Black, Jack, 1871-1932; Criminals -- Canada -- Biography; Criminals -- United States -- Biography
At the expiration of the three days I was remanded again. Then came
another remand, and before it expired the Scotch jailer I escaped from
appeared to take me back for trial where there was a cinch case against
me and the charge of jail breaking to boot. The lawyer whose house I
entered and who so neatly trapped me came to the jail before I was taken
away. He was a fine fellow, an Englishman, and to use an English
expression in describing him, I’ll say he was “a bit of all right.” He
brought me a book from his library, Charles Reade’s “It’s Never Too Late
to Mend.” He waived claim to the money found on me when I was arrested;
told the jailer to see that I got it and wished me luck with my case. He
neither lectured me nor asked any embarrassing questions. Shaking my
hand heartily when he was leaving he said: “Do read that book, old man.
And, I say, I’m not intimating that you’re an authority on burglary, but
I thought you might tell me how I could prevent it in future.” I told
him to buy himself a dollar-and-a-half dog, and let him sleep in the
house.
He shook my hand again and thanked me. He was so downright decent and
charming that an outsider, observing our interview, would have thought
he had come to ask a favor of me, and was departing under a heavy
obligation. I was ashamed of going into his house and would have taken a
pledge not to rob any more Englishmen but it didn’t seem necessary. From
what I could see, there was a judge waiting in the jurisdiction I
escaped who would attend to that.
The Scotchman loaded me with irons, put me on a boat to Vancouver, then
on a train, and finally landed me back safely in his jail. He took the
Englishman’s book from me on the train and never gave it back. I had no
chance to read the story till I got out of his clutches. Later I got it,
read it, and was fascinated and read every other book by the author that
I could lay hands on.
During my absence a new and securer cell had been built in the jail
because of our escape. It adjoined the jailer’s office, and its barred
door was directly in front of his desk, not six feet away. He moved a
camp cot into his office and slept where he could watch me. Day after
day and night after night he drank his whisky, smoked his pipe, and
rustled his paper under my nose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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