The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-18
TRAMP TALKS

| when I tell you that I am arrested
/ ten times year, you needn't write me
down as stepped with crime said the
Dflapidated Gentleman, as he consent
ed to talk. There are two sorts of
officers of the law who must make
their fees off of tramps or get none at
ALL / refer to the constables and the
] justices of country villages. They are
on the lookout for my kind from one
] years end to another, and it is not
| once in fifty times they have a good
| case. That is nothing to them, how
ever. Their fees are just the same
whether there is a conviction or not.
| Three years ago, out in Illinois. 1
hired to a farmer for a month. He
needed the help and 1 needed the
money. I had put in a week with him,
and everything was going along
smoothly, when the inevitable con-
stable showed up from the village
question me I knew that it was the
prelude to arrest. If 1 had been on
| the road L wouldn't have cared, but
| the farmers work was behind and we
were hustling. 1 answered the officers
questions respectfully and truthfully.
l had simply been making a tour Of
the state and stopping here and there
to work
Don't talk to mel! shouted the
constable, after I had answered a
dozen questions. You have got a
guilty look about you. I believe you
are a fugitive from justice. Your de-
Scr1pt1On answers that OF a tramp VINO
committed a murder in Indiana three
months ago. You'll have to come
along with me-
What followed was laughable. L
don't think 1 looked desperate, and
certainly didn't try to run away. New
ertheless, the constable handcuffed
me, shackled me and then tied rope
around my waist after l was in his
for getting up a circus. He felt him
self a bigger man than the president
of the United States On the way over
to the village he tried to get me to
bathad my hands in any ones blood,
I refused to charge myself with
slaughter. I did make up my mind,
though, to get even with him for his
eral hints calculated to bake him sit
up and take notice, and I soon found
that his curiosity was aroused.
"When we reached the village
minutes. 1 was regarded as despera-
do, and the conceited ass of a constable
was in his glory. He had talk with
the justice of the peace, who was ready
to arraign me, but instead of being ar
raigned 1 was sent over to the Jail to
pass the night. A lawyer would have
had me out in ten minutes. Had been
arraigned they would have been obliged
to discharge me for want of evidence
of any sort. AS I was working then,
they could not have convicted me of
being a tramp. Inc nrSI 1Qea was 10
arrest, arraign and discharge me for
the fees to be made, but my hints to
the constable had changed the pro-
gramme. After an hour or two he Wis
tied me in jail and saw that 1 had
good supper, and was then ready to
listen to my story.
II had been working my head. I be-
gan by telling the man that it was
case of conscience, and could carry
the burden no longer. As matter OF
fact, at Joplin, Mo-, few weeks be-
fore 1 had worked around the grounds
the constable that While thus employed
had discovered a buried treasure at
the roots of an apple tree. In a brass
bound box was $4,000 in gold and at
least $4,000 worth of diamonds. The
widow had concealed the box there for
fear of robbers. 1 stole it and fed and, |
travelling by night only, had come thus
far. The jackass gulped the story down. |
OF course, he wanted to know what had |
become of the box of treasure, and of |
about it. He coaxed and urged and |
but 1 was firm
After a day the constable let the |
justice into the secret, and the latter |
tried his powers of persuasion. Before |
he finished he offered to pay my fare
500 in cash. Then the sheriff was let |
In. There were three sworn officers of |
the law making all sorts of promises to |
a self-confessed robber to get him to |
cough up his plumber so that they |
could share it between them was
would be sent to prison on some sort |
Of charge. 1 was offered 5000 in cash. 7 |
was fed and petted. 1 didn't weaken
too soon. 1 was five days about it.
Between the village and the farm