I have found that when these fellows try to sell you a “gold brick” or borrow money from you, the best thing to do is to “drop them.” Nearly all of them possess unlimited cheek, more especially as borrowers and beggars. After they have duped you, they chuckle over their smartness. A Tombs keeper asked one of these chronic “panhandlers” why he did not buy his own tobacco. He replied: “What’s the use, when you have so many ‘suckers’ around here?” A maiden lady, the daughter of a city clergyman, was in the habit of doing missionary work in the prison. In those days, there was a tall, slick gentleman, who had a remarkable oily tongue. He occupied a cell in the old prison, immediately behind the desk. This crook was able to ingratiate himself into the affections of this young lady, so that he was able to secure from her no less than seventy to one hundred dollars, together with a good deal of warm clothing, and two or three meals prepared at her own home weekly. With the money received, he had one of Begg’s men fetch a pint of “booze” daily. When it was discovered he was immediately shipped to the “Annex,” and all his privileges cut off. Soon after this he was sent to Sing Sing, where he served about five full years. It is the commonest thing in the world for a crook to ask the assistance of a lady missionary to get him out of prison, and present a “gold brick” story that is nothing but deception and fabrication from first to last. After hearing hundreds of these stories made out of “whole cloth,” I have come to the conclusion that criminals, with rare exceptions, are born liars, and they seldom tell the truth, although it would do them far more good in the end. I have found by careful observation that anyone who has started in to cover up his guilt with lies is in a hopeless state of depravity, and remains beyond the reach of even the Gospel. But it is not alone missionaries and Tombs Angels that are deceived by such characters, but all who give credence to what they say. Crooks as a rule read the missionary’s character, and soon find out who are the “easy marks” in the prison. As soon as they find a person—usually a woman who is sympathetic—they pour into her ear a tale of woe in which the crook presents a real case of injured innocence and persecution. Oftentimes people living at a distance write to the authorities asking that something be done to save heinous offenders who are not entitled to any sympathy whatever. And many times young ladies of good breeding and respectability come to the Tombs and ask to see old crooks whose pictures they had perhaps seen in the morning papers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXXII WEDDINGS IN THE TOMBS PRISON