The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 25, 1902, Page 13

THE SUNDAY CALL. 13 not he was sincere in his they kept him under surveillance as much as possible. He entered into his new work with a zest. The pictures.on this page for which he posed to illustrate his sermons when he first appeared in the pulpit last January show the startling contrasts in his career. Before the cam- era he showed how quickly he could# transform himself from a pulpit orator socially now even if I was acquitted, and to a burglar—''the genuine second-story if I'm cinched this time it means life. Oh, worker,” as he was pleased to identify I know it. They’d send me up for good. the character—by simply tying a black ‘matioa OE KING, the “Preacher Convict,” what motive could King have for stealing is he most remarkable criminal fn Such baubles? He had all the backing he gy wanted to enable him to lead an honest i : fe. He went to the house where he was [ ’ On December 23, 1 ; . ca a i e Jor Hinve But I'd rather kill that fellow Barker and handkerchief over his face, tar up his € & five-vear sentence for CDiCken ranch, and some charitable ladies, }NVOEITE ¥ nock him out to-day at the his soft felt hat. The metamorphosis was preliminary hearing in court because he terrifyingly compiete and convincing. swore falsely. About two months ago the burglaries “As for not being sincere in my refor- became most numerous, and the police mation, the police are all wrong. I didn’t were ordered to take extra prec: make a cent out of my sermons in the Thus matters stood when one T churches. I didn’t try to. Now, If I was liceman H. B. Braig saw two women on only playing a game, would I play it that Geary street wearing raglans that fitted xay? No. I' get everything there was the description of proper in it and it would have been dead easy. recent burglary. The ide “T lectured in a score of churches all complete enough to just over the State; in the Howard-street but Bralg shrewdly suspectipg Methodist, the Holly Park Presbyterian, two women were only part of the gang. whose names I am not free to mention, had promised to supply, him with incu- ago he was again locked bators and other things necessary for the bars at the Hall of Jus- enterorise. e sciiag i as v(!m’ being dangerous, why, ths that elapsed be- e T i o aons patal fonmy e Sy p;:e‘urn crowd. King hH never concocted and partly was all done for the California L;’;‘és‘,fl;.‘;f- Prisor Commission, ended only ten SORSIN n van before ! st. In t ten” days holes whatever doubt can be cast upon ANTFITUIE organized him bt T ath Shre he tha First Congregational, the First Chris- risked the chance of losing all of them im, b am sure he has refc 1f 7 d X Judze Mogan thinks he ‘ii n"(“‘ ‘;:’ — tian churches and the Y. M. C. A. In this by shadowing them along the brightly city; the Trinity Methodist and the Pres- lighted streets, attired as he was in full byterian in Berkeley, the Methodist Epis- uniform. copal in Alameda, the Central Methodist The developments of the next few min- will employ the best lawyers in the city d him. rd of the First o poi oo Dever reform,” Captain and the Y. M. C. A. In Stockton, the Meth- utes proved that Braig was right in his £ the §f Deticciives Bymeur. - Whenever ong o odist and the ¥. M. C. A. in Bacramento, suspicions. The two women were jaines Union L v;:”'?“"g}“”\"’.fé e the Methodist in Los Gatos, the Presbyte- by two men and the chase led down Powell Gt i only a question of time when he ard street, which the whole party en i is caug’ red handed and landed in pri b: ‘d _If B ole D{; y(. tared on again. And, strange as it may scem y & rear door on Tehama street. Feeling sure of his quarry now, Braig did not take any chance of losing them by trying to win the glory of a lome- handed arrest. He called Policemen T. Murphy, C. D. Stapies. C. F. Skelly and E. W. Eskew, and had them keep the house surrounded while he entered the place. As he had expected, there was 2 wild rush to escape as scon as he knocked on the door, but no matter which way King, Barker and his wife and sister turned, they were confronted by a policeman armed and walting. After all four were handcuffed, the house was searched and the plunder of several burglaries wus found concealed in ome of the rooms Later, Hamilton, in scaaty attire was caught as he tried to escape from a closet ‘With these arrests the long series burglaries ceased, and now the casc awails upon the final trial to prove which is right—the church or the state. o far as the difference in opinion in the church goes, however, King in nis sermon wrought ingenfously in his own defense. In one of his sermons he said “I have often been asked what ei- fect does confinement have upon crimin that Ki for al ful an is bold, clever, master- , the crimes for which icted have all been triv- ider is that he could risk so little. He is scarcely out of ; before he is back again ed to Folsom first in 18% and released on February hree months later he was again ht after a petty theft, convicted and enced to San Quentin. Only. four months passed since his release was again caught f plunder and lodged in j may reform, but bu arrested t of plunder in- Ofithat T am Ford in hi and th to reach them. As I know—personally he ent his last he hungry and home- while he himself is still suit of clothes given him discharged from San Quen indiscreet in going among n. Indeed he was warned 1 course, but he was striv- to save others Why if sincere, why didn't he use mpathies of the church:/te h own ment? 1 know there were glaring nsistencies in his sheeches, but I set “In the first place we would do well to remind ourselves that all men in prison are not eriminals. A great majority of them are young men, who through war temptation, opportunity or drink, have, we might say, inadvertently wandered into prison. But taking them asa whoie, I wou say that the effect is bad, very bad. Our ablest authorities upon penclogy admit that our prisons fail of thelr purpose, in- asmuch as they do_not accomp the desired result, i. e., the reformation of t criminal and the protection of society. Of course society is _protected while the man is in prison, but when he leaves h is very apt to be more clever and despei- ate. “It was stated at the last prison con- ference, that you might as well send a bpy to the pesthouse for the toothache 28 to send him to prison for the purpase of reforming. We often hear some say, ‘Oh, yes, a_year or so over there wi do Johnny good.” If they were to say a year or so over ¢ never be any truth. b black and the w fender and the novitiate are all_throw indiscriminately together, and such a cou- dition cannot but be productive of results. ¥ don’t care how pure the b may be, he will leave prison with tagion he did not take in with him, ca ot help but assimilate some of infectious moral germs rampant in such an_environment, “The un tunate politician who hap pens to get the appointment of Warden is not priso; for four yea condition of ot sible for the s the method or system. are for fixed and unconditional st which is rithout consistemcy or tification, be- cause one man will get one year for a iven offense, while the next man will g forty years. If the avowed purpos sending men to prison is reformation, how is the Judge to determime when this man will reform? Consequently imstead of making the sentence for the man they endea ake it fit the erime. Every man convicted of a felony should be sen- tenced for life, and when he has shown by his conduct and character that he i3 worthy and capable of taking part in the aff: men let him out on probation Those there are who will pronounc talk of human treatment of this a3 a waste of sentiment. They ege fellows are beyond recall—they are abnor- mal creatures. Onee a criminal always a criminal. The reclamation of this class is a function of Government, and is out- ali side the scope of individu I “Suc ertions are ill ; for wherever any organized been made in assisting discharged prisoners it has always returned gratifying results. Rabbi L« who meets all Jewish pris- oners at the gate, informed me that not a single Jew had ever returned to prison, stolen. Mrs, Luse, one of the leading members of the union, believes King is ‘Mr. Charles Montgomery, the philan- thropist, who has devoted his life to the WERITING OUT \BUusHNELL _PnoYos ;35 4 He plammed cuted them. rd shows that he has mong criminals. them @own to lgnorance rather than vice. If I am mistaken—if he is really gufity— he is the most consummate scoundrel in But we cannot give -10, not even if he is nim so dan The robbery at the Temperance Union shows how he carried out his scheme. £ ggflmst him wherever have been speaki and whenever 1 c It is the robbery at the Woman’s Chris- tian Temperance Union which the police declare best illustrates King’s newly con- ived methods, which were to loc: siest places to plunder while lec and then send the members of his gang t¢ swag while he posed as 8 fight for his sou proved guflty— vert him to Chr he assault- troom shows ate scoundrel,” an- 3 “He is a crim- proud {o be a criminal, He told me himself that he had conc serving his last sentenc: prison of commiiting wholesale burglaric: swers the Rev inal because hi which the rob- the idea while carry off th reformed saint. As_the police explain it, King went to the Woman's Christian Temperance Un- nd was kindly treated by the ladies in charge. One day he called with Hamilton, whom the police say is all-round crooks in’ the r Mrs. Spencer’s trunk was to be the strong- too shrewd and too well versed guilty of such trivial thefts. rinkets stolen were not than $2 50. No, worth that much. even boasted, ven boasted, fon severa] times glarles in sixty days before they sent me to the penitentiary last time, and I'm as proud of it as you are of your sermaons. is King's very boldness that State, and lat innocent, but Mrs. Bradley and rs. Spencer have both testified for the pros cution. “Tt was King who stole the trunk,” de- clares Mrs. Barker, wife of one of the men who is said to belong to King's gang, if gang he had, and who was ar- rested with him. “It was he who planned all the robberies and carried them out. He brought the trunk #o my home and pried it open with a chisel, and gave me and my sister the clothes that were in t"Bal'l(e\‘ and his wife and her sister are trying to swear away my liberty,” says King. “They committed all the robberies and now they're trying to palm them off on me. But nothing was found in room. All the stolen goods were locate: in Barker’'s room. Of course, appearances are against me, for I had no right to be raught in a house with stolen goods, and i 5\e police will reduce the burglary charge to that I'll plead gullty and take six months.” “However, I'm dead, socially, no matter how the casé goes. 1 couldn’t do anything HowW Rinve QuicKkLy _ZZ\’FU\/FORM = HirfeLrs ivre BuroLar . How MeE EXEWTED i Buor GLn;ey o g0, rian in Salinas, the Methodist in Watson- ville, the Baptist in Winters, the Congre- gational in Martines and also in Benicla, the Presbyterian in Vallejo and the Meth- odist in Antioch. “But no matter where I lectured I could et them a-crying whenever I wanted to. 'thile 1 was talking the tears would run down their cheeks like German doughnuts and when you can make people cry like that they’re easy to touch. No. I wus striking for something higher than a rake-off like tha But for all the triviality of the plunder, the story of the capture of King and the four others with him reads iike a chap- ter from Sherlock Holmes. Many b glaries were being committed, but the po- iice could not locate the crimin: operations grew more ext month, though they never succeeded In making a large haul in any of their raids. Before King was released his plan_ to operate under the cloak of religion be- came known to the police. Whether or prisoners, claims that nearly haif of the men could be reclaimed. Personally I know of many who have settled down and through their honesty and Industry have won the confidence of those about them and are - credit to the community in which they reside. “This dogma of despiar, ‘Once a con- viet always a convict’ is as unjust as it is untrue. “We are having, always have had and always will have the criminals that we deserve, inasmuch as we produce them. Bvery man Is of the spirit of the age {n which he is Taised, and by our theological notions, false standards and eruel meth- oés we have made it very easy men to do wrong and very hard for them ta do right. Every man s Indirectly respon- sible for the condition of e >ther man; this is an indisputable ct, for the brotherhood of the race is a fact In nature, and we are all integral links in a chain of cause and effect that stretches from eternity to eternity and 1ds the past with the infinite present. S asser- tion rests for individual support upen the twin pillars of science and religion. “We have been praying for the last 2000 years, ‘Father, thy will be done on earth as it-1s in heaven. That the answer has been so long delayed is only seeming. When man catches the-idea that every scul is a single thread in the warp and woof of the v fabric of human prog- ress; when he begins to e that {tiie responsibility of human progress rests om human ders, and wt y child bern into the world 1l oppor- tuhity to be good, t ayer will have been *i bave st s only one who has been a udy him. I left pri of those I left ¢ i In_many and else- the con- the m: g prison. I have felt iblic puise, and I know that the general public is indiffer ent.”