Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1854-01-20
The First States Prisoner

i Written for The COurant By GRANT THOR
BURN, alias LAURIE ToDD.
Mr.. Printer In 1874, there lived in
Maiden Lane, New York, Master Noah ;
he drove II wholesale and retail business in
boots and shoes he pcrpetratcd forgery. rs
the indictment said, by the instgatiun of
the devil and he was condemned to be hung.
On the day of exhibition, |, with ten thou
sand fools, some smaller. some as big. and
some bigger than myself. assembled in the
Park to witness the closing scene We stood
two hours, watching the vibration of the
rope and its iron hook, whilo floating on the
breeze. At =. NJ, the sheriff announced 4,
rcprievc. came to see a hanging-but no
hanging was there.
The first States prison was building at this
time, and partly finished. Certain dcvout
men of the sect of the Friends made forest
WIN uiIo uv'rrIor, and the sentence was COM
muted to imprisonment for life. Being a
shoemaker, they gave him a stool, cowhide,
last and awl. Next sentence day, he was
joined by u set of fellows of the bascr sort the
Republic them he instructed to hammer
boots and shoes from sole leather. Soon this
molly group numbered three hundred hence
sprung the grand boot and shoe monopoly in
the State prison. About two years there
after, paid a visit to my old ncighbor; he
was ovcrsccr to the gang, and in the full tide
OF successful experiment, Seven years having
transpircd, his fricnda obtained from the
Governor an unconditional pardon, and he
commenced business in Pearl, near Bcekman
street. The Friends loaned him money, en-
dorsed his notes, became his customers, and
he was in . thriving way. From gratitude
to the sect, he became II member of the So
ciety, and said Mee and thou, on all proper
occasions. One day he gave journcyman a
pair, cut and dry. Now, FRIEND" says he,
" thee must bring them boots on Fourth-day
evening; | have promised them to GUS
toner" Says the man you shall have
whem." Tho boots, however, were not forth
coming till Fifth-day-cvening. Noah was
troth, and c ommenced a long cxOrdium on
the high crime and msdcmeanor of disap-
pointment; he painted the thing in glowing
colors, and concluded it was the second edi-
ton of the objectionable sin. Noah drew up
to breathe. Mr.. Boots replied :z=z'' | am a
poor man--havc wife and three children,
the you ,gcst only two days old | had to
look for my children and my wife ; 1T was
impossible to finish them so soon," &c. Aolh
would admit Ct no apology. but continuing
the lecture, the man waxed wroth, his Scotch
blood boiled in hia veins, further endurance
ceased to be virtue; he smotc the counter
with his muckle-fst. 81 know SIR" gaid he,
" its an aufu thing to be disappointed about
ten year ago | gaed up in the Park to see We
hanged, and | never was sac disappointed in
all my life as when they didna bring yc ut -
Now, then, here was a CASE in point, as they
say in Court II knock-down argument, as
they say in Ireland; fact beyond all con-
troversy, as they say in Congress. Noah was
dumb; he opened not his mouth he paid
the man for the boots, and gave him another
pair to make but the word disappointment
was never known to drop from his lips there
after.
Noah went on prospering and to prosper.
One day he borrowed some extra sums, which
he packed in his trunk and obtained some
extra endorsements which he got shaved IN
Wall Street. The next morning he started
for parts unknown, in company with one of
the dear sisters, which in law and equity be-
longcd to one of the brcthrcn-leaving his
friends to solve the problem whether hanging
by the neck, or cobbling old boots, was the
safest, surcst, or most certain mode of reform
ing swindlers. GRANT TnoRBuRN.
New YORK, Dec, 1858.