The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-01


the crime it did not appeal 10 him as be-
ing wrong. But the law called it swim
uie, ana he has been in the penitentiary
Tor three years. The story he told that
ne had not intended to steal and that his
offense was due to force of habit so i'm
pressed the pardoning power under all the
circumstances that surrounded the trans
action that he was recommended for pa
role, but the parole was not issued be-
cause of the protest of the persons he de-
frauded.<
Scraggly Writing-Stealthy Crime
The pardon clerk chooses a letter from
a pile on his desk The handwriting is
irregular. the letters are poorly formed.
many words are misspelled, the letter ap-
parently has been written only with the
greatest labor.
Il can tell you at a glance the par
don clerk says, that this man did not
commit crime requiring great courage
or daring. The crime he has committed
required stealth: it was some sort of a
sneaking crime, where the personal risk
involved was not great"
The pardon clerk consuts the records.
Arson and larceny" the pardon clerk
says with some pride In his deduction,
and petty larceny at that. This is his
second term in a penitentiary. He served
time at jefferson City before he was
sent to Lansing. The crime of arson,
you see, means that he entered a building
at night and set the contents on fire, or
perhaps he did not enter the building at
all. The crime required cunning and
stealth, but no particular courage. No
body was in the building when he went to
set the fire. nobody so far as he knew,
and he probably took pains to investi-
gate was anywhere about He had no
fear of personal violence or attack; he
could set his fire and get away, in safety.
he fancied. 1t was job for weak man.
The handwriting of his type are almost
uniformly like that"
Here is an extract from the letter of the
convict who sets fire to houses and
stores, the spelling is his own:
II beg you to gieve me about five minuts
| of your time / Wish to explain my case
to you personey up to date all | have re-
eeived If the cold stoney stare in my ap-
peal for justice and my legal Wrights all
| ask is my legal Wrights | can show
you why I should have my libertey."
Highwayman's Confident Handwriting
Now, take the letters of the men who
are serving time at Lansing for MUIR
der,'' the pardon clerk continued. Here
is the letter of man who was sent up
from Atchison. With another man he
started out to hold up a jointlSeeper at
Atchison. 1t was a crime requiring dar-
ing; this man knew when he started out
to rob the jointkeeper that he was taking
long chances; jointkeepers are class OF
men who are used to shooting and fight
ing. and it takes nerve to perform high
way robbery. The result was as might
have been anticipated. The jointkeeper
resisted and began shooting; both the
robbers were wounded, but the jointkeep-
er was killed.
Now, notice the handwriting of this
Atchison holdup man; it is smooth, regu-
lar. confident; it looks like the handwrit-
ing of an educated man; the words arc
correctly spelled, the English is above
criticism, and 1t is a bold handwriting
The man who wrote 1t is unquestionably
above the average in intelligence Ii
simply confirms my theory that the men
who commit the most shocking crimes
are men of the strongest fiber, and that
there are degrees of qualifications In the
criminal as well as in legitimate life, and
that the man who commits the greater Of
fense against the law usually has the
greater qualifications. Notice the polite
ness of this murderer
Again the Bold Pen-A Forger
And the pardon clerk read from the let
ter of the Atchison highwayman to Gov
ernor Hodges:
Twill you kindly assist Mr.. Seaton In
looking UP the papers. I shall do myself
the honor Of calling on you If parolled.
Again thanking you, am,' etc.
This man." continued the pardon
clerk, has further demonstrated that he
| Is a man of more than usual fber-he has
been for many months trusty at the
prison. Many murderers have been made
| TRUSTEES there; large per cent, perhaps
are TRUSTEES than among any other class
of criminals.
In the pile of letters on the pardon
clerks desk was one from No. 1922. Ii
the opinion of the pardon clerk 1t was nc
surprise that this man was a forger; for
gers of course as a rule are good PEN
men, and No. 1922 is no exception. His
handwriting is such as to arrest atten.
| ton, and seems to contain evidence ol
character, If forgers may have character
1t is smooth running, bold-a forger mus'
have nerve If he goes into bank or q
store and presents a forged check; mo-
mentarily he is liable to arrest. So this
handwriting has character OF Its own
something to set It apart.
No. 24s6 Is an Englishman who was SEN
fenced from Cherokee county. No. 24St
has not committed an ordinary crime, ac'
cording to the handwriting. 1t Is beau
tiful backhand, the writing is almost as
fine as a woman's.
Writing Has a Confident Aim
And No. 24S6 Is an expert electrician and
is emplOyeu III lHc cdpuSity at thS PCAi-
tentiary. The sentence against him Il
ls years and the offense Is second degree
murder. No. PASS says he isn't guilty
but he served 80 months In the Missouri
penitentiary for robbing a postoffice-
again a crime requiring courage, for the
government never gets off the trail OF 9
man who robs q postoffice. although
others who are victims of such an offenss
may The robber understands this. =
Weak, Scraggly Writing
Here is another letter, the Handwriting
in which Is weak. 1t contains no char
acter, and while not many words are mis-
spelled, the writer has a weakness FOL
capitalizing words when capitals are no
needed. Here are half dozen capitals II
one line when none Is needed. The hand
writing Is of scraggly character, anf
the pardon clerk puts the letter down TO
what it is-the letter of a weak man. II,
has made no mistake. The writer i
Jerry Choteau, the creator of the Chotea,
relief fund at the penitentiary. Jerry 4
in the penitentiary for stealing horses
that is his besetting sin. He has stolel
Fmany horses. Now, the theft of horse
| is not 4 performance that requires per
sonal courage; 1t is a stealthy crime, tn
pardon clerk points out. The letter 1
rambling in Its language. disconnected
which to the pardon clerk means much
The Choteau letter is the only one so IA
that suggests a possible flaw In the lin
of reasoning of the pardon clerk; al
| though Jerry may be the weakest Of men
I