The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-21

II John R. Whitaker, of Minneapolis
had followed his first inclination form
ed after meeting James Younger last
Friday, the latter would now be under
detention instead of lying dead in his
coffin.
Mr.. Whitaker is an agent of the New
York Life Insurance company. He lives
at 2428 Stevens avenue, Minneapolis
For the last sixteen years he has been
in the United States mail service on
the Great Northern railway.
Whitaker met James Younger last
Friday and was so impressed with the
latter's dependency and with certain
threats made, that he seriously debated
the propriety of informing the state
authorities of Younger's condition. He
consulted a friend as to what he ought
to do and arrived at the conclusion
that If he associated himself with
Younger in any connection he would
be accused of seeking notoriety.
II am sorry now that I did not fol-
low my first inclination" said Mr..
Whitaker yesterday. THAT inclination
was to have Jim put under restraint
until he had recovered his balance. He
talked to me like man from /lother
world. I tried to reason with him, to
get him leveled up so that he would
forget his troubles, but it was no use.
He was in a terrible state of mind. I
shall tell you his story in practically
the same words that he used to me.
Supposed to Be Dead.
HE began by informing me that his
astral being had been offered a job by
either the Travellers or the Hartford
company to write insurance. am un-
able to remember which one it was, but
it was one OF the other. He said the
job suited him first rssxe and that he
had signed a contract, but when the
company came to look up the matter,
they found that Jim could not write in
surance because he was supposed to
be dead, and his name ON an applica-
ton for insurance cut no more figure
than a fly speck.
And that's the way Of it. he said.
Tn a mere nothing in the worlds af-
fairs from now on, old man. I'm ghost
the ghost of Jim Younger who was
man, if not an extra good one. But
me! I'm nothing. Walking round here
people might suppose I was alive, and
if it was on the square could write in
surance with the best Of them, but I'm
as dead as Caesar, John. The insur-
ance company has informed me today
that it has satisfied itself of my legal
none existence.
Why don't you stick to the tobac-
co trade or some quiet job where you
won't be brought so much in contact
with people?' I asked him.
WELL ne said, I'm man Of ac-
ton. I always was from my youth.
What I need is something to do that
will give me game to beat. This
thing of standing behind rail and
playing polite to a lot Of men who are
worse at heart than 1 ever was is not
to my liking. 1t might be something
worth while if Jim Younger, ex-raider
and convict, should turn out to be the
best insurance man in the state. You
see, I am hardly the same man I was
when went into that states prison.
In the library read nearly everything
that was ever printed about the soul
and its manifestations.
Nothing But His Soul Left.
"The fact is, John, I believe there
is nothing left of me but the soul I
started with. should like to win at
something, but all the rest, Quantrell
and the old game Of fight and war, are
just as remote as if they had been an
other mans experience. can remen-
Der everything, Of course, but 1t does
not seem that was one Of the prin--
cipal actors in the old dramas of the
war;
"'Great God! rye lived five lives
since that. You show me man who
has spent as long in prison as I have
and I'll show you one whose whole ma
ture has been reconstructed, mental,
moral and physical. I read enough in
the penitentiary to have made me
professor Of any old thing on earth.
The effect of all that reading on me
has been to make me at an idiotic old
and be a hit in the world, like a col
lege boy just graduated. It's ridicu-
lous, Of course, but that's how I feel.
If they would let me be Jim Younger,
I'd start under the handicap and beat
it before I quit. No man is all bad,
you know. Every last rascal on earth
has a good spot in him somewhere
Scientific education will do away with
penitentiaries some Of these days. But
Pm dead
!" Perhaps if you wait little they'll
get the law fixed so that you may be
legally alive L said, 'or, anyway, you
might write your insurance through
somebody else
Hated to Be a Freak.
Ono, it's no use to try any new
tricks he said. I've been down the
line and all can get out of it is what
I'm worth as; q freak advertisement for
some firm CT other that believes peo-
pie wilt be glad to stare at a reputed
murderer and cutthroat. What kind of
reformatory process is that for a man
supposed to be as deep dyed villain
as I am? Do you think that if man
is really reformed and wants to live a
decent life as I did can stand for be-
ing stared at as a notorious murderer
That's what it all amounts to. 1 hate it.
"'Oh, no, I think the gun route is
good enough for me as 1t has been for
better men. have given the thing a
square trial and 1t won't do. The in
side Of the penitentiary is perhaps
better than the outside, but I've had
my share of the former and I can't 60
back. The outside is a mass of in