1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



157 



they call ou him — at least he helps them 

 after a fashiou. Edward Biddle g'ot the 

 Devil to help him, without questi<m, in the 

 work he set about. From the position Mrs. 

 Soffle held, she hiid access to the prisoners. 

 This man improved his opportunity', and, 

 even with all the odds agjiiust him, per- 

 suaded this woman he was innocent of the 

 charge ; furthermore, that he had never 

 murdered anybody. He was a victim of 

 circumstances. They had talks at differ- 

 ent times. Her sympathy was at first 

 aroused for, as she supposed, an innocent 

 man, or comparatively innocent, who had 

 been g-reatly wrong-ed. The fact is hinted 

 at that he was a good-looking- 3'oung fellow. 

 And, by the wajs this is not the tirst time 

 that I have seen certain women seemingly 

 drawn toward a man who was desperate 

 and reckless. The air of bravado that 

 many of these fellows put on is oftentimes 

 mistaken for heroism, not only by silly wo- 

 men but by silly boys. We do not know 

 what woman it was that persuaded the 

 Governor of Pennsylvania to put off the ex- 

 ecution for a month or more. It may have 

 been this same woman, or some other like 

 her, whom she enlisted in her cause. We 

 need not go over these sad details, even if 

 we knew something about it. 



In our second clipping we are told that, 

 while facing death, and with all that crowd 

 about her, she — a married woman, and the 

 mother of children — threw her arms around 

 the neck of Edward Biddle, and implored 

 him to shoot her. The Cleveland Leader 

 uses the word "infatuated," and it is the 

 right word, without question. She was so 

 infatuated with that reckless, blood-stained 

 criminal that she deserted her husband, 

 her children, her good name, even her hope 

 of heaven, and all that she or any woman 

 in like circumstances has, for this sill}', 

 foolish infatuation. 



Now, dear friends, you maj' think I have 

 been la3'ing a tremendous amount of blame 

 on her poor shoulders. So I have, for it be- 

 longs to her; but still I pity her. If she is 

 now alive I pity her from the bottom of my 

 heart, for she was beguiled like the mother 

 of the human race by looking at and listen- 

 ing to the serpent. The first verse of the 

 chapter from which I have taken my text 

 reads, "Now the serpent was more subtile 

 than any beast of the field that the Lord 

 God had made." These desperadoes evi- 

 dently took it for granted they could make 

 no headway with the warden. They did 

 not try it. Neither did Satan undertake to 

 do any thing with Adam. He did not tackle 

 him at all. As I understand it, he com- 

 menced his conversation with the woman, 

 and in a roundabout way. Oh how many 

 times in this short life of mine have I seen 

 Satan in human form — perhaps I might say 

 in the form of a good-looking man with lots 

 of money — commence in a roundabout way 

 to entrap some woman — yes, may be a child ! 

 I once saw a ruffian give the wink to some 

 of his companions, and then approach a lit- 

 tle girl that came into the store to trade. 



He began talking with her, admiring her 

 hair, stroking it with his hand, and telling 

 her how he loved little girls. I ached to 

 see that man horse-whipped out of town. I 

 do not know what became of him; but if he 

 kept on in the way he started he is proba- 

 bly now behind the bars; or may be his 

 life has paid the penalty of his many crimes. 

 Please do not misunderstand me, dear 

 friends, and think I mean to say that Satan 

 always does his work in the form of a good- 

 looking man. Let me tell you of another 

 story of prison life, of which everj' word is 

 true. 



A young man was in jail awaiting his 

 trial for a penitentiary offense. A godly 

 man who was visiting jails spent some little 

 time with him, and he was soundly convert- 

 ed. Some of you may smile at my being 

 so positive. But wait till my story is end- 

 ed, and you shall be the judge as to wheth- 

 er his conversion was genuine or spurious. 

 The sheriff and his wife were both Chris- 

 tians. They found John had stopped swear- 

 ing, card-playing, using tobacco, and every 

 thing else that was bad; and when he took 

 to reading his Bible, and asking God, as 

 he knelt on that stone floor, to forgive his 

 past sins (and even crimes), they rejoiced, 

 and both lent him a helping hand. John 

 was a good-looking, stout, muscular young 

 man; and with his good looks and muscle 

 he had a spirit of reckless daring. He did 

 not fear death nor any thing else. He de- 

 lighted in dangerous feats where life and 

 limb hung in the balance, and I rather 

 think that was one secret of his desperate 

 acts during the past. The sheriff's wife 

 was a brilliant, good-looking woman. She 

 was a leader in church work. She helped 

 John in studying the Bible, taught him to 

 sing beautiful hymns, etc. When John be- 

 gan to feel uneasy at so many attentions 

 she laughed at his diffidence, and told him 

 she was old enough to be his mother, and 

 that it was all right. But the time finally 

 came when John, who had, before his c< n- 

 version, been reckless among women as well 

 as in other ways, was to ihave his Chris- 

 tianity tested in a waiy he had never dream- 

 ed it would be. His confession, made to 

 the friend who, in God's providence, led 

 him to Christ, was something like this: 



"Dear brother B., you do not know — in 

 fact, you can not understand — the terrible 

 danger that besets me. I want to hold fast 

 to my religion; I want to be a Christian. 

 In my old life I was always ready to go 

 half way, or more than half way, when 

 any thing like this crossed my path. This 

 woman's husband is one of the best men I 

 ever knew. I would not hurt his feelings 

 nor harm a hair of his head for the world. 

 But just see where I am placed. I ought 

 to go away from here. But I am a prison- 

 er, and this woman is my keeper. My 

 own peace of mind demands that I never 

 see her nor speak to her again. God knows 

 how quickly I would get away fi-om her 

 presence or influence if I could. I can not 

 stand it — oh! I can not stand it. I am too 



