Five miles from the school is situated a small village. Its inhabitants number about three hundred, devoted almost exclusively to the manufacture of tobacco sundries. We reached this village with hearts aglow and a song on our lips. Here was the railroad, and the railroad was to carry us over the line to the joys of the outside world. Suddenly from the side of the road came an avalanche of rushing forms. We tried to run, but were swept to the ground by the onslaught. We struggled and kicked and tore in an endeavor to throw our captors off. We were husky specimens of manhood, this pal and I, and we put up a fight, the memory of which will remain in that village for some few years. They finally mastered us, and with pieces of hemp proceeded to tie us up, awaiting the arrival of school officials and monetary reward. You see, for the return of every escaped boy the State allows the captor the sum of five dollars. In the struggle between our captors and ourselves one of the former received a severe cut on the right arm, presumably done by some sharp instrument. After lying twenty-two days in the lockup for this last escapade I was arrested by the sheriff of the county for this alleged atrocious assault, as the warrant read. I can honestly say that that arrest was welcomed. I didn’t know who had cut the man, my pal or I, or whether in the scrimmage he had been cut by one of his own friends, but, anyway, it was an opportunity to get away from the school, and this certainly was welcome.
CHAPTER VIII
LIFE IN PRISON
I was taken to the county seat wherein the assault took place, and lodged in jail. My experiences in this jail were similar to my first experiences in such a place. I found there the same indiscriminate mixing, regardless of age. Of course I was a bit more hardened in crime now, and I suppose the environment didn’t have the same influence as it had much earlier in my career.
I was confined to the jail for about six weeks before I appeared before the judge and entered a plea of non vult to the indictment against me. This plea of non vult is a plea acknowledging one’s guilt but mitigated by the fact that the offender meant no violation of the law.
The judge was lenient with me, and gave me the lightest sentence the statute would allow—one year in State prison. I received this sentence with a sincere satisfaction. I knew it meant the end of the reform school for me. At the end of the prison sentence I was free to go again out into the world. By this time my mind had formed by association and environment a desire and determination to live entirely in the underworld. I would live by my wits; I would prey against society. With this determination I made every endeavor to learn the little tricks of the shadowy profession. I had not decided into which particular class of the underworld I should enter. There were certain classes I could hope to enter only by a severe apprenticeship. I left that for the time when opportunity should decide. However, I had made up my mind that into some phase of the life I would put all of my being.
In this state of mind I entered the principal prison of the State. I was eager for the opportunity to get in contact with some of the big men. I was confident of a ready welcome, and expected the ten months to prove a valuable asset to my after life.