I acknowledge that lam a big villain, and I deserve to be here. I broke into a house and helped myself to a fine lot of silver, but I got drunk one day, and told of the robbery, and they just nabbed me, and put me here for ten years. But never mind, I '11 be a good blacksmith when I get out," There was one other, whose term of imprisonment would expire in a few weeks, and to whom I merely remarked, that I should like to see him after his liberation, gave him my address, and said no more. A very short time after this private interview, Mr. Lincoln, the warden of the prison, was murdered by a convict in the workshop-, where our young forger was employed, who was an eyewitness to the assault.
One day a gentleman called on me, neatly clothed in a handsome suit of black, with white gloves, gold watch elaborately chained, and making a very polite bow, " How do you do, sir? perhaps you don 't recognize me; you remember your class at the prison." I immediately recollected that fine countenance, took him by the hand, and enquired how it was that he was at liberty. He replied that he had been pardoned in order that he might give testimony against the murderer of the warden. Our interview was short at this time, but he called on me again, saying, that when the trial was over, he was going home, and hoped to pass the remainder of his life in an honest endeavor to get a good living, also to regain a respectable standing in society.
But alas! how frail is man, and how weak are resolutions when made in our own strength. It was only a short time after this interview, that I read the arrest of this innocent young man for a larceny, that would, without any doubt, send him back to his old quarters, where he might have the pleasure of putting on his uniform and sitting again beside his old friend, the red haired burglar. According to appointment, tl e young man who was to" be* liberated in a few weeks, came to my house, and then informed me that he belonged to New Bedford, and would like to go home; but had neither money nor clothing. I supplied him with a suit of clothes, and gave him five dollars to bear his expenses, and for which he seemed very grateful.
Not many days after his departure, I received a letter from him, in which he said he was so persecuted by his old acquaintances, on account of having been in the State Prison, that it was impossible for him to remain there, and should return to Boston, which he did, and came to me for advice and assistance. He said that he had worked a few years in a cabinet maker's shop, at the prison, and thought that he understood the business well enough to work at it for a living. Accordingly, with the assistance of two others, we procured him a situation in a cabinet maker's shop; procured him several jobs, such as making work-tables, and benches for some benevolent ladies, who were willing to pay him a generous price for the articles.
He had not been many days in the shop, when the workmen began to miss their tools. At length the young man was suspected as being the thief, was accordingly watched, and caught in the act of pocketing a nice gauge; he escaped from the shop, and from the young man who detected him. Complaint was immediately made to the police officer, who ascertained his boarding-place, which was in Broad street, near the old Custom House. The officer was on the lookout for him, when by-and-by the gentleman came along, and the policeman made an attempt to nab him. The fellow sprang from his grasp, ran to the wharf and jumped overboard. But unfortunately for him it was nearly low water, and there he was nearly up to his arms in mud, " steadfast and immovable." After a great deal of trouble in getting boards and ropes, and amidst the jeers of a crowd of Irishmen, he was hauled out. rinsed off, and carried to jail.
By some means he had got hold of a miserable tool of a lawyer, who had been made acquainted with the true character of the fellow, and his dastardly treatment of those who had so kindly loaned him shop-room and tools; for on searching his trunks, over twenty dollars worth of stolen property was found. This pettifogger knew all this, and vet was trying to get him clear! lie came to me to know if 1 would use my influence in behalf of the prisoner. " O, yes, you shall have all my influence to get him back to the State Prison, where all such fellows ought to be, during their natural lives." He was sent to the House of Correction for one year, and I never saw him again.