Strong Endorsements

Sam'l H. Garvin.Physician to Jefferson County Jail.

Sam'l H. Garvin.

Physician to Jefferson County Jail.

Evangelist Herr's work commended by Minister.

[Louisville Evening Times]

Louisville, Ky., June 21, 1905.

Rev. Horace G. Ogden, D.D., Pastor Trinity M. E. Church, Louisville, Ky., says:

To Whom It May Concern:

I take pleasure in commending Mr. Geo. Herr to the esteem and confidence of the public. I have been placed where I have known intimately his work as Prison Evangelist in Jefferson County Jail—a place incomparable in my opinion for testing the character and power of a Christian worker. I can say he has made a superb record and been able by divine assistance to rescue many from the life of crime. He has taken an enlarged field of work because he has been convinced it was the call of the Highest, and I have every confidence in his increased usefulness. I cheerfully commend him and his work. His book is true and merits large circulation. Mr. Herr is a fine public speaker.

Sincerely,Horace G. Ogden.

Sincerely,

Horace G. Ogden.

The Rev. J. A. Holton, Chaplain Eddyville Penitentiary, commends Rev. Herr's work:

The Rev. George L. Herr, the well-known Louisville prison evangelist, conducted the chapel services at the Eddyville State penitentiary, Eddyville, Ky., on Sunday, February 16. Mr. Herr's address to the prisoners made a very decided impression upon the men. In a letter to Louisville, J. A. Holton, Chaplain of the penitentiary, writes of Mr. Herr's visit to Eddyville as follows:

"Brother Herr is a fluent and earnest talker and speaks from personal experience and observation with telling effect, timely words that tend to the betterment of his hearers. No one who is acquainted with his personal history and present effort in the cause of prison reform could doubt his sincerity. It is not a surprise, therefore, that from every sphere of his labor along the line of evangelistic work in the prisons of the land come unsolicited testimonials commending him and his work."—The Louisville Times.

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.—Ex. 20:1-2.

[The Louisville Herald]

For fifteen years Mr. Herr has carried the great truths to the outcasts, giving warning of the danger, and thousands have repented and have been rescued from lives of sin and shame and are now blessings to the community. Hundreds of thousands of tracts, sermons, books, papers, etc., have been distributed, the results of which can never be known.

"One of the saddest features of this work is that we are constantly beset by the sad-faced, grief-stricken, broken-hearted mothers and wives who have been so unfortunate as to lose their loved ones in sin," declared Rev. Herr. "They come to us and plead for us to help find the wanderer.

"The pitiful stories of disgrace, shame and disappointment that come from the broken hearts who are victims are beyond expression and almost enough to melt the heart of stone into a river of tears, and to stir us who hear them and see the helplessness of unfortunate ones.

"There never was a place where the gospel was needed more and where it would do more good, than in the prison houses of our beautiful land."

Open them mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.—Ps. 119:18.

"I am done with a life of thieving."—E. B.

Another of the days in jail that will long be remembered by some of the poor unfortunates who have been making this place their residence for some time. The missionary who makes prison work the work of his life preached to the men today, the service being in the place of the regular Saturday services, because the convicted men were to go to the penitentiary Saturday morning, and Brother Herr intended to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, this evening. So the good brother gave the men some good, wholesome advice.

And in opening the services, that always appropriate song of "Let a little sunshine in" was sung, and the good God knows that if any one in this world needs "sunshine" that person is the one who is behind prison bars.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

I have seen some curious things in my wandering life, and some very curious and saddening sights are to be seen in jail. To see men right in the prime of their manhood going to a living tomb, to actually bury themselves for years, is a sight not easily forgotten.Oh, the misery, the shame, and the degradation of it all. It is no wonder that some of the unfortunates weep. The sight of so much misery seen at one time is enough to melt the heart of the most hardened criminal. As I watched the men put up their hands in reply to the question of "How many of you men want to lead a better life?" I could not blame any one of the prisoners for putting up their hands in a resolve to lead a clean life.

My sympathy is with the unfortunate. I have been placed in positions just like these men are placed in, but never again! Oh, I hope that when I finish this term of imprisonment that I may find some means of employment that will bring me in enough money to keep body and soul together. From this time forward I am done with stealing. I hope that my right hand may lose its cunning and my eyes grow dimmer, so dim that I cannot see anything to steal. I am done, done with a life of thieving. I don't know how I am going to exist, but I am not going to steal any more. By the help of the good Lord I intend to reform.

For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will lighten my darkness.—Ps. 18:28.

A friend is the first person who comes in when the world has gone out.

A bank of credit on which we can draw supplies of confidence, counsel, sympathy, help and love.

One who considers my need before my deservings.

The triple alliance of the three great powers—love, sympathy and help.

One who understands our silence.

A jewel whose lustre the strong acids of poverty and misfortune cannot dim.

One who smiles on our fortunes, frowns on our faults, sympathizes with our sorrow, weeps at our bereavement, and is a safe fortress at all times of trouble.

One who, gaining the top of the ladder, won't forget you if you remain at the bottom.

The holly of life, whose qualities are overshadowed in the summer of prosperity, but blossom forth in the winter of adversity.

He who does not adhere to the saying that No. 1 should come first.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.—Psalm 41:6.

When the author left Louisville to 1905 for Chicago to be ordained, he was greatly helped by his friend Chas. F. Grainger, kindness never to be forgotten.HON. CHAS. F. GRAINGERHon. CHAS. F. GRAINGERFormer Mayor of Louisville; now President Louisville Water Co.Mr. Grainger says, "Mr. Herr's work among prisoners has been very successful, and through his efforts many have reformed."

When the author left Louisville to 1905 for Chicago to be ordained, he was greatly helped by his friend Chas. F. Grainger, kindness never to be forgotten.

Hon. CHAS. F. GRAINGERFormer Mayor of Louisville; now President Louisville Water Co.

Mr. Grainger says, "Mr. Herr's work among prisoners has been very successful, and through his efforts many have reformed."

A watch which beats true, for all time, and never "runs down."

An earthly minister of heavenly happiness.

A friend is like ivy—the greater the ruin, the closer he clings.

One who to himself is true, and therefore must be so to you.

The same to-day, the same to-morrow, either in prosperity, adversity or sorrow.

One who guards another's interest as his own and neither flatters nor deceives.

One truer to me than I am myself.—Exchange.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.—Ps. 19:14.

[Courier-Journal]

Austin, Tex., Dec. 2.—(Special.)—Jake McKinney, who was serving a life term in the State penitentiary at Rusk for the murder of Robert Walker in Jones county seven years ago, has just received his pardon from Gov. O. B. Colquitt on the strength of an appeal for liberty in the form of a poem that he wrote and sent to the Governor. This poetic application was turned over to Mrs. Colquitt by the Governor and it was upon her recommendation that McKinney was given his liberty. McKinney was twenty-four years old at the time of his conviction. During the last four years of his imprisonment he was editor of the prison newspaper, the Alcalde Chronicle. He attended night school while in the penitentiary. His poems and articles in the little newspaper that he published attracted much favorable attention. His pardon application reads in part as follows:

Another chance, 'tis all I ask,In freedom's sun again to bask;To hear the voice of loved at home,And amid familiar scenes to roam.What saith the Scripture? Is it wiseTo gain a world and lose the prizeOf future Joys of Him above,Who came to save because of loveFor sinful men imprisoned hereIn sin's corrupted atmosphere?Another chance to know the lifeBeyond the cruel prison strife,Where Beauty, Truth and Culture reign,And pleasure comes from Labor's gain;To see the golden sun at dawnSpring forth to kiss the rural lawn,Wet with the kiss of midnight dew,And brightens to a gorgeous hue,To please the eye of all mankind.A gift of God to man so blind,Another chance to show the worldThat darkness hid my flag unfurled;That flame of ingenuityBurns brightest where the darkest be;As all is not as some would tell;"A soul defiled and booked for hell."Another chance I crave of thee,Oh, Governor, but feel and set me free!Make the conditions what you may,I will live up to them every day;I have no friends to plead for me,Dear Governor, can't you set me free?

Most sincerelyJake McKinney.

Most sincerely

Jake McKinney.

JUDGE AARON KOHNJUDGE AARON KOHNOne of the greatest criminal lawyers of the American bar. There is none in this world who has been a greater friend in my sorest need.

JUDGE AARON KOHNOne of the greatest criminal lawyers of the American bar. There is none in this world who has been a greater friend in my sorest need.

Editor, Poet, and Song Writer

My Dear Rev. Geo. L. Herr: It is a pleasure to express the sentiment of pure friendship I have for you and for the Christian work in which you are now engaged. Knowing you from boyhood, I am free to say you are one of God's chosen ones to do his will and work, and heaven never had a more faithful representative than yourself. May your words and works in the Master's cause result in adding souls to the kingdom of glory, and may God and the angels watch over and guard you through life is the prayer of your friend,

Will S. Hays.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.—Ps. 19:7.

Captain of Police

I have met him at all times and in all places, from the palace to the prison, striving to better the conditions of his fellowmen. At the same time serving our Lord in such a noble manner as to attract the attention of the least appreciative person. He has taken for his duty the task of working principally among the criminal classes that frequent our city prisons, and to my personal knowledge has done more to benefit the inmates than any other man of his vocation. Oh! how far more pleasant this life would be if the world was full of just such noble, good-spirited men as my friend George L. Herr, whom I know to be serving our God in the most appropriate manner known to mankind.

Respectfully,John P. Scheider

Respectfully,

John P. Scheider

[Louisville Herald]

The habitual user of profane and indecent language was mercilessly flayed by Bishop Charles E. Woodcock, of the Episcopal Church, at the Board of Trade noon-day Lenten service yesterday, where in the course of his sermon the Bishop pronounced the profane man to be intellectually deficient, corrupt, morally and wholly unchristian.

"No gentleman will use profane language; it is only the low-born and vulgar-minded person who will do so," declared the Bishop. "No man who believes in God and in God's commandments can be profane."

Among other things stated by the Bishop of a like nature are the following:

"The profane man in God's eyes is on the same plane as the murderer or thief. He violates the ten commandments."

"Swearing, aside from being sinful, is low, vicious, vulgar and most reprehensible."

"The man who is well thought of in a community is nine times out of ten the man who does not curse."

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God In vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Rt. Rev. CHAS. E. WOODCOCK, D.D.Rt. Rev. CHAS. E. WOODCOCK, d.d.Episcopal Bishop of Kentucky

Rt. Rev. CHAS. E. WOODCOCK, d.d.Episcopal Bishop of Kentucky

"The profane man is in many cases and in most cases the man who will steal, slander, lie and violate the every commandment of God."

In beginning his sermon the Bishop spoke of the work of the noon-day Lenten services. He said in part:

"By coming before you men and preaching we rectors hope to arouse, encourage and bring out all the good in you. We aim to plant high ideals in your hearts and make you better men. It is one of the greatest pleasures I have—preaching these noon-day Lenten sermons. It is my earnest and sincere wish to do good and to carry a message to you.

"Christ will lighten your eyes: He will enable you to see things worth being and worth doing. The worth while in life is what makes life worth living. He will give you a view of yourself. He will make you see yourselves as others see you. He will not only do this, but he will set a guard before your lips.

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I trust.—Ps. 18:2.

"No man ever regretted keeping from impure speech. Habitual obscene story telling grows like other vicious habits. It is a manly thing to possess clean lips. Does not the Bible say, 'Blessed are the pure in heart?' Well, no man can be pure in heartand impure in speech. Would you tell some of the stories you tell your fellow men to your wives and daughters? No, I do not think you would. Then say to yourself, 'Thou God hearest me.'

"Keep your lips from profanity. The profane man in God's eyes is on the same plane as is the murderer and thief. He, like both, violates the ten commandments. Swearing, aside from being sinful, is low, vicious and vulgar and most reprehensible. The man who will curse and swear is in most cases the man who will steal, slander, lie and violate every commandment of God.

"I have been in hotels and in public places where I have heard men swear as though they thought it a virtue. These men I find are seldom well thought of in a community. The man who is well thought of will not swear.

"The man who will swear will say mean things about his friend; he will gossip and slander. If you keep your lips clean you will never besmirch a man's or woman's character. You will never speak until you know it is time; you will be restrained from telling vicious things, because you will reason whether or not it is right, and whether or not it ought to be told."

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.—2 Chron. 15:7.

[Louisville Times]

Never did Mr. Herr have a more interested audience than greeted him in the Cincinnati work house yesterday when he preached for an hour in the prison chapel. The men and women wept as his words brought conviction to their hearts. Were it not for this wonderful gospel, said the speaker, he himself might be as the worst prisoner among them. At the close of the sermon he asked all those who desired to lead better lives to bow their heads in prayer, and almost every man and woman in the chapel fell on their knees, while the eloquent evangelist lifted his voice in their behalf. The closest attention was accorded him during the whole time and when the prisoners were dismissed and passed out of the chapel amid a stillness that was very impressive, Mr. Herr spoke to a great number personally shaking them by the hand and urging them to repent and believe the gospel.

The extermination of the habitual criminal—his removal like a weed from a garden—was advocated today in a startling address made in Minneapolis to the Interstate Sheriffs' Association by Charles W. Peters, chief deputy sheriff of Cook County.

The unexpected suggestion that the man who will not reform ought to be slain by legal means aroused much discussion in Chicago among ministers, lawyers and laymen.

Leniency for first offenders, parole for the worthy, an adult probation law, were advocated by Mr. Peters, who then insisted that in cases where life has proved a failure, where efforts of reformation have been ineffectual and the criminal is a body sore on the social system, that extermination should be resorted to.

Only One True Reform.

Furthermore, he created intense surprise by his assertion that in twenty years' experience in handling criminals he could recall only one case of true reformation on the part of an "habitual."

The Hon. and Mrs. JOHN L. WHITMAN, Chicago, Ill.Mr. Whitman is Superintendent of the Bridewell. They have been friends to thousands in need of friends.

Gospel Service at the County Jail, Chicago, Ill.Gospel Service at the County Jail, Chicago, Ill.

Gospel Service at the County Jail, Chicago, Ill.

In his address to the Association, Mr. Peters recommended various ways of dealing with crime and its perpetrators, and then for the irredeemably incorrigible made this recommendation:

"And then if they fail to embrace the many opportunities offered them, and after everything has been done that is possible for mankind to do, they repeatedly persist in returning to their old ways, I think in such a case life has proven a failure, and they become a menace and a burden to our social welfare and should be exterminated.

Like Weeds in a Garden.

"They are like weeds in a garden and unless removed will supersede the useful plants.

"Many students of criminology have suggested life imprisonment, but in my opinion that has proven a failure. By that method the menace is removed, but the burden remains.

"I am sorry to acknowledge that in the twenty odd years of my experience in the handling of criminals I can recall only one case of true reformation on the part of habitual criminals, and that man is employed in a bridge works, where it would be impossible for him to carry anything off."

"Judge Not," Says Pastor.

Among the ministers who commented on the startling theory of extermination were:

Rev. P. J. O'Callaghan, pastor of St. Mary's Church and the priest who saved Herman Billik from the gallows—What is man that he should put himself in judgment on a fellow and say that the culprit is beyond reformation and redemption and slay him? Man is too fallible to condemn another as an habitual criminal and exterminate him. No one knows when a man has passed beyond the pale of reform. As a matter of fact, many and many a criminal branded as 'habitual' has been saved to a useful life. I most heartily disagree with any suggestion to execute any man on the theory that he is irredeemable.

Hope While There Is Life.

Rabbi Tobias Scharfarber—In the first place I am opposed to capital punishment, but, in any event, I should not agree with this suggestion of Mr. Peters. It is much like Osler's plan to kill off men of sixty or more years of age, or Ingersoll's suggestion that when a man believed himself to be a failure and useless to the world he should go and shoot his brains out. While a man lives there is hope for him, and noone has either power or right to say that he will always be a menace to society.

"Christ in His charity taught those who came to Him,Ill deeds should pardoned be seventy times seven;Succor the least here and you do the same to Him;These are his precepts on earth and in heaven.Oh, then, when laboring hard for humanity,Never believe that your labor is vain.Kindness will conquer the criminal insanity;Speak to him gently and try him again."

[Courier-Journal]

"Do you know who I am?" once said a person in the jail here to the Rev. George L. Herr, prison evangelist. "I will tell you. I am the worst and most treacherous man in this prison." Then the Rev. Mr. Herr says he told him the story of his fearful crimes. "I have been in prison North, South, East and West, I have been in the dismal, solitary cell for one year, have been put in large tanks of ice water, have been punished over and over again, but it has always made me more of a demon. Would you like to know what the officer who last locked me up said about me?"

"'Take him and lock him up like a brute beast, for that is what he is.'"

Then he turned and said: "Do you think there is any hope for me?" "I was at once on ground where I could speak without hesitation," said Mr. Herr, "and I told him simply that if he was through with an evil life, if he was tired of wrong-doing and was determined to do right, there was a love that could forgive him, and a power that could help and keep him in the future. When at last we knelt together there I prayed that God, who could bring light into our darkness, might dispel the thick clouds that had shut in thissoul from hope, and bring to him the revelation that would change his life. There were tears in our eyes as we parted, and, taking my hand in his he said: "I will try, Brother Herr."

"He did try, and, more than that he conquered. At first it was a stern battle of an awakened will and conscience fighting against desperate odds. The feeling that friends were watching and waiting anxiously for good reports proved an undoubted incentive. It was not long before he sought and found Christ as his Saviour, and he became an earnest Christian, and to-day is an ordained Methodist minister, at the head of a great rescue work in an Eastern city, and also chaplain of a model penal institution."

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."—John 3:16.

By Joseph M. McGuire

The days are long and dreary,And the hours go slowly by,While the prisoner, sad and weary,Longs for the time to fly.But one brings joy and sunshineTo the prisoners sad at heart,And it is but a short time'Till with him we'll have to part.We cannot find another,Search, I care not where,Who will do as much for a brotherAs our Bro. George L. Herr.He comes early in the morning,And never leaves till night;He always seems untiring,Helping wayward men do right.He is always up and willingWhene'er a prisoner call,To go and do the biddingOf a man behind the wall.And then there is another,Who shares his joy and strife;She is called by the prisoners "Mother,"And is Bro. Herr's good wife.Early Sunday morning,In rain, snow, sleet, or hail,You will find him holding meetingIn the Jefferson County Jail.I love to hear him tell the storyOf the "Prodigal Son,"And of the "Mighty Prince of Glory,"From whom salvation sprung.Round his good face there seems a halo,His work is for One on high,He makes sunshine out of sorrow,Whenever he is nigh.

He comes early in the morning,And never leaves till night;He always seems untiring,Helping wayward men do right.He is always up and willingWhene'er a prisoner call,To go and do the biddingOf a man behind the wall.And then there is another,Who shares his joy and strife;She is called by the prisoners "Mother,"And is Bro. Herr's good wife.

Early Sunday morning,In rain, snow, sleet, or hail,You will find him holding meetingIn the Jefferson County Jail.I love to hear him tell the storyOf the "Prodigal Son,"And of the "Mighty Prince of Glory,"From whom salvation sprung.Round his good face there seems a halo,His work is for One on high,He makes sunshine out of sorrow,Whenever he is nigh.

After Blotting Out the Past

"Once a Thief, Always a Thief," has been disproved in thousands of cases according to Mr. William A. Pinkerton.

"Do criminals ever reform, really turn over a new leaf and become good citizens?"

I fired the question at random, little dreaming what a wealth of interesting and convincing anecdote it would evoke. I expected the time honored cynical reply, something to the effect of "Once a thief, always a thief," But I was disappointed—agreeably disappointed. For my answer was a quick, emphatic, earnest "Yes."

And the man who said "Yes" was William A. Pinkerton, and he knows.

Probably no living man knows more intimate details about the individual members of the underworld, those who are active criminals to-day, as well as the notorious crooks of the past, than the head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. And every crook will tell you, what every honest man who knows Mr. Pinkerton will tell you, that when he says "Yes" thereis no possibility that the correct answer should be "No."

WILLIAM A. PINKERTONWILLIAM A. PINKERTONHead of the Pinkerton Detective Agency New York

WILLIAM A. PINKERTONHead of the Pinkerton Detective Agency New York

"I know what the average man thinks—that a real crook never turns straight. But it isn't so. Thousands of crooks—and I don't mean one-time offenders, but men in the class we call hardened criminals—have become honest men to my knowledge. It is not true, as some recent writer said, that as many crooks turn honest as there are honest men turn crooked, but I believe that one of the reasons is that so few men are willing to lend a helping hand. I don't mean that every crook is ready to reform if he is encouraged, but I do mean that society makes it hard for any man who has once been a criminal to lead an honest life.

"And I'll tell you another thing," continued Mr. Pinkerton: "I'm prouder of the fact that I have helped a few criminals to become honest men than of all the work I have done in putting criminals behind the bars. I'm proud of the fact that every crook knows that Pinkerton will deal squarely with him if he will deal squarely with Pinkerton—that I believe it is as important to keep faith with a bank thief as with a bank president.

"I know a score of business men in Chicago—not saloonkeepers, but reputable merchants—who have criminal records. These men have done time and havepaid their debt to society for their crimes. I cannot tell you their names, for it would be unfair to them and to their wives and families, many of whom have no suspicion that there is anything wrong in the pasts of their husbands and fathers. Besides, when society discovers that a man is a former criminal it is not content to cancel the debt no matter how much imprisonment at hard labor the former crook may have given in expiation of his sin.

"I know men in trusted positions in New York who were convicts. In many cases only the man himself and his employer know the secret and sometimes the employer does not know it. I know men scattered all over the West—business men, professional men, many of them wealthy and prominent citizens—who have seen the inside of Joliet, Moyomensing, Sing Sing or Leavenworth. They have sons and daughters who never have suspected and never will suspect the truth.

"These are good men—as good men as any living. They have turned away from their old ways, in many cases have changed their names, and who shall say they are not as much to be respected as the honest man who never was tempted, never was forced into crime? I'll tell you about some of them.

"When I was a boy in Chicago there were two brothers, neighbors, about the age of myself and my younger brother, and we were friends. When thecivil war broke out I went into the army secret service at the age of fifteen, and the older of these two boys, John, enlisted in an Illinois regiment. Jerry, the younger, was not old enough, but a little later, when the government began offering a bounty for soldiers, he became a bounty jumper. He would enlist, get the bounty money, then desert and enlist over again under another name. He was with a band of young fellows who were engaged in that way of getting easy money, and who found it so easy that they turned to other kinds of crime.

"When the war was over John came back to Chicago and settled down as a rather plodding sort of a mechanic. He tried to get Jerry to straighten out, but the younger brother was too far along the road to prison.

"In those days the Northwestern Railroad used wood for fuel, and the wood agent of the road was Amos Snell—the same Snell who was later murdered by 'Willie Tascott.' He lived in a suburb of Chicago, and one night Jerry and his crowd went out there and 'stuck' up the whole family—robbed them of everything they had. John was along with them, lying in the bottom of the hack. The police got a clew through the hack-driver and rounded up the whole band. All of them, including John, were sentenced tofive years each except Jerry. When he came into the hands of the police a citizen who had been held up on the street some time before identified him as the hold-up man, and on the strength of that the Judge gave him fifteen years. It was an unjust sentence, for Jerry had not committed the hold-up—that was found out later.

"Well, John's old Colonel and some other army men and my father got together and got a pardon for John, who had merely gone along with the crowd and had taken no part in the robbery. He went back to work at his trade of brass finisher, but Jerry stayed in Joliet, rebelling against those long unjust years of his sentence.

Jerry was put to work in the engine room of the prison and soon displayed great aptitude for machinery. He served out his term with time off for good behavior and finally got out. I met him in Chicago. He was despondent. He felt that he had no chance to be anything but a crook, but he knew the terrible chances a once convicted man runs if he returns to crime. I told him the best thing for him to do was to go to New York, and I sent him on to my brother Robert, who had also known him as a boy.

Reform of Jerry.

"Now, here's a part of this story that will interest you. Robert had a friend who was chief engineer of a building in Ann street. He told this friend about Jerry, and the engineer said he'd take a chance on him. He put Jerry to work stoking the boiler at a dollar and a half a day. After a year or so there was a vacancy and Jerry became assistant engineer. A little while later the chief engineer resigned and Jerry after awhile, the ex-crook, became chief engineer. He left there after awhile to take charge of a big plant on Long Island, and he sent for his brother John and gave him a job.

"A few years later the two brothers called on me in Chicago. They had saved about $6,000 between them and were on their way to a new town in the West to start a manufacturing business of their own. Each had married a girl who knew nothing of their prison record and had children. They prospered exceedingly. John died several years ago, but only a few months ago, when my brother Robert died, an old man, whom nobody but myself recognized, came from the West for the funeral and shed tears at the grave. It was Jerry. He is still living, and is the leading citizen of his town and worth at least half a million dollars.

"Criminals who reform? There are thousands of them. I remember a little Liverpool Irishman who was a pickpocket around New York. He was known as 'Jimmy the Nibbler'. The police picked him up in Tennessee, where he lifted somebody's pocketbook, and he was sent to Nashville for seven years. In the prison they put him to work in the hospital. Then the cholera epidemic broke out. "Jim" helped the doctors and nurses, and when the doctors got sick he nursed them and the warden and his family and helped save a good many lives. After the epidemic was over the warden and the Prison Board were so grateful they got "Jim" a pardon and made up a purse of $350 for him. With the money in his pocket he came right to Chicago to see me. I began to lecture him on the futility of going back to the life he had led before.

"'I've cut that all out,' he said. 'I'm not going to be a gun any more. I've been studying medicine down there in Nashville. The doctors have been telling me things and giving me medical books to read and now I want to get into one of these colleges where I can get a diploma quick.'

"There were a number of diploma factories, as the lower class of medical colleges were called, running in Chicago then, and Jim found he had moneyenough to go through one of them—in the front door and out the back. But he got his diploma and license to practise and started for one of the new towns in the West. I looked him up a while ago. He comes pretty near being the most prominent citizen in the town. He is a director in a national bank and the leading physician, and has officiated at the births of half the present population. Moreover, he is an enthusiastic church member. But how long do you think it would take for the whole town to turn against him if they should ever learn out there that he is 'Jimmy the Nibbler'?

"Crooks that turn straight? Your next door neighbor, your family physician, even your clergyman, may be one of them. The world is full of them. There was one man, a professional thief, a fellow who had done time in half a dozen State prisons and penitentiaries, whom I used to labor with earnestly every time he got out, but he apparently never tried to reform. He was always doing time, it seemed.

"I lost track of him for several years. Then two years ago, when the National Association of Chiefs of Police was in session in Buffalo, I found a note in my box in my hotel signed by this man's name. He said he was going to call at seven o'clock. There was a banquet on for that evening, and hundreds of policeofficials from every part of the United States were there. I wondered if he knew what sort of a lion's den he was walking into. Sure enough he came into the hotel and spoke to me.

"'Don't you know that you are surrounded by policemen, some of whom are sure to spot you?' I asked him.

"'You're the only man in the world who knows me,' he said, 'My name now is So and So'—giving me another name—'and I'm a respected and prosperous man. I just wanted to let you know before you found it out for yourself, for I knew you'd be on the square with me.' And I was. So far as I knew he was not wanted for anything, and what good would have come of exposing him?

"Thieves who resist the temptation to steal? Hundreds of them. There's one right here, only a few blocks from where we are talking. He's the watchman in a big silk warehouse—and if there's anything your professional thief likes to steal, short of money or diamonds, it's silk, for you can get so much value into so small a package. This man was a professional safe blower, and did several big jobs. When he got out of prison I helped him to get the job he has now. His employer knows his record. I told it to him on the man's own request. When work stops for the daythis man is left alone in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of valuable silks. He isn't bonded, for he couldn't get a bondsman if he wanted to. He has held the job seven years now, and not a cent's worth has been taken from the warehouse in that time.

"You may say that he does not dare to steal—that he knows a single false move on his part will bring instant punishment. But I say he has no desire to steal—that he has reformed. And thousands of other criminals would reform if society would give them half a chance.

Baffling Hotel Robberies.

"Several years ago there was a series of hotel robberies in New York that baffled the police. The thief always worked with keys, opening doors and then unlocking baggage left in rooms, and he always got away with the goods. At last one night the word came to headquarters that a man had been caught in one of the big hotels who was suspected of being the author of all the robberies. I was visiting Chief Devery at the time and he asked me to go with him to the West Thirtieth street station to look the man over.

"The man arrested was a well dressed, respectable looking little man, with a white beard—the last man who would be taken for a thief if seen in a hotel corridor.His face was vaguely familiar to me, but I had some difficulty in placing him. Finally it struck me. I had seen him nearly thirty years before on the occasion of a big prize fight in New Orleans, when he had been arrested for the same trick. It came over me like a flash and I told him I knew him.

"'What's the use of making trouble?' he asked. 'These fools don't know anything about me unless you put them wise.'

"I told Chief Devery what I remembered about the man, who protested violently that he had never been in New Orleans in his life. Then another thought struck me.

"'You've been in New Orleans more than once,' I said. 'The last time was about six months ago, when you got Denman Thompson's diamonds in the St. Charles Hotel.' I remembered the report of that case, but it was a chance shot on my part, for no one had seen the thief. The old fellow denied this vigorously.

"He was wearing a new derby hat. I don't know what impulse prompted me, but I took the hat off his head and looked inside. It bore the mark of a New Orleans hatter.

"The Chief and I left the station and had just turned into Sixth avenue when I remembered the old fellow's name. We went back to the station houseand I confronted him again. I told him his name. He denied that it was his.

"'What's the use of making trouble, Mr. Pinkerton?' he pleaded. His inadvertent use of my name, which had not been mentioned there, gave him away.

"'I don't know what kind of a case the police here have on you,' I told him, 'but we are retained by the Jewelers' Protective Association, and if you get after any jewelry drummers I'll make it hot for you.' And as a precaution I got his photograph from the New York police. They didn't have much of a case on him and he got off.

"Not long after a jewelry drummer was robbed in a Chicago hotel of about three thousand dollars' worth of diamonds which he had carelessly left in his grip instead of putting them in the safe. The same day a friend of mine who was stopping in another hotel lost his new overcoat and told me about it. I thought of the old man in the first job, and found a chambermaid and bellboy who had seen him on the floor, but didn't connect him with the second because he had never stolen anything but very valuable articles, so far as I knew. My friend had to leave for New York that night, and some time in the evening I got a telegram from him which had been filed in Fort Wayne.

"'Positive man who got my coat is in same sleeper, ticketed to New York,' it read. I wired my friend at a point further along the line to get off at Pittsburg and hold a white handkerchief in his hand so he could be identified and be prepared to point out the thief. Then I got in touch with Pittsburg by wire, and sure enough back came a wire after a while to the effect that they had got the man, whom my friend identified, and found on him besides the overcoat about $3,000 worth of diamonds. I asked for a description and the one they wired fitted that of the man I had seen in New York. I referred Pittsburg to the man's photograph, which had been published that week in a police periodical, and they were sure they had the same man. And so it proved. He was brought back to Chicago and convicted of the jewelry theft. He served a short sentence, and when he got out he came to me.

"Mind you, this was an old man, who had been a thief all his life—I had known him as a thief more than thirty years before. It is criminals of that kind that are commonly regarded as the most difficult to reform, but even hardened and lifelong offenders like this man will go straight if they get the right kind of encouragement. I found this old man apparently anxious to be honest, but he had never had a chanceafter his first slip as a young man. I determined to do what I could for him and I got him a job in New York. He is more than seventy years old now, but he is still holding that job, and he hasn't made a false step since he got out of prison the last time.

"Do criminals ever reform? I think I have told you enough to prove that they do—and I could tell you of hundreds of other instances if you needed any further proof."

A LETTER FROM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE "STAR OF HOPE" PAPER PUBLISHED IN SING SING PRISON.

Ossining, N. Y., April 9, 1906.

Dear Brother Herr:

Your book, "Light in Dark Places," received. I do so much appreciate your kindness in remembering poor me in durance. I not only voice the sentiments expressed in this precious book, but add thereto my message of Christ's power to cleanse the wicked one and bring back into God's path the weak and unfortunate. May God spare you and yours many years, and give you manifold blessings in your great work.

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