The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-02
Baby Burglars.

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Baby Burglars.
Two little fellows, who could have
been carried in the arms ofthe officer who
led them, went tottling down the aisle
OF the courtroom, in Paterson, to answer
10 the charge Of burglary.
burglary What do You mean
These babies ?n Aud the Judge had to
lean clear over the railing TO see the
tiny prisoners. They stood looking up
at him with their great eyes, the only
clean feature about their faces, while
their hair was matted and snarled, and
baby colored. Rags covered their little
legs, somehow or other hitched up
around their waists, and through the
gaps of their cotton shirts the white skin
that proved their race was seen. Their
hands We're as black as the earth, and no
wonder, for they were so little that it
didn't take much soil 10 cover them,
aud their faces were smeared aud grimy.
It was a clear case against the babies,
and they admitted that they had gone
20 the chicken coop at two o'clock in
the morning, "with some other fellows"
and robbed the roost. They could not
have denied it had they been old enough
TO have tried a defense, because they
were caught in the act.
"But ] can't imprison such children
as these" said the judge. "Where's
their father? Where do they live ?"
He was told that they lived almost
anywhere, and that their father and
mother were too poor and perhaps too
careless, TO watch over them; so they
had spent the time since they climbed
out Of the cradle, two or three years ago,
on the streets Of Paterson.
whats your name ~ heiudge asked
the older.
pm Willie Asian, and me brothers
Eddy"
"Aud how old are you? >"
"Ale brothers five and I'm six, I
guess"
Then an officer and a gentleman who
was in court told the judge that the
urchins had been begging their food FOR
months, and sleeping wherever night
found then.
"They ought to be taken care OF, but
the jail's no place for them"
"Oh, they've been to jail before, your
Honor"
Those babies been 70 Jail ?"
"Ges; twice"
Here the father came in. a weary-eyed.
over-worked laboriug man. He said
AllAh ur was AWAY from nome so m flfn
that he could not look after thechildren.
and he passed lightly over the reason
why the mother did not care for them
He agreed with the judge that the boys
would have better care in the State
Reform School, and 30 they were
ordered by the court % be taken there.
A buwuy negro unlocked the doors Of
the cell i'm which they are confined,
awaiting their transfer to the Reform
School, their little faces peering through
the bars Of the cell door as he did so, and
they came running through the corridor
10 the Office yesterday afternoon as War
den Buckley called them.
"Stand up there" said the warden
kindly, and the little fellows ranged
themselves side by side. The older
thrust his hands into the pockets Of a
new pair Of trousers which the warden
had given him, and the younger stared
with all the simplicity Of an infant, at
the writer Willie, the six-year-old
boy, has round, pleasant face, with
great blue eyes and red lips, but his skin
Is white, and he looks as though he
knew what it was 10 20 without a meal
aud not mind 10 much. Eddy's features
are punched, and his lips thin, aud with
all his innocent look be can be very
cunning. So tricky is the little fellow
that the warden found 10 absolutely nee
essary to lock him Ia a cell apart from
his brother.
A little present was sufficient 70 gain
the boys confidence, aud in answer TO
questions they told their little history.
''We'se here cause We hooked chick
ems, amt we, Eddy? But We wouldn't
have hooked 'em If it hadn't been for
another feller."
"What fellow ?"
"Dick. He telled US that he knowed
how we could get chickens. and so we
laid awake until policeman went by;
then we went and got 'em."
"What were you going TO do with the
chickens?'
"We'se agoin' to roast 'em, wasn't we,
Eddy ?"
Eddy nodded his head, squirmed and
griuned.
"rell me how you roast them ?'
Then Willie looked up with a grow
ing expression of contempt and wonder.
didn't you never roast no chickens?
You get EN-, and then you pull their
necks of, and make a fire down in the
lots and stick 'em into it."
A. d, nat was what you were going to
,.n' Il the man hadn't caught us"
tl1-D w you ever roast any before ~
ola Is-h' .s' thlr, said the little ive-year-
oiG' men Willie'n 'noder felIeru
--. zen YOU didn't have chickens n
IoaS,; ..I. now did you get your breal-fsst 9,'
- '.--ti Do There was a yyoD,or,
ao%3 , oy the bridge who riv'd ms : son,e- o,,,,u
thI9. every mornin, 1.eso't - S5nle- s5are
"Cept when we Went 70 e.. ~
shop added Eddy. stin 'le oahe
''Ihe bakeman sometin..
two buns in the mornin' WIZ. US
around there early" we went
"And two buns made Won . -s
breakfast ?" Eoou
"Only when Dick was with us IT.,
he'd eat one aud Eddy and med ent 'if,l ,Sll
other oue.n
"You got your dinner and supper in
the same way 2i
"What?" said Willie, as If he did not
comprehend the question, and it was re-
peated 10 him in simpler language.
"Yes, somebody always giv'd Us some
thin TO eat.n
"And what did you do all day ?'
"Played down by the cars and on the
bridge, and went with the circus"
"Pm goin' TO be 3 circus man when