A trial by jury gives a pretty good chance to the crook. It takes mighty strong evidence, and it has to be very conclusive to send a man away for a term of years, and the crook knows it. The worst that he’s got is an even break, no matter what the evidence. If there’s a real discrepancy in the testimony of the witnesses, a minor mistake in the identification, it is a ten to one chance in his favor. The crook, above all, knows men, knows how difficult it is to get twelve men to agree on anything under the sun, and, other things being equal, is more than willing to stack his liberty on the chance. In all my experience in the underworld I know of no man wrongfully convicted. On the other hand, I know of at least a hundred cases where the guilty have been acquitted.
Of course I do not mean to say that my experience has been the rule, but I am giving it for what it is worth. I myself was once tried for an act which I knew absolutely nothing about. The evidence against me seemed conclusive, my pals had all bidden me good-by, and I myself had given up hope. I was without money to employ first-class counsel. The State was represented by an attorney able in criminal prosecution, and this made my chances look slim indeed. I had no witnesses to speak in my favor. I went on the stand and told my story; I testified as only truth can testify, and the jury acquitted me. My pals of the underworld called me a lucky dog. Was I lucky? Was luck the dominant factor in that acquittal? It may have been, but I have never believed it. I have a conviction, born from I know not where, that the Providence that guards the fool, the child, and the drunkard also throws a protecting arm around the innocent.
I entered jail an amateur in crime and stayed there a little over three months. In that time I learned more of the devious methods which crooks use against society than I had ever dreamed of knowing. What a commentary upon justice! What responsibility rests upon a State which makes no provision for the separation of the young and old in crime!
I mingled daily with men grown old in the underworld; I assimilated just as much of their vices as my immature nature would hold. I learned the language of the crook. The tales told were strong with the flavor of adventure. They fascinated me and I looked up to the old crooks as men to be envied. Boy that I was, I knew nothing of their hidden life; I knew nothing of the years spent behind prison walls, nothing of the misery, sufferings, the heartaches such years entailed. Yes, I envied them. They came to be heroes, as it were, out of the great book of adventure.
The day of my trial finally arrived. I took particular pains to dress well for the occasion. Appearance weighs largely in the prisoner’s favor before judge and jury. The trial was brief, the evidence against me conclusive, I could offer none in my favor. The jury retired, and after over two hours deliberation arrived at the fact that I was indeed guilty. I tell you, juries do some strange things and arrive at still stranger conclusions. My sentence was pronounced immediately, and was that I should be confined in the reform school until I reached the age of twenty-one years.
As I look back over the years I can see clearly some of the steps that led me over the line. Be it understood that I am making no excuses for my numerous lapses of morality; I shall merely endeavor to trace some of the causes which led me into the underworld.
CHAPTER IV
EFFECTS OF GAMBLING
I have already mentioned the fact that I am possessed of a defective vision. I believe, and believe sincerely, that this defect of vision is a handicap to its possessor in the legitimate battle of life. It was partly responsible in my life for my extreme diffidence, a diffidence that became in itself one of the causes which led me into the environment of the pool room. It kept me away from those of good character, from the decent fellowship of girls and boys of my own age. I do not mean to say that the defect in itself did all this, but by reason of it my nature acquired a peculiar temperament, a sort of aloofness. I have always loved a crowd. I like the life of a city with its busy folks and ceaseless rush of activity. I like fellowship, companions to talk to; I hate to be alone. In search of these I drifted to the pool room.