Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1875 — A Stolen Mail-Poueh. [ARTICLE]

A Stolen Mail-Poueh.

It was nearly a year ago when the mail agents connected with the overland stage route were completely puzzled by a robbery which, leaving no clew in its wake, baffled the shrewdest detectives and left neither train nor track for the special agents of the Government to follow. A mail-pouch, containing valuable drafts, gold-dust and greenbacks, was dispatched from Portland to San Francisco, but did not arrive. It was expected and looked for, inquiries were instituted, rigid measures were taken to discover its whereabouts, but all efforts to find the missing pouch were fruitless. It had disappeared. The robbeiy and the utter darkness which enveloped it were fruitful themes of conjecture and surmise, and the topic was worn threadbare by the people round about As other subjects arose, engrossing their immediate attention, the theme of the robbery would be dropped, only to be revived again with the same interest. The affair found its way into the columns of the press, from which vague insinuations commenced to emanate, toihe effect that the agents of the Postofflce Department knew more regarding the robbery than thej- were willing to divulge. A political canvass was then pending, and hints began to be dropped here and there, by the press, that the missing pouch was enacting a prominent role in the farce of politics. The newspaper criticism was incisive and, impelled by its sting, , the agents renewed their efforts to recover the missing pouch. About this time it was by chance discovered that one of the parties on whom suspicion had rested had left for parts unknown. He was Dan Smith, one of the stage-drivers. It was known that he had been accompanied on his liegira by the wife of one Montgomery. Jlere was a clew. Slight, buttievertheless a’clew. The authorities reasoned that a man who would take another man’s wife would not hesitate to plunder a mailpouch, and by inquiry speedily. ascertained that Dan Smith had been discharged, and for overturning a coach. The ground where the vehicle was upset was carefully examined, and the conclusion was that the coach was overturned, not through accident, but by design. The clew increased in plainness and was briskly followed up. As a driver, Smith was an expert and the best whip on the route. The overturning of the coach was evidently by design, as a mere child could have'driven the coach over the ground with no danger of overturning. There was but one and a ready inference: Smith upset the coach as a pretext for being discharged in order that he might leave the country. Special-Agent "Underwood, knowing that Montgomery had been intimate w-ith Smith, and reasoning that Montgomery, if lie had anything pertaining to the affair to disclose, wouid readily do so in a spirit of revenge for Smith’s treachery, interviewed him. The result was gratifying in an unexpected degree. Montgomery confessed that Smith had stolen the mail-pouch and was the guilty man. After carrying it for several days in his feed-sack Smith rifled its contents, filled it with stones and sunk it in the Umpqua River. Acting upon this confession the bed of the stream adjacent to the stage road was carefully searched and the long-missing mail-pouch found. It was opened, aud contained, besides a portion of the valuables, a striking illustration of the love of a Californian for hard coin and his contempt for paper money. The bag of gold-dust, amounting in value to $4,000, was nowhere to be found; but all of the drafts and a roil of greenbacks were Smith and his paramour were tracked to San Francisco, and very soon Special-Agent Underwood arrived and registered under an assumed name at the Russ House. With the aid of Special-Agent Alexander, of California, vigorous plans of pursuit w-ere adopted. The telegraph was put in requisition, and it was ascertained that the fleeing Dan had gone to Salt Lake, from thence to lowa, and finally to Philadelphia, where it was subsequently ascertained he had disposed of the bag oi gold-dust. By this time special agents and detectives Of every State ycere hot upon the robber’s track. But, as Dan had been cunning before, he was wary and suspicious now. He suspected that that terrible, invisible phantom, the detective, was shadow ing him, and he “sloped for Texas.” Special-Agent Stuart, of lowa, and Underwood followed closely 1 and swiftly behind, and finally at Sequin, Gaudaloupe County, Tex., overhauled Smith and his paramour, w ho had so long defied capture. Smith, whose real name is Hamilton, came to this coast from lowa. His object in carrying the mail-pouch for nearly a week without opening-it previous to his flight was that if he could geta “ run” with no passengers he could then have an opportunity of abstracting the desired plunder alone and in safety. He never succeeded in obtaining the “ eftpty run,” but finally one night, while his solitary passenger was sleeping at a station, entered the bam and abstracted the gold-dust unseen.—San Francisco Chronicle.

The Picton Gazette says Mrs. Rorke, wife of the mate of the schooner Union Jack, which sunk in Lake Erie recently, saved her preserved peaches, although the vessel sank in five,minutes. The woman who. with ajariof preserved peaches in each hand, cab calmly await death is worth having, although sugar is ten cents |i pound. —Osicego (JV r . F.) Palladium. —Sack for a thief—Ransack.