Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-08-07
REFORMATION or A "cowsoY.u
A I7-Years-t,zd Dino Novel Reader, Who
Thought Himself "nad One.v

A 17-Years-tDzd Dino Novel Reader, Who
Thought Himself "Bad One"
No nan need hope for good results in
any effort to deal with criminals,
whether they be in prision or out Of it,
who does not believe that in every man
there is possibility of goodness. ANY
man who has dealt with criminals will
admit that he has frequently been sur
prised by development of such posi-
bilities into the very satisfactory reality
OF honest, upright, self-respecting life.
1t often happens, too, that person
criminally inclined only needs to get
right view of himself to bring about his
reformation. Here is boy, II years Of
age, who has read so many dime novels,
so much of the fiction of the plains,
that his heated imagination has made
him believe himself fitted with all the
violent qualities that go to make a sue
cessful cowboy and Indian fighter. He,
indeed has tried the experiment of being
an actual cowboy, ran away to the south
west, learned to drink whisky, to herd
cattle, to make his talk blaze of BIAS
phemy, to trottle all the tender emotions,
and to despise the decencies of polite
society. But these accomplishments
were not exceptional enough among the
cowboys to attract much attention, and
not finding the notoriety for which he
craved, he came back to New York to be
the terror of his widowed mother and
the, bana of a peaceful boarding-h house
that she kept. A cowboy In the south
west is one thing; staggering bragga-
docio, armed with bowie-knlfe and re-
volver and threatening murder in q
New York clearinghouse, is quite
another.
The youth became intolerable. The
poor mothers life became a burden to
her. The safety Of her household made
it necessary that she should call upon
the law for protection against her own
son. She went to the police station to
make the complaint. The boy was very
dear to her; he was her baby" the
youngest of the family; she was crushed
by the necessity that made her the com.
plainant against this boy. Her principles
were, however, stronger than her feel.
ings; she made the complaint, turned
away from the station-hOuse desk, put
her hand to her heart, gave bitter
moan Of agony, cried out: my heart Il
breaking. and fell deadi Fer heart was
indeed, broken. And when the news Of
his mothers death was carried to tn,
young bravado he said; Now suppqs'
/ shall BIO my own MASTER This wOulC
seem bad case; one IN which the better
sentiments had been crushed out of ex
istenoe.
This boy, as he appeared in our frs
| interview, was fair-haired and blue
eyed, with a pleasant expression o
countenanee, muscular body, and {
somewhat slouchy, staggering manner
We sat facing each other for two o
three minutes, mentally studying eacl
other. / found It necessary to taxi
precedence in the conversation. @Well,
l said-and suppose / smiled-ayou ar
fraud: you are, no cowboy; you are NJ
Indian-fghter; you are not Bloody Bill
the 6coat'; you've succeeded In imposing
upon your poor mother, who never say
an Indian in her life, and was Away
afraid Of gun; you've made fools Of
lot Of silly boarders, and after all you ar
only poor, simple, ignorant, silly DO
of II, not even bad at heart, onl
you've persuaded yourself that you az
bad, and people have called you bad, an
you've come to believe you are. Yo
ought to be sent to an asylum for veal
minded youth, or woman's schoo
you're not fit for state prison. You ca
never make successful criminal; 20
haven't got it. in YOU"
The boy looked amazed. He had ev
IDENTIFY expected that I would tell hin
what desperate character he was. H
lip quivered, and the tears came into h
eyes; being found out in his deception
he put up his hands," and capitulated
his better nature. He has concluded I
be farmer, and has conducted himse
very respectfully ever since that conve
sation. He had chosen to play part b
fore the world and the world had bee
foolish enough to allow him to occuI
the place he had chosen. He had bee
fascinated by the bravado of crime ar
consumed with a craving for Grimm
notoriety, and this craving was fed |
the account of every criminal explo
} and sensational trial that he had read
the newspapers, and by every recogr
{ ton of the distinction he had attaine
t Having been convinced that his view
life was false and dangerous one,
was only necessary to supply new s
of interests to save the boy. In o.
county jails his criminal tendencies wou
D have been further cultivated and deye
t oped; in our prisons he would have be,
Q still further stigmatized as belonging
: the dangerous class.-W. r. Round
$ the Forum.
P.rIa al in, I'm nd