A SUMMARY OF A CRIMINAL'S WORK.
READ the following list of particulars concerning a noted California criminal, and then ponder the last, in which was laid the foundation of all the others:— At the age of thirteen he stole seventy-five hogs. He robbed the house of a widow of all valuables and then helped her to hunt for the culprit. He stole a jug of whisky while harvesting, and it was found untouched years afterward in his cabin. While a pedler talked with his mother, Coburn dropped his satchel of wares into a furrow and plowed over it. A year later he dug it up and sold it in Santa Rosa. He stole the organ from the district schoolhouse. He took the collection plate and contents from the church. He looted houses while the owners were at church. He sold some hogs, and when the buyer had fattened them, he drove them home at night, killed them, and buried the carcasses. He laid water pipes for a neighbor, and when the work was done, dug them up and carted them away. He carried stolen beehives five miles. He masqueraded in ladies’ bloomers at times, and wore petticoats as a disguise. He made away with the buggy robes from teams tied in front of the church. He tore up and stole his own job work. He rode off on a man’s bicycle while the owner was ringing a door-bell. His father was shot while defending him from the sheriff. He altered stolen articles so that they could not be identified. His mother and two sisters were arrested on his account. He stole Bibles from the church. He built four cabins to hold his plunder. Enough stolen goods were taken from his cabins at the time of his arrest to fill a good-sized store. His favorite boyhood’s amusement was playing robber. We asked a boy of ten years, in an exceptionally good city, what the boys mostly played at school, and he replied that last year they played “robber” more than anything else. A common cry in the play is:— “I’m a robber, I’m a thief,
I’m the man that stole your beef;
or raised to this form,—
“I’m a robber, I’m a thief,
I don’t care for old police.” The thoughtful man and woman, and, more than all, father and mother, knowing the lasting, moulding effects of early impressions, will look with pain and alarm upon such manifestations, and will do all in their power to change the current. So will the earnest, thoughtful teacher. The thoughtless and indifferent will look upon such things and laugh, believing time will correct it all, and banish early impressions. In most cases the boys who play “robber” and “thief” may not become criminals, but some may; and, among those who do not become actual criminals, there is a lowering of moral tone and a hardening and perverting of conscience which involve their future in many questionable transactions. Parents, look after the education of your children.