The Washington herald., 1913-12-21

SLdleS.
"Of course there Is a mob OF newspaper
men, and of course 1 am pictured anC
described as a villain and all that 'Oui
reporter may not even get in to see me
but that makes no difference with his
writing two or three columns about the
AFFAIR and giving my personal descrip'
ton. People are let in to gaze on q
wild beast. Not a man has the slightest
doubt that I am guilty.
IF l have been captured for a mur-
der outside the county am taken
away after three or four days. If it IL
in the county am kept in Jail until the
examination comes OF. In either event
1 live like a fighting cock. The officials
all defer to me. 1 get extras with my
meals for being a murderer. I get
cigars for being a hero. Ministers cal
to see me, and now and then a bouquet
comes in. l am informed by the detec-
tives and others that they have got a
straight case against me and then advised
to own up and throw ryself on the mercy
of the court. That's where the laugh
comes in.
N the course of a week one of two
things is sure to happen. The officers
either get the right clew and / am set
free, or I am arraiSned for examination.
In the former case the sheriff comes "a
my cell and calls out:
Here. you miserable old tramp. get
out of this,''
What for?"
Because say so! You are discharged
from custody. Why in the devil didn't
you say you weren't guilty.
But l did"
"a Don't lie to me! Get out of this Jail.
People are calling me the biggest ass in
the State. Get hump on yourselfT
~ fp-.
where had lain for a week under charge
OF a double-murder. the sheriff kicked
me as l left the jail. l went straight
TO lawyer and had him arrested for
assault and battery, and he settled the
case by handing me $S5.
If ! am arraigned l am given a law
y-r. It's dead easy for him to show ex-
actly where 1 was at the date, or rather
where 1 wasn't. On one occasion was
at work in the bayfield, sixty miles from
the spot On another / was chopping
wood for farmer several miles distant
am set at liberty, but grudgingly. The
public had it's mind made up that was
guilty and should be hanged, and it's a
disappointment to all.
Let me tell you that the dilapidated
gentleman reasoned things out long ago
de is no more a criminal by instinct
than any other man. He doesn't want
to lose his life or liberty. He is not
greedy for gain. Not a tramp in ten
would quit the road il he got a legacy of
$500. Give him sufficient for today and
the morrow may go hang. He may hit
oack II you hit him, but he has no cause
to want to murder any one. He may
steal 10 assuage hunger, but not for
profit. Now and then you hear of some
tramp robbing a farmhouse. He is
either drunk or a fool No pawnbroker
Will take anything from him, because he
is tramp. No person will buy any Of
his plunder for fear of being compro-
missed. The tramp with sense in his head
knows this, and IL a dozen farmhouses
were open to him there would be no
temptation.
Suppose that a tramp stole $25 in cash
from a house. If he struck a town and
went to buy suit of clothes he'd be
suspected. II he even bought a new hat
or new pair of shoes it might be made
the grounds for his arrest How would
IL profit him, then, to take the money?
L have worked for a farmer for six
weeks on a stretch and taken the road
with $50 in my pocket. have been ar
rested day later and had to send for
him to prove that I wasn't a thief. II I
had so bill in my pocket I might walk
200 miles and not find anybody to change
it for me. / once found a $50 bill on the
streets of a town. I carried that bill
with me for four months, and then at
last gave a tin peddler 81 premium to
change it. He felt sure that 1 had
stolen it, but decided to take chances.
You see that a horse has been stolen
and tramp is suspected. Bosh! Where
would he go with it? Whom could he
sell it to? You see that a country store
has been robbed. 1t was tramps that
did it. Bosh! What could they do with
their plunder? A postoffice is entered
and the safe blown open. Tramps some
more. Bosh! When you find a tramp
that can blow a safe you may look for
COWS with wings. The door Of that post-
office might be left wide open every
night in the year and he would pass on.
Three years ago in Connecticut 4
farmers barn was robbed of fifty bushels
of oats one night His own bags were
Used to sack them up. The team used
% draw them away was followed for
six miles. I was within ten miles of the
ute of the robbery that night, and next
lay 1 was arrested as the robber. was
held in jail for a week before being ex-
lnlined, to allow of the sheriff work.
ng up the case, but when things. finally
anne to head you ought to have heard
he Justice score him. He was a man of
sense, he was, and he, made the shireff
tut a horn-fool within ten minutes If
stole the oats must have stolen a
cam to draw them away. Who had
ost a team? 1t would have taken two
men to sack and load the oats. Where
vas the other mani"
''Oh, yes, there are events in the life
# every dilapidated gentleman on the
Dad, and the moral lesson to be drawn |
rom most Of them is in his favor He
ioes less lying than any salesman, less
stealing than confidential clerks, and, |
Is for immortality, your millionaire is
of it oftener than your tramp. |