NED WRIGHT, THE REFORMED BURGLAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 664, 9 July 1870, Page 3

NED WRIGHT, THE REFORMED BURGLAR.

{From the Daily News.") Another gathering of convicted tbieveg took place recently at Ned Wright's " Gospel Hall," in the New Cut, Lambeth. At the commencement of the service which followed the soup supper, a man who had been detected by Wright (as he admitted on the principle " set a thief to catch a tbief ") with a loaf of bread in his pocket, was openly reproved; and, although some of the thieves seemed to regard the affair as a joke of the highest order, others " Oh, oh'd " the announcement in most proper and Parliamentary style. A little later on, when a demand was made from the body of the room

f for hymn-books, Wright bad to acknowledge tbatthereqvestcouldnotbeaccededto,because !so many bad ''forgotfch f l to leave thedittle rolume behind them when last the privilege was granted. Dc.lng the .singing of the opening hymn there was a disposition Jn one direction to jeer, the tune having been pitched in so b'gh a key that any one of the ;tbieve3 gifted with the talent of mimicry might be pardoned for attempting an imi*a- ; tionofsome of the b'gh notes. Mr Weight stopped,. however, and for five minutes talked familiarly with the audience, resfr-'ng the the hymn in a lower key. The address wb'ch succeeded the singing was rewarded ;with the best token of success— attention. jHaving in view the man and his mission, criticism proper should be silent as to the merits of. Ned Wright's address. Of one thing there can be no doubt — he commanded the ear of a body of thieves; aeffcted them visibly ; made them at a word bend their heads meekly, while he offered prayer ; called forth the tear at one moment, and the smile at the next ; and played upon their feelings, as a master who commands every string. The secret of this success, for wh'ch so many educated and wise in vain sigh, was very apparent— simplicity and earnestness: The preacher did not speak to his hearers so much as talk to them, and the touch of nature, after a little management, made them all akin. Considerable tact was shown in the selection of a subject. Wright read, in homely accents, the trial before Pilate, and he carried bis strange audience 1 with him from step to 6tep— the release of the robber, Barrabbas, the adornment of the popular victim in mock raiment, the derisive smiting with the reed, the jibes of the unbelieving crowd, the toilsome journey to Golgotha, and the ?Ivid incidents of the Crucifixion. All this was told amidst profound silence, and the earnest eyes and parted lips below were a strange and touching sight to the spectators upon the platform. Before long the men were smiling at Wright's". sketch of a grand « set-to " he had once with Bill So-and-So, of Reduth, when the battle lasted two hours and twenty-eight minutes, and •when his nose was broken the first round. Then the listeners waxed quiet again as he briefly ran through the chief incidents of his own life— his being flogged in the navy, bis imprisonment in a cold, dark cell, his starving in the streets, h<s breaking stone |in the workhouse yard, and Ms - " conversion," seven years ago, upon hearing a casual remark as he stood at the door of a place of worship. Through the entire discourse there ran a continuation of most affectionate entreaties to the men and lads who were present, which could hardly have dropped altogether on stony ground ; and, taking all the circumstances into account, few can hesitate to wish this singular worker God speed in the singular, mission. he has set before him.