The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-06
A VAGABOND.
Pen Picture of Type Not Confined to New
England.

T. w. Higginson in Harpers Magazine
He Henry Tufts, the subject of this sketch
began his career i'll the usual manner of coun-
try boys who take to bad courses, by robbing
orchards and henToosts. At fourteen he
planned with two companions to steal bread,
cheese and cucumbers and hide them in the
woods. The others provided the bread and
cheese, and he the cucumberS, stripping a
whole patch. Being dissatisfied with the pro-
visions the others had made, lie resolved to
brighten them out of their share, so he raised
an alarm that they all took fright after
which he came back and carried off all the
supplies. Not content with this, he informed
his companions that the farmer they had
robbed had captured him, and had eXacted of
him three days labor, so that each OF the other
boys gave him days work on his fathers
farm as their share of the imaginary penalty.
This early incident gives the key to his whole
life, which was spent in first defrauding others
and then his accomplices When he was
twcnty-one he began the more public practice
of his profession by stealing his fathers horse
and selling il for thirty dollars.
In the active practice of his profession he
travelled habitually between Canada and Vir-
ginia, having n line OF cOnfederates, like
trappers line of traps, through the whole
route. His system of living reached a singular
perfection. When he needed food he took it,
where ever he found it, not combining himself
10 the necessaries of the table, but adding the
Injuries, as when he stole beehive and car
ried it some distance, on which occasion he
must have discounted so to speak, the stings
of remorse. When he needed pair of boots,
he looked out for a shoemaker's shop, and con-
trlved to be near it at nghtfall. In respect to
linen. for him the land seemed as covered with
clotheslnes rs now with telegraphic wires and
once when he needed small clothes he spied
through the window of church q suitable
pulpit cushion. stole it, sold the feathers and
made pair of breeches of the green plush.
II is needless to say that in him horsesteal-
ing-whch has been in all ages, rs Scott says
of treason 1.-THE crime of gentleman rose
to the dignity of n fine art Some fifty separ-
ate thefts of this kind are recorded in his book
He asserts that he could go into stable at
night and select a particular horse by his way
of eating his hay. He could so disguise horse
by paint that his former owner, riding by his
side, did not know him. lie would steal a
horse, ride him twenty miles. and exchange
him for another, and make two moro eX-
changes before reaching one Of his homes
aeain-for he had almost as many homes as
horses. In one case he took neighbors horse,
sold il for ftty-one dollars, and on being de-
tected. guided the neighbor TO the place where
il was sold. hoping to md il and steal it back
again. Not finding il, they each stole another
horse; were caught and were punished with
thirty-tive lashes each from Cat-o-nine-tails
! In another case a man boastud that his horse
Ind special guard every night, and could not
be stolen Tufts accepted the challenge, gave
the guards rum and opium, and rode the horse
away.
Ii was while he was n deserter from the
army. in the year 1880 that an event occurred
which throws much light from below, rs may
saw, on the whole history of the continental
| currency He had rambled from West Point
| 10 Vermont, when the within took him, he says,
! to visit Sin rotation "a good name for his
| mode of life-the town OF Charlemont Ia or