The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-18

touch. and even in the open the lungs
lahored We sat on some planks outside.
1t was some time before BARNES talk
turned naturally upon himself: he kept
asking about this pal and that pal, how
things were coming up over home,
who were still holding out in the per
fesh," who had gone under, which cop
pers" were in power, which stirs" were
easy or hard. what good touches" had
been made lately who were settled"
and who free. and about various other
things connected with the life on which
his Imagination still dwclt with q GER
tain pride At last however, when the
scribes had answered his queries as best
they could, he said suddenly:
81 s'pose you want to hear my raS-
chewer now?'
The scribes smiled and nodded. The
little mans shoulders twiched. he took
a fresh piece of "sripe" from his pocket,
bowed his head for moment as If
ashamed. looked up again, and began:
TITS none too nice to tell; but you
blokes has known me when l was top OF
the heap and you will understood.
Course | could "a croaked myself, an
| the whole thing nd "a been off, but the
fact is l didn't have even nerve enough
| for that. That last stretcher on the coast
dreamed me out. They used me hard
that's where it is, an 1 didn't make any
good time either. l basted guard for
calm me a liar, an the warden didn't
remember to forgit it. They tucked me
away in the dungeon ten times lust Tor
| luck like l had a few thousand when
they turned me loose, but L spent 'eIn
travelin l thought I'd brace up,
p'r'aps, f / got change, so l came over
| here. an for a while l drifted all over
the shop. If my dough 'ud a held out
| I'd be on the mooch yet, l guess. ]
| only had twenty pounds when got back
| to London, but my nerve was no good
| an | tried for a job on the level, but
| 'twasn't no use. A blolle that's used
| up for swipin' amt up to no kind o work,
| good or bad. Course [ could "a turned
| fy cop. A Yank copper in London Of
fered me good money f I'd work for
| him. but I didn't want to be mouth
| piece. an that's what I'd a been f I'd
| taken the Job. A fellow that the push
| has treated square is a dirty sucker to
| 90 an live on what he knows after he
| gets used up. If L had my way, I'd
| shoot every son of a cur of a mouthpiece.
| Well. l tried gamblin' for bit, but /
| couldn't win nothin': a man that's down
| on is luck shouldn't touch the bones;
| luck brings luck, and bad luck brings
| bad. l came here to Liverpool with
| some gamblers, but was out of it here,
| too. an got fiat on my uppers. I could
| "a raised some dough, I guess, f I'd tele-
| graphed home; my rep was good for
| a
| sent it over probly; but bloke don't
| like to go home after he knows t his
| nerves gone. Crooks is a charitable lot
| right enough, an stand by fellow when
! 'e's just hard hit, but they're queer as
the devil when they run up against a
dead one.
You feel the way you do when you're
| in an insane asylum Course a dead
| one amt bughouse or anythin' like that,
| but when you look at him you Keep
thinkin' that p'r'aps it'll be your
turn next, an you get shivery like /
| knew t 1 couldn't steal worth a damn
/ f l went back-any dead one knows
that when. he's lost his grip-an'
| wasn't gon' to have the push an the
coppers over there bellyachin' around
about Carr being laid on the Shelf Tho
coppers in the States are the very deVi
on dead one. They keep tryn' to make
| him cough up what he knows, an II nc
don't cough they're liable as not to pincr
him for a vag Wy. I've seen EN- ac-
| tually railroad a dead one to the Pen OF
a fake charge jus cause he wouldn
help EN- get wise. | amt stuck Oh
England or the coppers here but the cop
pers can't cut up with bloke here the
way they do in the States. Course the!
hammer me every now and then wher
they take me to the station house, bu'
that's just a habit they've got into. 1ot
see, the people over here won't let en-
do, any hammerin' in the streets an
as they've got to get exercise somehow
they do the hammerin' in the station
n house. They amt 50 wise as our cop
pers, but they amt SO crooked either
Id "a been dead long before | was 7
I'd been an English crook. bloke's 60
to take his med cine over if they catct
him, an it's the med cine that kills
Course some holds out longern l did
J but twenty-four years inside amt BAT
record, an that's the time [ spent II
the Pen. They've had me shut UP nearly
half my life
| eff I'd stayed in the States | s'poses Il
be Twin with the hoboes now. They