CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CONSPIRATORS' FATE.
A few weeks after the trial of Gunwagner for false imprisonment he wasagain brought before the bar of justice to answer with Felix Mortimer tothe charge of conspiring to kidnap Herbert Randolph. Able counsel wereemployed by the old villain, and a hard fight was made for liberty. Butthe charges were so well sustained by the evidence of Herbert and Bob,and that of the small boy who aided the latter in gaining admittance tothe fence's den, that the jury brought in a verdict of guilty.
Gunwagner was, accordingly, sentenced to serve a long term ofimprisonment at Sing Sing as a penalty for his villainous acts. He hadaccumulated much money by crooked means, and now towards the end of hislife his own freedom was the price paid for the gold which now wasvalueless to him.
Then came Felix Mortimer's turn. But for him Herbert Randolph wouldnever have fallen into the trouble that seemed to await him on hisarrival in New York. Young Mortimer, however, overreached himself. Hewas not a match for Herbert Randolph and Bob Hunter together--neither henor all of his disreputable cronies.
His plans miscarried wofully, and now, after many long weary days ofconfinement in the Tombs, he found himself sentenced to the House ofCorrection for nearly four years, or until he reached the age of hismajority.
Felix Mortimer was splendidly endowed by nature for a brilliant man. Hehad great ability, and was unusually bright and prepossessing. Butunfortunately for him, and for the community in which he lived, hecommenced life in the wrong way. He failed to recognize the fact that notrue success can be attained except by operating on the solid principlesof truth and honesty. His envy of Herbert Randolph had at last broughthim disgrace and humiliation, while the young Vermonter now had a wellpaying and fast growing business of his own. How bitterly he must haveregretted his own foolish and evil acts, when he realized fully to whatthey had brought him!
GUNWAGNER IN PRISON.]
He could look now upon Herbert Randolph and say to himself, truthfully,"I had the ability to succeed as well as you have and to be as muchrespected as you now are. My advantages, too, were superior to yours,and yet here am I a prisoner in the House of Correction, deprived of myliberty and in disgrace, while you have already entered upon a splendidbusiness career. And all this difference comes from my having made awrong start."
Alas! how many human wrecks scattered all along the pathway of lifecould say the same thing, as they compare their present wretchedcondition with that of the prosperous and honored citizens--the solidmen of the community--who were once their schoolfellows, and whoseearly career was perhaps less promising than their own. And all thisdifference, or nearly all, has grown naturally out of the right or wrongstart they took in life.
Peter Smartweed alone among the conspirators remains to be accountedfor, and this is something that the police could not do. They made acareful search throughout the city for him, but his presence could notbe discovered. It was believed that, fearing arrest, he had suddenlyleft his home and the city in which he had spent his life, when helearned of the fate of Felix Mortimer, his companion in crime.
Boy Broker; Or, Among the Kings of Wall Street Page 35