F 594 
 .N88 
 Copy 1 
 
 THE 
 
 VOICE OF WAENI^a: 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 YOUNG MEN, 
 
 AND DESIGNED TO 
 
 A 
 
 '1 
 
 / 
 
 Guard those that are out, and to rescue those that are in, 
 
 THE WAY TO EUHST. 
 
 V 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PRIITTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1867. 
 
f 
 
 THE 
 
 VOICE OF WAENING: 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 YOUNG MEN, 
 
 AND DESIGNED TO 
 
 Guard those that are out, and to rescue those that are in, 
 
 THE WAY TO RUIIT. 
 
 C,0 .Jl/iX^^n^ 
 
 c 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1867. 
 
 r 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by ' 
 
 C. T. NORTON, j 
 
 In the Clerk's Omce of the District Court of the United States for the ! 
 
 Northern District of New York. I 
 
 JOHN }. REED, PRINTER AND STttREOTYPER, 
 
 43 Centre Street, N. Y. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I WILL give a history of my tnivels through many of the 
 States and Territories in America. M}'- travels across the 
 Rocky Mountains twice — My hunting tours amongst buf- 
 faloes, and other kinds of wild game — A wounded buffalo 
 killing one of my company — A horse-thief mortally wounded 
 by the horse he stole from us — My visits with '' Kit Carson,'' 
 the far-famed mountaineer and Indian hunter, and many of 
 his stories — The killing and scalping of an Indian by one of 
 our company — A horrible murder committed in our emigrant 
 train — The murderer lynched — Four hundred Sioux Indians 
 attacking us — Our victory over the savages — My stay in 
 " Salt Lake Citv," amonirst the Mormons — A description of 
 Brigham Young's palace ; also the great Mormon temple 
 — My stay two hundred miles west of " Salt Lake City," 
 among the " Goshoot Indians" — The killing and scalping of 
 my comrades — My escape — The cause of my blindness — 
 Also the lives of many reckless men. 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 " Blind man I What is the cause of your blindness ?" Hc.v 
 often I have been asked this question durinc^ tho last four 
 years ! My answer has been " the small pox." This ans'.ver, 
 though true, is not the whole truth. The first and chief cause 
 was my vicious habits, drinking spirituous liquors, gambling-, 
 and using tobacco, which have ruined thousands of otiiers and 
 hastened them to early graves. I liavc been ashamed to 
 state the whole cause of my present wretched condition. And 
 I would still prefer to conceal the fact as far as possible ; but 
 after much thought, I have come to the conclusion to publish a 
 sketch of my wicked and miserable career, in the liope of saving 
 some from a similar fate. Unfit for any of the ordinary em- 
 ployments, I have determined to do what I can to carry out 
 this purpose, mortifying as it is to my pride. 
 
 In the following pages I give the reader a history of my life 
 from the age of sixteen to the age of thirty years, when I be- 
 came blind. The most of tliis time I spent in roving, drinking, 
 and gambling, which brought me into my present condition. I 
 I will also give the history of the lives of many otiiers, my ac- 
 quaintances and associates, some of whom spent their last days 
 in the State prison and the poor house, some of them are still 
 there ; and a few have drawn their last breath under the gal- 
 lows. 
 
 Reader I my history will be truthfully given. It has been 
 written with my own hand, I having been taught in an Asylum 
 for the Blind, to write without sight. Having a poor educa- 
 tiou, mostly through my own fault, my writing was, of course, 
 imperfect, and has been put into the hands of a friend who has 
 copied it and made some corrections. But every statement is 
 true. Not a fact has been stated which I do not know from mv 
 own personal knowledge and observation and the best informa- 
 tion, to be true. 
 
 My father was a farmer, and lived a mile west of the village 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 of Warsaw, Wyoniing county, New York. He liad ei.j^lit cliil- 
 di-en, two daughters and six soii.-^, of whom I was the fiftli. 
 Desiriiip: to loam the tin smith's trade, witli the consent of my 
 father, I C(77nmenced my appreDticeship with Hodge & Morris, 
 with whom I was to continue three years, working in the tiu 
 shop througli the day, and serving as clerk in the hard-ware 
 store in tiie evening. I slept in the stare. 
 
 After I had been in the village about two months, I was in- 
 vited by a clerk of a dry goods store to come to the store about 
 ten o'clock in the evening, to eat poached eggs, to be cooked in 
 a pan made of paper. This was something I had never heard 
 of, and I accepted the invitation. I found at the store live 
 young men, being myself tiie sixth. ^ The window blinds were 
 closed, and the door locked. The sheet of paper was then 
 fornifd into the shape of a bake-pan. Melted butter was put 
 into it, and tiieu the eg^^, well beaten, were poured in. The 
 pun was set on a box stove, and the eggs were well cooked iu 
 about two minutes. The counter, which had been used as a 
 table, was cleared off, and the dishes washed and returned to 
 their places. Then, *' Hurrah, boys, for a game at cards !" I 
 declined playing, not knowing one card from another. The 
 others insisted on my playing, and offered to teach me. Those 
 who sat next to me were very attentive to me ; and all compli- 
 mented me for my aptness as a beginner. We plaved until nearly 
 twelve o'clock, when, it being Saturday evening, one of the 
 boys said we must adjourn, or we should break the Sabbath. I 
 had already acquired a strong attachment to card playing. 
 
 Before we left the store, a clerk from another store invited 
 us to a similar entertainment at the store of his emplovcr, the 
 next Wednesday evening. We met at the appointed time. 
 This clerk had procured a pitcher of beer to be added to our 
 former bill of fare. I was told that eggs were much better 
 when eaten with beer. To me, however, the beer tasted worse 
 than any medicine I had ever taken ; and I drank it only be- 
 cause the others did. After supper, again the counter was 
 cleared and alUhings put in order ; and again the cards were 
 introduced. We played an hour or more, and went to our 
 respective beds, most of us sleeping in the stores. Tiiis afforded 
 us the opportunity to be out as late at night as we chose, with- 
 out the knowledge of our employers. We continued congrega- 
 ting m the stores every few nights, playing cards, drinking beer, 
 wnie, and_ after awhile, whisky, and all other kinds of strrong 
 drink. JSext, we got to phiying for pennies, then for five cent 
 
• VOICE OF WARNINTr. T 
 
 pieces, then for ten cent pieces ; and so on, all of us going on 
 fast to ruin, though we were not aware of it. 
 
 I had been with Hodge & Morris eleven montlis, when, hav- 
 ing been out late the night before, and being cross and peevish, 
 I had some hard words with Morris, and quit working for the 
 company, and went home to work on the farm. Having be- 
 come attached to the bad boys in the village, time seemed to 
 pass very slowly. After working on the farm about three 
 months, I got a situation with A. H. Carpenter, and was much 
 pleased to get back into the village, as I could again play cards, 
 drink liquor, and use tobacco without my parents knowing it. 
 Thus I continued for eight montlis to drink and gamble nights, 
 till a late hour. I had now got so I would step into the bar 
 rooms and saloons at night, when I could do it on the sly. 
 I was jiovv taken sick, and went to my father's house, where I 
 was cuiilined by severe sickness for six weeks. When I was 
 again able to work, Mr. Carpenter had sold out, and I lost my 
 situation. Xot knowing of my bad habits, he recommended me 
 to Mr. Arthur Burtis, of Churchville, Monroe county, for whom 
 I engaged to work one year. I worked three months, when 
 my health again failed, and I quit work and returned to War- 
 saw. My father had sold his farm and moved into the village. 
 
 After I had regained my health I visited Attica, thirteen 
 miles from Warsaw. At Attica I got to playing cards with 
 some bad young men. To avoid being seen, we went into an 
 orchard in the outskirts of the village. We sat down in the 
 shade of a large apple tree and put our money upon a handker- 
 chief spread on the ground. W^hile engaged here at gambUng, 
 we were discovered by a citizen of the place, though he vras not 
 seen by us. Being acquainted with my father's family, he re- 
 cognized me, and wrote my father a letter, informing him of the 
 company and the act in which he had seen me. Tne next day, 
 I returned to Warsaw. I had a brother-in-law living at the 
 depot, where I called to see my sister and her family a few min- 
 utes before going to my father's. I found my sister crying, and 
 asked her the cause. She said I would tind out when I should 
 see my father ; and added : " We have all heard of your 
 gambling at Attica with bad men. Shame on you — a gambler 
 
 — shame on you, C I" and cried still more bitterly. I was 
 
 so shocked that I could hardly stand. I thought of my poor 
 mother and my young sister at home. I knew I should iiiid 
 them weeping. 1 knew not what to do. 1 was ashamed to go 
 home ; and after sitting a few minutes longer, looking at my 
 
g VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 sister, wlio continuecl crying, I went to the ticket-office, and 
 waited for the next train of cars going west, and returned to | 
 Attica, but with a heavy heart. I drank beer and other liquors ^ 
 very freely for several days, to drown my thoughts of home, j 
 gambling most of the time, night and day, a practice then quite j 
 prevalent in Attica. I was lucky, winning often from expe- j 
 rienced gnmblers. 
 
 I had been but a few days at Attica, when T heard of a i 
 gambler in San Francisco, called " Stuttering Alio,"' who had j 
 won $11,000 in gold, one morning before breakfast. This en- : 
 couraged me ; I did not know but I might some day be as sue- ' 
 cessfuT as Stuttering Alic. I now commenced traveling. I i 
 visiied Buffalo, Rochester, and many other towns in Western 
 New York, and was exceedingly lucky, winning at almost every j 
 game, but spending my money very freely. I went on in this way ; 
 until March, when my luck changed. I lost at nearly every 
 game, until one night in the city of Rochester I lost my last dol- ! 
 lar. Downhearted, I moved my chair back from the table, and, 
 while sitting there, I resolved to go home to my friends and 
 uever again drink, gamble, or use tobacco ; for I had become 
 a perfect tobacco worm. I told an old, gray-headed gambler, 
 sitting in a remote part of the room, what I had determi!ied to 
 do. He advised me to do so, for I was still young and did not 
 fully know the evil of these bad habits. He was the oldest 
 gambler I ever saw. Most gamblers die at a comparatively 
 early period of life. The next morning I called on a gambler 
 who owed me a few dollars, got the money, and took the cars 
 for Warsaw. I begged of my relations to forgive my past con- 
 duct, and I promised entirely to forsake my evil habits. I was 
 readily forgiven and welcomed home. '. 
 
 During my absence, my father had gone to Michigan, and ! 
 bought some landed property near Kalamazoo, which required 
 his attention during the summer. I wrote to him, informing him 
 of my reformation, and requesting him to get for me a situation i 
 at or near that place, where I could fiaish my trade. He got me i 
 a situation with Potter & Woodbury, in the city of Kalamazoo, I 
 and wrote me, enclosing twenty-five dollars to pay my expenses. I 
 Never did a son receive better advice than was given in this ] 
 letter. My mother and sister prepared my clothes for my jour- 
 ney ; and soon the omnibus stopped at the gate to take me to | 
 tlie depot, and the family bade me good bye. Such expressions i 
 of warm and tender affection as were uttered by my mother and i 
 sister, are seldom witnessed. And oh ! what anxiety did they j 
 
VOICE OF VrAIlNIN'G. 9 
 
 betray in their parting advice, entreating inc to be steady and 
 keep out of bad company ; their tears flowing down their 
 cheeks I 
 
 I soon found myself "pleasantly situated with my new em- 
 ployers, whom I found to be excellent men. I worked for t'nem 
 steadily for nearly three months, when I was invited by some 
 gay fellows to evening parties, where the guests were treated 
 with wine, and played ucre for amusement. I attended a num- 
 ber of parties without either drinking or playing. I was asked 
 the reason ; but I durst not tell them it was because I loved 
 both too well, and feared a relapse into my former habits, 
 which I wished to conceal, especially from the young ladies. 
 At length, however, I made up my mind to drink and pla}'' at 
 these parties just for company's sake ; but I would never go 
 further. Alas for the consequences ! My appetite for stronger 
 liquor and my passion for card playing were revived ; and I soon 
 found myself as bad as ever. Oh ! tiiat [ had heeded the 
 parting advice of my mother and sisters ! But I went on 
 gambling nearly every night until twelve or one o'clock, and 
 working day-times, thus learning two trades at tiie same time. 
 My chief object in learning the tin-smith's trade "was to have 
 something to fall back upon in case 1 vVnould find myseit' among 
 strangers, broken by gambling. 
 
 I often heard in the gambling rooms of a very rich gambler 
 in Marshall, called Lucky Bill, said to be the most skillful 
 gambler in the State of Michigan. This encouraged me again. 
 I thought it possible for me to become one of these rich 
 gamblers. I aimed iiigh. Instead of playing ten cent games, as 
 I did at first, I wanted to play "big" games, as I should tlien 
 win or lose " piles " of money. Again I was lucky, winning 
 almost every time I played. 
 
 I had been at Kalamazoo about nine months, when, one 
 evening, on the way to my supper, I stopped at a saloon for a 
 drink. The bar-keeper told me there was in town a " traveling 
 sport" who v/anted a game. I asked his name ; the bar-keeper 
 said it was Shepard. Returning from supper, i called at the 
 saloon, and Shepard was there. Afcer an introducion by the 
 bar-keeper, we three, with another Kalamazoo genilema.n, went 
 to tliC gambling room, and played a game called Bluti, until, on 
 counting my money, I found myself the loser by ninety dollars ; 
 and I judged the other Kahrmazoo gentleman liad lost at least 
 an equal amount. Shepard was the lucky nnui. 1 U'ft the 
 room, and, going up the street, met anotiier Kalamazoo 
 
10 . VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 gambler, wlio told mc that Lucky Bill was in town, in diso-uise, 
 calling himself Shepard. So 1 learned that the " sport " was 
 no other than the famed Lucky Bill himself. Finding tliat he 
 was known in Kalamazoo, he took tlie train the next morning 
 for Marshall. The bar-Reeper and the other man continued 
 playing with him until they had lost four hundred dollars. I 
 kept at my work, playing nights ; and was generally lucky. 
 
 1 was at Kalamazoo thirteen months, the most of which time 
 was spent in vice and dissipation, when sickness again compelled 
 me to return to Warsaw, where I was confined during the win- 
 ter. Li the spring I went East, and connected myself with E. 
 S. Washburn's traveling circus. I was what is bv showmen 
 termed a " candy butcher." I had my stand inside the canvas. 
 I made considerable raoney selling fruits, candies, and lemonade 
 made of tartaric acid and a few old lemon peels. At Columbus, 
 Ohio, late in autumn, I sold out, and went to Warsaw to spend 
 the winter, intending to travel with the sama circus the next 
 summer. lu the spring, as I was about starting, my motlier 
 and sisters, having learned my intentions, endeavored to dissuade 
 me from my purpose. My mother begged me, with tears, not 
 to go, saying that showmen generally were not respected. 
 Deeply affected, as I truly was, by her grief, I promised her 
 that I would give up my intended business. I determined, 
 liowever, to go West, and go so far that my people would not 
 know what I was doing. I went to Buffalo, and took passage 
 on board a steamboat, the first boat up the lakes that spring. 
 Our passage was so obstructed by ice that we were three weeks 
 going by way of the lakes to Chicago. I was sorry when we 
 landed. I had gambled most of the time, — ihe passengers 
 being quite gi-een at card playing. 1 beat them with ease. 
 
 From Chicago I went by railroad to Dubuque, and thence 
 by stage to Deliii, Delaware Co., Iowa, wiiere 1 got the name 
 of Lucky Joe. I was there two years, working, gambling, and 
 dealing in land, and made considerable money. I tiien went to 
 Warsaw to visit my relatives, and after a few moutiis 1 returned 
 to Ljwa, stopping at Dubuque, where I remaiued three months, 
 during which time gambling was my only business. The 
 game having become somewhat dull here, I commenced travel- 
 ing. 1 went East, West, IS'orth and South, gambling in cities 
 •dud towns on the lines of railroads, canals, lakes and rivers. 
 
 Having traveled in the way just mentioned till 1859, three, 
 other young men and myself formed a company, and started for 
 the newly discovered gold mines at Pike's Peak. ]My partners 
 
TOICE OF WARNING. , 11 
 
 were not gamblers. We boiio^lit our outfit at Omaha City, 
 Nebraska. We started, intending to cross tlie Platte river at 
 Shinn's Ferry ; but hearing bad news from Pike's Peak gold 
 mines, we changed our minds, kept on the North side of the 
 river, and headed our course for Califoruia. We drove along 
 behind two large sheep drovers ; and when any of their sheep 
 became sick or lame, they would let tliem drop behind, and the 
 wolves, which were very numerous on the Plains, would com- 
 mence eating the poor animals alive. After witnessing a few 
 such cases, we shot all that were thus left behind, to end their 
 suffering in the shortest manner. We passed Fort Kearney 
 twenty-five miles to Elm Creek. We had seen many Indians 
 on our route, but had had no trouble from them except their 
 begging. We here saw the first bnffulo we had ever seen wild. 
 Tliere were upwards of thirty in a herd nearly two miles off. 
 One of our company mounted our saddle horse with his gun, 
 gave them a chase and killed one of them, a very large one. 
 We smoked about four hundred pounds of the meat, after the 
 manner of the Indians, by driving sticks into the ground and 
 laying other sticks across the tops of them ; and then laying 
 the meat in thin slices on the cross sticks, and keeping a slow 
 fire uuder it. 
 
 While we were thu^ curing our meat, an emigrant train came 
 along, bound for California. It being Saturday, the emigrants 
 camped to lay over on the Sabbath. On Sunday morning we 
 clubbed together for a bnffalo chase. Eight of us saddled our 
 liorses, expecting some rich sport. In the train was an aged 
 Christian lady, who begged of u>? not to liunt on the Saljbath, 
 saying if we did we would meet with some accident. We laugh- 
 ingly told her she was crazy. Within an hour after we had started, 
 we were pursuing a herd of several hundred buffaloes, of wliich 
 we killed nine. But our best horse, stepping into a wolf-hole, 
 pitched over and broke his neck, and threw his rider twenty 
 feet in advance of him. Was this our only misfortune ? No : 
 one of our company, William Carr/of Ohio, nineteen 3-ears of 
 age, was killed by a wounded buflaio ! He had shot the animal, 
 and chased him into a mountain. He got off" his pet horse, 
 took out his sheath knife, and cut the buffalo's throat. The 
 aniauil sprang upon him, and stam[)ed and hooked him to 
 death. When we arrived at t!ie spot both were dead, their 
 bodies lying about two rods apart, and the horse standing near 
 and looking at his master, who had raised him from a colt. 
 Tne reader can judge our feelings on seeing the badly mangled 
 
12 VOICE OF WARXI.VG. 
 
 body of our yoiino; friend, — for be was a favorite witii us all. 
 We lathed the body on his pet horse, who seemed to feel as bad 
 as we Sabbath-breakers did, and took it to tlie camp, a distance 
 of five miles. It was a mom-nful time with the emigrants. The 
 old lady's words had proved true. 'Now we did not think her 
 crazy. We buried the remains of poor Billy Carr, put up a pine 
 board at the head of his grave, and laid over the next day to 
 cure our buffalo meat. 
 
 On the following morning we hitched up our teams and pur- 
 sued our jou.rney, all of us Sabbath-bi-eakers feeling very sad 
 at the loss of our much loved friend. We traveled on to Fort 
 Laramie, four hundred miles from Fort Kearney, killing buffa- 
 loes almost every day except Sundays. Not a man of us 
 would hunt on the Sabbath. When we arrived at Fort 
 Laramie, or on the opposite side of the river from the Fort, 
 wc heard the favorable report of Horace Greeley, respecting 
 the mines at Pike's Peak, while on his tour to California ; and 
 we then turned our course toward these miues. We crossed the 
 Platte river v/ith our four tetims. We ferried ourselves across 
 in a wagon-box calked witli pieces of old rope. Our stock v/e 
 swam across. We went to Pike's Peak, two hundred miles, and 
 found that the miners liad deceived Mr. Greeley. But few mines 
 would pay for working. We staid here, however, the remainder 
 of the summer ; my partners prospecting for gold, and I spend- 
 ing my time at the^gambling tables. 
 
 While we were camped at Bolder City, a report came into 
 town that the Nuvajoe Indians shot gold bullets ; and miners, 
 excited by the news, started for the Navajoe range, distant 
 150 miles. Five miners, who started with their saddle mules 
 and pack mules but two days in advance of my partners and 
 others who were preparing for the trip, having passed over the 
 snowy range into the Nav:ijoe country, were met by a large 
 party of Indians, and botli tiie meu and the mules were killed, 
 and the saddles, it was said, were cut into pieces and strev/ed in 
 the trail, as if to deter all white meu from following this trail. 
 My partners and their companions followed this trail to the 
 place where the men and mules were lying, and turned about 
 and came back to Bolder City. 
 
 We remained about the *^mines uutil the last of October, 
 when we started for Taos, New Mexico, distant 250 miles. Our 
 company consisted of the persons connected with eight wagons. 
 Nothing v/orth relating happened until we had crossed the Rat- 
 ton mountains, wiihin ei'jiht miles of Fort Garland. We had 
 
VOICE OF ^7ARXING. 13 
 
 two fine horses wliich we did not use on the wagons, but wliich 
 followed them as a dog is Avont to do. Occasionally they would 
 stop to graze for a few moments by the road-side. As we were 
 wending slowly along through the caiion — broken mountains 
 on either side — we looked back, bnt our horses were not iti 
 sight. It was soon ascertained that the horses must have had 
 riders. We unharnessed our horses and mules, mounted them, 
 and followed our stolen horses by their tracks from the road 
 toward the mountains. We soon saw one of them running up the 
 side of the mountain, with a person on his back. We gave hot 
 chase, and the horse threw his rider, who struck his side upon 
 a rock, and was so badly injured that he was unable to stand. 
 The other thief escaped with tlie stolen horse. We took the 
 wounded thief to our wagons, intending to hang him. But a 
 doctor who was in our train examined him and found his ribs 
 broken. He said it was useless to hang him, as he could live 
 but two or three days. We laid him by the side of the road, 
 gave him some water and three days' provisions, and passed on 
 to Taos. 
 
 I had been at ^Haos but a few davs before I o'ot a situation 
 as clerk in an American hotel. Evenings, after I closed the 
 hotel, I visited the gambling rooms. Gambling is very prevalent 
 here among the Spaniards, Mexicans, and soldiers. And the 
 Sabbath is the day for cock-fighting, and all kinds of gaming. 
 Some of the evenings which I did not spend lib the gaming table, 
 I visited Kit Carson, the far-famed mountaineer and Indian 
 hunter, to hear him tell his interesting Indian, bear, and wolf 
 stories. One of them was substantially as follows : 
 
 When he was Government guide, piloting the old regular 
 soldiers through the mountains in Mexico, above Bent's old fort 
 on tlie Arkansas river, one afternoon, tlie soldiers being camped, 
 he took his gun and went up along the river to see it he could 
 not kill a bear for the ofiicers. He was about eight miles from 
 camp, and in the woods about two hundred yards from ihe river, 
 when, looking toward the river, he saw a party of Indians, and 
 with them a white woman and two girls. Kit went back and 
 informed tlie commanding ofncer, who detailed thirty armed 
 soldiers to go and rescue the vroman and children Ironi the 
 savages. He piloted them to the place where the Indians were, 
 but on the opposite side of the river. It being near midnight, 
 tlie Indians were all asleep. Mrs. Smith (ibu that was lier 
 name), was sitting with her face buried in her hands. One of 
 her girls was in a similar position, the other lying ou tJie ground 
 
14 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 asleep, and tlie Imlians sleeping all around tliem. Tine soldiers 
 stood awaiting orders from their commander, who stood trem- 
 bling and pale, afraid to attack the sleeping Indians and rescue 
 their prisoners, though there were no more than thirty of them. 
 One of the Indians awoke, and, seeing the soldiers, gate a yell. 
 All the Indians sprang upon their feet, took their tomahawks, 
 plunged them into the heads of their prisoners, and fled to the 
 mountains without the loss or injury of one of their number 1 
 The bodies of Mrs. Smith and the girls were taken to the camp 
 and buried. Carson said he was scarcely able to keep the pri- 
 vates from shooting their cowardly officer. " I know his name, 
 and ought to expose it to the public. He is yet alive ; and 
 such a man is just brave enough to creep up to a blind man and 
 shoot or stab him." 
 
 While I was in Taos, Kit Carson was Indian agent for a 
 number of different tribes of Indians that range through New 
 Mexico. He at one time went over the mountains to give the 
 Navajoe Indians their supplies. These Indians told him about 
 the killing of the five Pike's Peak miners, whose murder I 
 have mentioned. They said they were brave white men, having 
 killed twelve of their Indians, so that they died before they (the 
 Indians) killed the miners, and mortally wounded twelve others 
 so they died in a few weeks after. 
 
 At another time while I was in Taos, Kit went off amongst 
 the Apache Indians, where he found a little American boy 
 about nine years old, a prisoner. The boy could speak neither 
 English nor Spanish, but he could, in broken English, tell his 
 name, and said his father and mother and little sisters had been 
 killed by the Indians, and his elder brother had been drowned 
 in the river trying to escape, and the Indians got him out of 
 the river to take off his scalp. The Indians hold prisoners as 
 property, and a prisoner may be bought for a pony worth no 
 more than twenty dollars. Kit, when he found this boy, had 
 two large American mules worth six hundred dollars ; the one 
 a saddle mule, the other a pack mule. He gave one of them 
 for the boy, and took the boy behind him on the other, and 
 brought him to Taos. Being asked why he did not come to the 
 settlement and get a cheap pony to trade for the boy, he an- 
 swered that the Indians were a deceitful race, and they might 
 have killed the boy, or run him to the mountains where he could 
 not be found. Kit took the boy into his family, with his Spanish 
 wife and his tv.'o small girls, and sent him to school; Peter 
 Joseph, Col. St. Vrain, and other leading men in Taos paying 
 
voicj: of wakxixg, 15 
 
 his tuition, til! they could liiid out whether he had relatives in 
 Texas, where his parents and the oilier children were killed. It 
 may be truly said of Kit Carson that he is one of the most noble- 
 minded, kind hearted men in the United States. He is now 
 about sixty years of age, a colonel of a regiment of mountain- 
 eers in New Mexico, and a brave officer. 
 
 I staid in Taos until the next spring, when I took passage in 
 Col. St. Vrain's freight train back to tlie States. Few incidents 
 worth relating occurred on onr journey. After we had got into 
 Kansas, at a creek called one hundred and ten, we met a mule 
 freight train bound for Santa Fe. We all camped for dinner, 
 and ibr baiting our teams. While here, one of our Mexican 
 drivers challenged one of the drivers bound for Santa Fe to a 
 game at cards. A dispute arose between them, and our driver 
 was stabbed by the other so that he died in two hours. The 
 Santa Fe driver fled, and escaped justice. 
 
 At Kansas City, Missouri, I left the train, and again com- 
 menced gambling, and continued this vicious practice in Mis- 
 souri, Illinois, and other Western States, until the spring of 
 1862, when I started for California. I crossed the Missouri 
 river the 19th of May, and joined an emigrant train at Omaha 
 City, Nebraska. We elected our captain — for all trains ci'oss- 
 ing the Plains iiave a captain — and went on our way rejoicing. 
 Nothing of interest occurred until we had got within forty miles 
 of Furt Kearney. Two of our company one niglit were out 
 standing guard over our stock, which consisted of horses, mules, 
 and cattle. One of the guard, George Stowell, saw an Indian 
 creeping along i)ehind some bushes. The Indian shot an arrow 
 at Georu:e, who, in return, iired at the Indian with his a-nn. 
 The Indian jumped up, gave three yells, and fell dead. Stowell 
 and John Barnelt came into camp and told what had happened. 
 Tiie next morning John invited us to go and see him scalp the 
 Indian. He said if the Indian had killed him the Indian would 
 have taken his scalp ; and for that reason he should take the 
 Indian's scalp. We went, taking with us three shovels to dig 
 the Indian's grave. George performed the operation quite 
 skilfullv, as we all thoui>"lit, thou >'h none of us had ever seen a 
 person scalped before. We buried him in true Indian style, 
 wra[)piiig him in his blanket, and laying his bow and arrows on 
 his body before covering it. The Indians give their dead a bow 
 and arrows to shoot game with while crossing the vast desert 
 to the Spirit Land, which abounds with all kinds of v/ild game. 
 Thev believe that those who are brave go to tiiat land af'.er 
 
IG VOICE OF WARXIXG, 
 
 deatli ; but those who arc not brave go to the bad country to 
 which the white ni;in g-oes. 
 
 Having* b'.iriod the Indian, we proceeded on our journey, lu 
 crossing- the Plains this time, I saw but one buffalo. Thousands 
 had been killed by Pike's Peak emigrants, and the rest had pro- 
 bably been frightened away. 
 
 ^Vhen we had passed Fort Kearney, 141 miles we.st\v?„rd, one 
 mornins: as we \vere about to start, a horrid murder was com- 
 niittcd in our train by one or our number, whose name was 
 Frasier. The person killed was our captain, Wm. Foster. 
 Some hard words had passed between them concerning their 
 teams. When the captain liad turned his back and was walk- 
 ing away, Frasier drew out his bowie knife and stabbed him in 
 the neck, cutting off a large vein, and causing immediate death. 
 Frasier, in his attempt to escape, sprang to my saddle hcrse 
 which was tied behind one of the wagons. I sprang and 
 grabbed him, and with the assistance of two others, captured 
 iiim, took from him his revolver and bowie-knife, and tied 
 him hand and foot. A consultation was held, and it was 
 decided that he shoukl be taken along to Fort Laramie, and 
 delivered to the United States troops. The burial of the captain 
 vras a solemn and sorrov.^ful occasion, for be was beloved by all 
 the emigrants. While we were burying the captain, we were 
 toki bv a man in the train that he was acquainted with Frasier 
 in St. Jo, Missouri, and tliat he was a drunken, fighting fellow. 
 Fearing that ho might make his escape before we could get him 
 to Fort Laramie, a distance of 260 miles, we resolved to dispose 
 of him be'bre we proceeded on our journey. A judge was ap- 
 pointed to try him, and a jury was formed ; and the man having 
 the best knowledge of law of all in the train, was appointed as 
 counsel for the prisoner. Myself and seven others v\'ere wit- 
 nesses, I having stood witliin ten feet of Frasier wdien he com- 
 mitted the murder. The trial lasted two hours, and the jury 
 brought him in guiity cf murder in the first degree; and the 
 judge sentenced him to be hung betv/een the hours of one and 
 three o'clock. Tliere being no timber within many miles, the 
 question was how to build a scaffold. Our judge being au old 
 Californian, was not long in devising a plan of a gallows. He 
 ordered two of the heaviest ox-wagons, having the longest and 
 largest poles, to be drawn up facing each other, the poles to be 
 hoisted, the ends to be tied together, and the wdieels to be 
 blocked. A barrel vras placed directly under the ends of the 
 tongues or poles, and the criminal on the barrel with one end 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 17 
 
 of a rope around liis neck, and the other tied to the ends of tlie 
 poles. The judge then ordered tlie larretts to be taken off the 
 horses and mules, and tied togetlier so as to make a rope two 
 hundred feet long, the middle of the rope to be put around the 
 barrel. Every man, woman and child was ordered to take hold 
 of the rope, some strong men to be nearest to the barrel. The 
 judge gave the word, and we all pulled suddenly, and drew the 
 barrel from under the feet of the culprit. His neck was broken 
 by the fall, and when dead the body was taken down and buried 
 on the side of the road opposite to the place where the captain 
 was buried. We then elected the judge for our captain, and 
 pursued our journey. 
 
 Reader 1 what do you suppose was the cause of Frasier's 
 committing the deed for which he was executed ? After !ie had 
 received his sentence, he prayed and cried })iteously, and said if 
 it had not been for liquor he would not have committed the fatal 
 crime. He had a barrel, or rather a large keg of liquor in his 
 wagon, and had drank freely of it. AVc poured the liquor out 
 of the barrel before he was executed. Tiiis was the barrel 
 which was used for his scaffold. Young men wlio read these 
 pages, let the fate of Frasier admonish you to abstain entirely 
 from the use of intoxicating drinks. "Touch not, taste not, 
 handle not," is the only safe rule. 
 
 After we had passed Fort Laramie and crossed the Black 
 Mountains, or Bhick Hills, and were traveling up along the 
 Sweet Water river, one of our men went with his gnu toward 
 the brink of the river in quest of game. But instead of finding 
 four-legged game, he saw about four hundred red skins, skulked 
 behind some willow bushes, apparently intending to attack our 
 train. He dodged behind a rock, and crept on his hands and 
 knees till he got behind a small mountain, unseen by the Indians, 
 and came running up to the train and told us what he had seen. 
 Our advance teams were fast descending a very steep mountain, 
 about thirty rods from top to base. Tiie road passed tlirough 
 a ravine about fifty rods, then up another mountain about thirty 
 rods from base to top. We were much alarmed by the news 
 brought us by our hunter, and knew not what to do. Four of 
 our lead teams were so far down the mountain that we could 
 not get them back without going down to the centre of the 
 ravine, which extended down to the river where the Indians 
 were in ambush ; and we supposed they intended to attack us 
 in this ravine. After a few minutes consultation, we concluded 
 to go through and gain the top of the mountain on the other side, 
 if pos>ible. Women and children were crying, some of them 
 
18 VOICE OF WARXIXG 
 
 praying to be saved from the bands of the savages. Captain 
 Lawrence ordered the teamsters to put whip to their teams. 
 When we came to the centre of the ravine the Indians saw us, 
 and came running toward us, the air ringing with their savage 
 yells. There was a general excitement in our train. The yells 
 of the Indians and the screams of our women and children 
 frightened the teams, and so increased their speed that we 
 reached the top of tlie mountain before the Indians got within 
 arrow shot. Reader, you can not imagine how our old sore- 
 footed oxen ran. It seemed as if they knew that their own 
 safety as well as ours depended upon their reaching the top of 
 the mountain. 
 
 Having thus far effected our purpose, we formed a corrdl; 
 and the men with their guns formed a line around our wngons 
 to protect the women and children. Some men 'were as much 
 frightened as the women and children : one of them holding in 
 his hands his ox-whip, supposing he had his gun, until told of 
 his mistake, while preparing to "take aim." The Indians occa- 
 sionally sent a bullet among us, while we were ninety m-en 
 strong, all well arm.ed. Eight or ten of our guns would carry 
 a bullet nearly half a mile with accuracy. We formed in line 
 chiefly to let t!ie Indians see our strength, hoping they would 
 go awa,y without fighting. But they did not leave until we had 
 lired at them, and probably killed some of them. All the 
 damage we received was the loss of a young mule, one of his 
 legs having been broken by a rifle ball. The Indians having 
 become afraid of us, they retreated to the mountains, and" we 
 went on our way rejoieiug at our victory. George Stowell w"as 
 eager for some of their scalps, but thought it imprudent to go 
 after them. 
 
 Passing through Echo canon toward Salt Lake City, we 
 examined some of the rocks used by the Mormons for breast- 
 works, and through which they had drilled holes for port-holes. 
 I have seen solid piles of rock near this place as large and as 
 high as a common dwelling house. These must form breast- 
 works capable of resisting the strongest force. The port-holes 
 were drilled at the tijne when President Buchanan ordered an 
 army of regulars to Salt Lake City. They were met at Green 
 River by the Mormons, who, it is said, bought off the Govern- 
 ment officers, and our army returned to the States. Many lost 
 their lives on the Plains ; some were frozen to death. The 
 affair was badly managed by our officers. I would give more 
 of the particulars of this expedition did space permit. 
 
 We arrived at Salt Lake City on the 20th of July, The 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 19 
 
 train stopped licre three days to recruit their stock a little, and 
 proceeded on their way to California. I remained ton days to 
 learn soniethins: of the Mormons, of wliom I had read and heard 
 so much. I was there on the 24th of July, which is celebrated 
 as the anniversary of their first settlement in Salt Lake valley 
 in 184t. Everything passed off civilly. I saw but one man 
 the worse for liquor. I must say, however, that I had never 
 seen so many children in one day as I saw on that day. I went 
 to the Temple and examined its walls. They were about four 
 feet thick, and vrere then about eight feet high, built of solid 
 cut stone, and the temple, it was said, would be when finished 
 the largest that has been built since King Solomon's time, and 
 was intended to be similar to that built by him. The \vall 
 around the temple is ten feet high, and about three feet thick. 
 
 I w^ent to call on Brigham Young, or, as the Mormons call 
 him. President Young. But ho was ill, and his physician would 
 not let him receive compauy. I, however, examined his palace 
 and his garden. The garden is the finest I have ever seen, and 
 contains five acres. The wall around his palace is similar to 
 that around the Temple, and has two passage-ways through it, 
 a small and a large one. Over each of these is a large marble 
 stone. On the stone over the small passage-way, is carved a 
 lamb in a lying posture ; and on that over the large passage- 
 way, a lion in the same posture. These are intended to illus- 
 trate the Scripture prediction of the day when " the lion and the 
 lamb shall lie down together." 
 
 I saw about the city many women without hair on their 
 heads, young women as well as old. I took the liberty of ask- 
 ing a rattle-headed young Mormon the cause of sc many wo- 
 men losing their hair. I asked if it was not the climate. He 
 said it was not ; and gave as an answer, that when a man 
 having a number of wives, was away from home, the women 
 would get to fighting a little, just for fun, and pull out each 
 other's hair. " Rather harsh fun," I said. He said, " Oh I 
 they enjoy just as good health without hair as with it, for all I 
 can see." The fighting, I thought, was quite probable ; the rest 
 of the answer v>'as less so. I thought too, that I should not 
 wish a lady friend of mine to marry a Mormon. 
 
 During my stay in the city, I engnged witli J. Gooding, the 
 Superintendent of the Overland Mail Stage, to keep a Stage 
 Station, called CanonrijStatiou, situated in the centre of one of 
 those small deserts, which was about thirty-two miles across. I 
 commenced business the 4th of August. It was strange busi- 
 
20 voicp: 0^ ttarxixg. 
 
 iiess to mc. We liad to luuil all our water twelve miles for 
 cooking- and for twelve horses. We were also daily annoyed 
 by Mormon Indians begg-ing. They were peaceable uutirthe 
 last of December ; they then became hostile. One day when 
 the other men had grone after water, two tall Indians came to 
 the station, and with raised tomahawks, threatened my life if I 
 did not give them some flour. I promised if they would spare 
 my life to give each of them a sack of flour. They assented 
 took the flour, and went away. I left a few days after (Jan! 
 4tli, 1863), for CarsDii City, Nevada, where I arrived the 7th,' 
 and thence for Gold Hill. 
 
 I had fully resolved that I would never drink liquor or gam- 
 ble again, as it w^as now about nine months since I had done 
 either ; and my sole object in keeping an overland station was 
 to keep from liquor and from card playing; for the Sta^-e Com- 
 pany does not allow liquor to be sold at those stations.° I had 
 been too proud-spirited to be considered a gambler or a drunk- 
 ard ; but my love of liquor and card playing had overpowered 
 my pride. I had been ashamed to look a respectable man iu 
 the face. I knew I had done wrong. Many times I have 
 cried nearly all night, to think I was such a slave to these 
 habits. Having formed them so youn- and practiced them so 
 long, they had, as I feared, ruined my mind as well as my 
 morals, beyond the hope of recovery. I thought of what I 
 might have beeii but for these destructive vices': But I had 
 not that decision of mind, nor the power to resist temptation 
 that 1 would have had if I had pursued that course of life to 
 which my parents had advised me. 
 
 One evening as I was walking up Main street, in the Citv of 
 Orold Hill, and was approaching a saloon, I was attracted inside 
 by the charming music of a cornet band, designed to call bettin-.- 
 men to the gaming tables. There were four tables, all of thein 
 surrounded with betters. I stood awhile seeing my old favorite 
 game played, Spanish moute, at which I had played so much in 
 Mexico, and at which I had won and lost thousands and tens of 
 thousands of dollars. In a few minutes came my favorite lay 
 out, deuce and king. I bet a twenty dollar gold piece on the 
 king, and lost my money. Until then I did not once think of 
 the resolution I had formed. Reader, that sweet music is in- 
 tended to allure men and boys into places where they are 
 ruined. While I was on the Faeilic coast, I knew many men 
 torty years old and older, led by such music to commeiicj 
 gambling, and soon bring themselves to want and degradation. 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 21 
 
 There is, however, one thing iu their favor : they have not so 
 many years of unhappy life to live as a boy that commences iu 
 his teens. 
 
 1 will now return to the monte table. After I had lost my 
 twenty dollar gold piece, tears came into my eyes, not because 
 I had lost the uionev, but because I had been such a fool as to 
 let gamblers and music cause me to forget my good resolutions. 
 While I stood thinking whether 1 should leave the monte table 
 without trying to recover my twenty dollars by playing, the 
 monte dealer laughed at me, and said I happened to get on the 
 wrong card, speaking iu such a manner as to increase my vex- 
 ation. I took from my pocket one hundred dollars and com- 
 menced playing, and told him I w^ould break his monte bank 
 if I could get one of my old streaks of luck. I bet ten or twelve 
 times, and won nearly every time ; and he closed his bank foi 
 the night. This is the way the gambling bankers do. If one 
 of their betters is in good luck, they close their game. If he 
 had allowed me to gain a few more bets, I would have had him 
 in my pocket, as the gambler's phrase is whei^ he wins from 
 another all his money. But was the money I won a benefit to 
 me ? It was rather a curse. Had I left the gaming saloon 
 inmiediately after losing my twenty dollar piece, and thinking 
 of my resolutions never to drink or gamble again ; but to keep 
 out of the company of drunkards and gamblers, how mucli 
 better it would have been for me ! I believe I should this day 
 have my eye-sight. But 1 did wrong; and now 1 am suffering 
 the sad consequences of my error. 
 
 The next night I went to the same gambling house and 
 stepped up to the same monte-dealer's table to commence bet- 
 ting ; buL he politely requested me not to bet at his bank, and 
 said i bet too freely and was too lucky. I said that was why 
 they called me Lucky Jo. 1 then turned to a faro-bank, and 
 commenced betting against it. My luck changed ; I lost nearly 
 every bet 1 made. I played until the bank closed, and went to 
 my boarding-house at a late hour, and retired. 1 kept on playing 
 every night until the 21st, when my eyes became weak and sore 
 from being up nights, drinking, gambling, and using so much 
 tobacco. On the 23d 1 was taken sick, and called a physician. 
 He gave me medicine. The next day he called twice. The 
 next morning he called again, and pronounced my disease the 
 small-pox, and said I had it very bad. He gave me medicine, 
 and left the room. About two hours after, who should enter 
 mv room but " Pest-house Brown I" a man appointed by the 
 
22 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 city anthorities to look after cases of small-pox, wliich was then 
 raging bad!}'. Brown said to me, " Young man, I am after 
 you ; got up and put on your clothes, for you must go to the 
 pest-house." 1 knew there was no use to refuse, for if I did, 
 the city ofiQcers would take me there. When T had dressed 
 myself, Mrs. Lee, who was very kind to me, wrapped around 
 me four large blankets. I got into tlie wagon, and laid down 
 in the bottom by the side of Milton Overman, son of George 
 Overman, who ow^ned a large interest in a rich silver mine, and 
 after whom the claim is named ; and we were carted off to the 
 pest-house. On awaking the next morning, I saw a man next 
 to me, sitting up in his bed, dead. The nurses had fallen 
 asleep in the night, and the poor sufferer liad scratched his face 
 and head so that the blood had run all over him. He was a 
 frightful looking object ; in about tv.'o hours he was buried. 
 The first and orily qnarrellirig over a dead man's boots I ever 
 heard was here. There were not less than four nurses, each of 
 whom claimed the boots for some service rendered the man. 
 One for giviug him a glass of watei', another for giving him a 
 cup of tea, and so on ; and after a violent scramble, the strong- 
 est man got them. 
 
 The fright at seeing the dead man, aud the scene just des- 
 cribed, made me neivous, and 1 became delirious, iu which state 
 1 remained ten days. When I had recovered my senses, I found 
 that 1 vras blind 1 My left eye had run out of my head,, aud my 
 right was covered with a film. Eeader, youcan form some idea 
 of my feelings. I knew my bad habits wx-re the cause of my mis- 
 fortune. Tliev affected mv eves : aiul vou know tliat when a 
 person is taken with a contagious disease, it is likely to settle 
 in the weakest part of the system. 
 
 On the day 1 was taken with the small-pox, the keepers of 
 Canon Station Vv'ere attacked by sixty Indians, and killed and 
 scalped. One, the mtrn tliat filled my place, wus burnt. Also 
 four soldiers who ran tiieir hoises from Deep Creek station to 
 assist their fellow wdiite men, were killed. The Indians took 
 the stage horses and the soidieis' horses, and the scalps and 
 clothes from those they had massacred, and, having set on fire 
 the hay-stack and stables, fled to tlie mountains. Had I re- 
 mained there a few days longer, 1 should probably have been 
 one of the killed. There is Utile difference, however, between 
 death and affliction like mine, brought upon one's self by habits 
 of vice and dissipation. I am not the only one who has thus 
 destroyed himself. There are thousands, and hundreds of thou- 
 
VOICE OF WARXIXG. 23 
 
 sands who have ruined themselves, body and mind, bv drinkinfr, 
 gambling, and tobacco-poison. 
 
 I v/as in the post-honsc three months, and then T was liiim- 
 bugged by a doctor who told me ho conld cnre mj eyes. I 
 went to his eye-infirmary, wlicre I was under his treatment three 
 months ; for medical treatn.ient and my board, lie cliarged me 
 $100 a month ; and instead of benefiting, he iiijureu my eye. 
 I went from tjie infirmary to a [n-ivate boardiiig-house, and 
 while there, a robber one night entered my room, and took my 
 pantaloons, with $375, from under my head, and escaped. The 
 next morning T had the robbery advertised, and the next morn- 
 ing after, th.e pantaloons were found on tiie fence near my 
 boarding-honse with $374, the robber having taken bnt one 
 dollar for his trouble in returning them. Some thought the 
 robber's conscience smote him on finding that lie had robbed a 
 blind man, and secretly put tlie pantaloons where they were 
 likely to be found. I was at this boarding-house three months. 
 I then went to San Fj'nncisco, v^'here I was under treatment in 
 the eye infirmary until the 23d of December, paying $2 50 a 
 day without benefit. On the 23d I took passage on board a 
 steamer for Panama ; took the railroad for Aspinwall ; there 
 took a steamer for New York ; and from there came bv rail- 
 road to Warsaw, where I write this narrative of my unfortunate 
 and miserable career. Reader, judge of tlie feelings of myself 
 and my relatives on my return after so loiig an absence, a })Oor, 
 ruined, wretched man, made so by my wanton, cruel disregard 
 of the advice of those kind friends upon whose ciiarlty I was 
 compelled to throw myself. You may see in my case the effects 
 of a roving, dissipated life. If you are yet correct in your 
 habits, and respectal)le, yield not to the temptations by which 
 you may^ be assailed. Shun the company of the vicious and de- 
 praved. Ill this course alone there is safety. And if you are 
 alreadv in the wav to ruin, stop at once ; break off from vour 
 evil habits, and you may yet be respected and happy. 
 
 Having finished the proposed sketch of my own life, 1 will 
 now go back to Warsaw village, and trace the course of some 
 of those boys who started with me in their vicious career. With 
 me they first played cards "just for amusement." Next they 
 took a little i)eer and wine ; and soon, "just a few drops" of 
 whisky and brandy. There was no harm, they said, in having 
 a little enjoyment in this way. But will boys stop before tiiey 
 gel too far ? No ; nine out of ten who commence bad habits 
 go on to ruin. Wliere are my young comrades, who, with me, 
 
24 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 began to play merely for araiiseraent, and to drink a little ? 
 They, like me, proceeded to play for pennies, then for dimes, 
 dollars, tens and hundreds, and to increase their drinking in 
 about the same proportion. I repeat the question, " Where nre 
 they ?" Four of them filled drunkards' graves before they had 
 seen thirty-two summers. The fifth, a bloat and half an idiot, 
 supported by wealthy parents, will, to all human appearance, 
 reach a similar destination. I have been told that it is the opinion 
 of physicians that the affection of his mind is, in whole or in part, 
 caused by the excessive use of liquor and tobacco. His condition 
 is worse even than mine. The sixth is now in solitarv confine- 
 ment in Michigan State Penitentiary, sentenced for life, for kill- 
 ing a man in the city of Marshall. He was intoxicated when 
 he committed the murder. Out of thirteen of us who were ac- 
 customed to meet at the stores to play cards and drink for 
 pastime or amusement, as we then considered it, there are but 
 two v»ho reformed when young, and are now respectable men. 
 Think of it, young reader : eleven out of thirteen dead or 
 ruined ! Think of it well before you take the first glass or play 
 the first game, even for amusement only. 
 
 A family, consisting of the parents, four daughters and seven 
 sons, removed some years since from Batavia, Genesee county, 
 New York, to Buffalo. Some of tliem still reside in that city. 
 The father was a house-builder. George, his eldest son, was 
 twenty years of age. After a few mouths he became unsteady. 
 He was often out niglits until a late hour, drinking and gambling. 
 His parents, having learned the fact, entreated him to stop ; but 
 George continued his course. One morning, at the break- 
 fast-table, he told his father he should work no longer with 
 him ; for he could make more at gambling than all of them 
 could make at their trade. His parents, weeping, told him 
 the day would come when he would be sorr}' that he had ever 
 seen a pack of cards. George did not think so ; he could 
 get all the money he wanted by playing cards. He left 
 home, and made gambling a steadv business in the citv. For 
 a time he was fortunate — bought fine clothes, gold watches 
 and jewelry, and would go home and show his money and 
 jewelry to liis younger brothers, thus making them discon- 
 tented and tempting them to a similar course, when tlnjy 
 should be of sufficient age. Such was the effect. As they 
 grew up, and got from under their parents' control, they, 
 like George, took to gambling as a business, having, prac- 
 ticed not a little under his instruction. Where arc now 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 25 
 
 these seven brothers ? Three of them died from drunkenness. 
 The fourth killed himself by cutting his throat in the city of 
 New Orleans, one night, after losing all his money at 
 gambling. The other three are in the State prison. How sad 
 to see boys forming habits which will sooner or later bring 
 them to such a miserable end ! Had George pursued the 
 right course, his brothers would probably have done the 
 same, and all have become respectable and useful men. 
 That they were skillful gamblers I know, having played with 
 them manj' a game. 
 
 In the village of Wyoming, six miles north of "Warsaw, 
 was a young man whose name was Edward Rowe. "Wlien 
 about eighteen or nineteen years of age, he was sent by his 
 employer, Mr. Daniel Keith, to a town south of Warsaw, 
 after a load of lumber. On his return through Warsaw, his 
 wagon broke down, Edward took the horses from the 
 wagon, and put them into the hotel stable, and sent word to 
 Mr. Keith to come after them, as he (Rowe), should never 
 work another day for him or any other man. Rowe had 
 already become an expert country gambler. He went to 
 Buffalo and made gambling a business. He was fortunate. 
 He went to the Southern States, and won piles of money. 
 He went to Chicago, and bought a large quantity of real 
 estate, fine horses and carriages, and other things of the most 
 costly kind. He roomed in the third story of a brick block on 
 Lake street. Called on in his room one day by an acquaint- 
 ance from W^'oming, he told his friend how successful he .had 
 been, and said if he saw a hundred dollars lying on the pave- 
 ment, and could have it by going down after it, he would 
 not go : for he had no use for more ; or if he had, he could 
 turn around to his gaming table, and win it more easily than 
 he could go down into the street. Eight years passed away, 
 when, on a Sabbath evening, who should make his appear- 
 ance in Warsaw but Ed. Rowe. He was poorly clad, and 
 his face would have made a good sign for a wholesale liquor 
 house. .He had a cousin in Warsaw, whom he had come to 
 get to go with him to Buffalo, and join him in renting the 
 Lovejoy Hotel. He said the owner required a quarter's rent 
 in advance; and as he (Edward), had been in hard luck for 
 a few years past, and lost all his property, he wished his 
 cousin to pay the quarter's rent ; and then told him what 
 piles of money they could make from a gambling room, from 
 boarders, and from travelers, etc. But Cousin Roderic told 
 
26 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 him he would not go into such business, and Edward, dis- 
 pleased, returned to Buffalo. Three years passed away ; and, 
 reader, where do you think Edward Rowe was ? He was 
 in the Lunatic Asylum, atUtica, a State pauper, where he is 
 at the present time. There is that former rich gambler, who 
 once would not have gone down two flights of stairs for a 
 hundred dollars, a victim to his vicious habits ! - Reader, I 
 say again, take warning ; these are facts. 
 
 I have already introduced the reader to Lucky Bill, who won 
 ninety dollars from me at Kalamazoo. He went the next spring 
 across the plains to California, taking with him his son, about 
 seventeen years of age, and several race horses. He had been 
 in California but four months wiien his luck suddenly changed. 
 He lost on nearly every game of cards he played, and got beat 
 on nearly every horse race. In about one year Lucky Bill was 
 "played out ;" his large fortune was scattered to the winds. 
 He and his son were turned out of one boarduis; house after 
 another, for not being able to pay then* board bills. In their 
 extremity, not knowing what else to do, they joined that great 
 gang of robbers whicli was broken up by the famous Yigilance 
 Committee. He went into tiie mountains, waylaying and rob- 
 t>iug the hard-working miners and peaceable travelers, and soon 
 became one of the most desperate highwaymen in California. 
 At one time, as two men were passing along, well armed. Lucky 
 Bill, with two revolvers ready cocked, one in each hand, sprang 
 from behind some bushes by the road-side, presented the revol- 
 vers at the heads of the travelers, and compelled them to lay 
 down their weapons, money and watches at his feet. He picked 
 up his plunder, momited his liorse, and rode off into the moun- 
 tains. He wils feared by all travelers. 
 
 At another time a drover and butcher named Bush, was tra- 
 veling over the mountains back of Marysvilie. Lucky Bill 
 sprang from his hiding place, {)resented liis revolver, and de- 
 manded Bush's monev. Bush bein^r a strong and brave man, 
 ventured a battle with Bill, and in the scuffle knocked him down 
 and jumped upon him. Bill, however, succeeded in shooting 
 Bush through the head, took from his pocket seventeen hundred 
 dollars, and a gold watch and chain. Bill having been seen by 
 a hunter near the place where the murder was committed, there 
 was no doubt who the murderer was. The news spread 
 rapidly. Bush being well known by the miners, whom he had 
 supplied with meat, (some of whom were members of the 
 Vigilance Committee), the miners and mechanics threw down 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 2t 
 
 their tools, determined to capture Lucky Bill, who had hitherto 
 baffled all attempts by the officer of many towns to arrest him. 
 They started in squads of ten, twelve, and fifteen men ; and on 
 the second day one of the squads found him asleep in a thicket 
 of bushes, and captured the desperado. Having with them a 
 rope, they took him to a tree, intending to hang him at once. He 
 begged of them to spare his life until he could see his son, and 
 give him some good advice. Thinking this might benefit his son, 
 they consented to spare him a few hours, and took him down 
 to the foot of the mountain near Marysville, where his son was. 
 He spoke to his son in substance as follows : " My son, you 
 know I am to be hung for my shocking crimes. The cause of 
 my being a robber and murderer was my bad habits. I com- 
 menced putting the wine-cup to my lips when I v/as about your 
 age. I have since been going on, step by step, until I have 
 come to this horrible end, which so many gamblers and drunk- 
 ards have found. Now, son, I advise you to expose the bad 
 gang we joined, and if you are released, go back to your mother 
 at Marshall, in Michigan, and be a steady young man, instead 
 of being such an unhappy man through life as I have been." 
 The Vigilance Committee let him talk to his son for two hours, 
 when they told him his time had come. Two of the committee 
 took away the son and guarded him, while the others hung 
 Lucky Bill to a tree till he was dead. They buried him, and 
 took the son down to Marysville, where he exposed thirteen of 
 the gang, one of whom was Yankee Sullivan, the great prize- 
 fighter, who fought with Tom Hyer on Morris Island, many 
 years ago, and who, like others of that class, was a drinking 
 gambler. The news was sent to the Vigilance Committee at 
 San Francisco, who took Clark and Cooper, and several others, 
 and hung them, and lodged Sullivan in jail ; and gave many 
 other ruffians notice to leave the city within three days, or share 
 the same fate. While the committee were preparing the scaf- 
 fold for Sullivan, he hung himself in his cell with his suspenders. 
 Lucky Bill's son returned to Marshall, where, it is said, he now 
 resides a respectable citizen. 
 
 I will here say a word in my own behalf. I never belonged 
 to any organized gang, though I have often been invited to 
 join gangs, particularly those for passing counterfeit money. I 
 have never knowingly passed a dollar of bad money. On the 
 contrary, I once exposed a gang of counterfeiters by means of 
 a drunken agent of theirs wlio came to me because I was a 
 gambler, and tried to get me to take some of their counterll-it 
 
28 VOICE or WARNING. 
 
 money to gamble with. He was somewhat intoxicated, and 
 after I had got him to talvc a few drinks with me, and gained 
 his confidence, he was in a condition to tell me all that was 
 necessary for the detection of the connterfeiters. The next 
 morning I wrote to a friend of mine living in the city in which 
 the bad money was made, giving him the name of the street 
 and the number of the building- where the money was made. 
 My friend showed the letter to the sheriff. At night the house 
 was watched, and a number of men were seen to enter and not 
 return. Not long after they had gone in, no light was seen 
 from the outside. The ofi&cers then burst open the door, passed 
 through a dark room, and caught the counterfeiters at their 
 work. They were tried, convicted, and sent to the State 
 prison. 
 
 I will now give you the rest of my history of Stuttering Alic, 
 the gambler, who won eleven thousand dollars in the Eldorado 
 saloon in San Francisco, one morning before breakfast. I had 
 heard of this rich gambler from returned Californiaus, and Had 
 been encouraged by his success, for I aimed to be such a gam- 
 bler myself. Little did I ever think the great Alic and myself 
 would ever be in the pest-house together. He arrived at San 
 Francisco in 1850. From that time to 1857, he owned the 
 finest horses, carriage and harness in the city. He wore a dia- 
 mond shirt-pin said to be worth $2,000, and diamond rings and 
 sleeve-buttons, and was one of the gayest of the gay. He also 
 owned a lai'ge amount of real estate. But in 1857, judgment 
 came. He was taken sick with the inflammatory rheumatism, 
 which was so severe as to draw his hands and his feet out of 
 shape, so that he could not deal cards without difficulty, nor 
 walk without two canes. His luck changed, and in two years 
 his property was all gone ! In 1860, two years after, the 
 Comstock silver ledge was discovered at Virginia City, Nevada. 
 Some of his gambhng friends helped him to that place, where 
 the once rich Stuttering Alic lived by contributions from the 
 gamblers, and the Httle money the old wretch received for teach- 
 ing young men to gamble. He was the cause of many becoming 
 gamblers. In 1863, while the small-pox was raging in Virginia 
 City, Alic took the disease. The pest-house man heard of it, 
 and went to take him to the pest-house, Alic drew his revolver, 
 and threatened to shoot him if he attempted to take him. Just 
 then three other gamblers entered the room, and told the pest- 
 house man to leave, or they would shoot him. The man went 
 to the board of aldermen, and inquired what he should do ; Nyo, 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 29 
 
 now a senator in Congress from that State, being one of the 
 board. The police posse was ordered to go and take Alio, dead 
 or alive. The policemen went to his room and found his door 
 locked. The captain of the police ordered the gamblers inside 
 to unlock the door, or he would shoot every one of them ; and 
 the door was unlocked. The pest-house man and James Mack, 
 our pest-house cook, took from Alic his weapons, carted him to 
 the pest-house, and laid him on an old filthy bed in the kitchen, 
 where he lived four days. With his hands raised, he exclaimed, 
 " Lord !" His hands dropped, and he was dead. His body 
 was put into a rough box, his old blankets thrown over the 
 body, and he was buried without ceremony — a pauper : the 
 expenses of his sickness and burial being paid by the city. This 
 was the end of another rich gambler. 
 
 Reader," I have now given you a sketch of the lives of the 
 three ri^chest gamblers I ever knew — Edward Rowe, Lucky 
 Bill, and Stuttering Alic. Rowe is still a pauper on the State 
 of New York, in the lunatic asylum. He was at one time pro- 
 bably richer than any gambler now living. Four-fifths of the 
 inmates of the poor-houses and prisons in our country have 
 been brought there by bad habits. Of the large number of 
 children in the poor-houses, most of them will have to suffer 
 through life in consequence of the vices of their parents, who 
 were either drunkards, gamblers, or tobacco worms. Why do 
 not the old paupers tell to all those they see the true cause of 
 their being such ? They are, like myself, ashamed of their past 
 life, and fear, perhaps, that if the cause were known, persons 
 would have less sympathy for them in their distress. Go into 
 the Blind Asylum, in the city of New York, where I have been 
 during one term, and where are nearly two hundred pupils, 
 many of whom have, like myself, become blind from bad habits. 
 When asked by visitors the cause of their blindness, they will 
 falsely ascribe it to this, or that, or some other accident. But 
 evenings, when in our rooms by ourselves, the real cause would 
 be talked of, and some of them would cry and sob to think they 
 liad brought themselves into their present condition by their 
 vicious course of life, to continue in this condition the remainder 
 of their days. I believe it to be the duty of those who have 
 been the guilty authors of their own misfortunes, to tell the 
 whole truth, and give warning to others. 
 
 When I was twenty-two years of age, and stopping for a 
 time at the Astor House in New York, my business in the city 
 being gaml)ling, a party of us young men went to that noted 
 
80 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 part of the city, called " Five Points," to *' see the ffishions ;" 
 in sober language, to see the wretchedness of the people living 
 there. We got to the police station, in Baxter street, about 
 ten o'clock : the right time to see the police officers briug in the 
 poor drunken wretches, and lodge them in the calaboose. We 
 examined the cupboard kept for storing the weapons, skeleton 
 keys, etc., taken from murderers, robbers, and burglars, and 
 Avith which this cupboard, four feet wide, two feet deep, and 
 twelve feet high, w^as nearly filled. Among the deadly weapons 
 were revolvers, bowie-knives, pieces of swords and scythes, with 
 handles, sword canes, gun canes, air guns, air revolvers, and all 
 other kinds imaginable. Scarcely a door-lock is manufactured 
 in the United States which may not be opened with some key 
 taken from these burglars. This cupboard, we are told, is 
 cleared out once in three months, being filled four times a year. 
 We next bargained with a man, formerly a policeman, and 
 familiar with every street and alley in the Five Points' district, 
 for three dollars, to conduct ns as a pilot and guard, until one 
 o'clock, telling him we wished to see the worst places. We 
 went from Baxter street into an alley, each having a cigar in 
 his mouth, and having taken several drinks of liquor, little think- 
 ing, being young and healthy, that we were indulging in the very 
 habits which had brought these people to want and misery. 
 Our pilot led us down a broken pair of stairs into Whisky Jack's 
 lodging house, a room cold and damp, twenty feet long and 
 twelve feet wide, in which were no less than sixteen lodgers, 
 some of them asleep, some too drunk to sleep, others cursing 
 us, and others asking us to sleep with them, and carry with us 
 a few lice and bed-bugs in the morning ; and still others asking 
 for a few pennies to buy something to eat. Their berths were 
 three high, and built after the manner of steamboat berths. 
 On one of the lowest berths was a gray-headed old man, who 
 appeared to be sober. 1 asked him the cause of his being in 
 that suffering condition. Weeping, he said, after a moment's 
 hesitation, the first cause was liquor. I asked him if he had a 
 family. " Young man," said ho, " do not speak to me of family ;" 
 and increased his weeping. He said he had a family in some 
 part of the world. Each of us gave him and several others 
 some pennies, and left. 
 
 We went a few doors, and turned down into nnother room, 
 similar in condition and size to the former, with eighteen lod- 
 gers. Beds also were similar ; ticks filled with straw or hay ; 
 and for covering, they had, instead of blankets, pieces of old 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 31 
 
 coffee sacks, and old rags of all kinds, such as they had picked 
 np in the streets. And for such beds lodgers paid ten cents a 
 night. Most of them were drunk, some swearing at us for 
 coming into their room, others begging for money to buy food. 
 I asked a large, strong, middle-aged man how he came to be 
 here. Rum, he said, was the cause. We gave some of them 
 pennies, and passed out. We visited another lodging house, 
 which was a little better, the lodgers having blankets to cover 
 them ; but were charged twenty cents a night, being a some- 
 what higher grade of people, yet most of them intoxicated. 
 We continued our travels about the Five Points until one 
 o'clock, visiting lodging-houses, and receiving from the lodgers 
 in most cases the same answers as to the cause of their miser- 
 able condition. I shall never forget the answer of one of these 
 men to my question. — " Gambling, rum, and tobacco," he said, 
 " the same that is taking you, young chaps, amongst bed-bugs. 
 lice, and other kinds of man-eaters. And you, boys, look out 
 for I think from the looks of your faces, you all drink. Look 
 out, or old Mr. Whisky will get you after a while." But we 
 did not regard what he said, thinking there was no danger. 
 And now I cannot help thinking of us five boys, and the scenes 
 we witnessed that night. Two of our number have served a 
 term in the State prison, and myself am blind. Where the 
 other two are, I do not know. Oh ! why did we not heed the 
 warning from the man who told us to look out for Mr. Whisky ? 
 The truth is, mankind can readily see the faults and the dangers 
 of others, while they are blind to their own. I believe that 
 tobacco alone is the chief or first cause of sending many to the 
 poor-house. It often unfits men for work or business, and some- 
 times causes serious sickness. I have used tobacco sixteen years, 
 and can say much from experience. Dr. Mott, of New York, 
 who was probably the most learned practical physician in the 
 United States, said, in lecturing to his medical students, that if 
 they had a patient who used tobacco, to forbid the use of it ; 
 for it destroyed the effect of medicine. He said it ought to be 
 called the weed of lingering disease, and hundreds of thousands 
 were, by the use of it, hurrying themselves to early graves. 
 He said farther, that many complain of pains in the back, sides, 
 chest, and other parts of t!ie system, and took medicines from 
 their family physicians, and all kinds of patent medicines, with- 
 out relief, when all that was necessary was to stop using tobacco. 
 Others of the most eminent physicians concur in this opinion of 
 Dr. Mott. And I can, from my own experience, declare that 
 what they say I sincerely believe to be true. 
 
32 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 A word here to those who have a roving- disposition. A 
 rover's life is a hard and a bad one. I have been in thirty dif- 
 ferent States, and four Territories. And I have met men who 
 had been in every State in the Union, and in every Territory, 
 and in many foreign countries. Yet I liavc never found one 
 such roving man who was not an unhappy man ; but w^hen over- 
 taken by sickness or old age, such men, having spent their earn- 
 ings in traveling, are supported at the poor-house, or by their 
 friends, during the remainder of their lives, and are buried in 
 pauper graves. Far batter it would have been for many of 
 these had they married at a proper age, and settled down in 
 life at some honest trade. To this I would advise young men. 
 Had I done so, I would not now be a poor blind man. 
 
 I conclude with an exhortation to young men and boys 
 generally. My young friends, think of the pain you cause 
 your parents by a vicious course of life. Such a life is littlo 
 else than the infliction of a slow murder. It puts an end to 
 their earthly happiness. Young man, your kind, affectionate 
 mother has watched over and cared for you for days and 
 months and years during the helpless period of your life, in 
 health and in sickness, and has lavished upon you the expres- 
 sions of her love and aft'ection. And she indulges the fond 
 hope that you will in return be to her a stay and support iv 
 her old age, should she be spared so long. But think of her 
 feelings when told that her dear son has been several times 
 seen with his young associates in the saloons or bar-rooms 
 taking a glass of some intoxicating liquor. She begs of you 
 with tears, to stop, knowing better than yourself your dan- 
 ger. Perhaps you tell her not to be alarmed, you can take 
 care of yourself ; or, you only take a drink occasionally with 
 your friends ; or you promise to do so no more, but forget, 
 or utterly disregard your promise ; or you turn a deaf ear to 
 her kind words and earnest entreaties, all intended for your 
 good. She hears again of your continued visits to these 
 places of drinking and debauchery, and of your having been 
 seen in the billiard room, and at the gaming table. And 
 again, in the depth of her grief, weeping most bitterly, she 
 beseeches you to go no further in your dangerous way. Per- 
 haps you again promise amendment ; but you do not keep 
 yourself out of the way of temptation, and you are persua- 
 ded by your associates to repeat your nightly visits to your 
 wonted places of resort. Your father talks to you with no 
 better success. Y^our parents hoih feel that you are ruined — 
 lost. By all your acquaintances who have watched your 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 33 
 
 progress, you are counted among the lost. Yet you may 
 possibl}^ iu your blindness, think yourself in not a very bad 
 way, or you may again resolve to reform, but with no better 
 success than before. Imagine now the feelings of that ten- 
 der mother as she goes at night, with an aching heart, to 
 lay her aching head upon her pillow. She knows that her 
 son is iu the haunts of the vicious, and is constantly becom- 
 ing more and more confirmed in habits of vice and dissipation. 
 She cries and sobs herself to sleep. In the morning she goes 
 about her daily work with a mournful countenance. Sorrow 
 is marked upon her face no less distinctly than if she were 
 mourning for his death, and brijigs her perhaps to an early 
 grave : for it is well known that the mind affects the body, 
 and often either prodnces disease, and neutralizes the power 
 of medicine. She lingers along for a few months, and dies 
 a victim to the mental and bodily anguish caused b}'' a cruel 
 — may I not say a murderous son I 
 
 A word also to drinking and gaming fathers. The well- 
 prepared supper despatched, the father hastens to the grog 
 shop. His faithful wife, at an early hour, undresses her four 
 or five little children, and puts them into their clean though 
 poor beds — poor, because their negligent father spends for 
 drink what should be expended for the support and comfort 
 of his famil}'. She sits up, diligent at her work, and waiting 
 for him until eleven or twelve o'clock ; but he does not come. 
 She thinks of her misfortune in being the wife of a drunk- 
 ard. She sees her women neighbors with smiling faces ; 
 their daily wants supplied by attentive and kind husbands, 
 who spend their evenings at home, and all, parents and chil- 
 dren, contented and happy. These thoughts fill her eyes 
 with tears, so that she can no longer see to ply her busy 
 needle. She lays her weary body down to rest during the 
 few remaining hours of the night ; but her sleep, even during 
 this brief period, is interrupted by her bitter reflections, 
 crying ; and the return of her husband — fretful, ill natured, 
 quarrelsome — drunk. Her children and herself being depend- 
 ent upon her labor, she rises at an early hour, and again 
 goes through the daily tedious round of toils and trials. 
 Thus she drags out a miserable life, and, if sustained by a 
 vigorous constitution, protracted, perhaps, through many 
 long and weary years of mental agony, keen as the pangs of 
 death itself. Tlius we see the once kind and affectionate 
 husband become the guilty destroyer of the happiness of one 
 
34 VOICE OF WARNING. 
 
 whom he had solemnly promised to cherish and support. 
 Surely there are murderers of wives, as well as murderers of 
 fathers and mothers. 
 
 Nor are these the only destroyers of human happiness and 
 humau life. Humiliating and painful as is the fact, there 
 are daughters who are, in the same sense of the word, mur- 
 derers of parents, and sisters, and brothers. O girls ! could 
 I tell you how degraded were some of your own sex whom I 
 have seen in my travels, I think the tears would stream 
 down your cheeks. I have seen them hold out their hands 
 crying for bread. And what was the cause of their suffering? 
 It began in disobedience to their parents, and in not heeding 
 their advice. They went on, step by step, from bad to worse 
 in their vicious course, until they reached the lowest depth 
 of misery and degradation. Girls, your safety lies in a good 
 education. Go to school, and improve diligently the time 
 and opportunity afforded you in useful study. Go to religious 
 meetings and Sabbath schools, and use all other means for 
 improving your minds and your hearts, and thus lay a sure 
 foundation ibr your own happiness, and the happiness of 
 your friends. 
 
 In one thing I have been somewhat singular. I had always 
 an anxiety to hear the history of bad men, and to hear it 
 from their own lips. I have often treated them with liquor 
 till they were pretty well stimulated, and then drawn from 
 them a history of their lives from their childhood ; and I 
 have found most of them to be persons who had little or no 
 education, and who had never regularly attended public wor- 
 ship on the Sabbath, or Sabbath schools, or other places of 
 religious instruction. 
 
 My young friends, I feel a deep interest in your welfare ; 
 and for your especial benefit these pages have been written. 
 And now permit me, in conclusion, to repeat my advice : — 
 Never drink the first dram; never defile your mouths with 
 the first quid or cigar ; never play the first game of cards. 
 Do not profane the name of your Maker, nor his holy Sab- 
 bath, nor associate with those who do these things ; or, if 
 you have already done either, I entreat you never to do it 
 again. Pursue some honorable calling. Be honest, indus- 
 trious, and frugal ; and devote your leisure hours to the im- 
 provement of your mind by useful reading and study, and 
 you will be prosperous and happy, a blessing to your family, 
 to the community, to your race ; and you will leave to your 
 
VOICE OF WARNING. 35 
 
 children a legacy more valuable than all the money that 
 gamesters ever won — the legacy of a Good Name I 
 
 Reader, if you should chance to visit those cities and vil- 
 lages I have mentioned, inquire of the old settlers the his- 
 tory of the lives of different ones I have called your attention 
 to, and you will find their lives much worse than I have; 
 related. There is not a writer in the world that can give 
 the life of a gambler or a drunkard as bad as it really is. 
 Look at the drunkards that come under your observation ; 
 they are unhappy persons. I know they are. A person 
 that drinks liquor is unhappy, compared with one who does 
 not drink liquor. And now, my reader, take me for an ex- 
 ample. I am one out of a countless number who has been 
 ruined from vicious habits. And, my reader, when you go to 
 take a glass of liquor, or to play a game of cards, or use to- 
 bacco, stop and think of me ; think what a poor, broken- 
 hearted blind man I am, and it was those bad habits that 
 caused my blindness. I am not the only one, for there are 
 thousands and hundreds of thousands in our country that 
 are as badly afidicted as I am, and the sole cause is their bad 
 habits I Reader, I know there is not one who may read this 
 book that would like to be in as sad condition as I am in. 
 And I know there is not one of 3'ou that would like to spend 
 your days between the cold, damp prison walls, or spend 
 your days in a filthy poor-house, or spend your last moments 
 upon a gallows ; and if not, beware of bad habits, for when 
 3'ou commence on them you do not know where they will 
 lead you to. Little did I think when I first commenced 
 drinking beer, wine, and playing a simple game of cards, 
 that 1 ever would be a gambler, a drunkard, and then a 
 blind man. And since I have been blind I have wept for hours 
 and hours to think I ever fell a victim to these bad habits. 
 Oh I if I could only be put back to the age of sixteen, I 
 should know how to lead a happy life j but I cannot, it is too 
 late for me. But, my young reader, 1 beg of you, for your 
 own happiness through life, and for the happiness of those 
 dear, affectionate parents who arc the best friends that ever 
 a child can find in this world, and for the happiness of those 
 sisters, brothers, and all your friends, shun bad habits. Oh 1 
 I beg of you to impress my kind words upon your mind, and 
 heed them before it is too late for you, as it is for me now 1 
 
 C- T. N. 
 

 NAMES. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS