The New York herald., 1922-03-12
FREES BOYS TO LIVE
AS LINCOLN WOULD
Judge Merciful to Gang Who
Memorize Gettysburg
Address.

and that government OF
the people. by the people and Tor the
people shall not perish from the earth'
John Hallimiak, who Is IA ana ac-
counted a bad boy by property owners,
looked Recorder William J. Barbour OF
Clifton. N. j., straight in the eye and
finished Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
in voice strong and clear and as Iuil
Of authority as a top sergeant's. The
Recorder had been listening graveiy ano
at the end he smiled. John grinneu
back. He knew he had won
John is the leader of a gang OF boys
who live near the railroad tracks In
Clifton. Their parents both fathers
and mothers, work hard and long. ana
when the boys are not in school II was
charged they passed their time catcnins
rides on Lackawanna trains, preaKins
windows stealing little things and DO
ing a great deal of wanton destruction.
Recorder Barbour happened to be think
Ing of Lincoln when they were taken
before him a month ago. So he SEN
fenced John to memorize the Gettys-
burg Address and told the other poys
it might be a good idea II they would
be able to answer q few questions ABOUT
Lincoln. And there was something omi-
nous in the way he said 1t.
When John came into court yester-
day morning with his gang II was
easy to see the. were ready Tor trouble.
John was not nervous-at least, not 80
anybody could notice it-but the others
were plainly fidgety There were
Michael Gabotesk. IL; John salernik'
10; Anthony Kulick. Q, and Stephen
Sazeck, II. All Of them have got OF
to a bad start in life because they
have taken more pride in making
high score throwing at windows OF
passing Lackawanna trains than In
studying or attending to business.
There was an indication right at the
beginning Of the hearing that the He-
corder was weakening a little. He de-
cided not to hold the test in open court
and asked the boys into his office.
But anybody who saw John come
through with the Gettysburg Address
would swear he could recite ii just
as well in Carnegie Hall as in Judges
Office. He stumbled ever so slightly
| on one proposition, and the youths. who
| were following him closely, guiped hard
and looked at each other, but John
caught himself and pulled through to
| the end.
| Then the Recorder and the boys
! talked for some time. Although the
other boys were not supposed to know
all the speech, Anthony Kulick, show
: ing a foresight that led court attend
ants to predict a brilliant future for
| him. had learned it anyhow and in
sisted on saying it. Recorder Barbour
stopped him when he had got as far
as 1.-The world will little note. nor long
remember what we say here"
| The Recorder and the boys went over
| the most important points of Lincoln s
| life. Answering his questions, they told
of how Lincoln had been born in a log
cabin, of poor parents and how he had
| studied by the light of a candle until
late at night.
And he got the idea," said Michael
| Gaboteski, 1T would be a good thing II
| the slaves were set free. He saw n
slave being handled bad once and II
made him sore. He didn't amount to
anything then, but long time after
| that, about the time of the civil war
| ne managed to set 'em free.
He was a big man." added John Sa-
lernik, about seven feet high. He had
| big mole on one side of his face, and
people used to make fun of him because
he was so awkward and ugly. He wore
1 funny clothes, too. But before he died
people had got so they didn't make fun
of him. Not bit of 1t. They all loved
| him."
| Then the question came up of what
| Lincoln would do II he lived in a little
cottage by the side of the Lackawanna
| tracks in Clifton. They decided. the
Recorder and the boys. that Lincoln
might have a lot OF fun. but that he
would not take pot shots at passengers,
or steal things. or hop train- or do