The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-05-09

of deposit was in ashes. lie renewed his
guilty career immediately, obtained five
thousand dollars within week, and
escaping to Canada, threatened to plumber
every American banker from Portland to
Galveston. lie was an accomplished
penman, scholar and bookkecper, thor
oughly conrersant with business details,
and had so mastered the secrets of the
postal system that he conld operate by
i'coxy, and ubiquitously. He was be-
lieved now TO be dwelling on the frontier
and the bankers of all the Atlantic cities
had subscribed funds for his apprehension
and conviction at whatever cost A
woman TO whom Ingram was attached
bad been seen at Albany, going westward.
1t was probable that she and the forger
were not far apart, and Ballagan wished
me TO proceed northward with him the
same afternoon, that he might keep close
ly npon their trail. We followed by rail
the wndings of the palisaded Hudson,
threaded the rich valley of the Mohawk,
and at Rome, an ambitious settlement of
Northwestern New York, heard by tele
graph of new feat OF Ingram at Water
town, on the falls of Black River, near
the head of Lake Ontario. fIe undoubt-
edly meant TO dwell without federal iurs-
diclion appear periodically in the States,
and after each oiiensc escape across the
St Lawrence. There was, | believe, an
cxtradition treaty, embracing the crime
Of forgery but the formaitics of law,
and the .jealousies of Canadian and State
officials, practically annulled it. Ballagan
was shrewd and bold he determined TO
entrap Ingram if possible but in the
failure of intrigue, TO seize and kidnap
him anywhere upon foreign soil. The
reward would be large; and the detective
had taken me with him that might give
the capture newspaper notoricty, and
so challenge the generosity of the bankers
We were armed with fowling pieces, and
meant to hunt and hrh along the lake
border Ballagan to watch the telegraph
stations, and | to play the guileless young
sportsman among the frontier girls and
gossips. Neither of us had seen Ingram,
but we carried his photograph. 1t rep
resented a small, thoughtful, grizzle-haired
man, addicted to cigars and an eye-glass.
thought l could recognize the original if
saw him, but had qualms as to the
repute to be derived from thief catching.
The detectives first precaution was to
forward description of the felon to every
revenue officer upon the American bank
of the st. Lawrence. The functions of
these did not embrace state crimes, of
which forgery was one, and they were
therefore charged to detain Ingram for
debasing the currcncy-a national otfense.
After three days of provoking illsuc-
cess, We traced the forger's female ac-
compicc to Cape Vincent, paItry Amer
lean village at the junction of the lake
and the river Here she had mysteriously
disappeared neither the return rail nor
the Canada ferry, nor any of the border
steamers, had taken her aboard, the
conclusion of Balagan was prompt and
sagacious-she had met the forger him
self, and he had spirited her away. The
river was here seven or ten miles broad,
and divided by many islands. Ingram
may have located himself upon one Of
these, and by means Of row boat made
his passage to either mainland. We
acted upon the surmise at once, hired
oarsmcn and a bateau, and beat up and
down the channel for many leagues. 1t
was rare sport to take the sllvery pickerel
and muscolung, and | would gladly have
relinquished the human 'prey for these
inoifensive creatures. The skies were
cool and clear; the river ran steadily
seaward witoout a tide, lavng fantastic
bluffs, fringed with strip Of beach, and
plumed with black boughed ccdars. The
panther and the Indian were around us,
as in colonial days; now and then the
red fisherman and his squaw drank from
our canteens stolidy; and we brought
down many wild goose from his dream
in the clouds. This was America as
we knew it in the ideal-wild, solitary,
boundless - yet here were we on the
proud st. Lawrence, with the prosaic
purpose of capturing a jail-bird. For a
week our efforts were futile there were
few farmhouses upon the frontier islands,
but we were satisfied that Ingram har-
bored in none of them, and the coniigura-
| tlOu vi tHc CU'tSt WIS SUCH lIlitl llle cAplO-
ration promised to be interminable. In
the meantime the rogue attempted third
forgery at Ogdensburg, fifty miles distant,
and the press teemed with complaints of
the police system and of Ballagan.
1t was on the Twelfth day OF our advent
ture that the detective, sick of care and
exposure, made over to me the boat and
outfit. The waterman rowed me at
dawn to a cove within Wolf Island, the
largest of the group. 1t was a lonely
place, removed from either channel of the
river, visible from neither mainland. and
out of sight of every sail and habitation.
l made fast my line al three hundred
yards; the FURNISHED bait skinned the
surface like star the rover never tired
nor slackened, and before nine O'Clock l
had taken a score of pickerel,' not one of
which weighed less than six pounds. I
was now reminded of breakfast the is
land was near at hand and as we pulled
alopg the border to find landing, a turn
in the coas. revealed a comfortable frame
dwelling, set against ridge of thick tim
Der, and fanked by smooth beach.
|, o,,.IoI c,o... - IL.