The Harlowton news., 1912-12-13
COUNCILMAN A
FORMER CONVICT
Reform Politician Of PhiIadeI-
phIa Con1esses,

IS A MODERN JEAN vALJEAM.
Fellow Convict Discovers Former Pal
and Lsviss lackmail-Reformed Man
Had Led = convict's Life For Eight
Ysars-Mayor Blankenburg Would
Give Him Now Chance.
Victor Hugos Jean Vatican, the ro-
mantle and appealing reformed convict
OF LES Miserables" has counterpart
in real life. Confessing that he was q
former convict burglar, a yeggman
and porch climber. William Burke a
member Of common councils OF Phlla-
deIpha, has rendered his resignation
and fed the city Burke was elected
to councils last fall on the reform ticket
by large majority.
Soon after taking his seat in coun-
ellis, Burke says, he met a fellow convict
| who had served sentence in the Mas
sachusetts state Jail while he was a,
prisoner there and who had been Inn
plicated with him in various robberies.
Burke says that the ex-convict, now
aged and penniless, recognized him and
| since that time has been persistently
levying blackmail under threat Of ex-
posure. The fear that his past record
1 would be eventually revealed led Burke
/ to give up his position in councils and
leave the city in order to make new
start in life sl"
Started as "Gopher."
Burke said in his published story
that he could not recall how he started
in life. A street waif on the east side
of New York, he began to exc out an
uncertain existence by selling newspa-
pers. 1t was while he was hanging
around the corners" Of the east side
that he began the life Of crook.
Gopher men, the species Of crooks
who contine themselves to cracking and
robbing safes, were the first Of the un-
derworld he fell in with. They used
him, 50 his strange story runs. to visit
establishments where they thought a
safe might be worth rifing. He spot
ted" many such an establishment for
them, his boyish plea that he was look
Ing for work giving him the means to
find out the location Of the safe. lie
received a share Of the plunder.
J Then he drifted in with a gang OF
'.moll buzzers," that class of thieves
which bears title bestowed upon It
; by the parlance OF crooks even farther
n y back than the Elizabethan days.
! Burke goes on to tell how he was
sent to Blackwell's island at different
times. OF "yegging" in the west, o1
t gambling 'just as all those fellows
& who have figured in the Rosentha
case have done"-gambling, winning
T and losing. From gambling he drifte6
G into sneak work and then into bigger
"jobs," which he pulled off, mostly II
New York.
In the second chapter the reform
n councilman says:
: IT played the game In Boston TO
= three years before / began to hit tn
/. DOPE That was my finish. I used t.
~ keep In touch with the crooks VIII
: blew into town from New York or 9th
y er places. used to drop IN at tn
places where they hung out. | neye
" told them was working. let then
- think that was living straight. May
II be they thought l was going it alone
e, but / never let them get anything O
in me. was then stalling under tn
name Of Mccarthy. The crooks kne7
80 me as New York Slim
H. "One Of the crooks fell in with,
ir New York con man. was hop hent
We got pretty friendly, and he starte
a- me smoking hop. That has put nor
IT. than one crook down and out, and
re started me to the pen. Once you stal
hitting the hop you have no nerve III
y less you've got it in you, and whe
lv you've got it in you you have
brains -..-G
Abandoned Crime.
r His term in prison, he said, destro
ed his criminal instinct. and upon D
= ing released he returned to New 1o1
and obtained employment in tt
ch stores. In May, 1904, discarding q
al. his old associates, he went to Phil
no delphia and took the name Of w
.ro liam Burke. He had learned the trat
a Of hardwood f1nisher while In prise
,at and found employment in the furr
ture factories. Later. having sav'
ON some money. he opened cigar sto1
- Last year he was named as cant
date for common council. receiving t
w. keystone and Democratic nomin
,,a ion. He stumped with the Blanke
I 'a5 burg party and appealed particular
M ;-,a 70 the labor vote. He was elected
an the common council from the Thirt
~ third ward by a majority OF L.
~. votes.
Mayor Blankenburg leads mo1
-. ment to turn back the resignation
Councilman Burke. While stati
that the acceDtance of the reS1gn1t1