_Yet the thirty
days elapsed and his claim was not adjusted_.
From that hour, with a just appreciation of the enormity of the offence
which he believed to have been committed, he consecrated his vast
energies to the detection of crime. His whole soul was fired almost to
frenzy with the greatness of his work, and he pursued it with a firmness
of principle and fixedness of purpose that seemed almost madness, till
he exposed to the world the most stupendous league of robbers ever
dreamed of, extending into every State and Territory of the Union,
and numbering, to his personal knowledge, over seven hundred men of
influence and power, whose business as a copartnership was forgery,
counterfeiting, burglary, arson, and any other crimes that might afford
rich pecuniary remuneration.
I will not now stop to describe the organization of this band, which is
as perfect as that of any corporation; nor the enormous resources at its
command, being computed by millions; nor the great respectability of
its directors and State agents; nor the bloody oaths and forfeitures by
which the members are bound together; nor the places of their annual
meetings; nor a thousand other particulars, more startling than anything
in fiction or history.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47