“Leaving John Brown in charge of the watchman I ran hastily upstairs and asked where the tube discharged its contents. I was told the correct spot. I went hastily into the street and got into the first cab I could see and drove to the place at the utmost speed of which the cab horse was capable.
“On arriving there I proceeded to the post-office department, and found to my inexpressible chagrin that the waggon had duly arrived with its human freight ten minutes before.
“The workmen were surprised to see a man travelling in charge of the bag; but Wareham, elated at his narrow escape, told them that he had done it out of curiosity, and they asked no farther questions.
“As may be imagined, he took the earliest opportunity of leaving the office, and I was too late to apprehend him. That, however, did not annoy me very much; I had a satisfactory clue to Mr. Wareham, and by twelve o’clock the next day he was in custody.
“Neither money nor letters were found upon him, so he must have been associated with some gang to whom he had handed over, for the better concealment thereof, the quantity of letters he had stolen.
“He was afterwards induced to relate his sensations when in the tube.
“‘The air,’ he said, ‘felt cold and refreshing, but the darkness was appalling. The waggon was about four feet long by two wide. He disposed his legs as well as he was able, so as to avoid contact with the sides of the tube or any foreign body he might encounter.’
“‘He was surprised beyond measure when he found the waggon in motion, but being somewhat of a philosopher, he resigned himself to his fate. The speed at which he was driven along took his breath away, and he was not at all sorry when he arrived at his journey’s end.’
“Brown and Wareham were arraigned at the State Sessions. I was the principal witness against them. Brown, at the last moment, finding that he had no chance of escape, having been taken in flagrante delicto, turned State evidence, so that his punishment was comparatively trivial to that of Wareham, who was for a term of years removed from that busy sphere in which he had so greatly distinguished himself, and of which he was so promising a member.
“He was much missed by the school to which he belonged, and many of the thieving fraternity went into deep mourning for what was almost equivalent to the death of their versatile friend.”