Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-26

| the current of Niagara Is to try to
stop stealing.
| The penitentiary or insane asylum
| faces me for the rest of nv life 1
have frequently thought the question
over. Which is the worst? The ques-
ton still remains unanswered.
Il have left the conduct of my case
to my attorney, Campbell Darlington
Whatever fate has in store for me 1
will bear it patiently"
Thirty-Five Years Spent in Jails.
Jail. waiting to be hailed into court for
| trial. George o. Coburn, known to Jail
officials and the police as Andrew Lee,
| consented to tell something of the story
| of his life.
Fifty-two years old. and having spent
| about thirty-five years of his life in diff
| ferent prisons. the man-against whom a
| number of charges of burglary in this
city have been fields penitent but hope
less of reform. or Of his chances for par
| don.
| His life of dishonesty started when he
! was four years old, he narrates. He ap-
| prOpriated at that young age an mex
pensive paddock that did not belong to
| him. Later bright things attracted him
and caused him to yield to temptation.
From time to time he says, he strug-
| gled to give up his dishonest life. So
| deep-seated was his inclination to steal,
however, that he found it impossible to be
honest.
Other members of his family were SIM
| ilarly afflicted, he says. He is certain
| they were no more able to reform and
let property alone which did not belong
to him than he was
He is now brought to a realization that
there is not much I'm store for him in the
| future. that it s practically the spending
of the remaining years of his life in
prison or in an asylum.
His Long Prison Life.
MY right name.'' he says. lis George
| o. Coburn, 1 was born near Boston,
Mass, May 3, 1853. / have been sen
| fenced to imprisonment in reform schools,
| reformatories. warehouses, jails and pen
| itentiaries to serve forty-two years and
| one month, and have actually served
more than thirty-fve years, time having
been taken off for good conduct.
THE longest sentence / served was in
Philadelphia. There l was fifteen years
and six months in solitary confinement
without labor. That sentence ended Sep
TENDER II. 1908 / went thence to New
York. with firm determination not again
to Offend
Arriving in New York, Coburn says. he
went direct to Hope Hall, under the man
| agement of Mrs. Booth, in command of
| the Volunteers of America. a Salvation
Army organization. and saw Capt. Crow
| ley. Thirteen days later he was given a
letter to the head of the organization in
| Boston and went there to present it.
THE man to whom the letter was adj
dressed, said the prisoner, was not in.
1 went out on the street.
Before l had gone far / saw the open
door of a dwelling. Struggle as 1 did, L
could not restrain the impulse to enter
| that house. l entered and took gold
| thimble. Five minutes later 1 was con-
| science stricken and SO mortified I threw
away the thimble.'
How He Began to Steal.
Returning to his start on the down.
ward path. Coburn said he remembers
| by taking the lock. Soon after he would
take anything that was bright.
From bottle 1 would take a glass
| stopper. from a suit of clothes 1 would
take bright-colored buttons and from a
At first did not realize the Inconvenience
I was causing others. the loss of time to
| them or the gravity Of my offense.
when 1t dawned on me that / was
doing wrong 1 began to take things from
| strangers rather than from those who
were able to make me feel ashamed and
uncomfortable. There also came a con-
seriousness that 1 must be irresponsible
That became fixed idea with me-
When Coburn was nine years old, he
| says, his mother had him committed to
| the reform school for truancy. She had
| been unable to correct him. he says,
and she kept him from school, made
the truant officer believe it was his
own fault that he did not attend and
had him committed. She did 1t all for
save him from the disgrace the truth
would bring.
| Soon after he was admitted a num-
Der of petty thefts occurred at the re-
form school. Articles taken were found
secreted about the yard of the building.
Later he was detected and punished for
! the thefts.
Thieving Impulse Family Trait.
| Coburn's father died when he was
six weeks old. His mother was left
with six children to support. a seventh
one having run away. He had broth
ers who were much like himself There
was one, however, who was everything
son should have been. he said.
Coburn and one Of his brothers were ar
rested together and sentenced TO nine
|
| that they left prison determined to make
an honest livelihood They purchased a
number Of express teams, he says, and
started I'm business at Grove Hall, a sub
urb OF Boston, each declaring he would
be honest and that their business should
| be strictly legitimate.
| But before we had been in business n
week We began to rife all the trunks and
packages intrusted to us and to steal
merchandise belonging to business firms,
railroads and express companies" admits
/ Coburn.
After six months we had to sacrifice
our business to avoid detection.
My brother wanted to get married and
went into the business to see IL he could
not live straight. His struggles were of
no avail"
Tragedy Follows Brothers Marriage
The brothers discussed the possibility OF
marriage. George advised his brother not
to marry unless he could stop stealing.
'I told him." said George. ''if he could
not stop. he had better hurt his sweet
heart a little by leaving her than cause
her greater pain through arrest and i'm
prisonment.