It will be remembered by the reader that I confided the papers, taken from Mrs. B., with a man by the name of Watkins.  This individual died with the cholera, in 1832.  I called upon his wife for the package, who returned the same to me at Cincinnati, in 1833.  I found every thing as I had left it, excepting the blank parchments.  They were gone.  Here was a mystery I could not solve.  How should a part be missing and not the whole?  I never gained any satisfactory information until last summer.  While travelling through the state of New York, I had occasion to visit the state’s prison, where I met with a certain convict who passed by the name of Wyatt, but whose real name was Robert H. North.  He gave me information about a certain “Flash,” or comprehensive language used among professional gamblers and blacklegs.  Many of the phrases were familiar, but I never could ascertain their origin.  He was soon convinced of my ignorance, and then informed me of the society whence they originated.  He likewise explained the reason why I was so persecuted by the notorious Goodrich.  “It is known,” said he, “wherever the fraternity exist, that you obtained the package; but they are satisfied you destroyed the same, and it is well you did, or else you would have been put out of the way long before this.”

I told him I had taken the package, but there was nothing in it save letters and a few blank parchments.

He laughed and said: 

“If you had warmed those parchments, they would have presented an exhibition worthy of your attention.”

This information made me restless with excitement and anxiety to peruse those letters and notes which I still had in my possession.  I may here remark, the letters were, for the most part, unintelligible to a common reader, because of the secret language in which they were written.  I had examined them again and again, without much satisfaction.  I knew they were penned for the purpose of clandestinely carrying on a wholesale plunder—­a deliberate imposition upon public and private rights.  By frequent perusal I had become familiar with many of the terms which were often explained to me by those who were acquainted with their use, though they are used by thousands, without any knowledge of their origin.

After I commenced an exposure of the vice of gambling, I was often attacked by certain low, vulgar editors in a manner that indicated deep-seated malice.  I could not account for their abuse.  They would admit that society should be rid of the evil in question, but at the same time exhibited the most bitter hostility to me as one who had dared to expose the abominations of gaming.  I was conscious there was something that moved them in their work of calumny not yet developed.  The mystery rendered me unhappy.  I was anxious to know the cause of this public opposition, and the more so, that I might satisfy the people that the whole arose from influences akin to the vice I was