Show to v vv I 1 has had strange career j one of the most versatile pre atlle criminals this country has produced la Is now a prisoner at governors island new york charged with desertion from the united states army he ile recently emerged from sing sing prison at gaining N I 1 as a ward of mr mrs balington booth of the volunteers of america since his release ho he has jed an upright honest life and served as secretary to mrs its booth he ile also became almoner to mrs mra mcalpin wife of gen mcalpin who dispensed dispenses yearly in aiding ex convicts w who he are struggling to live honest lives jut ju t as his future seemed bright a cloud came ut of his past pait and hta hb finds himself in a military bar racks charged charled with a serious of offense ferise the name of this man whose hose nem nent esis pursues him Is alexander skelly during the 53 ears 0 of hi his tumultuous lifeline lif elife he has been sv sy andler deaper ado train robber hig highwayman hayman indian fighter lighter chief of police in alaska sol sal dier college man forger convict and rt former ot of equally bar bened men HP ile was born in london of a 0 family high in social and pecuniary standing and after passing through latin school attended the caloge of the city of endon wherein he be acquitted him self so creditably that at tho the age of 21 he le was graduated not only from the college but from the medical school as well after graduating a desire for adventure coupled with ith the fact that he bad had developed some willil traits displeasing to his parents caused him to come to this country whre wh re he subsequently enlisted in the army his experiences in the ranks were varied he ile would serve out a terra term ol 01 enlistment and then leave the eer ser alce aco for wild trips bout the country spending much of his time in jail or dodging officers ha ile sered under gen miles following that leader in his campaigns against the indians indiana of the southwest an ant I 1 was mas a member of the famous troop that puran pursued td geron imo bad pad his band of blood balooly apaches until they were captured I 1 ater he fought under Iluf falo lo bill and gens laton law ton and shatter these army ebitt adventure ad ventur ous trips and prison sentences cor coir ered cred a period of t edity five years afaf r which skelly practiced medicine for a time in paso texas played cowboy in arizona and waa was a high wayman and train rober la in callior nia speaking ol 01 bis his life skelly bays says I 1 in one of my period periods of absence from tho the army I 1 wandered up to alaska it happened to be a time whon when I 1 waa as being good and by my knowledge of criminals crini nals my service aai a a soldier and my ability to use a feun I 1 was ap pointed chief of pf police of sitka aad I 1 save gave thim a good administration that grew grow tiresome so I 1 came back to the states when war between peru and chile broke out I 1 went down to chile I 1 spoke spanish fluently having learned it lu iu and when in south amer lea ica at various times it waa was no trouble for roe me to get a commission in the chilean army I 1 wai made a captain and fought all during the trouble there at the time of the spanish amer lean war I 1 was as a sergeant in the third cavalry and when we got to tampa I 1 rejoiced that under the stars and alexander skelly stripe ifould I 1 would a some real war but when the time for going to cuba came I 1 was detailed as one of the troops to stay behind and care for the horses it made me most heartily art then we were ordered to camp wyckoff on long island and there began the trouble that brought me into this court today to day we lay around there for some time I 1 was heartbroken at missing the fun in cuba and when the order came to go to fort ethan allen I 1 bucked it was the last straw and I 1 thought it was time to quil it was wits here that skelly committed the desertion for which he is now boing being held after leaving the army ho he went tu to new york where he perpetrated a number of successful forgeries of bis his experiences there he sayi says tiey caught me finally and I 1 got two years in sing sing it would hare have been ten had not some well bbown new york era pleaded for me it was as during bis his two years term at slog sing sing that the mighty change w was as wrought in this remarkable crim tal il persistent effort efforts toward reform are re finally productive of good result and at the expiration of his sentence be he came out into the world with high or r ideal ideals and a determination to live an different lit III sirs booth herself in his welfare and installs J him as her secretary and through mrs he became en in the work ork of reform reforming ipg crim mrs mcalpin trials until arrested on the old charge of Jesen deseri lin lm |