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Title: The Story of a Strange Career
Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document

Author: Anonymous

Editor: Stanley Waterloo

Release Date: September 4, 2010 [EBook #33631]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE STORY OF A STRANGE CAREER

THE STORY OF
A STRANGE CAREER

BEING
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CONVICT

_AN AUTHENTIC DOCUMENT_

EDITED BY
STANLEY WATERLOO

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1902

COPYRIGHT, 1902
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
_Published August, 1902_

INTRODUCTION

The story that follows this introduction is literally true. There died
lately, in a Western State prison, a man of the class known as habitual
criminals. He was, at the time of his death, serving out a sentence for
burglary. For thirty years he had been under the weight of prison
discipline, save for short periods of freedom between the end of one
term and the beginning of another.

Because of this man's exceptional qualities, as contrasted with those of
the multitude of criminals, he was induced, semi-officially, in a
friendly way, to write the story of his life. He accepted the
proposition made to him, though, consistent with his quality, not quite
fulfilling his pledge, omitting, as he did, certain hard details of the
later part of his criminal career. This was but natural, and, perhaps,
it is the one incident which shows that the man realized, in some
measure, the truth as to his own character.

The account which makes this book was written in 1897 and 1898, when its
author was in the free world. It has been thought best, out of regard
for an estimable family, to omit from the printed work the real name of
the writer. Another name has been substituted for the actual one, but,
with the exception of a