North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1866-06-27
The Power of Kind Words.

We have seldom seen a more striking
! illustration of the power of kind words,
than in the following extracts from the con-
fession of the robber and murderer, Henry
Wilson. In two instances few casual
words of kindness saved the liyes of those
who uttered them, although they knew
nothing of their danger. .......
"When we got in front of the house, we
saw what we took te be a man and his wife,
and three young women, and boy, eating
supper. proposed to Tom that we should
90 in and ask to warn, and sit down by the
stove a few minutes, and / would look over
the chance a little, ard if | concluded that
we could not guard the doors and windows
to prevent the escape of any one, | would
say, Come, Tom, let's be going;;' but if l
should say, Well, Jack, are you ready!'
he was to place himself between the front
windows, to guard them, and | would
guard the door, draw our revelvers, and
demand surrender. 1 told Tom not TO
shoot any one, unless it was necessary to
prevent their escape, and we would tie them
ALL rob the house of what we wanted, then
kill them and set fire to the house; and if
any one should come in while we were at
work, we were going to shoot him as he
should comein at the door. -r
Dare You do this?' said l to Tom
Yes, dare do anything that you dare to
do said Tom. So | went to the door and
Knocked. The man said, Come in We
went in aud asked 10 warm by the stove
He said, g Yes, you can warm We sat
and warmed till they were nearly through
supper. and thought best to make the at
tack before they got up from the table
So got up to give Tom the signal, and
the man supposing | got up to 60 said.
Wont yov stay and take some supper ?"
Yes, We will take supper with you The
man looked as if he thought | accepted his
invitation to supper rather coolly, but if he
had known what our intentions were, he
would have been perfectly satisfied with
anv answer, for his kind invitation at the
moment when was about to give the sig
nal to Tom, saved his lif , and that of his
family - --- ..- a
He also relates another incident where
by two lives were saved in the same way
"When ! got to Herkimer, l left the
railroad, and took the carriage road, and
about a mile from tae town | saw man
and woman in the road before me going
the same way. | thought would pass them
and see how they looked, and if we'll dress
ed, | would turn back, shoot the man and
rob him, and take the woman over in the
fields away from the road and keep her
company until about one o'clock, and then
kill her, and would have time to take care
of myself before morning. This VS. about
ten o'clock in the evening. So Invent on
and passed them, and saw that they were,
well dressed and walking very slow, and
appeared to be lovers | went on just out
ofsight of them, and then started back,
took out my revolver and cooked it, ard
just as was going to shoot him, he spoke
very pleasantly to me. Good evening,
sir, Ianswered, Good evening" and pass
ed on -. ...5
"Since have been writing my history,
several persons have said to me, that they
hoped l would give good advice init. The
best advice L can give is, always treat a
stranger kindly, for you don't know who or
what he is, nor do You know how much
good kind act or civil word may do YOU"