Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-11-25
SCHOOL FOR THIEVES.
AN ENGLISH CONVICT'S WAY OF
TEACHING BY EXAMPLE.

Showing Them ConcIusiveIy that the
Way of the Trsnsgr-s.or Is Hsrd-A
Backhanded Mstho" Tears Shed by
Young Reprobates.
An English ex-Convict tells this story to a
reporter concerning a school for thieves
which be has the reputation of keeping:
"Oh, il isn't school at all, he replied,
with laugh, and it is all nonsense calling
it one 1t got the name of being one long
time ago, and il has stuck to It ever since. Ii
became known that used TO have lads up
here Of evenings, ami | was waited upon
by police inspector Il have come to warn
YOU, saws he that We have information that
YOU keep a school for the instruction of
young thieves. II it is 50 YOU will have to
put a stop TO it or yOu will find yourself in
your old quarters All right says |,
you shall come and hear for yourself what
it Is | teach them There would be q lot of
good in that says he; there would be
rather short attendance if it was known that
| was 10 be present Besides, if they did
come, you wouldn't be such fool as to give
'em their Urinary lessons said, says |:
That you should hear for yourself, not that
You should be seen, if You wouldn't mind
passing an hour this evening in that back at
tic; there is only thin partition between it
and this one, and lots of Chinks you can peep
through. You can satisfy yourself and no
body but you and me need ba any wiser
BACKHANDED WAY.
And tn. inspector agreed to the plan, and
came and Slipped into the back attic at the
time mentioned, and there he staid till the
entertainment was all over and the boys had
gone And then he came out, and says he:
Il shau't trouble you any further, Jerry. 1t
Is rather "A backhanded way you have got in
getting at them, hut it is better than no way
at all And he civilly wished me good
night, and haven't been interfered with by
the police since And 80 it is what may be
csllled a hackhanded way" continued Mr..
Duff, and it isn't, pr'aps, a respectable way,
and it might I've objected that there is under
handedneSS and artfulneSS in il: but what
odds about that so that good comes of it' 1t
isn't reading and writing that | teach them.
| am far too ignorant man for that tell
them StorieS-StOries Of my life in the differ
ent prisons and of the crimes that got me
there That was the bait that | held out to
them when first began 10 put the plan
AhA i'iiS th'h-iAb VI III IA o''A'N- 1i'S' 'NAN
too young to know anything about me them
selves, but they hai, no doubt, heard all
about me from the older hands-and there
are plenty "f them living about here-and
they were proud OF the compliment when
asked them to come up TO my room, smoke a
pipe and hear me spin yarn concerning my
life and adventures. And having been III
the crooked way ever since | was l3 till last
left Portland. when ! was %, you may
guess, and having a good memory, | 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
pill was coated with What | wanted them
TO understand without making too much OF
it was that for every siNDennOrth Of pleas
ure obtained by crime 1t always, sooner or
later, meets with a pounds worth Of pun
ishment 1t don't do 10 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
that they find it out for themselves. They
sometimes make their comments to that effect
when have finished story have been tell
ing them. Well, after all, Jerry, you didn't
get much Of a pull. You paid pretty dear
for what you did get, Jerry To which re
ply: 4 never did get the pull and always
paid dear for what l got. | had twenty six
years of it, and eighteen of these were spent
In prison, and, after ALL here l am, making
footstools at two pence haperny each, and
working fourteen hours a day to earn enough
to buy me bit OF victuals and pay my lOdg
ing, and tell You | never was half as happy
in all my life