The San Francisco call., 1913-08-24

| NEW YORK. Aug. e3-Had Al j. Jen-
15 years ago the clerks might have
ducked and the lobby suddenly emptied.
When he entered the Walcott one day
last week the manager received him
with outstretched hand. He felt that
II anybody got anybody else's money
1T would be he. and not Mr.. Jennings,
that would profit. You see, Mr.. Jen-
nings used to do a little in the line of
breaking into banks. holding up trains
and sort of general outlaw business.
That was out in Oklahoma. in the nine
ties. and since then Mr.. Jennings has
been putting in 10 years trying to show
| his neighbors that he could make good
as an upright citizen
The visitor, though In his f1ftieth
year, does not show q strand OF gray.
He is small, tanned and wiry. At pres
ent he is collaborating with Will Irwin
on a biography, and yesterday he would
say little about that-just enough to
whet the imagination He was willing
to talk about the fight he made last
fall In Oklahoma for the post of dis
trict attorney, and how, as he said, the
election had been stolen from him. He
says train robber Is far more hon.
est than the average politician.
Mr.. Jennings did not begin his career
by holding folks up with a gun. He
practiced law in much the usual way.
How he drifted into professional out
lawry he told yesterday.
THE murder of my brother at the
hands OF Jack Love and Temple Hous-
ton at Woodward, Okla. in 1895 started
me or" he said The men were ac-
quilted by the chicanery of tho court
and the prosecuting attorney. When
my brother was shot one bullet entered
the back of his head and the other
struck above his left ear. both ranging
forward.
AFTER BROTHERS sLAYERS
The proof against the two men was
positive. After the court failed to do
justice ! started out to get even on my
own account / never did. One OF the
two died in madl1ouse / threw up
every interest / had in the world and
determined to kill the men who had
slain my brother. Other circumstances
came up that threw me in with punches
| of outlaws. was sore on society and
i I drifted on until became a very OBJ
noxious person to the railroads and
the banks and express companies. This
kept up for about two years Well.
| finally. with the rest OF a bunch. was
captured and sent to prison for life.
but after Ave years was released
through the instrumentality of friends,
especially the late Senator Mark
Hanna I determined that / would go
back and try to retrieve the past, and
have fought honestly to do so. 1t
looks now as II I am about to succeed
in proving that man can go wrong
and by determined effort get back
again to where he formerly belonged.
Once people realize that man is hon-
est in his purpose, find. they are
generally willing to forgive and forget.
The exception is the average politician.
with whom train robber would not
associate.
Il made fight last fall against the
political ring of the state. The politi-
clans. the state. county and city ma
chimes fought me afterI had announced
from the platform that / had been a
train robber and a bank robber In the
early days of the territory. but that /
believed that after an. train robbing
was credftable compared with the
methods OF state, city and county of1i-
| Gals who broke their oaths and stole
1.-THE peoples money. In proof Of what