Jackson, Claude - pathetic in Kan City - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

A special from Kansas City says: “Hunger and cold drove Claude Jackson, an Indiana farmer boy of twenty five to steal a copper kettle across the street from the jail. The grand jury indicted him; he pleaded guilty in the criminal court and was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. He appeared to welcome the penitentiary as a refuge from a life of starvation and wretchedness. He told Judge Woofford that his mother and father were good Christian people, living on a farm near Crawfordsville, Ind. “Why that’s the home of Gen. Lew Wallace,” said the judge, “A boy who comes from Gen. Wallace’s home ought not to steal.” Resuming his story, Jackson said that he went to Indianapolis to get work, but could not find it. His money soon gave out, and he was obliged to go back home. Soon he was arrested for vagrancy and ordered out of town. He made his way to Missouri. His tattered coat and ragged woolen shirt, and a pair of shoes with bare toes sticking out of them told the rest of Jackson’s tale. His face wore a pitifully desperate look as he denied the judge’s insinuation that he was lazy.