The Story of a Strange Career: Being the Autobiography of a Convict. Various
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       Various

      The Story of a Strange Career: Being the Autobiography of a Convict

      An Authentic Document

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4057664564498

       INTRODUCTION

       THE STORY OF A STRANGE CAREER

       CHAPTER I MY FIRST VOYAGE

       CHAPTER II WHALING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

       CHAPTER III A SAILOR ASHORE

       CHAPTER IV I TAKE TO THE SEA AGAIN

       CHAPTER V ON THE BRIG GRENFALLS

       CHAPTER VI THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

       CHAPTER VII IN HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE

       CHAPTER VIII THE CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS

       CHAPTER IX THE ESCAPE

       CHAPTER X THE SPORT OF THE WAVES

       CHAPTER XI A GLIMPSE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

       CHAPTER XII IN AMERICAN WATERS

       CHAPTER XIII MY THIRD VOYAGE

       CHAPTER XIV PRETTY JENNIE BELL

       CHAPTER XV GOOD-BYE TO ENGLAND

       CHAPTER XVI WHAT MONEY CAN DO

       CHAPTER XVII THE NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS

       CHAPTER XVIII ACTING ENSIGN IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY

       CHAPTER XIX AFTER BLOCKADE-RUNNERS

       CHAPTER XX A PRISONER OF WAR

       CHAPTER XXI IN THE PRISON

       CHAPTER XXII PRISON LIFE AND PRISON FARE

       CHAPTER XXIII DISAPPOINTMENT AND MORE WAITING

       CHAPTER XXIV A CRACKER BEAUTY

       CHAPTER XXV LIBBY PRISON

       CHAPTER XXVI A FREE MAN AGAIN

       CHAPTER XXVII FORT FISHER

       CHAPTER XXVIII THE ISLAND OF HAITI

       CHAPTER XXIX I LEAVE THE SEA AND GO WEST

       THE END

       Table of Contents

      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 few necessary technical corrections, and changes of names of people and of one vessel—the one in which the first voyage was made—the manuscript appears almost as it left the hands of its author.

      As a true tale, as a study of sociology, as a picture of one human life somehow bent and twisted from the normal, this work, it seems to the editor, is one of the most surprising of productions. Its frank unconsciousness, its striking revelations, its absence from all pose, combine to make it unique among the writings of men. The Confessions of Rousseau СКАЧАТЬ