Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-09-28
CHAPTER I.

III inc Harkcsu cOrEcr OK tnc cell vail i
scratched on the paint:
Let the stricken deer go weep
And tho hart ungallcd play,
For some mlst watch. while some must sleep.
Thus rurs the world away.
These lines were there through all
tho agony Of my incarceration and trial,
but whe. the thunderbolt fell and was
walking back to that little room with
the doom of 'lifc" pronounced upon
me what thought do yen suppose came
rushing into my mind!
There wac l walking through tho
underground stone corridor leading
from the Old Bailey courtroom to my
cell, doomed to lifelong imprisonment,
and the uppc-most thought in my mind
was Of the lines 1 had scratched on that
wall I said to rlysclf they We're too
gloomy and depressing; that it was q
rowardly thought and message to leave
behind mc for some other unfortunate
inmate, and resolved, if it escaped the
Philistincs' paint pot, to leave Il mes
sage of hope or high resolve. When tho
nest morning caIne-Thursday it was
and tho first of sentence-I scratched
these lines:
II Tic rcproof OF chance
Lies tho true proof of men.
An hour after 1 was insane. Ely mind
became u blank, and knew and re-
mcnbercd no more until the following
Sunday, when l awoke like one out of a
trance and found mycclf i'll convict
uniform in a cell, and there, with tina:
brick arch over my head and tho Stone
floor under my feet, for 20 years I lived
and moved and had my being We lived
i'll South Brooklyn, near to- old No. IS,
the Degraw street public school. To that
/ was sent, and there got all the educa-
ton l was ever fatcd to have at any
school except the school of life and ex.
pcricncc.
/ attended for some years, and even
now l Cannot recall without u smile the
absurd iicoinpetency Of every one con-
nccted with the institution and their
utter ignorance of the at of imparting
knowledge to children.
At home lad picked up that grand
art Of reading and went to school to
learn Tire ether two Rs, with any triflc
that might come across floating around
promiscuously. 1 certainly hope our
much Landed public schools are conduct
cd on better lines now than then; if not,
they arc frauds from the foundation.
1t was all very pitiful. My blood hoil5
even NOW when I think of tho traitors
chosen and paid to see NC fully equipped
and armed to begin the battle Of life
who LETT me with phantom weapons
which would shivcr into fragments at
the first shock Of conflict.
l left Junior A of old No. -, with
its algebra, logic, philosophy Cheaven
savo the word J! and advanced grammar,
unable towrite grammatical sentence.
Indeed 1 took it for granted that in the
good old days Adam had invented the
word such az lie named the animals,
and, Of course, supposed that he spoke
good English. The knowledge of his
tory gained at No. - was strictly lin
tied and exceedingly primitive. l knew
the Jews in the old days were bad
lot; that Brutus had slain Caesar
that the Mayflower had landed our
fathers on Plymouth Rock; that wick
cd George Ill was tyrant, and that
the boys i'll Boston had thrown n tea
kettle ut his head. knew all about our
George and the cherry tree, and there
my historical knowledge ended.
So here l was launched cut III the
world n model scholar-5tamped as pro-
ficicnt in grammar, history, logic, phi
losophy and arithmetic, but yet in use
full knowledge barbarian, unable t.
spell or even write a grammatical letter
and IMMERSED i'll tho ways of the world
u world. too, where I would be cast
entirely upon ray own resources.
Ny homo life was happy. Ny father
had lost his grip on the world, but his
faith i'll Tic Unseen remained. My
mother, caring little fer this life. lived
i'll and Tor the spiritual. To her heaven
was a place - much as the country vii,
lagc whc:e she was born. She was ney-
cr tired If talking to us children about
Its golden streets and tho rest there after
the tolls ard pains Of life. But. boy
like. We discounted all she said and felt
we wanted some Of this world before we
kiccked =; the gates Of The next.
Every night If Fly life i'll those days
she would como to my bed to pray over
me, ever saying n; she kissed me OF
clasped my hand, My son. remember
if you were to pass your whole life here
in poverty and hardship it would no,
much matter 50 long as you attain tC
the heavenly rest. This teaching would
have bcc:i well had she only taught irc
some worldly wisdom with it. bat tll::,
all essential knowledge was kept from
me, I being left to learn the ways Of
man in that terrible school Of expert
encc the consequence being that wher
after some months was launched on,
in life was II ripe and apt victim to h,
caught in the worlds huge snare. II
fact, had my parents designed mo t,
become traveller III the Primrose Wa,
they could not have educated me t
better pufposc.
Save when IN tho school had neve
been permitted to associate with othe
boys. but was kept in the bouse. and NJ
To my sixteenth year hardly drcaInc'
there was evil i'll the world. was toll
much about the wicked" bat though
that meant those who smoked Tobacco