| Show CRIME OR OK I 1 y a tory story Is 16 told of an individual driven to desperation by want vant who commits commit a crime iu in order to ob tarn tain the shelter and sustenance eustena ace afforded by prison life alcare of this kind occurred iv in san ban francisco on monday last A middle aged abu named james watson applied at the police station and baked asked for a la lodging and a cup of 0 afee he hd wits an up by trade but for three months past had oot not been able to obtain work and wab wa reduced to starvation hla his request was denied and aad he jort two hours boun later be stopped near two police drew a piece of brick from his pocket and hurled burled it through the large plate glass glace window ol of a store then turning to the officers he said bald t am the guilty party 1 intended to break that window now you will have to take me in an empty stomach knows no conscience and wat is ie about the fix I 1 am la in he was wag arrested plead guilty to a charge of malicious mischief and was wag sent into the jail where a short abort time be bad been refused admission his reasons for committing the offense may be told in his own worde word 1 I spent all the money I 1 bad earned and I 1 have lived more like a tramp than a human being ever since eluce hun hunger and cold made me desperate enough to break that window I 1 a 0 uld not got get shelter antho in the ariso bianu I 1 turned vr ver in my head bead whether I 1 woultz rub rob om oie or smash a window I 1 thought that the window would be the bt bee t if I 1 bad known that this winnow now was wag so eo costly I 1 would have sent gent the brick through a smaller one I 1 aw the officers when I 1 threw the brick and intended bey aboy abut buciu see eee me this la jis bad business I 1 know but starving is worse alie operations of an industrial system capable of such an if as this in a country like ours sufficiently stamp it as wrong in some of its it material aspects here was a workingman so honest that he be would commit a minor offense with the of imprisonment rather than a more serious oue one with a chance of escape and OVOID even then regretted he be bad not selected a cheaper pane of glass to break it was bad business as he be sula said out but none will him when be says that starvation is 18 worse it is emergencies of this thin kind that govern ment should provide for when an ionest man has exhausted his meaos means of gaining a livelihood and to is reduced to the alternative of starving or committing crime the alternative should be removed by the government in its own interest a portion person is in as justly entitled to the betie benefits fits of public charity until he be eau be set on nis his feet again financially as are those who are rendered incapable by age infirmity or othir other means of honestly obtaining the necessaries of life not every one would woud make the same choice chisman his wan did dia it is the province of good government to supplement the industrial system by measures which would exclude the possibility of such a situation |
