The San Francisco call., 1904-04-29
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Special CORES s-soncence.
uEADo{- ARTERS OF THE CALL,
HENRIETTA STREET. CONENT
GARDEN. LONDON. April 17.-In sen
fencing EdSard Everitt. a house-paint-
er Of Enaeld. to six years penal servi-
tude for melting 10 crime and receiv-
ing stolen property, the Magistrates OF
the Mid&esex Sessions have cut short
q career Of fnfamy which. while recall
tng Dickens story Of Fagin and his ju-
venile thieves school. in some respects
reveals greater moral 6epravity than
WAS shoEn by that fictitious villain.
For tn.s. degenerate mOGern Fagin
chose Ger his pupil his own l4-year-
oid son Alfred. and trained him 10 be-
come an expert burglar
The occasional jobs Of house painting
which Everitt did afforded him excel
isS opportunities for discovering the
cribs that could be easiest cracked
and what booty they contained. He
had painfed the vicarage at WichmOre
Hul and Selected that for his sons ini-
tfalsexRl0it at housebreaking. With a
knife and two pieces Of wood he had
previously instructed him how TO pry
open a window catch without making
any mJsse.
you will md the drawing-roOm win
dow the easiest TO open that way" this
model father said. when you get in
side take your boots of, pick up all the
silver you can lay your hands on, and
be mighty careful you don't make any
noise about il. Then, when you think
il is past o'clock in the morning come
out and when YOU get into the street
walk quickly as il you were going 10
work. but come straight home"
the Sarent did not propose to run
any risks himself that could be avoid
I'D. The role he set himself was simply
that OF instructor and appropriation Of
the swag. But the boy had the making
in him OF a .first-class burglar. One
Sunday night he climbed over the vic
9rage gate. ensconced himself in a
shed at the rear. Of the house and there
remained until about O'Clock on Mon
CAV morning. Then he entered the
drawing-room. opening the window by
the methods his father had shown him.
Il found in the sideboard drawer" I"
lie said in his evidence. a carving
lnsfe and fork, a catch knife. a sugar
sitter, two silver-plated knife rests, one
pair Of silver salad servers, one silver
skewer, two silver-plated dish bottoms
an four shillings in money$-the latter
in a parse which ] left behind. 1 put
the stuff in a bag. left the house and
went straight home with il. When
got there I whistled and {sther threw
the key ont Of the window TO me and
j let myself in. AS soon as I entered
our rooni-we all live and sleep in the
same rOom-father said, Don't make
the stuff rattle or the people down.
stairs will hear you.
A feN days later young Everitts
father set him another house breaking
job. AS before the boy made his en-
trance at night and this time hid him
self in an empty chicken coop. So sea-
soned h ID he become 20 crime in this
brief period that he actually slept there
until past 5 o'clock. Then he entered
the b9use by the drawing-room win
dow. Here be found three silver boxes
and twelve silver spoons. He next
tackled the kitchen window and appro-
priated the plum pudding that he found
in the larder. Hungry though he was.
he took the plum pudding home with
him in a sack with the rest of what he
had stolen.
Less than a fortnight after this ex-
plot the little lad was started on an
other bUrglarious enterprise. .As on
the two previous occasions the house
chosen was one in which the father
had worked. He had ascertained that
there wSs no dog kept there and that
the kitchen contained mcst Of the
household silver. That night the boy
slept in s shed in thesrear oK.the prem
ises. effected an entrance through the
scullery window next morning and
iootea the culinary apartment Of the
silver he could find. But while obey
ing his gathers INSTRUCTIONS to walk off
quickly rs though he:was hurrying. to
work he wsg stopped by an inquisitive
policeman, who insisted on examining
the contents Of the stack. And then
the secret OF the mysterious burglaYies
that had alarmed and puzzled Enfield
was soea out But the.boy. with a 10y
atty 10 his I8ther which he was far
from deserving. did not betray his
completely in the crimes until he had
led the police a long wild goose chase
in search OF a ssRppositious individual
who he said had intrusted the sack to
him.
In sentencing the father the chair
man Of the Board OF Magistrates said
he hoped that the imposition Of a Sc
we're sentence would deter "other
brutes Of fathers" from following his
example. The boy was sent TO a re-
formatery for four years TO undo. il
possible, his fathers teaching.