Litchfield enquirer., 1860-12-13
.,a43 F17tlI3H nnA Iealf.rrl, f-r :. 'ss'as' From the United States Mail.
 "TUCKERMA AN AND qaTHEy DEAD HEAD" d. tessa,se 5..

7si'ass From the United States Mail.
 I TTUeKERMANa AND THE DEAD .ls S ~ HEAD" 7H: esesss x,
 ss Our readers probably. have not forgotten 2, ,j tue person whose, pame heads this article
 The bold and extensive robberies committed .I by him, the singular method which he adon- fted to carry ottsshis snefafious plans. and many of the circumstances attending his ar. rest aad1convietieu, have been made famiI. ffarato thespnblie through the newspapers Hike the elephant, he never. travelled with. tout his gtrunk-that mighty appendage to iEhose rapacious grasp many. a mail bag EfeIl . victim. Beghiled s.by the seductions
 of, cigars Of unfmpeachable excellence, the
 baggage-rnel wereswonte to- allow his pres. fence inathey baggage and maiLcar, and dur ting their tsrhporaly absence, be seized both fthe opaortuaty and the bags. All this,
 aud much nioEe is no doubt fresh in the re-
 collection of every body. But there were
 some incidents connected with this extraor- 'dinary case which have escaped. the vigi-
 lance Of newspaper reporters. Here is one
 Of them. ss@ds asey s ses, .. ....,
 I 1zs Mostof Tnckerman's robberies, asis we'll known, were eolnmitteds ep~the mail-trains lbetween New York and Boston. At least thirteen, vt holess mail bags were abstracted,
 and all of theiIa contents destroyed which
 were valueless to him. Five thousand dol- lars worth of postage stamps, however, were recovered and restored to Government. I His mode of conducting operations was I such as to require for his detection the con stant surycilanee of all officer, to make the
 Journey withab bim, and to observe all his l movements. N5E ,asa ..,er
 De On the fatal Sunday night of his arrest,
 theepest-ofiee Agent, sometime befole the
 starting of, the train, enscouced himself in a
 small closet, occasionally used as a" clothes
 press" at the end of the baggage-car near
 est the engine. A crack in the partition i afforded such facilities for observation as
 were required by a gentleman for the time fclosely connected with the press, since from this loop-hole he could commard view of every part of the car. This view for the present, was decidedly tame and uninterest. ing. There was want of what painters call breadth ih the prospect, to say noth- ling of length. The dim light revealed noth- ing but trunks valises and the like, grouped more with view to the convenience of bagga agorsmashersD than to artistic effect. The "touling man had not yet arrived to enlveni the prospect, but the meditations of Ithe'solitary watcher wore cut short by the sudden addition to the scene of a piece of " still lfe'' winch did not, materially improve the aspect of things. A heavy jar upon fhn fpOp of tba oft afoH tho of of the Agent, and a glance through the ap- erture revealed the cause of the same. A coffin had been pushed in just in front of the closet, and now stretched its awful
 length in close proximity to the spot occu- pied by the anxious watcher. He thought
 of the I" Ancient Mariner" and h;s rnyogn with aocrewi of dead mon, and fancied how
 that old gentleman must have felt, and how
 he himself must ride through the night
 hours with such a companion, who could make his gloomy presence felt, though hid den by tie walls of-llis narrow house. " He. has less room than l" thought the Agent,
 but he don't need as much" Then his re- fections naturally took a professional turn, and crowd of thoughts apropos to the subject before him, rushed upon his mind
 AAS hSAlNS4 GOhiO hOtA tuO ACuCC~ tion that the defunct was perfectly safe passcnger--one whom it would be unneces- sary to watch, however roguish he might have been in his lifetime. "After life's fit- full fever he sleeps swell,D unmindful of the baggage-masters, porters, conductors even .of Mail Agents "Nothing can touch shin further" Perhaps if he were alive he wohld be as troublesome a customer as Tuckefman himself He's just as quiet now, however, as if he had been lamb in innocence. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt. Nil de mortgis," &c., espe- cially if you,don,t know any thing about 26.. 5ts HlAS7s yrlssy
 q This course of thought was suddenly in-s terlupted by the arrival of Tuckerman, &C., gcompanied by a porter, who very uncers- monously tumbled in his (Tuckerman's) great trunk in close proximity to the omin- ops looking long box. The owner of the trunk after giving directions respecting the place where he wished this important piece Io of baggage, to stand, Ga place, of course, conveniently near to tho mail-hags,) drew out. bis fancy cigar-case, lighted "regalia," aud politely offered another to his compan- ion, the baggage-master. "John," said
 Tuckernan, thoughtfuly contemplating the
 coffin, while he slowly evolved the smoks
 from his mouth, What have you here, ..
 corpse P, .1=-.,.. ..a. ..
 ss Yes,ns was Johns reply.
 s"Ah, said Tuckerman, with long drawn
 sigh, and a sympathetic shake of the head, Ithas's a hard way to ride, isn't it v
 egr Not so hard" thought Uncle Sam's of-
 6cial, "as to ride with a special Agent on
 your track. -,4...r.
 A few hours later and the guilty man
 would have been glad to exchange places with our dead companion.
 Fortunately for the Agent, his olfactories were not easily irrtated by the fumes of to- bacco, or he might, by some nntimely sneeze or cough, have betrayed the secret of his presence. The only effect which he perceiv- ed was a desire to participate in the luxury
 which hTuckerman and. his companion were Eenjoying@. So the time wore away with the live occupants of the car until the train reached Stamford, when the opportunity 1 for which both Tuckerman and the Agent were waiting, presented itself. The two fbacgaee.men went cut to |" wood" up," ta- liking the light, with them, and leaving the lear in darkness. -t. ..--..
 hd 5Tuckerrnan evidently believed in the truth l oe Fthe maxim. Dead men tell no tales," for no sooner was he left alone Gas he sup
 .N...dN ,ri+h tbe o,cnpant of the coffin. than