The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-10-01


country SAYS joseph TA7-1s 41
Hare. III lid confession. E---t -1
1915. short time before Le MA aa-=
ed
This was 40 i5le boast o. 1-s part
for III -Ee seven years Al 1-s ae-lFa
career 1.s -aEll=s amounted ~ more
than SI-H.50I--a vast sum II t19se
early days ot tie nineteenth cenTlrE.
and on which, considering tte great
er purchasing power 81 money At tAa.
time, would b. equal % co1l -1-i
million.
Compared 10 Hare, his eighteenth
century predecessors. tLe Deans aEl
James Fitzpatrick. become mere PET
~ thieves AM fade awaE inc insig'
nificance At a later date operations
Oh 50 large a scale were impossible.
because money was not carried ID
such large sums along he roads. az
least Of the Eastern United States.
His was the golden agP. ana the
pickings were spo1iing.y rlca.
In his first three months On the road
Hare and his TWO companions obtain
ed $4,000 and in another lWo
months, after that, they got together
some s27.000
Hare, single handed, robbed trav-
Ter near Princeton, y. j., OF s3u.1Do,
and in Canada, with the assistance
Of one other man, he held up gig to
the tune of $14,700; and in Ms final
robbery, the looting Of the North
Carolina mail near Havre de Grace,
the sum OF $4,000 was shared among
Hare and his companions.
Hares confession, which has re-
Gently been raked up out OF the
archives Of a historical society, IS as
much human document as the more
famous, though not more naive diaries
of Samuel Pepys. His was a simple,
child-like, open, frank ana, one
almost says, honest
He takes a pardonabie pride in his
exploits, goes prattling along about
them as innocently as a child, and
suddenly, time after time, he fetches
up with bump. He remembers the
gallows that awaits him and the part
he has undertaken to play-that OF
a repentant and pardoned sinner.
Then, in delicious unconscious humor,
he breaks out into the most conven-
honal expressions Of cant.
Let no person" he says, be IN
duced to turn highwayman by reading
mis- book and seeing the great sums
Of money which | have robbed, for 1t
Is a desperate life, full Of danger, and
sooner or later ends on the gallows.'
After, telling of his marriage TO a
young and innocent girl Of II: Il
wish" he adds. this book to serve
as a caution to the young girls who
read it, to be particular how they
choose a husband, and pray that some
good angel will tell them what road
their husband will be likely to travel.
His descriptions Of the white horse
which he declares once appeared TO
him while he was being pursued after
a robbery, and the vision which visit
ed him in prison, strike the most scep-
tical reader as mere flights OF fancy,
possibly "reminiscences OF early read
ings in Pilgrims Progress" But
bits of description, that OF the ROBBERY
in the canebrake on cloudy day, and
that of the cave on the night after
a robbery. ring Enthusiastically true.
Here, at least, he shows genuine feel
ing and some little power.
Joseph Thompson Hare was born
in Chester county, Pa. When he was
~1l NJ
leans. and started ir life by knocking
down and robbing people on the
streets OF that city. But such a very
retail business was not for him, and
with two friends he decided to go out
on the road. They bought three
frst-rate horses that were swift and
penteel" and started for Nashville.
Outside of Nashville they came on
four travellers in the midst of great
canebreak, so thick that one could
not see ten feet from the road. 1T
was a cloudy day and everything
looked very black and gloomy, and
the sound of the cane, though it did
not frighten me, made me feel very
strange and out of the way"
Because they had neglected to
naint their faces, Hare's companions
were in favor of killing all four OF
the travellers, but Hare finally per
shaded them not to do so. One OF
his men rifled the pockets and saddle
bags of these unfortunates while the
others kept them covered. Then they
were allowed to depart.
Hare and his men established them
selves in a cave near the ChickasaW
Bluffs, and having provided themsel
YES with a featherbed and COOKING
utensils they managed TO be very com