Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-02-03

post office, two clerks, with their warm caps
| drawn down over their ears, were sorting let
| tiers for dear life one or other of them turn
! ING round now and then and oblurgating old
| Barnett, the mail guard, who occasionally
| opened the window and pushed his head out
/ TO inform himself of the trans Whereabouts
| bringing it back always with puff, and a
| snort, and an exclamation that the frost was
| a ''reglar black un tonight, and no mis-
| take" Close upon Exeter now, all of old
| Barnetts sacks for delivery are ready on the
| floor close by the door, handy for the porter
| to seize, old Barnett himself sitting on the
| pile, clapping his hands, stamping his feet,
and whistling II himself softly, the while
With a protracted grind, a bump and shrek,
the train ran alongside the Exeter platform,
| and old Barnett pushed back the sliding door
| OF the traveling-office and handed the sacks
| to the expectant porter. But ere the man
| touched them, he said, while his face was
] CHASTITY white and his voice trenbled,
! Lord Mr.. Barnett such a smash to-
! night :"
Smash :" said old Barnett; what, an ac-
| cident -
Pooh p said the porter, ''no, that would
be nothing -no-they've robbed the up
mail:"
: Robbed the uplnal e.
: All, tender broke open, bags all cut and
hacked, and letters all strewn about the
| floor You never see such like"
| The deuce they have :" said Barnett, after
i moments pause; ''wel, Simon my boy I'll
take deyilish good they don't rob my
mail. Here clear these bags out and let's
| pass"
| He jumped down on to the platform, ran
to the next carriage, which was the post
! office tender" second class carriage fitted
| up for the reception of maiEbags, unlocked
| tue door with key, saw ali secure, relocked
the door, and returned to the travelling post
office Just as the train began to move.
Old Tom Barnett had been in the POstotice
| service in one capacity other for nearly
forty years, during the whole of which time
| no word of complaint had ever been uttered
against him. and, a strict disciplinarian him
| self he naturally felt that there must have
| been some derehction of duty on the part of
/ his brOther-guQrd of the up-mail, of which
| the robbers had taken advantage. Conse-
| uueutly, as the train flew through the black
darkness at forty mile-an-hour speed, Barnett,
| at iive-minute intervals, lowered the window
| of the travelling office and peered out in the
| direction of his = tender" He could not dis
| tinguish much all he could make out land
this principally from the shadows on the en-
| bankments) was that the train was, rs usual,
| 4 short one that Immediately after the en-
| CINE came two second-cIasS carriages, then
the trayelling-C lice IN which he was, then his
tender, then a frst-class carriage, and then
a luggage-van. Nothing particular to be
seen, nothing at all (save the inyariable ramp
| 2g, roaring, and rattle) WAS to be heard; on
! they sped through the Darkness and never
| stopped until they came to Brdgewater,
/ where old Barnett descended, took his key
/ from his pocket, unlocked the tender, and
| fell back calling at the top OF his voice,
| +" Help.-thleyes. damme, they've done me y
! At his cry, owo of the train-guards came run
| ming up, and turned their buI's-eye lanterns
| on 10 the tender, into which Barnett at once
| climbed. The mail-bags, ordinarily so neatly
| arranged, lay scattered in pell-meu disorder
on the floor, the Plymouth bag had been
| shifted from the hook on which 1t had been
hung, and on examining it, Barnett found it
| had been opened, and re-tied but not sealed !;
! short bits of string, splotches of sealiRg-wax,
and drifting pieces of tiudered paper covered
| the floor Of the tender, and the window on
the further side-which had been carefully
closed when they left Bristol-was OPEN
| They've done me :" roared old Barnett again,
"a but they shan't escape they're somewhere
in this train, and I'll have them out :"
At this juncture, two gentlemen, one of
| whom was recognised as Mr.. NARROW, one OF
| the directors Of the company, the other as
| Mr. Joyce, the great contractor, to whom the
| safe keeping OF great portion of the per
| manent way contded, came up and in
/ quired what the matter. On the affair
| being explained 10 them, they agreed with
| Barnett as TO the necessity for closely search
ing the train, and ali proceeded at once to
| the irst-class carriage which was immediately
next to the post-office tender. This, as is
| usual, was divided mo three double com
partments. The first was that from which
/ Messrs- NARROW ard Joyce had just emerged,
| and was, OF course, empty; so was the second /;
! in the nearest division OF the third compart-
| mCnt was an old gentleman named Parker.
! well known on the line as a solicitor of Mod
| bury. whose business frequently took him to
! London. The door between the divisions in
! this carriage was closed and the blind drawn
! down On being recognized, Mr. Parker at
| once answered TO his name, and stated that
| the further division was occupied by two men
! who had entered the carriage at Bristol and
| had at once closed the door and drawn down
/ the blind. HID he noticed anything further
about them2 No, he had not. Yes? as they
| got in he noticed something dragging afto
| them; nnpreceiyed by them, he put down
his hand and found it to be a piece of string
! He cut off what remained on his side when
| they shut the door. and here it was Barnett
/ looked at IT, and exclaimed, bag string Off
| ciaI bag string without doubt ~ One of the
! railway guards then opened the door and
! looked into the other division. In it were
| two men; one of them with Jim Crow hat
| pulled owes his eyes, and enveloped in large
! cloak, was lying with his legs upon the seat,
and was apparently suffering from the tooth
| ache, as he held his OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES up
| TO his face the other tall man in Z. dark
! Chesterfield great-coat, was screwed into
| his corner of the carriage, and was apparent
| Iy asleep. Ticket please" called out old
/ Barue e, and as the reclining man raised him
| self to get at his ticket the handkerchief fell
from MS face, and the railway guard, recog-
nizin- him at once, called out, :" Halo, Pond !
| Is that you +: What are you doing down the
/ line - Instead of answering this question,
| Pond told the guard to go to the devil; but
| Mr. NARROW had heard the exclamation, and
! asked the guard whether the man in the car
riage was Pond, formerly guard in their
| service, who had been dismissed some SIX
/ months before on suspicion of robbery. The
| guard replying In the affirmative old Bar
! nettS previous suspicious were fully confirm
| ed, and he insisted on having both the men
/ (who, of course, declared they were strangers
| to each other thoroughly searched. Nothing
at all extraordinary was found on either of
! them, but from the pocket of the carriage in
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