Salt Lake Tribune | 1904-07-17 | Page 9 | Either Steal or Starve

EITHER STEAL OR STARVE. Ex-Convict Appeals to Court for Refuge Re-fuge in Pen. 7 NEW YORK, July 1C With a. record rec-ord of nine convictions and as many terms In prison, George W. Johnson has appealed to Police "Magistrate Onj-mc-n for refuge in the penitentiary, because be-cause he is unable to earn an honest living and must either steal or starve. The magistrate granted Johnuon s plea, with tho proviso that lie would send him to the penitentiary in order to keep him from temptation, and In the meantime would try to find home work for tho ex-convict where he would not be reminded of tho past. Johnson is 53 years old and well educated. ed-ucated. In a long address to the court he attributed his downfall to gambling. After running through a. fortune left by his father, he stole to secure the necessaries of life and was sent to prison for five years. Thero he learned the trade of a shoemaker, but soon found he was a marked man among fellow craftsmen and could not retain a position. He avos drivon again to steal and Avent through the same experience ex-perience nine times, Johnson declared his evpericn which he told in detail, to bo a common com-mon one among ox-convlcts, and said that, despite his repeated failures, he was determined to live an honest life In thc future.