Albuquerque evening citizen., 1907-04-13

money from the safe of the large
, stores and factories as 1t was to rob
the fruit stand and of course it paid
much better. Some times we would
get several hundred dollars in one
such haul and | have succeeded in
getting three such Jobs off in one
day and that though only boy of
i5 years And right here let me say
, that a certain famous jurist who was
born in the same tenement in which
, | was born received his education and
opportunity i'm life as result of
> money given by myself and accom-
pnces TO his hard working and hon
> est mother
Stole 10000 Francs In Paris
LAS a result of my success i'm graft
| attracted the attention of some of
I the noted crooks of the day and they
took me in hand and finished my edu-
cation as Il crook. one of these
1 crooks was Red Nose Barney, who
4 touched the Emperor Dom Pedro of
: | Brazil ON his visit to this country in
$ 1873. Barney caught the emperor as
s he was leaving the Fifth Avenue no.
4 tel, escorted by Mayor A. Oaky Hall
. and Senator Francis kernan and very
d smoothly relieved His Majesty of a
e valuable and beautiful watch. This
e was done by Barney to make good
: a boast he had made in the presence
4 of "A number of local politicians and,
lldNlIlB SnoNl MS skill ana nerve ne
. | found means of returning the watch.
4 I'm company with Barney, Little joe
l Reilly ana Leg Kentuck' (Sam Nc
i Clure), | visited Europe in 1875 and
X for n while we did n profitable busi-
ness, but in working off some forged
letters of credit we were all arrested
- in smyrna, Turkey. and received three
=. years in a Turkish prison. If | had
;, been compelled to serve those thre"
lyears, / would not now be sitting
q here, sir. We were soon relieved from
u the horrors of Turkish justice by some
: judicial bribery. We made our way
a back to England. civilization and safe
3 graft, and under the loose methods
q of doing business in that country we
were successful for more than a
: year"
q THE Kid" drank another cup of
IL coffee and continued his story. THE
). biggest trick we ever turned was in
Paris. There were three of us in the
job. one of them noted Russian
- crook whose ancestors had been
!, crooks for generations. My partner
20 and the Russian stood there in front
!, the bank counter and engaged the
- attention of the clerks while L sneak
ed back, walked along behind the
10 backs of eight clerks and swept S0,-
"a 600 francs into an alpaca sack and
y got safely off with it, We three met
:, in a cafe to divide the money and
lut INuSSldD, WITH look Oh ueeDpSL
admiration, arose and bowed pro-
- foundly to me and said i'm his broken
=, English:
- - "'Oh. you superb Americans,
salute you, my superiors. No Euro
10 pean could have done that. No one
~ ~ but an American
III THE Russian took his share of the
7 booty and went home to Russia and
., used it to secure the release of his
brother, who was serving life sent
SO ence. / met them both in London
ot afterward.
II Five Years i'm Sing Sing.
arl After our return to America the
k demon of bad luck seemed to camp
g. upon our trail and in less than one
lg year we were all in Sing Sing on
N different charges. 1t was while doing
five years in that famous old prison
s, that became a great reader of
books. Before this 1 had acquired a
g. pert acquaintance with the seamy
"a side of life and with the world OF
in graft In reading the works of the
ar great masters of English literature !
realized for the first time that my
life was all a mistake.
rt THE first book | ever read was
I Charles Reade's Love Me Little
,e Love Me Long | was never in
rs school a day in my life, but l was a
smart kid, away above the average in
10 intelligence, and l learned to read
some way. AS long ago as | can re.
Il member l could read SO when they
Mt sent me to Sing Sing l read my frs
er book, and in it was a character. David
; Dodd, sailor, who was so simple and
IN noble and honest that / fell in love
st with him. 1t was a revelation tC
e me. | said to myself
,d IF there's such men as that in
er the world then l must be damned
ne rat, and right there 1 resolved to live
honestly when l went out 1 read
all of Reade's books and many more
read Spinozas philosophy and the
-u works of John Locke, and then | de.
d cided that I'd be "a lawyer and / read
III Blackstone and Priestly and Alexan-
q Ger Cooke and Lord Ellenbourgh."
- And did you practice law wher
= you came out?"
~, mo. | found that | was filled uI
with the literature of law without
ei any technical knowledge of it. But
~ | stuck TO my resolution to be hon.
III est. When / was released / returned
az to New York City and declared my.
~ self to all my old companions, and
rs Is let me say here that everyone OF
81 them encouraged me. Now began q
tiss' struggle for an honest livelihood that
=, though on the whole has been a fail.
"a "a ure, l have never entirely abandoned
Se and l am now once more fresh from
"a a five years term of Imprisonment
- | making the same Ola HRnt,
10 Why lie Could Not Reform.
i iS You didn't stick to your good reso.
III luton, them"
"a Il coludn't. Nobody would employ
III me. l am not strong enough to work
ne with pick and shoyel-no one viii
N, hire me for that. And so | came
a. to want and had to apply to crook:
s fer aid and soon l was back at the
a. a. old work, and soon l fell again anC
~ served year in Joliet and then thi!
a. five years in Kentucky"
~ What do you propose to do now?'
20 Il want some simple job that will
~, earn me enough to buy three meals
80 day and pay for a room in which Il
~ sleep and to buy the cheap books
~ love 10 read. That is all / wish ant
az all | ask. All my passions are burn
- ed out My Vanities have been crush
81 ed so often that | know well my owl
n insigniticance. l have no delusion
u about myself. All of life's prizes haV
b passed me by; l am a wreck, strand
a ed upon the shore. l ask simply t
n be left there TO lie where | may bas
81 few years in the sun and wher
n natures flowers may grow up aroun
81 me. | never want to steal a penn
III again, | want, / earnestly desire {
be honest. If l can only get worl
and be honest I'll be willing TO stan
up and let the whole world jeer an
Jibe at me and shout convict at IN