The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-01-10
A WoMANs LIFE or CRIME.
Arrested az the Age Of IL Yesss--As -
She Goes to Prison 20 Die.

Arrested st the Age Of II Ysars-AA -
She Goes to Prison 20 DIE. &
The oldest professional sneak thief
in the country has again been arrested.
And she is a woman. Sixty-nins
years ago she began the criminal
career which she stiil pursues, and yet,
strange 10 say, she bears upon her
features but little traces OF the life she
led OF the four score years that have
passed over her head more than. forty
have been passed in prison. During
that time all the sunshine that came
TO her was what struggled through the
PRISON bars. Her friends were the.
brought her in contact. Honest people
hhe had scarcely ever known. yI
deed. IL almost must have seemed 70
iief ilni she had no place whatever in
the great free world outside. A curl
oua and sad sight she presented as
she sat huddled up in corner Of
the pen in the Tombs police court.
Her clothes were comparatively
neat. a hood was on her head, from
l,eneath which the purest Of locks OF
.iiyer gray showed out Her face was
pallid. and, dressed differently and
surrounded by brighter circumstances,
she might have passed as ap old lady
m most respectable ancestry. She Aa}
40 Haunting airs, exhibited no out.
ward semhlapce OF covering, gave no
s,ufiye chances that indicated the soul
of tle criminal looking OF: through
the eyes. 'The place seemed natutai
for her Well, perhaps il might, for
many and many time she had been
.hcre before. Othess gh9 looked upoa
her might pity her. She dig 4ot sesi.i
10 realize why they should do 50. ei,a
was merely going back again TO the
1nly home she had ever remembered.
Mary Fitzgerald is her name. The
war OF lSie took from her her father,
and when she was 10 her mothef ilesli
She became Il waif on the world. drift.
ing hither and thither in search OF her
food and OF roof to shelter her.
Many "a time she could find neither,
and want, possibly p.ore than any
evil inclination, made her thiof.
She joined one Of those gangs OF iitt'o
criminals who at the time made tho
wharvos and the river fronts their
homes as well as their headquarters.
The fields and woods that then sto; i
where fashionable up town row e.
ists would have atfGrle1 those uTchin9
better quarters, though onse 20; ~
safe. Mary was only II years OF 4lse
when she first was brought before the
courts. and had to be held up III t..e
arms 0f The sergeant 80 that the jude
| could SEQ nnr and hear tho littlo sto:'y
she had to tell. SGe .la4 10 axcuse 10
offer then. Indeed through her whfl.9
career She has never had. Stealsts 4
| has seemed To be as natural 10 her Us
! living, the only variation ia her co.,'
duct before the authorities bel, Z
that si.o you'd occasionally claisn
identity with son,s othpr well knowd
criminal. On one occasiop sqGe II,
teen or sixteen years ago she insisi$ 4
1 with tho utmost gravity that ale
was Sarah Alexander, the notorions
| French Saiis,' who had made 80
| many li.qc stoEAksc{,~gs mourn h"r
visits to their ESTABLISHMENTS. Ine II
the nculiarilies oI this triai was p
the Judge who presided had 0nly i
short time before sentenced the orisi.
nel Sarah Alexander and informed
Mary ot tbs fac, Her persistence IN
this matter ,tns ii,e only bit OF rher
ncter she had ever exhibited, and she
wa then deemed worthy Of o place in
f! tbo famous rogues' gallery Of police
| l.ea +.ua,ters. Sho prepared for the
!, avent n. writ aS sli2 gould, aud TO this
dsv iha oict,irc bt.ssa sside4cs pY bor
anxiety 70 look Os veil as p2ssibse, e
broad smile sutfuses Ler face, and i
he'd n5i The slightest trace of ths, /
! most involuntary if pot 1iltful 1a-
Willingness 50 be photagf:aphqG, that
marks the pictures cS nearlr MI fae
| other criminals.
| MAly's last stay ont of prison was
one OF thg longest she had ever made
five months apd the police were
! beginning to hope sh>.s at least t.:e
suuF.4 of her life might ba il tie
h. >-aeet ar cf the opou world, but ths-sy
-. dooJpG - disappointment. She
~. -, >stel by Effective Sergeant
XoolT.ida y for picking Hsp pockets OF
| p .t,;e. .I.az>uo ip eli npctioD reoiii
90 c'a:i,ariuo t.,Ses Tue ae.ecals
vas ,rrsss,.s sud eoS Ie intsrest,.i u;
plrfel nanec 10 81. .estet: Mary, ai!d
wa NJ. achIng along with he.t WIS .
| T,orn.. 3 Nhalcn. Il s8aidaDt OF Cheffy
atrx.t. Who j. alleged 80 10 TN. wo'
u.an's accvi. plice, assaulted ul2 s:sttS.
| Gye, IL the meIco Mary escaped. b:...
o1ly Il fall into the bands of az 2f'
| iicer of the Fourth l>sceinct;, HeNl
were cvc,. ually arrested. noa Ma;
will. IN III probability, end per bt
within prison walls. New YORK l'tssSs