The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-11
TWO OF A KIND IN KENTUCKY.
Charles Sullivan, the Blind Burglar,
and HIS Devoted Wife.
WON The Nom YorL. Sum

From the NeD York Sun.
LOUISVILLE, Dec. 3.-The Louisville
aims house has just received back two
queer inmates. They are Charley Sulli-
van, the blind burglar, and his wife. After
making their annual pilgrimage over Ken
tuoky, selling lead pencils and watches,
they have returned to the winter quarters
that have sheltered them for years.
The SulliYsns are curious pair and have
had a strange history. They met and loved
at the aims house, and ran away from there
10 get married. lie was old, Hind and
feeble. She was past middle age and az
ugly as a witch. He bad just come out of
the peuitentary, where he had finished a
three years term for burglary. His former
friends had died or moved away. his cour-
age was gone, and as he did not care to
continue his criminal career, he became
pauper and went to the aims house. There
he met the woman who married him. She
had been a pauper for a dozen years,
perhaps, but though well advanced
In years was abe-bodied. la fact,
when the alms house was building she
helped in the work, and did as much as
any man around the place. At her own
suggestion she carried bod, and besides
doing it well she has the satisfaction of
knowing that she Is probably the first
female that ever mounted ladder to do
LnaU bOfb Oh WOTk. one ltVeu on III COubSub
ment until the blind burglar found a home
there. and then she lost her susceptible
heart. She proposed soon, aud he accepted
her at once. One evening they quietly
slipped away to this city; she purchased
license and they were married by justice
of the peace. 1t was suInmer OF tho time
and the did not care TO return
to the almsnouse they spent the honeymoon
| in tramp around the country. At the first
/ aiop Of ySinfaF thaU Faturuad and liyni mill
| spring had come again. Then they went out
| once more and thus they have continued to
| do for dozen years or more. They wan
der over county after county, begging their
meals when they can, and. when the weather
| is pleasant, sleeping by the roadside. They
are strange looking pair, and the life is Il
| hard one, but they seem contented, and the
woman is actually happy. Sullivan is tall,
old and bent, with wrinkled face and gray
hair. Mrs Sullivan is short, fat and feeble
minded She has no teeth and Is the typical
pauper bag
In his early days Sullivan was hand
some, stalwart young fellow. He WAS
| famous for his strength and good manners,
| and bis eyes were as sharp as any ones.
| But he had been bred to crime and was a
protest. 1nal thief. He used to loiter about
the saloons and low dives of the worst
| quarter of the city, and made his living by
robbing drunken strangers. He was very
shrewd, aud was long suspected by the
police before a crime could be laid at his
door. He was plucky fighter and a sort
of king bee among the hoodlums and thieves,
! in whom he found his friends and COM
panions. At last he was caught picking q
mans pocket. He was sent to the work
house, and there the accident occurr ed
by which he lost his sight. He had been put
| to work In the quarry and was selected e.
assist in blasting the rock. He knew nothing
| Of ha huzinaoa ho ba had
been there before, and the consequence was
that he touched off a fuse before the other
man was quite ready. de failed to get out
Of the way in time, and when The blast ex-
ploded he was knocked down and nearly
killed When PICKED up he was in such a
condition that he lay for months In the hos
pital, moaning, Disappearing and curBing
his eyes from which tine light had gone out
! forever. When liberated he did not mend
| his ways. He was blind, poor and crippled,
| but be met with a welcome from such
friends as had escaped the prison. They
| treated him well, and soon, blind man
though he was, he was able 10 get about the
streets again. With the wonderful in
tuition some sightless people possess he
could find his way anywhere, and it was
not long before number OF burglaries
were reported. 1t seems almost beyond be-
lief that he could break into houses and
secure any booty, but the police declare be
did. Finally he was caught In handsome
dwelling near where he had made his home
for months. He was tried and sent TO the
penitentiarY for several years. When he
came out his health was broken, his couT'
age gone, and he was glad enough to seek
the almshouse. Strangely enough, his life
had not ended, for there he met the woman
who has been his wife so long. Capt. West
fall, the superintendent OF the place, SAYS
the ''blind burglar" and his wife are not
the best paupers In the world. but they
might be worse, and he is not sorry to SCI
fiea.