Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-22
ANYTHING FOR a CHANGE
Twenty-One Years Imprisonment
Asked For.

Daily is it verified that " the way 0
the transgressor is hard" A maj
may, perchanee, repeatedly violat,
the laws of God and man with ap
parent impunity, but when the pun
ishment cOmes-as it surely win, il
some shape or other-hOw weak the
man, strong before in his very in
iquity, becomes under its intlictiOn
The courage that seemed to nerve hin
to the commission Of crime and out
rage no longer serves him, and the
hardened criminal becomes As a pee.
wish child when most he needs that
strength of mind so diligently ex.
pended in rendering himself an out,
law.
About a year ago, maybe a few
months longer, Lewis Cross was ar.
rested in the act of rObbing the safe
of Messrs. Jones q Tagg, wal
paper dealers, Of this city. He
submitted quietly enough to the
arrest, he and his /" pal" (since dead),
and, after a preliminary hearing, were
duly committed to Jail to await a trial
before the proper tribunal, on the
charge of burglary. The two passed
tit tAhlC pACdodutAJ OuOuSn-N tic
even jovial, by times-until the sit
ting of the Court before which they
were to answer. After q patient hear
ing and fair defense by able counsel,
the burglariOus pair was convicted
and sentenced to twenty-One years
Imprisonment each, Judge Hunter
delivering the opinion. They made,
through their counsel, a motion for a
new trial. The motion was OVerruled.
An appeal was then taken to the Su-
preme Court, which was granted.
About this time Cross pal died.
Cross was, and is yet, Acknowledged
to be the most expert craftsman and
Safe-blOWer ever arrested in the city,
andthough mild and quiet in appear
ance, and gentle and afiable in man.
ner, was thoroughly case hardened,
indurated, Is it were, and imperviOus
to any prOmptings but those of the
very devil himself. Apparently the
the death of his companion did not
rutfle in the slightest degree his equa-
looking out for and his de-
termination in taking advantage of
any chances of escape. Once, only,
a short time after his partner had
been carried to his long home, ne was
detected in the possession of a saw
formed of a knife-blade, with which
he had severed two of the inch-and-a-
quarter bolts used in riveting the
plates of which the cells are built. The
instrument was, of course, taken from
him, and a watch was kept upon his
actions. Shortly after, in searching
his cell, a round piece of silver, resem-
bling a medal or pocket-piece was
found. Under close scrutiny this
turned out to be a box in which was
cOiled away a watch-spring saw, so
eXquisitely tempered as to readily
penetrate the hardest steel. But the
converting of the Supreme Court at
Brownsville, put an end to his at
temptS on the Jail of Shelby county by
his transfer to that of Haywood. His
case was not reached and the term
without his arraignment. Cross
was brought back to his old quarters,
here to await the next term, the same
at which the sentences of Calvin and
Moody were affirmed. His next in
generation in the Jail of Haywood
was in company with the fell
Ons lately executed, and had not a
countryman, locked up ON some tri-
fling charge, "blowed the gafD to
the jailer, the desperate trio would
have soon found its way to open air
oy the adroitneSs and skill Of Cross
But the best laid plans often miss:
md this one was no exception. Gal
lin and Moody were arraigned, with
What result is KNOWN but Cross again
allied to secure a hearing, and was,
With the two condemned men, returned
o the custsdy-of the jailor of Shelby
But long before his second trip to
Brownsville, it could plainly be per-
eived that there was a something
with increasing weight day by
was weighing him down. His
rOuble, however, did not give a reli-
,ious turn to his reflections; he be-
anne mOrose and sullen, and his very
ife seemed to die out. His efforts to
ceased, and a lethargy strongly
q contrast with his former gaiety and
.eckIesshess. He was grieving the
leath of his pal, and says that never
ince the death of that Individual has