cunning knaves. From him I received a full statement of the shutting up process,