Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-09-18
REFORMATION or A "cowBoy.p


A xS-XeaEs-Old Dime Novel Reader, Who
Thought Himself bad One
No man 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 a 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 a 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 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 bane ef a peaceful boarding house
that she kept. A cowboy in the south
west is ono thing; a staggering bragga-
docio, armed with bowie knife and re-
volver and threatening murder in a
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 a bitter
moan of agony, cried out: my heart is
breaking" and fell deadl Her heart was
indeed, broken. And when the news of
his mothers death was carried to the
young bravado he said: "Now suppose
shall be my own master" This would
seem bad case; one in which the better
sentiments had been crushed out of ex-
istence.
This boy, as he appeared in our first
interview, was fair-haired and blue
eyed, with pleasant expression of
| countenance, a muscular body, and q
somewhat slouchy, staggering manner.
We sat facing each other for two OF
three minutes, mentally studying each
other. l found it necessary to take
precedence in the conversation. swell, y
| said-and / suppose smiled-"you are
fraud: you are no cowboy; you are no
Indian-fghter; you are not Bloody Bill
the Scout; you've succeeded in imposing
upon your poor mother, who never saw
I'LL 1Luidll III ucl me- d1u vas dlWdJs
afraid of gun; you've made fools of a
| lot of silly boarders: and after all you are
only poor, simple, ignorant, silly boy
of II, not even bad at heart, only
you've persuaded yourself that you are
bad, and people have called you bad, anc
you've come to believe you are. You
ought to be sent to an asylum for weak
minded youth, or woman's school
you're not fit for state prison. You car
never make a successful criminal; vol
haven't got it in you"
The boy looked amazed. He had evi
IDENTIFY expected that would tell hin
| what a desperate character he was. Hi
lip quivered, and the tears came into hi
eyes; being found out in his deception
he put up his hands" and capitulated t.
his better nature. He has concluded t,
be farmer, and has conducted himsel
very respectfully ever since that CONVEX
sation. He had chosen to play part be
fore the world and the world had BEEF
foolish enough to allow him to occup,
the place he had chosen. He had beer
fascinated by the bravado of crime an'
consumed with craving for crimina
| notoriety, and this craving was fed b,
the account of every criminal exploi
and sensational trial that he had read il
the newspapers, and by every recogni
ton of the distinction he had attained
Having been convinced that his view o
life was false and dangerous one, i
was only necessary to supply new Sc
of interests to save the boy. In on
county jails his criminal tendencies woul,
have been further cultivated and devel
oped; in our prisons he would have beel
still further stignatized as belonging +
the dangerous class.-W. r. Round il
the Forum.