After leaving the mail, the coach started out of Holden, preceded by the wagon, which dodged back and forth along the road as heretofore. They passed the Hubbardston road, but the men did not turn off; and, about a mile from Rutland, they made that once-too-often attempt which such mischievous individuals usually make somewhere along their course. The patience of the much-enduring driver had become finally exhausted; and, as the annoying wagon was in the act of passing him, at a rather narrow place in the road, he drove on without particular reference to that vehicle, and experimentally tested the relative strength of the fore wheel of the coach and the body of the wagon. The latter structure was "nowhere," or, to speak more accurately, it was resolved into its original elements; while the aforesaid wheel rolled away uninjured, bearing its share of the triumphant passengers. The occupants of the smashed vehicle survived the "wreck of matter;" whether with a whole skin or not, does not appear, as the personal knowledge of the driver, as stated on the trial, was summed up in the words, "_I left 'em there!_" In consequence of the proceedings which have been described, the coach arrived at Barre an hour and a quarter behind the time. It having been thought advisable to prosecute these men for obstructing the mail, a suit was brought against them in the U. S. District Court of Massachusetts. The evidence on the part of Government went to show that they must have known the character of the coach: that it carried the mail, for the words "U. S. Mail" were conspicuously painted on the coach; and the sign "Post-Office" was up at the place in Holden where the mail was taken out, and where they saw the coach stop. Also the men were known by sight to some of the passengers; and one of them had been a stage-coach proprietor, and the other had driven a coach. Indeed, one of the passengers, while they were at Holden, addressed Baker, whom he knew, by name, and told him "he should think that he had been in the stage business long enough to know better." The passengers were unanimous in considering the case as clearly one of wilful detention. The testimony for the defence was rather lame. The post master at Rutland testified that the mail from Worcester was due at 7 P. M., though he had known it three-quarters of an hour later. He thought it arrived, on the evening in question, at 5 minutes past 7; but could not say certainly that the 8th of January was the night when the mail arrived at that time, though he had no doubt of it, nor had he looked at his register since that night. In short, his evidence amounted to a rough guess, which could make no impression on the Gibraltar of opposing testimony furnished by a coach full of passengers, as well as other witnesses.