Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-08-16
JEAN VALJEAN OF
REAL LIFE RESIGNS
Hounded by Blackmailer, Phil
adeIphia Councilman Tells
Amazing Life-Story.

t(U4tAnAhtu HtOA o8tst
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caught and convicted. Judge Bond
sentenced him on December 16, 1896.
to not less than seven years. Upon
his release he settled in the north
eastern section of this city. where
he worked at his newly-learned
trade and. saved enough money to
buy a little cigar store. He married
and has one child. a little girl.
Burke insists he has done nothing
wrong since the gates of Charles
town swung open for him and he
stepped into the world a free man.
In speaking of his experiences with
the man who blackmailed him, Burke
said:
ut was not long after / became
a Common Councilman that ! met a
certain mar on the corner of Sixth
and Race streets. This man has
been a crook all his life. He is an
old man now, down and out. and a
confirmed hop fiend.' The best he
can do is to pull off a small job.
well, the result was that he started
to borrow money from me and the
more he borrowed the more he want
ed. He had 'paled' with me and had
done time with me at Charleston.
He knew my record and he made no
bones about rubbing it in on me
that he knew enough to break me. 1
continued to give him hush money. l
thought of my wife and, child and I
thought of the plans l had made. 1
didn't want to lose out. l gave the
man every dollar I could raise or
scrape together during the last six
months. | gave him as much as 800
at a time. Finally | told him | coufd
not get any more, that he ought to
lay down on the job, for / couldn't
get any more.
when ! told him | had given him
all the money I had said. There's
money in it. If you don't come across
again l will take your record to the
newspapers and sell 1t. 1t would
make mighty interesting reading L
tried to reason with hirn. I pleaded
with him that he shouldn't try to get
a fellow who was trying to do right,
when the world vas full of suckers
waiting TO he bled, and | did my best
to explain my position to him.
1T was useless to tell him that L
had reached my limit. Hop had him
and he was too old and broken down
a crook to care about me or anything
else. | told him hat the job I held
in councils was an honorary one, and
didn't pay me anything. 1 told him
l was trying to earn an honest liv-
ing for myself and my wife and child.
I might as we'll have talked to q
stone.
You'll come across he said, or
I'll give you up
For six months l suffered from
the pain of uncertainty. / would lay
awake at nights and worry about it.
l was bound that l wouldn't turn
crooked again. I had been happy
before this old pal of mine had gotten
wind of me. I had often wondered
tina 1t hadn't happened before. Even
when was stamping around the city.
during election times last year / half
expected to be recognized and turned
up
We'll, when ! reached the end of
rope with this man I came to rhe
conclusion that if anyone was to
tell h story of my past record I
would be the one. 70 any one was to
'squeal' l would do the s~quealing
is why have made up my mind
to tell the whole truth and shake this
off for good and all.
81 know now that / made a big
mistake in trying to hide my record
in the first place. The only chance
for a man with a record like mine is
TO fight in the open. | am going %
that after this. l am going 20
lead an honest and a decent life and
| only wonder If there are men who
will trust me and give me work and
give me a chance to do right.
"C~harlestown took all of the old
game out of me. l do not say that u
wasn't my fault that l was a crook,
but / started as a boy among<thievcs
in New York and a thief's life didn't
appear to me as it does now. 1t was
the thinking L did at CharlestoWu
taught me that l was wrong and
if I didn't want to die a hon
fend in the gutter I had better cut
It out, and / did cut it out; and what
Is the result?
Here l am with all my plans
ruined. | am not crying or kicking
about It. ! am simply telling the
ruth, h real truth and the whole
truth, before the man who has tried
o pull me down again gets a chance
10 loosen up on my past record. All
/ ask is fair play, and in relating my
story l do hope that ] will be eiver
another chance. Certainly no one viii
ever again be able to cause me the
agony Of uncertainty and worriment
that ! have had to put up with during
The last six months. / am fighting
n the open now. J have sem nv wife
and children away from the city. NV
cigar store is gone. / have no money
eft, but I am going to keep up the
tight and remain straight the rest CT
my life.
You ask why I haven't had the
a who has threatened me with
blackmail arrested. That would only
nave meant everybody getting wise to
my record anyhow. I have never had
a man arrested in my life and / nev
intend to-" !.
BOSTON, Aug. 16.-Benjamin J.
Trip, who, under the name of Will
lam Burke. was elected to the Phila-
delphia City Council only to resign
when blackmailed by ex-conviets.
served a sentence in the State prison
at Charlestown.
General BENJAMIN p. Rridpas war