St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-15

Special to the Globe.
SALTWATER. April IA few days
ago there appeared at the door le9uing
to the office of Clerk O'Brien Att the
Saltwater prison a pleasant-faced old
| man, who asked permission to see the
warden. Warden Wolfer anH seeeral
| friends had just emerged ffpm the
dining room and were placidly smoking
and conversing IN the warden,s Office.
MIR. O'Brien repeated the old mans re-
quest and the warden invited him in.
He appeared shortly afterward. A
| slvery beard hid part of his face
from view. and when he removed his
! hat, disclosing bald head. he reclined
| in an easy chair.
well, old man, what can L do for
you?" the warden asked.
The old man twisted around in his
| chair few seconds. but seeing that he
had humane man to deal with. he
soon found a way to talk. and relate
the Following story:
well. | suppose there is no use for
me to deny what am. sir. My name
is Julius A. Patton, and | am an ex-
convict. | was wandering around here,
and, finding myself in need of pair of
shoes, gathered up courage enough
to coma here to see if you wauldn't
give me a pair of cast-off convict's
shoes and some old Clothes"
WELL" said the warden. 81 guess we
can fix you out all right, bat won't you
give us sort of history of yourself?''
Patton cleared his throat aud smiled
and at first declined to talk. but finally
gave an interesting account of his life
of crime.
II was born in Virginia." he said,
land was left an orphan when very
young. AT an early age | was fond of
work, but soon met evil associates.
and at tire age OF twenty was doing
time i'll Frankfort, KY. 1 lost my de.
sire for work, and when released from
that institution three years after
my incarceration L found myself
without friend in the world.
had all only sister, but. God bless
her. she discarded me when committed
the crime that stamped me as a felon
worthy of no ones love. l left the prison
my prospects, but everything seemed to
60 wrong with ME, and found no other
alternative than TO return to a life Of
crime. am thief. sir. | have, served
sentences in ten prisons. and IHexpect
that some day my soul will ascend to
heaven from some cell in IA penal HIsti-
tuition. | am now SiXty-eight years of
age. and have been in prison a good
share of my life since 1871. i can't
say exactly how many years I bave
served, all told. but guess one-half. OF
the time has been spent in prison, or in
warehouses. Ny first crime, sir, was
ths theft of two candleStickS from a
dwelling in Kentucky. j happened
to see them, and. of course,l de-
termined to have them. [ Thought
they were solid silver. ard at
that time silver was worth some thing.
entered the house, stole the CANDLE
sticks, and afterward tried to sell them.
but they were only plated, sir. and l
realized little for them. realized more
later. however, when was arrested
brought before stern old judge, who
sentenced me to three years lmprison-
ment. [ have made it rule never to
steal from POOR man. l have always
been after the rich. but. sir. | never
made very big haul. think $500 was
the most | ever got at any one time.
have seen the time. however. when
was tempted to pick the pockets of
drunken man. but this was only when L
had no means of getting stitch of
clothing or square meal. l am what
they call dwelling thief Most of
my work is done in houses. | have
done time in many of the largest pris-
ons in this country, and did time here
once, being sentenced from St. Paul in
1S72''
Clerk O'Brien referred to the prison
records, and shortly afterward returned
to the office and asked Patton if it was
not fact that he had served three
terms in the Minnesota prison. Patton
laughed and said:
"Well, come to think of it. guess |
did serve two terms here. No, sir. it
was three. l was sent UP for six months
from some little city in the southern
part of the state, ana when my term
had expired l was rearrested al the
door leading to freedom. and was
again returned to serve two years