Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-11-11

1
Judge and Alderman, who stood
by him, and he escaped q sentence
of ten years by the skin of his teeth.
He then licked me within an inch
of my life, aud began to bring me
up as regular thief, saying that ]
| would rever earn my salt as forger.
But the old man began TO gel low,
and to lose bis friends, and have bad
luck, and enemies who would peach,
and make i uncomfortable foI him.
Though ! tried to please him, and
sooD grew an sdept, he would 10
bis drunken moments and he was
seldom sober,) beat me so cruelty
that, when ] was fourteen years old,
| ran away from him, and came from
the western city in whicsswe had al
ways lived to this city.
81 was an accomplished thief
for one so young. There was
nothing in the queer latin of a
thiefs lexicon that / was not thor
oughly conversant with and, be-
ing acquainted with all the secret
signals, ] was enabled, at almost
every point of my wanderings, to
form any number of acquaintance
in my peculiar vocation. | could
fake a ely crib a spoon or
nab q ticker with the best of
them. But, somehow or another,
was not naturally inclined to the
profession; and, after narrowly es-
Gaping the cops while | was
picking pockets at the entrance to
the Arch Street Theatre, became
thoroughly disgusted with it
Accident befriending me, / be-
came a lawyers clerk in Philadel-
phia. My employer had a very
extensive and miscellaneous IL
brary, and so much did | enjoy
the reading that Iremained with
him number of years, improv-
ing my mind and doing my duty
the best I could. But some Of
my old companions found me out,
and sought to win me back to the
old life. l resisted, and they even
threatened to tell my employer
my former history-something
which I knew he would not for
give.
"Ah, sir" said the "lifer," with
something of moralizing tone
and air, ''let devil undertake to
crawl up into something like an
angel, and just see how the other
devils viii grab at his coat-tail,
and howl and drag at himl There's
not one in q thousand who won't
be hauled back into the pit.
81 dressed well, and moved in
decent circles; but when l was
eighteen years old, ] became al
most frantic with alarm, lest those
who had found me out would peach
upon me, and render me reproba-
ted by all the good people whom /
knew; and, one night, after filling
myself with beer and brandy, l.
robbed my master of two hun
dred dollars and fed the city. He
pursued, arrested and imprisoned
mu. This sealed my fate-gave
the devil the grip which is al
ways inexorable.
"Allow me to say to you, sir,
that I knew it to be both wrong
and impolitic to steal ;but, in some
cases can convince you that it
can't be helped, My imprison-
ment was of brief duration, but
itwas sufficient to confirm me as a
villain and wretch. Once arogue
always a rogue-if he only gets
the stamp of the Jail upon him.
They don't need to brand us on
the hand or forehead, as they used
to do in the olden times. You
can always tell jail-blrd; there
is something about him, | don't
know what, but it always betrays
him. This system of solitary
confinement can never reform a
criminal.
"No," he continued. shaking his
head, "they will never succeed
in reforming the world that way
! am certain of it. Look at it