登陆注册
15314400000040

第40章

In the coal mines, as before stated, the convicts are permitted to converse with each other. I improved this opportunity of acquiring the histories of the five hundred criminals with whom I daily worked, eight hundred feet below the surface. I would talk with a fellow prisoner, and get the details of his crime as we sat together in the darkness. Understanding "short-hand," I would go to my cell in the evening and jot down what I had learned during the day. I had no fears of any one reading my notes, as I was the only short-hand writer about the institution. Day after day I kept this up, until I had material sufficient of this nature to fill a book of more than two thousand pages. My readers should also know, that a convict will tell a fellow-prisoner the details of his crime, when he would not think of saying a word about it to others. As a rule they deny their crimes to those who are not, like themselves, criminals, pleading innocence. It is not difficult for a prisoner to get the confidence of a fellow- prisoner. In fact, criminals love to unburden their minds to those who possess their confidence. The truth is, convicts have related their crimes so often to me that it became tiresome. They say it relieves them to communicate their troubles. Pinkerton, of Chicago, the prince of detectives stated at one time that a criminal could not keep his secret. It is true. I know it to be a fact. It has been demonstrated a hundred times in my association with these convicts in the Kansas penitentiary. Securing theirconfidence, these men have not only told me of the crimes for which they have been sent to prison, but also of crimes that they have committed, and, in the commission of which, they had not been detected, which, if I should make them known, would cause a number of them to remain in the penitentiary the rest of their lives. I am not in the detective business, and will therefore keep what was confided to me. I have met but few criminals in the mines that would not admit their guilt. I have thought in many cases, convicts received sentences too severe, and not at all commensurate with the crime committed. I have met a few men, however, who would stubbornly deny their guilt and stoutly affirm their innocence. I have worked upon these men day after day, and never got anything out of them but that they were innocent. At times, in tears, they would talk of their sufferings, and wonder if there was a just God silently permitting the innocent to suffer for the guilty. I am satisfied these men are innocent, and they have my sympathy. They are exceptions. Others, while admitting their guilt on general principles, and assenting to the justice of imprisonment, yet maintain that they were innocent of the particular crime for which they stand convicted. I trust the reader will not get his sympathies wrought too high, as comparatively few angels find their way into modern prisons. I will give you a few illustrations. These are just samples of scores of histories in my possession.

A hog-thief worked in the mines with me for a few days. His dose was five years at hard labor. He had stolen an old sandy female swine with six pigs. I asked him if he was really guilty of carrying on the pork business. "Yes," said he, with a low chuckle, "I have stolen pigs all my life, and my daddy and mammy before me were in the same business. I got caught. They never did." He then related the details of many thefts. He made a considerable amount of money in his wicked traffic, which he had squandered, and was now penniless. Money secured in a criminal manner never does the possessor any good. I asked him if he had enough of the hog business, and if it was his intention to quit it, and when he got out of the pen to earn an honest living. "No," he replied, "as long as there is a hog to steal and I am a free man, I propose to steal him." Imprisonment failed to reform this convict. Although a hog-thief he was an excellentsinger and a prominent member of the prison choir.

同类推荐
  • 略授三归五八戒并菩萨戒

    略授三归五八戒并菩萨戒

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 答陆澧

    答陆澧

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 宋四家词选目录序论

    宋四家词选目录序论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 书法雅言

    书法雅言

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 莲子居词话

    莲子居词话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 重生女王的极品宠夫

    重生女王的极品宠夫

    前一世,顾千漓带着满心的不甘死在了那个女人的手里,这一世,她傲世回归,只为自己而活,却遇到了另一个他。顾千漓:我已打算封闭我的心,可是我的心中又闯进了一个你。夜梓默:在你面前,我永远是一个小孩,我的温柔只限于你,我爱你。
  • 炉石之王

    炉石之王

    林木在炉石传说中战胜了一名难缠至极的对手后,忽然两眼一黑,发现自己竟到达了一个奇怪的地方。“什么?穿越?那边有电脑吗?”“没有。”“我可以拒绝吗...”“不行。”就这样,林木重生到了一片陌生的土地上。“什么?想要我这21世纪的三号好学生跟人贴脸对A?门都没有!”亡灵、精灵、天使、元素生物、恶魔甚至巨龙和古神,且看他如何运用这些形色的卡片,将整片大陆玩弄于股掌之间。
  • 穿越之春暖花开时

    穿越之春暖花开时

    我是一个26岁的年轻生命,但是我却忍受了4年病痛的折磨,最后还是没有摆脱命运的安排,以为自己即将灰飞烟灭,本想努力的看看记忆中的院子里盛开的春花,没有想到自己竟然重新获得了活着的机会,虽然在异世,但是也要活下去,这个是老天的安排。可是我能闯过老天给我出的一道道难关吗?路要怎么走?
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 闪婚专家:大boss太狡猾

    闪婚专家:大boss太狡猾

    一个叫许书茜的女孩,在上大三的途中,一天,她去上学的途中,一辆豪车刚好停在路边,里面坐着C市最有名的大老板——顾毅深,他不小心看到了她,嘴角轻轻勾起,只有27岁的他,家里只有他和仆人们·······一系列故事即将发生。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 爱萦绕心尖

    爱萦绕心尖

    一个冷酷有钱人家的公子哥,一个懂事能干的乖乖女,当真相浮出水面,她能否既往不咎,回归应有的生活,和他共度甜蜜时光……
  • 荒天帝

    荒天帝

    荒古大陆,谁主沉浮一代天骄,起于微末刀霸天下,败尽诸敌美人恩重,把酒夜谈
  • 寒心血王

    寒心血王

    当命运的齿轮开始转动,六个种族与身份截然不同的少女相聚在弗洛克海岸。一个又一个的谜团困扰着她们,一个又一个的考验等待着她们;新生的血族少女,又将担当什么角色?我不强大但我绝不放弃,终有一天我会成王。感谢阅文书评团提供书评支持
  • 蜕涩的男孩

    蜕涩的男孩

    一个男孩慢慢向男人蜕变的故事