Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1886-03-30
JOHN RoACH's WAY
OF SAVING MEN AT THE BEGINNING
OF WRoNo-DolNo.
or $4,000 workmen He Has Found But
Seventy Guilty OF Criminal Com
duot--of Those He Was Able
to Save Sixty.

me the other day in the course OF con-
versation. IL shall always have one thing to
comfort me as think over the years that's
gone--I never put man In jail" said
that putting man in Jail was sometimes
the best thing that could be done. eyes"
he went on, "at the last extremity. But
offenders are generally put in Jail in the
infancy Of their wrong doing, and so made
criminals for life That's the trouble.
Something happened to me once that made
me cautious"
II have employed more than %, 900 differ
emit men, he went on to say. "These men
have built for me more than 100 iron ves-
sells. and my annual pay roll has often been
above 100000. was counting up the
other day, and find that, out Of rs, 900 men,
/ have discovered more than seventy in
crime offenses against the law which
would have sent them to the penitentiary.
have not only kept them out Of 1t, but in
almost every case the course have adopted
has saved them--reformed them entirely
and preserved them to their families More
than sixty l have been able TO keep per-
manently in my employ, and some OF them
have made themselves my most efficient
workmen. ALI OF them are devoted to me;
some have told me they would lay down
their lives for me"
THE SECRET OF 1T.
asked him to tell me the stories. @The
storiesgr he said; "oh, they would be too
long Love and tenderness are the key to
all reform, though. have proved that
All these cases in their treatment were
somewhat like the very first / met II was
a man without skill, who came to me for
work, bringing character from Lis pre-
vious employer. Finding he had family,
showed off an unmarried man and hired
him as night Waterman on board yes eel
at the wharf. In two or three months
discovered that he was stealing junk
and selling it. I sent for him.
him by my side: You miserable, I'M
grateful. wicked thief, your said. 1gave
you work, and you are robbing mer At
first he showed bravado, and denied it i
know it is true said, and il you lie to
me you shall repent behind prison barsl'
asked him about his family. He had a
good wife, he said, and two daughters.
Are they good girlsr
Yes; we live in bad street, but my
girls are good girls, and they are fond OF
their daddy. sirp
"'How old are theyq
"'The oldest is H.
"'Seventeen Is any young fellow coming
around paying her attention.
clerk in Grand street store, and they
are to be married next month--if things go
right, Mr.. Roach
"'Will 1t make any difference IL her
father goes to states prison, and your wife
and girls are driven from their home and
the neighbors jeer them and say: "There
goes the wife and children OF Andrew
Gwynne, the Jail birdpp
"At that he broke down. He burst in
tears fell on the floor and cried: %, my
God Kill me, Mr.. Roachi Kill me! 1
don't want to live any longer I'd rather
die than go to Jail. have hardly thought
of myself as a thief, till now. I'd rather
die than face it,
A SOLEMN OATH.
II made him sit still and sent for his
wife. She came and sat down by him in
amazement and L. told her the story. He
cried that it was true. and he wanted to die.
1t came, he said of spending part of his
days in the beer shop under the house,
where he threw for the drinks and then for
money. When he lost be sold the junk to
pay bis debts. He thought 1t was the rich
John Roach, and he'd never miss it.
Does your wife care anything for your
I asked him. And she jumped and gave
him hug. and said she loved him as her
life, and she would go to Jail with him.
III let you eff, what win you
promise meT l asked him Never to
steal again. he said. That's not
enough said; you must swear on the
Bible that you will never drink again And
he swore it. Then l said to her, You too,
must promise me something Yes, sir,
she said. You must promise me- l said,
never to tell nybody in the world of 1t,
and never to throw il up at him-never to
remind him Of it. or to hint at it when you
feel cross and fretful toward him, for that
will make trouble And she promised that
she never would. Then went with him to
the door, and told him he could go and find
another place. They babe me good bye,
and went out. A policeman hap
pened to be standing near the
door, and the man SHE'D off as if lie
was come for. When they were six or eight
rods away called them back. He thought
had changed my mind and was going to
give him to the officer, but he came. and
followed me into the office again with his
wife. You came here with recommends
tion from respectable man. said. L
can't give you one. How are you going to
get work. He said he did not know.
said he would have to earn another charac-
ter and he might as we'll begin with me as
anybody. sent him back to his work. He
was so faithful and energetic that put him
at the forge. His wages went up. For
twenty years he was ons of my most valu-
able and trusted men.
ANOTHER CASE.
II could tell you twenty stories pretty
nearly like that-though, of course, steal
ing was not always the offense A woman
came TO me once In great distress. She was
afraid her husband, who worked for me-
was going crazy. Hs had lately become
religious and joined church, and since that
had been ten times worse, she said. He
couldn't sleep nights He got up and
walked the floor and groaned aloud. Tell
him. said, If he has wronged anybody to
goto that person and confess it, Next
day be came into the office when
was alone and told me he was
thief-that he had been robbing me long
time, and could not be satisfied till he had
confessed it all and had punished him. He
told me how and what he had taken and all
about it. seized him with both hands and
told him would punish him by forgiving
him and keeping him at work and letting
him do his best He swore he would make
man OF himself, and would never wrong