Chapter XIV: An Influential Friend

As Jake Hines tremulously informed Boss Coggswell, the jury had brought in a verdict of "Not guilty" in the case of Owen Sheridan. That one little slip on the part of the conspirators--their failure to put on the package sufficient stamps to cover the weight of the watch it was supposed to contain--enabled Judge Lawrence to convince the jurors that his client was the victim of a "frame-up."

In his summing up he showed how the wholesale liquor dealer, William Warren, could easily have deceived the two reputable business men who testified that they had seen the watch placed in the package. He pointed out that both of these witnesses had admitted that during the walk to the post office the package had been in Warren’s pocket. How simple for him to have had a duplicate package in the same pocket, and hand it in at the registry window instead of the box which contained the watch.

The jury deliberated less than ten minutes before they acquitted the accused carrier. Later that day the pawnbroker’s clerk, after a long and grueling examination, broke down, and confessed that he had committed perjury when he had sworn that Owen had pledged the watch.

Carrier Sheridan had not been in the pawnshop at all that day, he admitted. The watch had been pawned by Bill Warren himself, who had offered him a hundred dollars to swear that Owen had conducted the transaction. As he knew the letter carrier by sight, it had been an easy matter for the pawnbroker’s clerk to pick him out unhesitatingly from a group of twenty other carriers, and thus satisfy the post-office inspectors that he was telling the truth.

This was not the only confession extracted that day. Warren, the wholesale liquor dealer, realizing that he was "in bad," decided to make things easier for himself by "blowing the whole game." He swore that he had done this thing at the request of Jake Hines. There were certain reasons why he could not afford to lose Hines’ good will, and when the politician had come to him and asked him to do this favor, he had not dared to refuse.

Carrier Smithers, possessing more nerve than these other conspirators, could not be made to admit that he had placed the pawn ticket in Sheridan’s trunk. He preserved his taciturn, defiant air throughout the examination, and came from the ordeal smilingly triumphant.

Judge Lawrence and Owen Sheridan were very well satisfied, however, with the result of their efforts. The latter grasped his client’s hand fervently, and said:

"Let me congratulate you, Sheridan. Your own cleverness has saved you from jail and enabled us to turn the tables on our enemies. We wouldn’t have stood a ghost of a show if it hadn’t been for that happy thought of yours about the stamps on the package.

"And now," he added, a gleam in his keen eyes, "we are going after those rascals hot and heavy."

A responsive gleam in Owen’s eyes showed how greatly this idea appealed to him. "Yes," he said confidently, "I guess we’ve got Boss Coggswell where we want him now. This means the finish of that grafter."

"I’m not quite so sure of that," replied the judge, with a whimsical smile. "Don’t forget that friend Samuel is a pretty slippery customer. I shouldn’t be at all surprised if he managed to wriggle out of this. I think we’ll be able to put Jake Hines behind bars without any trouble, but I’m afraid we’re not going to have such an easy task convicting his master--not yet, at least."

And the lawyer proved to be a true prophet as far as Samuel J. Coggswell was concerned. When, later that day, reporters from all the daily papers thronged the clubhouse to interview the boss, they found that gentleman smiling and apparently very much at his ease.

"Mr. Coggswell," a newspaper man said bluntly, "we understand that you are going to be indicted for conspiracy. You are accused of being responsible for a frame-up to send a young letter carrier named Sheridan to prison."

The district leader shook his head deprecatingly. "Nothing to it, boys--nothing to it. The rumor is absolutely without foundation, I assure you. Why should a grand jury seek to indict me? It is preposterous to suppose that I had anything to do with the infamous attempt to railroad young Sheridan. On the contrary, I am very friendly toward the man, and I’m glad that he got off--very glad, indeed."

"But, Mr. Coggswell," the newspaper man insisted, "they have proof that Jake Hines, your confidential man, was the moving spirit in that conspiracy."

"Ah!" exclaimed the politician, with a sad smile. "Poor Jake! Poor Jake! By the way, has anybody seen him lately?"

"No," answered the reporter. "I hear that detectives with a warrant for his arrest have been searching all over town for him in vain. It is understood that he has fled. That is why, Mr. Coggswell, it looks as if----”

"So they can’t find Jake, eh?" the boss interrupted, his ears wiggling a fast accompaniment to his words. "It is understood that he has run away? Well, if such is, indeed, the case, it looks as if the rascal really must be guilty. Flight can generally be regarded as a confession of guilt, can’t it, boys?"

"Well," said one of the newspaper men boldly, "if Hines is guilty, Mr. Coggswell, how about yourself? Everybody knows that he is your confidential man, and----”

"He was my confidential man, you mean, sir," corrected Coggswell, with dignity. "I’ll admit that Jake has been very close to me. I’ll admit that I thought the world of him. But, of course, if he was in any way connected with that dastardly plot to send an innocent man to prison--if it can be proved that he had anything to do with it, Jake Hines and I must part company forever. I wouldn’t have such a scoundrel around me. Even if he were my own brother, I would cast him out. It is really a sad case--a very sad case. It only goes to show, boys, to what depths an impetuous young man will sometimes descend when he is in love."

The newspaper men looked at him in amazement. "In love?" one repeated inquiringly.

"Yes. Let me give you fellows a little tip. There is a young lady--Miss Dallas Worthington--a very charming young lady, I have been told. She is employed as a typist in the office of a real-estate man named Walter K. Sammis. If you go and see her, she will probably tell you that Jake Hines has been making love to her. I understand, in fact, that he is madly infatuated with her. Now, Miss Worthington happens to be engaged to Carrier Sheridan. Perhaps you can see now the motive which inspired poor Jake to----”

The reporters waited to hear no more. They departed hurriedly for the real-estate office, eager to interview Dallas and get her to confirm this tip.

Thus it happened that the newspapers next morning, in their accounts of Owen Sheridan’s trial and its sensational developments, exonerated Boss Coggswell, and unanimously declared that while at first it had been assumed that the conspiracy to railroad the letter carrier to jail was of a political nature, it had been discovered that rivalry in love was at the bottom of it all--that Jake Hines had been inspired solely by personal motives, and had acted without the knowledge of his master.

"I feared as much," said Judge Lawrence to Owen, pointing with a wry smile to the pile of newspapers on his desk. "Coggswell has managed to get from under by making Jake Hines the goat. The grand jury will take the same view of the matter as the newspapers. We shan’t be able to convict that rascal this time."

"But we’ll get him on that other charge, anyway--the charge of tampering with your mail, judge," declared Owen confidently. "He can’t very well wriggle out of that."

The lawyer shook his head dubiously. "I’m not so sure. Carrier Greene and Tom Hovey have skipped their bail. Of course, Coggswell will keep them liberally supplied with funds, so there isn’t much chance of their being caught. And unless they can be brought back and forced to squeal, it will be impossible to implicate the boss."

"But how about my testimony?" protested Owen. "You are forgetting that I am in a position to prove that Coggswell was behind that plot to tamper with your mail, judge."

Judge Lawrence laughed grimly. "No, I am not forgetting. Your testimony, by itself, wouldn’t be worth anything at all, Owen. Sam Coggswell evidently thought that it would. He must have been afraid of you, or he wouldn’t have gone to such trouble and risk to have you discredited, unless, of course, he did it merely out of revenge; but if he had consulted a lawyer he would have learned that we couldn’t implicate him on your testimony alone."

Seeing the look of disappointment of Sheridan’s face, the lawyer laid his hand upon the young man’s shoulder, and said:

"Never mind, my boy; we’ll get that rascal yet. You can depend upon it that he is mixed up in several corrupt post-office deals, any one of which, if exposed, will land him in jail. And when you’re a post-office inspector, Owen, you’ll have a chance to look thoroughly into some of those deals."

"When I’m a post-office inspector!" repeated Owen, with a laugh. "I’m afraid there won’t be any chance of that happening while Boss Coggswell remains in power. He’ll make it his business to see that I----”

"My friend," interrupted Judge Lawrence dryly, "Sam Coggswell isn’t the only one who has a pull with the post-office department. As it happens, I have a friend at Washington whose word carries quite some weight in postal affairs. Believing that a man of your cleverness would be a valuable acquisition to the secret-service branch of the department, and feeling absolutely confident that you would come out of your trouble all right, I wrote to this friend of mine the other day in your behalf. This morning I received his answer. When you have read it I think you will agree that in spite of Sam Coggswell’s opposition you are going to get the job you want."

He took a letter from his desk, and handed it to Owen. With great astonishment the young man read:

"MY DEAR JUDGE: I have your note. Come and take lunch with me next
Thursday, and we will talk the matter over. If your young protégé
is as bright and honest as you say, I should like to see him made a
post-office inspector."

This letter was written on White House stationery, and bore the signature of the President of the United States.

Three months later Letter Carrier Sheridan became Post-office Inspector Sheridan.