The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-25

asked for credit till he could pay. Grove
spoke to Mr.. Cudahy, who fatty refused.
1.-THE whole proposition made me an
gry," he says. II watched my chance and
slipped some meat off the hooks, wrapped
1t up and gave 1t to the man, with a
couple of dollars from my own pocket.
The inhuman policy aroused in me such
indignation that I felt justified in COM
hitting this, my first crime. Later in
the same day another customer came in,
buying $25 worth of stuff and paying
cash. 1 put s. in the drawer and $50 in
my own pocket. That was the first step
across the line for my own gain"
In 1889 he went to Chicago, intending
to go into business later in Iowa. He
fell in with bad companions, and woke
up in disorderly house, having been
robbed of all his money but 81. The pro-
prietor refused to pay back and he
"stuck up the house, robblng the in
mates of $1,000 worth of diamonds. At a
pawn brokers' he was met by the police.
He was captured after putting three men
temporarily out of business. He now had
, a name in the land as a handy man with
a gun. He served seventeen months for
1t, being pardoned by the governor. He
got a job-but the mark of the convict
was on him.
Career Well Started.
His career of crime was now well
started. In England he made a touch
and came to New Orleans to spend the
money. He broke Jail in Missouri, and
was arrested for train robbery. He was
innocent, but the Pinkertons had 1t in
for him for a former i'll turn done them.
He served three years. He found no
millionaires among $500 convicts in pris-
on. The injustice of his sentence, he
says, set him thinking.
Books were loaned to him in prison.
From them he learned OF Christ What
he learned about His teachings made
him give himself up last fall '"There
was no other reason" he says. 81 need
not have surrendered. But | was tired
of crime, and skulking and lodging
Could he have found way he would
have begun a new life on leaving Jeffer-
son City penitentiary. But no one would
trust him. Then he gave up and planned
kidnapping. A friend had told him of the
Charlie Ross abduction. He thought 1t
bungling job.
After telling of the abduction In detail,
which is an old story to the public,
Grove answers some of his critics, par
ticularly the story told of his exploit by
W. II. Hodge. writer for a magazine.
He denies the Tower train robbery and
tells of the five years as fugitive after
he had buried his share of the $4,000 re-
ward in South Omaha. He lived seven
-
st. Joe, was shot at, escaped and went
to Omaha after wandering about the
country On September g. 1906, he had
| arranged to surrender to the county
| sheriff.
| The police wanted to capture him be-
fore his surrender. Four officers in plain
! clothes. armed to the teeth, attempted
| to get him. They opened fire without
| speaking, and Grove returned it, shoot
| ing Albert Jackson in the leg and escap-
! ing in the confusion. He surrendered
| later at Butte. Mont, and was acquitted
of the shooting. Then he was returned to
| Jail, and four months later was placed
on trial for robbing Cudahy.
| The story of the trial takes up nearly
half of the book. The last chapters are
devoted to his address in the Broadway
| theatre. Butte March 20, this year, in
which he told of his intentions to start
life over again. Through the whole
| book runs the vein of discomfort with his
environment, banding it for his wrong
doing, and a vein of defense for himself,
which amounts to justification because
he a poor man. did no worse than the
trust magnates have done and who have
escaped unscathed.