The Iola register., 1891-10-16
THE LEISURE BURGLAR.


Forrest? Nop Why" he continued,
rubbing his hands together exultingly.
"he is a man the likes of which wager
you will not find in another prison in
these states!"
You are proud of him, eh!'
Proud of him! Proud of him! Well,
now, you may believe it. Ah, l tell
you. sir. he is none of your common
every-day-sort of scamps. No. indeed.
not he! He is a gentleman. every inch
of him. But you would like to see
him?"
Certainly" answered. IF he be
as interesting as you would make
out"
"And more 50. sir. assure you," he
said. enthusiastically.
Where do you Keep himP" / in
quired.
I'VE set him at work in the library.
and a good man he is there. too"
And leading the way he brought me
to the door leading to the library.
Pausing a moment. he leaned over to
me and said:
'Sir. if you can. you must get him
to tell you of his last piece of work.
A very artistic thing it was. and bold,
too. He's in for five years"
And he opened the door. Sitting at
q table reading some paper was very
pleasant, affable-looking gentleman.
When say gentleman, / mean that
he could not possibly be taken for any
thing else. His looks. his bearing.
the courtly manner in which he rose to
greet US as we entered. and the CHEEKY
smile with which lie recognized cur in
PRODUCTION stamped him at once as one
born gentleman; and that he was
well educated and possessed of an in
tellect far above mediocrity was ap-
parent before left.
The warden leaving a moment 9ater
to attend to his duties, we spoke casual
ly on several topics. l avoiding any
mention of the fact that he there as a
prisoner, and wondering how he ever
came to commit the crimes-for had
found that mis- last crime was not his
first one. but that all his life he had
been a burglar, and had, until the
present time, successfully eluded the
search and vigilance of the officers
which had brought him into his pres
ent position, and given him the unen-
viable reputation he enjoyed; for, when
at last did bring myself to the point
and somewhat timidly broached the
topic. his interest heightened, and, in
stead of appearing downcast and
shamefaced, he rather bristled some
what with pride, and found no diff
Guilty in inducing him to give me a !
detailed account of the piece of work |
at which he was caught. He said:
II had abstained from anv work for |
over half a year. owing mostly to the
onerous duties imposed upon me by |
society; but my desire increased until |
l could restrain it no longer, and one
night on a sudden impulse l set out,
taking with me but a few tools, which |
l carried in my pocket. II was early, |
very early, not later than 10 o'clock. |
while operations are usually most sue
cessfully conducted between and 4 or
8.
However. 1 did not have the pa
tience to wait, but Immediately began
looking about for some house whose
was prepossessiDg. By
1890 l had found my house and fixed
upon my way of ingress. which was to
be at a window facing south near the
ground. waited impatiently for the
people to retire. which they did slow
ly.
Finally the only person still up
was a man, evidently the man of the
house, who was smoking cigar and
reading a paper. l stationed myself
at tree aud waited, looking at my
watch from time to time. and uttering
on the man for keeping
me so long in the cold; it was near win
ter. and some snow was already on
the ground.
Soon / saw that the man was get
ting sleepy. and finally, with a yawn.
he threw away his cigar. laid down his
paper, and. taking his lamp with him.
went to another room. Changing my
position l saw the light reappear on
the west side. he having. to the best of
my calculation, passed through room
the room where he first was,
and from that into his bedroom. Soon
the light went out. and, waiting about
half an hour for him to get drowsy, l !
went to work.
i !
and opening it lightly crawied into the
room. Right ahead of me | saw a
stove. by the light of which saw that
| was in little recess used for the
placing of flowers, which had now been
removed. As it was yet much too
early to begin work. sat down on a
chair which found conveniently near
and waited. The room was comfort
ably warm. the fire giving a CHEEKY
glow, aud / soon found myself grow
ing drowsy. Remembering the cigars
my host was smoking. | went to the
table, and to my delight found there
on box, some of which i Immediately
They proved to be a
very good smoke. and l contentedly
resumed my former occupation OF gaz-
ing at the Goals. As fast as one cigar
was used up would light another, and
] believe that ! must have smoked
some twenty or thirty cigars that night.
And to that, aud to that only. can l
attribute The fact of my being here.
But that comes later.
'.As sat there noises on the streets
grew less aud less, and soon all was
silent except the ticking of clock IN
the room in which / was sitting.
heard the old timekeeper strike IL in .
slow, somber tones. and then l. l be-
gan to be interested in the beat OF the /
pendulum, and unconsciously con-
structed rhymes that repeated to my