Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-11
. SCHOOL FOR THIEVES.
. English Convicts Way of Teach
lng by Example.

.
ing by Example.
A. Fnclish ex-convict tells this story
g. London Telegraph reporter concern
W. school for thieves which he has the
..9n,ation OF keeping:
NiiOb il hain't a school at ALL" he re-
,,,ed with a laugh, land it is all nonsense
tpaIIinq it one. 1t got the name of being
~n long time ago, ard 1t has stuck to 1t
p D,lor since. II became known that / used
eNsoya lads up mere of evenings, and |
" w. waited on by a police Inspector. Il
W. come to warn you,' says he, that we
l"ra information that you keep a school
20 20 the instruction OF young thieves. If
~ "a. YOU will have to put stop to it,
=. Won will find yourself back in
VI Uorr old quarters All right says
Won snail come and hear for
.,,ourseIf what it is teach them.' There
!romld be a lot of good in that says he;
',bore would be a rather short attendance
,sit was known that l was to be present.
pasides. if they did come, you wouldn't
~ sicl q fool as to give 'em their Urinary
ytossons.' Il said,' says |, that you should
hoar for Yourself, not that you should be
eoon if YOU wouldn't mind passing an
Snnr This evening in that back attick;
.hore il only thin partition between il
ard This one, and lots of chinks you can
nnen through. You can satisfy yourself,
PpHd nobody but you and me need be any
wiser., And the inspector agreed to the
Nan. and came and slipped into the back
6attick at the time mentioned, and there
Sa STAYED till the entertainment was all
over and the boys had gone. And then
no came out. and says he: Il shan't trouble
Tou any further, Jerry. 1t is a
rather backhanded way you
have got in getting at them, but it is bet
Tor than no way at all.' And he civilly
wished me good night, and / haven't been
Interfered with by the police since. And
ca is what may be called a backhanded
wayD continued Mr.. Duff, land it ISN'T,
nr,aps, a respectable way, and it might
Re objected that there is underhandedness
and artfulness in IL; but what odds about
mat SO that good comes of jtr 1t isn't
reading and writing that teach them. !
am far too ignorant a man for that. | tell
them stories-stories of my life in the dit
fprent prisons and of the crimes that got
me there. That was the bait held out to
them when first began to put the plan l
had long thought of in practice. They
were too young to know anything about
me themselves, but they had, no doubt,
heard all about me from the older hands
and there are plenty of them living
about here and they were
proud of the compliment when
/ asked them to come up 10 my room.
smoke pipe, and hear me spin a yarn
concerning my lie ana adventures. And
having been in the crooked way ever since
Twas 10 till last left Portland, when l
was SO, you may guess, and having a
good memory, l had plenty of stories to
tell. But the stirring adventures and the
dare devil deeds which, OF course, they
liked to hear about, was only the sugar
the nil was coated with. WHAT wanted
them to understand without making too
much OF it was that for every six
penn'Orth of pleasure obtained by crime
it always, sooner or later, meets with
pounds worth of punishment. 1t don't
do to press this view of it too hard on
them, or they will at once think you are
gammoning. The way is to put it SO
selves. They sometimes make their
comments to that effect when [ have
finished story have been telling them.
swell, after all, Jerry, you don't get
much of pull. You paid pretty dear tor
what you did get, jerry TO which L re-
ply, 4 never did get the pull, and l
always paid dear for what | got. l had
twenty-siX years of it, and eighteen of
these were spent in prison, and after all,
here | am making footstools at twopence
ha'penny each, and working fourteen
hours day to earn enough to buy me
bit Of victuals and pay my lodging, and L
tell you never was half as happy in all
nv lfe.' 1t isn't only of my own eX-
perlences | tell them,' continued Jerry
the schOolmaster. 'While l was at Dart
moor something went wrong with my
insides, and l was put. in the in
Urinary as nurse, and was there
eighteen months. l knew lots
OF stories that the patients, being there
SICK and brought low, have told me, some
OF the men being the most wicked and
desperate; but it was always the same
tale with them when it came to the last.
They are the yarns, as they cali them,
you like best to hear, though, perhaps,
they wouldn't think il. But it is fact.
The worst young reprobates will go to
the play, and shed tears over the affecting
parts Of piece that pleases them, and
60 again and again to see it. I've had
them pipe their eye here many a time
when I've been telling them of dying
prisOner-a young fellow, perhaps-and
Of the tender messages he sent to his
mother and those at home. And. what is
more to the purpose" said Jerry DUH,
proudly, and with something very like
tears glistening in his own eyes, "Pve
mad many one come creeping pack here,
shy and ashamed like. when the others
Were out of sight, and wanting 10 know
II knew any more stories like the last,
and, If so, would l mind telling him all
by himself and on the quiet. L never say
nay, you may depend, sir. They are the
nsh am angling for in my backhanded
way. They are rare, but when they 90
bite they are worth landing" l could
90 no more than agree, and, as l have
already said, l shook hands with Jerry
Dun, and wished him better luck with