The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-03-21

of the cars, l noticed some of the boys
deeply interested in drawing map upon
the floor representing North America.
THAT" said one. as he designated spot
near the northern boundary line, lis Alaska,
where l intend starting for on the day l am
released and where hope to build up a
new reputation" ''Oh don't begin building
castles in the air." spoke another, ''for it
seems to me that all who have gone from
here during the past two months, and
talked as you are now doing, got into trouble
again. For my part. [ will. when released,
enjoy myself taking in the sights for a few
days, and IT, en- look around for some means
by which can earn an honorable living;
for | have fully realized that there is moth
ing in trying to live by nefarious means.
and would rather saw wood for living
than 60 back to my old ways" Every well
young fellow" says the third, ''of course,
every one can suit himself. but for my part
l draw the line at wOOdsawing; for actually,
l could not saw enough in one day to keep
an ordinary cook stove going. We will as
sumo. for arguments sake, that you can
saw and split one cord day; you then have
earned one dollar; both knees are out of
your pants; hands blistered-tO say moth
ing of an an aching back. This, of course,
you do not mind, as you are fully deter
mined to reform. At the end of the first
week, If you have been fortunate. you will
have, probably, made three dollars. Your
clothes, by this time. begin to look ragged
and make you fit subject for suspicion by
the many Over-zealOus detectives, and you
can expect to the tapped on the shoulder at
any moment by the aforesaid gents, and
questioned as to the manner in which you
gain your living. You. of course, say; 4 am
saving wood until something better turns
up oh, you are eh? Let me see. how
long have you been out of prison?' About
one week, gentlemen AS l thought. You
had better come with us and see the chief.
We are dead on to you, in fact we are quite
positive that the wOOdSawing is only blind
You are. my boy, in the guise of wood
sawyer. locating jobs for your friends the
night workers. Providing you put us onto
the gang of which we have evidence that
you are member. we will let up on yOu.'
You here try to convince them that you are
trying in every way to lead an honest life,
which story they laugh at. You are
taken to headquarters where you are charged
with being dangerous character. Before
getting hearing you are put through a
process Of pumping and before getting
through with you they manage to get con-
siderable of your past record. You 60 be-
fore the judge with your torn clothes and
brOken-up appearance, made worse, if pos
sible, by your nights rest in Jail. Of course
you enter plea of not guilty; and here is
where the detective comes to your relief.
TO the dangers OF perjury they actually do
not give second thought. They testify as
follows: Your Honor, we have reasons to
believe that this man is one of gang of
crooks who are at present working our CITY:
he does the locating, or in other words, puts
up jobs for the gang while acting in the role
OF wOOdSawyer. We must admit that none
of the houses where he was engaged have
yet been robbed; but some in the vicinity
have been. and the way in which the en-
trance was effected cOnvinceS us that the
job was planned by some person who has
been lettering around that locality in the
day time. Before arresting the defendant
l made inquiries of the inmates of the dwell
lngS burglarZed whether any suspicious
characters had been around; and learned
that the defendant had been there looking
for work. Knowing well the different plans
devised by crooks to find the exact lay of
houses before working them | come to the
conclusion, that perhaps the gent with the
saw might know something regarding the
men who did the work. | must admit |
was not much surprised on arresting the de-
PENDENT. to recognize MIN as an old time
thief. who has just been released from
prison. He has been implicated i'm some of
the largest jobs ever done in the state and
through his arrest 1 am fully convinced that
we will eventually break up one of the worst
gangs that ever infested our city,
you are then given chance to speak,
and say: L must admit, your honor, that
just got out of prison, but was in no re-
spect connected with any gang of thieves
'Yon we're in the neighbOrhood where
this robbery took placer says his honor. &