REFORMATION OF CRIMINALS
[Louisville Times]
In a sermon delivered in the Nashville penitentiary, the Rev. George L. Herr, formerly chaplain of the jail here, spoke encouragingly to the inmates, citing cases of reformation where reform seemed impossible. The Rev. Mr. Herr took occasion to pay a high tribute to Jailer John R. Pflanz, of Louisville. He said in part:
Repent ye therefore and be converted.—Acts 3:19.
When I address you upon this subject I speak from the standpoint of one who knows by bitter experience. I know that sin can rob man of fortune, and all the luxuries of life. I know that it can rob him of the love of all who ever loved him; I know that it can drag him down from a position of prominence, and make him a habitue of the dives; I know that it will cause him to place a rope around his neck and hang himself to a rafter in his own barn; I know that sin will lead him to pause at the railing of a bridge, his mind set upon the awful deed of self-destruction; I know that it will tempt him to take a razor in hand and draw it across his throat. I know that sin will reduce him from a position of influence, a welcome visitor to the homes of the elite, to a degraded drunkard, homeless upon the streets of his native city, robed in a short linen duster and a straw hat in the dead of a bitter winter's night.
Rev. JOHN PAUL
He gave the title to this book after reading the manuscript
River Thief's Reformation.
Jerry McAuley was a river thief, and, while serving a term in the penitentiary, caught a glimpse of what the life beyond with Christ would be, and the verse, "God so loved the world," etc, (John iii., 16), won his heart and life, and this poor, weak vessel in the few years he labored for Christ has planted the gospel light through some convert at every port where a ship now lands throughout the world.
Case of Sam Hadley.