I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.
At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
the true quality.
I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
for, I do not know how long.
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