The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-07-11
J Proud ST III. s,rifnes..

RED RlBBoNITE AS RELATED BIZ HIMSELF
TKnightstown tInd., t,orresp Indianapolis
Il Your correspondent attended meeting
OF the Red. Ribbon Club in this city few
a evenings since, and listened to an address
J, Thy Charles d. Hildebrand, reformed
Idrunkard. At the conclusion Of the at
4 dress the speaker promised his audience IL
lthey would only come TO hear him the next
evening that they would learn something in
Irelation to the close connection OF whiskey
to crime, the inner history Of penitentiaries,
and the punishment received there, which
would astonish them.
The bronzed face, the nervous glance OF
1.-THE eye so often seen in criminals, and the
peculiar bitter tone Of the speaker when he
referred to prisons, attracted my attention,
and an indefinable something in his general
appearance led me to believe that his life
had been q supremeIy bad one. So after he
resumed bis seat / handed him my card,
and invited him TO accompany me to my
room at the Shipman House. He consent
ed, and, after we were comfortably seated,
! he ssdd tale unfold" which, il true, en-
titles him to place in the annals OF time,
alongside of Claude Duval and Dick Tur-
pin.
HILDEBRAND's STORY.
was born In Detroit, Mich. When only
seven months old / was stolen from my
mothers bosom by neighboring woman,
who, with her husband joined tribe OF
Indians living in the vicinity. remember
little or nothing OF my childhood, except
that when was seven years old the woman
whom ! had called mother, on her death
bed, confessed to her attendant, an old bag,
that she had stolen me, and gave the name
and address of my parents. She also OBJ
tanned from the nurse her promise to see
that ] was sent home. This promise was
never kept.
then fell into the hands Of two profess
sional thieves, and was taken to Paris. Since
that time have served in eleven penitcn-
tiaries, eighteen years close confinement,
not including short commandments In nu-
merous station-houses, city prisons, and
county iais. My first sentence was in Paris,
France, two years in prison for pocket
picking. Was released after three months
confinement on account Of my extreme
youth, being then only nine years
old. Was sentenced next to six
months Imprisonment in Bailey prison,
London, for the same offence. There
l learned the alphabet for the first time. l
then went to Canada, and was sentenced to
one years confinement in the kingston's
penitentiary for burglary, and for refusing
to obey prison orders was confined during
the whole term of my sentence in dungeon,
and for nearly 800 days did not see the
light of day. When / was released from
Canada I begun my regular occupation
viz, bank and county treasury work. This
was my particular line Of business, and /
seldom did any work outside Of this, which
is decidedly the best branch OF the profess
sion.
From 1852 to 1854 | served in Allegheny,
Pa. where / learned to read and write.
Went then to Havana, and received i sem
tence of twenty-one years for red-hot
bank-robbery. Was released after three
months, through the intercesslon OF the
American consul.
In 1856 I was sentenced eight years to
the Nashville (Tenn.l State prison; but I
was "flusb," had some powerful friends
and good lawyers, and served only thirty
days. In 1857 7 was sentenced four years
to the Louisiana State prison at Baton
Rouge, but the same influences which Sc
cured my release from Nashville were used
with like effect in Baton Rouge, and l saw
the inside OF the walls only two months.
Ny next sentence was in 1858, for three
years, in the Illinois State prison at Alton.
I was afterwards transferred to Joliet, anu
it took me seven years to serve my sentence.
l escaped four separate times, and was re-
Chase. was hung at Joliet for killing Dep
utv-Warden Clarke. Clarke was brutal
fellow, and tyranniZed numerically over
Chase. For some trifling disobedince
Clarke undertook to whip him, and when
he took hold OF him to lead him to the
whipping-poSt the convict drew q Sung
shot, which he had made of a stone and
some leather, and killed Clarke with sim
Gle blow. was released from Joliet Feb
rilary IS, 1866.
In May, 1866, made my escape from the
Indianapolis Jail, where | had been locked
up on the charge OF bank robbery, and
the indianapolis City Court was the only
place where ever gave my true name.
In the fail Of 1866 I was sentenced for
five years to the Wisconsin State prison ut
Waupun, and for refusal TO work L was
confined in a cell four feet by seven, with
ball and chain to my foot, for four years,
four months, and seventeen days. Was re-
leased March 1, 1871.
In 1874 was sentenced at Terre Haute to
four years. confinement in the indianapolis
State prison at Jacksonville, but had the
sentence curtailed four months on account
OF good behavior. Was released October
%, 1877.
was arrested in Indianapolis in 1872 on
charge OF completely in the Meridian-street
bank robbery, but no evidence was offered
which could hold me. / was Immediately
taken to st. Joseph county, Michigan, on
charge Of robbing the county treasurer's
safe. I trumped up 4 charge against my
captor, Detective John Funday, got him in
iail, and cleared myself. l was never SEN
fenced twice under the same name. and the
aggregate amount OF my sentences reaches
siXty-tbree years.
Hildebrand states that the finest piece OF
work ever executed in the United States
{of course he was not engaged inlD was the
robbery OF the Falls City Bank in Lousi-
vile. The burglar gained an entrance Sat
urday night into an insurance Office imme-
diately above the vault, took up the carpet,
sawed out the floor, took up the bricks until
they reached the vault; then, from O'Clock
Sunday morning until l o'clock Monday
morning, they succeeded, but not without
the hardest kind OF hard work, in drilling
1914 holes through the chilled steel top, three
quarters Of an inch thick. and lifted the plate
out. They then had nothing to encounter
!, except paster-of-pars cement and soft iron.
The haul realized them $4,000 in curren-
cy, bonds, and diamonds.
uldebrand further states that in the cases
OF county-treasury robberies, where combi-
nations have been opened, treusurers are
often uniustly accused Of completely. Men
!, can be found, and without much difficulty,
!, who will disclose combinations for certain
percentage of the "swag." In the case OF
the recent Clermont county, o., robbery, at
Batavia, the combination was given to the
. thieves by an outsider we'll known to Hill