The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-08-11
HART is AGAIN IN TOLLS
HE WAS RECENTLY PARDONED
FROM THE PENITENTIARY.
Is a Notorious Burglar, and Has
Served Many Terms in Many
of the State Prisons

of the State Prisons.
j. w. Hart, the aged and pictur-
esque convict who was pardoned out
of the Georgia penitentiary by for
mer Governor Smith just before the
latter went out of Office, was arrest
ed this week in Jacksonville as a
suspicious character and is now being
held there.
Hart is eighty-One years old, and
has had a checkered career. He is
an unusually intelligent man, and
has seen much of the world during
his long life, and according to the
newspapers the inside of as many
jails as the next man. 1t will be re-
membered that while confined at the
state prison farm at Milledgeville he
wrote numerous letters to the prison
commissioners and the governor beg
ging for a pardon, one of his APP
peals taking the form of a lengthy
poem, which was copied in a great
many papers throughout the state.
Hart, soon after being pardOned by
Governor Smith, made his way to
Macon, where he stated he wanted to
get assistance to enable him to reach |
a sailors home, located somewhere
in the north, where he said he would !
have a home as long as he lived.
OF his arrest in Jacksonville the |
Times Union says:
J. W. Hart, white man eighty |
one years of age, who has many /
aliases, is locked up at police head !
quarters, and on the blotter he is
charged with being a suspicious char /.
acter. Hart was arrested yesterday
afternoon by Chief of Police Vinzant. |
There is probably no better known |
man in the southern criminal history
than Hart. He has served many of
his years in the prisons of the south |
ern states, and he is regarded today
by the shrewdest of detectives as one
of the slickest burglars that ever OPP |
Grated in a southern city.
No one in the south knows Hart
better than does Chief Vinzant, the
efficient leader of the Jacksonville
police department. 1t was just about
sixteen years ago that Chief Vinzant,
then marshal of this city, arrested
Hart for burglary.
Robbed Barnett Home.
Sixteen years ago there was an
epidemic of burglaries, and the po
lice were completely baffled. The !
residence Of B. H. Barnett was rob- |
bed and a quantity of silverware was |
stolen.
Chief Vinzant, then a marshal |
worked on the case and secured evil |
dence to warrant the arrest of Hart, !
who had then just come to this city !
from New York Hart was arrested !
and it was later discovered that he !
had robbed the home of Dr.. J. C. |
L'Engle, and Chief Vinzant recovered !
a large amount of silYerware stolen |
from the L'Engle home.
Hart, then known as one Of the |
boldest burglars that ever worked in !
the southern states, was tried and
sentenced to serve two years in the
Florida convict camp.
Ie~~~ Was Given Pardon.
This man is smart, in fact; he is
unusually bright, and his letter writ |
ing has saved him from spending |
many years in stripes. Shortly after |
he was sent up from this city he !
wrote a beautiful, pleading letter to !
the governor and asked forgiveness
and promised to leave the city fer |
good if he could only secure a PAL
don
p The pardon was granted, and the
burglar, for that is what he was,
moved to Key West. He was in the
Island City but a short while when
he was caught in the act of burglar
iZing a residence. He was found to
be a bad character by the authori-
ties of that city, and when he was
tried he was sentenced to serve
twenty years in the convict camps,
The burglar was sent off to the
camps, and again his clever writing
of pathetic letters secured for him
pardon. At this time he was giving
Jacksonville wide berth, as he
knew that Chief Vinzant was on to
his game.