The San Francisco call., 1905-08-06
by 4
W6n2gW

School IN Sacramento. until as he says.
81 got sort o. sick O. school and wouldn't
so no more.
In school he may not have learned
much, but of craps and crusoe and even
of the great national game, he has fair
working knowledge. he confesses with
giggle of vanity.
Percy Pembroke the third OF the sus-
poets and the third to be brought in. Is
@ handsome, manly looking youth, the
only one of the quartet whose appearance
speaks in his favor, and the only one well
grown and stalwart and wholesome look
ing. He is not yet seventeen, but with an
air of manIiness and self-reliance that
makes him appear older. He alone of
the four can look you squarely in the
eye. But he, too. has been ''pinched'
he admits reluctantly. resentfully and
shamefacedly. He. at least. doesn't seem
very proud Of the distinction, and he
holds to it that it was only because he
was out late in violation of the
o'clock ordinance. There is a courage in
his face that might easily swing the
wrong way and become bravado or reck-
lesspess, and he says with some bitter
ness that he has been living at home ION
my folks" for some months because he
has been ON the waiting list of the s P.
and not earned any money.
Jim Crowhurst is the leader OF "de
gang the hero. If I may take the word
and glowing admiration of the other boys
of the boy world in Fruitvale- Jim Crow
hurst Is an amateur pugilist- Jim Crow
hurst has fought twenty-three prelimi-
nary battles in the ring. Jim CrOwhurst
is an authority on sporting life-and on
the devious ways of life. Jim Crowhurst
Is nineteen and sophisticated. Jim Crow
hurst condescends to notice the small boy
of Fruitvale. even to hobnob with him
for a consideration. no doubt. in the way
of cigarettes or beers or small change
Jim Crowhurst has a history OF wicked
ness and adventure that would make even
a Nickel Library hero look pale when
you hear Jim Crowhurst tell it on the
street corner at night TO the congregated
gang. From the police point Of view 1T
is pitifully tawdry and contemptible-but
the small boy and de gang do not. Of
course, take the police point of view.
jim Crowhurst, with his shuffiing. soft
footed, apologetic gait and his sharp.
ferret face and his shifty blue eyes set
much too close together, comes in TO see
me and looks at me around the end of his
nose first with one eye and then with the
other
Jim Crowhurst is voluble and glib, a
smooth talker
Jim Crowhurst was expelled from
school, he explains. just because he
got the worst end of it-being a Crow
hursts They had 1t in for him, he tells
me, and there was some sort of shady
affair in which his education culminat-
ed abruptly.
There was a girl" he says. .'and she
wasn't a-ah-you know-a very nice
character-going to school" Jim Crow
hurst, you see. has not a very fine or
chivalrous way of establishing the in
tegrity of HIS character. and I was
talking with her in the hall one day
that was all, just talking in the hall
and two weeks after 1 was sent to the
principal and expelled. I don't know
why-unless it was for talking TO this
girl, and she was expelled. too"
Jim Crowhurst has been 'pinched."
too, Just once he hazards.
laugh incredulously, for know
better and Jim CIowhurst knows I
know.
He laughs. too. not mirthfully. for
this sort of boy has no mirth.
And another time-about that dia-
mond ring"
(which diamond ringT
Mrs. Mannings.
What about it?"
81 took tan got pinched."