Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-12-04
The Great NniI Robbsries.

berries, and of the manner in which they were
committed, their amount, &C.;
NEW HAVEN, Dec 2, 1927.
Tuckerman, who was arrested on Sunday
night by MIR. Holbrook, ON the New Haven
cars, while in the act Of committing robbery
on the mails, was, as you are doubtless aware,
on a complaint filed by w ID. Shipmsn, Esq,
the U. 5. District Attorney of Connecticut,
brought before Mr.. Ingersol, U. 5. Com
missioner, on Monday afternoon, whence the
| further hearing was postponed, because of his
counseps absence, till Tuesday, attwo o'clock
| p. NJ. From Tuesday, second adjournment
took place till today, Mr.. Bodies, his counsel,
having arrived from Boston in the interval.
! Today again, in pursuance of an arrangement
between the prosecuting officer and the pris,
| oner's counsel, rendered necessary by their
| previous engagements, another adjournment
| occurred. In default of $4,000 bail, the
| prisoner was sent to the county jail, where he
| now lies. His wife, an amiable and interest
| ing lady, to whom no completely in his guilt
| has been attributed, visited New Haven today
| to see him, and left this afternoon for her
residence in New York. Though il may Ill
| timately appear that he was aided by accom-
| plices, no evidence to that effect has yet been
| ELECTED.
l am indebted to Mr.. Holbrook, the efficient
| mail agent, through whose exertions the rob-
berry was detected. for SONG additional items
| of Tuckerman's manlpulations during the
last few months. 1t is now ascertained be-
| yond question, that from August last he has
| been engaged in a systemized plan of mail
robbery on the New York and Boston line.
| The earliest fact connected with these man
muvres, occurs in the latter part of August
| The mail pouch made up at New Y ork for
Brattleboro', VT, was on the 3lst of August
found cut open and rified near Springfield,
Mass, On the same evening it was ascer-
tanned that stranger had hired a horse and
buggy at Chicopee, about ten miles from
Springfield, to go to the last named town and
back. Next morning the horse returned to
its owner, without carriage or harness. Search
was Immediately made for the latter, and by
dint of careful inquiry and examination, the
carriage was found in pasture near to where
the rihed mail bag had been discovered, and
in the bottom of it were found sundry frag-
ments of letter envelopes, &C., proving con-
clusively that the person by whom the horse
and buggy was hired, had been implicated in
the robbery. The description of that indi-
vidual was given with considerable ac-
curacy Of detail at the time, and has been
found to agree in almost every particu-
lar, with the personal appearance Of Mr..
Tuckerman. Within week of the time when
that robbery occurred, two entire mails from
Troy to Boston were stolen, and these also
should have passed through Springfield. 1t
now appears that Tuckerman was in the habit
of passing frequently to and fro on the New
| York and Boston and Albany and Boston
Roads-the former especially 1t was his Gus
tom, even at that time, invariably, to ingrati-
| ate himself with the railroad hands on the
| cars, by lavish distribution of excellent CT
r. ~, a.
able appearance and winning address, he Sc
| cured perfect carte blanche, in the way of
| admission to the baggage cars, where he was
| generally to be found. It was only, however,
| since the 25th of September that the most
| serious losses have occurred, and there is lit
tie reason to suppose that in any Of these cases
| the perpetrator was other than himself. The
| aggregate of available funds thus distracted
| by him is not positively known, but Of notes,
drafts. &C., the amount is ascertained to have
| been immense-hundreds of thousands of dol
! lars. The latter, there ia little doubt, have
| been nearly all destroyed Such, at least, is
his admission, though carpet bag Of his has
| been found containing notes to a considerable
4 amount. AT least $1,000 worth of postage
stamps were in the stolen Philadelphia mails.
These he offered to return to Mr.. Hclbrook.
His depredatons among the letters destined
less accounts for the failure Of many Europe
an houses to receive their remittances by the
November steamers from Boston. 1t is well
! known that whole trunkfull Of stolen letters
were burned by him in New York. OF the
| circumstances attending the discovery Of these
losses and his subsequent detection, little re-
! mains to be told. The robberies were gener-
ally committed at various points between Bos.
, ton and New York, and, of course, at the
most opportune moments, when tile baggage
master and conductors were engaged outside
at the stopping places, or otherwise employed
out OF the baggage room.
They Were effected by transferring the mails
to trunk which Tuckerman usually placed
on the train without any specific destination.
He was always precise in prevailing on the
baggage masters to place it On the top, 90 as
to be more readily accessible when the chance
for haul presented itself. ltopened without
key, by simple pressure on secret spring.
Within this trunk he placed small valise
containing weights, and tightly packed with
books, so as to prevent the weights from roll
ing about. The weights were Obviously de-
/ signed to divert the suspicion which would
naturally be excited by gentleman with an
empty trunk bound for no particular point.
The naodus operaadi was ingenious. The mo-
ment chance offered, the large trunk was
opened in a twlnkling, the valise removed, a
mail bag thrust in its place, the trunk shut
down, and Mr.. Tuckerman, with a smiling
countenance, presents one of his fragrant Ha-
vanas to the baggage master just entering the
car. As an instance of his readiness to &C.
commodate himself to the circumstances, and
of his admirably concocted plan of diverting.
attention from himself, it may be stated that
with French, the conductor of the train on
which he was arrested on Sunday night, he
assumed to hold terms of family intimacy.
He visited French's residence in New York,
generally after robbery had been committed,
for the purpose, doubtless. of gathering from
French whether any depreciation had been
discovered and thus make use of the inform
alton he might obtain to escape apprehension
or destroy suspicion. With the details of his
fral arrest on Sunday night, the public are
familiar. If he BE convicted, the punishment
for each offence will be imprisonment at hard
labor for not less than two nor more than ten
years. Of his acquittal not the slightest hope
is entertained, because the prosecuting officer
has in his possession proofs, which, entirely
irrespective of any admissions the prisoner
himself may have made, are regarded as ut
terly immoveable. Nor is acquitta the faah-
ion in Connecticut. Within the last three
Years, five mail and post Office depredators
have been convicted in this State, one of
whom recently died in prison the other four
are still suffering imprisonment under sem
fences of from two to twenty. seven years.
The Conneetiaut neODle howavar hahn n