The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-22
NEW BOOKS

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY or a THIEF. Re.
nqf q 6y aatt author r Of h
field & Co. Price 1926.
In this interesting book one gets rather
realistically among the grafters.a Mr..
Hapgood explains that he met the ex-
pickpockets and burglar, the narrator, soon
after his release from" a third term in
the penitentiary, where he had aban-
doned his predatory life. The mans story
is q candid recital of his criminal life,
which began when Is years old, by rob-
bling the till of his brothers store thru
the influence Of boys older than himself,
who had already taken to the graft for
a living, and who allured him to evil by
picturing the life as Astounding in delights.
He took the bait easily, and for more
than twenty years was a professional
thief, progressing from the elementary
feats Of robbing tills and picking pockets
to the higher walks Of the profession In
the daring activities of the burglar" J i'm, =
in the early days OF his career, operated
successfully on Women's pockets, which
then were arranged so that handkerchiefs
and purses could be distracted easily by
the rawest thief. Showing the queer"
was found very successful, but one day
"Jirn'' was arrested and sent to the Tombs
for ten days. There, he says, If he had
not been a confirmed thief before, he GER
tainly was one when he left prison, which
he found to be g. school Of crime where
he learned many new tricks Of graft from
the veterans confined there. Thereafter
Jim relates his experience in manifold
forms Of crime and shows how difficult 1t
is for q CRATER who desires to reform to
do so, as he meets with slender encour-
agement and few helping hauds are ex-
tended to him. :, They come out of prison
marked men. The lockstep gives them a
peculiar gait, which is retained for life,
and it exposes their experience and they
contract an expressionless cast O. counte-
has schooled himself until his face is
a mask which betrays nothing. Says
"Jim".: "a criminal who is trying to re-
form is generally avery helpless being.
He was not, to begin with, the strongest
man mentally, and, after confinement, is
still less So He is preoccupied, suspi-
cious and DREAMER, and when he gets
a. glimpse: Of = himself in all his naked
realities, IS apt to become depressed and
discouraged. He is easily led, and GER
tainly no man needs a good friend as
much as the ex-convict. He is distrusted
by everybody; is apt to be pfped Off wher-
ever he goes, and finds it hard to get
work which. he can, do, There are hun
dreds. of men in, our prisons day who
! if they could find somebody who would
trust them and take genuine interest In
them, would reform and become respect
able citizens This Is undoubtedly true
and s.'pity tits, tits true" There is, how
ever, in these days a very decided change
in that there is a deeper impression Of
the forlorn isolation; Of: ex-copvicts ano
real, rational efforts are making to helr
those who are anxious to reform to the
better life, and the confidence of theil
fellow men. "Jim," altho he has aban.
doned the grafters, was not influenced
by religious motives, and distinctly says
so. He is, in fact, somewhat bittel
against the religious refor1ners, but hi
comedies that the character OF Chris
strongly appeals to him because che prac
ticed what he preached and died for hui
mainly" .'Jim" also says; he believes HI
has experienced what some peopl
might call an awakening Of the. soul
"Jim'' IS on the right trail. evidently.