The Iola register., 1886-10-29
A BORN THIEF.

A BORN THIEF.
Tho Curious Case of Walter England, the
Son Of Honest Parents.
The massive doors of the Eastern Pen
itentiary have closed upon a man just
crossed the threshold of manhood, who
for the next five years will mediate in
the gloom of his coll on the way of the
transgressor. There are few sadder
cases than that of handsome young
Walter England. You may smile when
l tell you that the case is sad one, and
in the same breath ado that this man
who will live a living death for five
years has served four years term in
the same institution, eight years in the
Trenton State Prison. eighteen months
in the Allentown prison. and as a lad q
long term in the reform school at James
burg, N. j. He was born in 1856, near
Orange. N. j.. or within twenty miles
of it. His father was q man of some
means, gained honestly. and his mother
was q lOvable little woman, whose tenn
permanent was sunshine itself. The
father had ever been respected among
his fellows as an honorable man. and
just after the close of the war he was
reckoned to be worth q fortune closely
approaching a million of dollars, but
the money brought him no happiness,
for his only son, then child of nine
years, had given evidence of depravity
as uncomfortable as it was unexplain-
able.
Nothing extraordinary was developed
in the ch Id until he had reached the age
of six years, when he was detected in
the act OF hiding silver spoon in hole
in the garden. This seemed to be sim
ply childish whim. and the indulgent
father provided the yOungster with a
dozen spoons to hide any where he
wanted to hide them. Not long after
this the little fellow was caught in his
mothers bed room early in the MORN
ing industriously turning his father s
pockets inside out and apprOpriating all
the money he could find in them. For
this he was chided, and it would have
probably been forgotten had not the
same thing happened half dozen times
in succession not many days afterward.
Mark you, the boy was not then seven
years old. Hs had every conceivable
toy that boy of that age could wish
for. and was humored in every caprice.
At the age of eight he distracted a
purse from the Overcoat of a visitor,
and with precocious shrewdness inno-
Gently declared that he had seen a SER
want commit the theft. A few days
later the mother to her;unspeakable hor-
ror, discovered the missing purse, to-
gether with lot of silverware, cleyerly
concealed in a closet in the nursery.
Before he had reached his ninth year
the boy had actually robbed no less than
a dozen persons who had visited the
house. He was then dclicate-looking
child with big blue eyes, flaxen hair and
a waxy skin. He possessed none of the
exuberance of childhood. but appeared
to be conSt2ntly ~ rleditas:7e mood.
When accused of these many wicked
acts, he would at first stoutly assert his
innocence, but when caught would con-
fess without the slightest show of emo
ton. The loving entreaty of his mother
to tell her why he did such things had
no more effect on him than the slight
punishments inflicted by his father.
The boy would endure whipping with
the stOicism of an Indian, and at the
very first opportunity thereafter would
repeat the Oifense for which he had been
punished.
At the tender age of ten the little
scamp was known in the neighborhood
of his home as an incorrigible thief.
Although never in want of spending
money, he took delight in purloinine
pennies from children smaller than him.
self, and on one occasion was caught in
the act of choking little fellow who
had refused to ''stand and deliver" Be-
tween tho ages of ten and thirteen, Wal
ter I'll call him that for convenience
sake-was the source of the greatest
grief to his parents. Their tears. their
pleadings, their threatenings and pun
ishments were alike useless. Once in
awhile the boy would show slight
symptoms of repentance, but the inter-
walls grew further and further apart and
at last ceased altogether. just after his
thirteenth birthday Walter ran away
from home. His poor mother was al
most wild with despair. Detectives
were put to work, advertisements in
serted in all the leading newspapers,
but to no purpose. Ayear later he came
back. He refused to tell where he had
been or how he had managed to live.
In two weeks he disappeared again,
this time in the night, and took with
him a sum of money belonging to his
father. Nothing more was heard of him
for couple of years. Then. from a
description given in one of the news
papers. it was learned that he had been
arrested in tho interior of New York
State for robbery. After that he got
into some sort of trouble in Trenton
and was sent to the reform school. Up
on his release he went to New York
City and formed the acquaintance of
number of notorious criminals. Next
he came to Philadelphia, and despite
his youth was one of the principals in
big scheme to rob the Adams Express
Company, but was prevented by the
alertness of certain detectives, who
thought itw;ser to nip the plan in the
bud than to wait until it was consum-
mated and gain glory by an arrest. l
am unable to tell you of the details of
the crime for which the depraved youth
pent eight years in the Trenton prison.
No sooner was he out than he was en-
gagged in more villainy, which brought
him in contact with the Allentown au-
thorities. Four years in Cherry Hill
followed this, but it had no Christening
effect, for now Walter England comes
back again to be punished for the crime
of brrglary.-Philadelphia Ncus.
ln,l;,.:d,, ,liku nf An;nn,l.