The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-08-16
THIEVES BY BIRTH.
Persons I'm Whom the Propensity "a
Steal is Irresistible,

EcTsohs IN WHOM tne propensity IL
Steal ts Irresistible,
| l was invited to Jail ia Massachu-
setts by young lawyer, who has since
become United States Senator. to exam.
Inc the head of client of his whom he
was TO defend on the charge of stealing
No information was given as 10 his
alleged crime, and VIC described the
young man as being abnormally acquisi-
tive, or selfish in respect to possession
that he had very strong veneration, and
would NANTES. much religious devotion,
and would be sincere in it /; while with
his small cautiousness and conscientious.
ness and very large acquisitivcness he
would be likely to trespass upon the
rights OF Others in the way OF stealing.
at this point the lawyer told the
young man he might tell ME what he
had told him (the lawyer.) He went on
to relate that he had been in the habit
of stealing everything, whether he want
ed 1t or not that he would &C 10 prayer
meeting and take the opportunity OF
praying two or three times during the
evening, and sometimes on the way
home he would he inspired with O devo-
tional feeling, and would knecl down in
the corner of the fence alone, and have
a season of prayer that was sweet and
heavenly to him and, strange as it may
seem, if he saw q hoe hanging on
farmers fence, or whiflle-tree chain, or
pin OF cart neap, or beetle and we'd
ges, or an old ak, halfworn, ne would
steal it, and afterward it would occur to
him that he could not use the articles,
nobody would buy them, and his only
way was to conceal them and he re-
marked that there was hollow log lying
in small piece of wood in which he
had secretei the articles which he had
stolen because he dare not carry them
home nor offer them for sale. But it
seemed to him that he could not help
stealing themi the impulse came on, and
though he was sincere in his religious
devotions, and exceedingly happy in
their performance, he seemed to himself
to DE left to the temptation Of the devil
when anything which might be stolen
was left in his way.
A man who was n minister called for
an examination, and at the end of long
and sharp analysis of his character, in
which acquistiveness and secretiveness
had been described rs strongly Developed
and very active, and also CONSCIENTIOUS
ness and cautiousness had been estimated
as large, he seemed unwilling to go, but
walked up and down the room for sc veral
minutes, as if he had some burdened
question he wanted to ask aud yet was
afraid to ask. Turning to him, I said /:
DO you wish to ask any questions 2"
YES" he said /; there is one thing
about me which you do not seem to have
described. If you will tell me that, 1
will believe in phrenology." instantly
replied: "You have an inclination to
steal; s1: probably manage 20 refrain
from it," He opened his eyes with ter
rified astonishment. and, giving me such
fierce gaze as never will be forgotten,
remarked: "Sir, that is true. That is
my trouble. l am clergyman, sir, and
hope that am true one; yet have all
my life long been tempted to steal, and
In my parochial visits often have an i'm
and if left alone in room / do take It ;
and sometimes it requires half an hour
to find convenient opportunity to get
the article thus taken out of my pocket
and back upon the shelf or table where
it belongs. 1t may be q shell which
every Sunday school child in the purisih
knows; it may be an old hymn book
with name written on it, and half worn
out-tiiings which do not need, and
could not use if did need them, with
out the theft being detected" And he
remarked, with tears tunbling down his
face: "By the help Of God, l have been
! able, hitherto, to refrain frcn. carrying
away anything which had thus, under
the impulse, stolen"
twenty-five years ago there was we'll
to-do farmers wife in Connecticut who
had an impulse to steal only one kind OF
an article, and that was blue stockings
Ii she were driving, i'll the middle of q
bright afternoon, mile from home
where she and the horse and wagon were
we'll known, and she caught sight of q
pair OF blue stockings hanging on line
in the yard with other clothing, she
would stop her team, get out Of the
wagon, 60 into the yard in font of the
rooms where the family we're working
and jerk those stock rs of the line
leaving a dozen pairs Of other colors
return to her wagon, whip up the team
and get out of the way. If she had been
q stranger, whose popularity was un.
known, she would have been followed
and arrested and punished; but every.
body knew that she had tia. queer mo
nomania for blue stockings.
L examined mans head aud described
him as being very fond of money, hap
pening, of course, to use that term
money, instead of property, and it made
quite sensation because it was known
that he would stoa! money, and he die
not 5. >sitate to talk about it himself
But he would steal nothing else, M
matter how valuable, though he knew
he might be detected. Phrcnologica
Journal
A POWDER MILL.-A powder mill il
not in the least like other mills. In
stead of one great building, it is com
posed of many gh-looking little sheds