The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-06-22
WHAT THE BOOkMEN ARE
DOING AT THEIR TRADE

"The Autobiography. of a Thief"lRe-
corded b. Hutchins Hapgood. Fox,
Duffield & Co., publishers, New York.
For sale by the st. Paul Book and
Stationery company.
Mr.. Hutchins Hapgood is in very
poor business. Also this young pub
fishing house of Fox & Dufheld, who
have put this out as their second Of
fering. Mr.. Hapgood records that he
met the eX-convict, whose story he
tells. shortly after his return from his
third term in the peniten[ary, and he
was full of a desire to expose in the
public prints the methods used in pris-
ons and asylums for the criminal in
sane. 1t occurred to Mr.. Hapgood
finally that Us life-story would make
a very interesting volume. And so 1t
has. But the fact that the book is in
tereSting only makes the matter of its
publication more reprehenslble. or
course it is not a vital matter to any
publishing house-or only the eXcep-
tiOnal one-that the books it puts out
should tend to elevate and not to de-
grade therefore that this book, if read
by boys and young men, can only do
harm matters not at all. This is TAX
ing ii for granted that these young
publishers are not the exceptional
ones, or they would have had nothing
to do with this criminal and his story.
MI Hapgood takes the mans story
from his own lips, with all the thieves
slang, explained by him as he goes
along, and TO read it and digest it is
to obtain complete education in
burglary, shOplifting, bank robblng
and almost every other form Of crime.
Methods are infinitely explained, and
the life of a thief is depicted as full of
excitement and pleasure. Coming from
a decent and middle class and Chris
tian family living on the East side OF
New York, the boy here described be-
gan his career as a thief at the tender
age OF eight, and ran the gamut of all
xmas OF crime and evil, until at the
age of thirty five he has come out of
the penitentlary and made up his mind
TO square it," which is thieves slang
for reforming. Not from any moral or
religious motives does he desire to
change his mode of life, but because,
as he says, he can see that it does not
pay and most 'grafters" come to
sad end. The editor calls this degen-
crate hero of his "a fascinating type
from the under world" What there is
fascinating in a revolving account of
men and women thieves and worse it
would be difficult to say, unless under
taken as a study in degeneracy All
through the book it is only too evil
dent that the burglar, Jim, regards
himself as q positive hero of romance,
and if he was repulsive and danger
Gus before, he must be dOubly so in his
new character of literary lion. The
book is full of irreverences and blatant
bOasting which cannot fail to do a
great deal of harm if widely read. This
volume is but one of half a dozen
lives of criminals which have been is
sued recently, and they certainly pre-
sent quite an alarming phase in the
literary tendency of today. The life of
most any house breaker will hold as
much of interest and literary value as
this of Mr.. HapgOOd's depraved hero,
and it is to be hoped a halt will be
called before any more such records
see the light of day
The Prince of Sinners-By E. Phillips
Oppenheim. Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston, publishers. For sale by The
st. Paul Book and Stationery Co.
Mr.. Oppenheim has written an ex-
ceedingly interesting story. Perhaps
its greatest fault is a tediously long be-
binning and a rather abrupt ending.
In places one is reminded of Mrs.
Humphrey Ward, a little because of
the writer's style, and more because.
she might have originated some Of the
complex characters of the story The
plot is briefly of the effort made by
Kingston Brooks to work out his career
with no assistance from the father who
had deserted him and his mother when
ne was child: This father, now
Lord Arranmore, is the Prince of Sin
ers and one that the reader likes in
spite of his record and his cynicism.
When Brooks finds out that his patron
is his father and also the man that de-
serted his mother, he will have none of
him, and Lord Arranmore has to assist
him anonymously if at all. One weak
ness Of the story is when the writer
touches upon Brooks love for two
women. He does not make it clear
whether he loved Sybil, nor whether in
the end he marries Mary Scott, simply
because he could not get the woman
he wanted. On the whole the story is
good and so dramatic that doubtless