June 16, 1905
August Revis, nine years old…who has been a juvenile tramp for over a year, has been given his last chance by the local authorities, and he was this morning committed to the county jail by the recorder. Accompanying him…went a letter…recommending the reform school as the only proper place for the boy.
August, who has been arrested a number of times, presents an interesting study in criminology. The youngster has not had a proper chance, and probably never knew just when he overstepped the bounds of right, and entered the wrong paths. Home conditions are declared to have had much to do with his habit-forming…he has slept in every conceivable place, and lived by his wits.
The home atmosphere had grown to be not congenial to him, and, within a short time, almost invariably, have again come reports of his being “on the hobo.”
The boy is exceptionally bright for one of his age, and the strength of his pleading is remarkable.
About a week ago came the last reports of his misdeeds…a resident…complained that his garden was plundered by August.
Even on his way to the station house the boy tried to bribe his captor to release him and say that he had not caught him.
Yesterday afternoon and this morning he stood upon the high window sill…looking with pleading eye, and begging…for “one last chance.”
But the poor, misdirected youngster, grimy of hand and slippery of tongue, could not improve if again set loose now, and to send him over was the only open course.
Indeed, the Perth Amboy Evening News had recorded several of August’s previous arrests prior to the June 16th story. Since November 1904 he appeared in the newspaper eight times for various reasons, none of them good. It began with a November 4, 1904 piece called “Boy’s Strange Story.”
Eight-year old August Rewis, of 292 Fayette street, was found sleeping in the trolley car barns, in upper Smith street, after midnight…He was taken in tow by Patrolman Hanson…He said he ran away from the house to escape a thrashing by his stepmother. The boy declared he was sent to pick coal at a terra cotta factory every day after he gets home from school, and if he gets less than a bagful, he declares, he is punished. He slept Wednesday night on a coal heap.
The next day he was back in the paper.
Eight-year old August Rewis, who was found sleeping in the trolley car barns Thursday night and who was cared for at the police station was yesterday taken to his parents’ house…was again picked up by Hanson last night and taken to headquarters.
This sad pattern continued through the winter and spring. (ed. note – He is alternately referred to as August Revis or August Rewis. It is unclear which is correct.)
November 19, 1904
December 27, 1904: August Revis, the nine-year-old boy who will not stay at home, and who has been arrested more than once, was taken from a saloon on upper Market street at 2:30 o’clock Sunday morning. He was given into the custody of his parents.
April 12, 1905: Three small boys were arraigned before the recorder this morning charges with stealing wire and breaking a snow plow at the trolley car barns. John Chakesk, an old offender pleaded guilty to part of the cages [sic]… August Revis, the smallest of the youngsters, made a confession implicating Chakoski.
April 15, 1905: August Revis, who has been in police toils several times although but nine years old, was locked up last night at the request of a woman into whose house he had gone to seek a sleeping place. He declares that he was afraid to go home…He was one of the boys charged with cutting trolley wires near the car barns.
Finally, patience with August ran out in June 1905.
June 13, 1905
June 15, 1905: August Revis, who has been on his latest rampage for about a week, is again in the hands of the authorities. When Patrolman Wood was notified that August was at his parents’ home this morning, he went there and found the boy chained, so that he could not again get away. On the way to the station house the youngster tried to persuade the officer to let him go.
It is dicey to apply current beliefs of how to deal with specific situations to past events. However, one has to wonder if the young boy’s fearful claims about his home life were handled differently, if some sort of intervention had occurred, things might have turned out differently. Clearly, the newspaper showed some sympathy for what he had gone through in their “Bright Boy Gone Wrong” story. Still, it did not change the outcome.
August appeared in the newspaper on June 28, 1905 for the final time.
Two boys, Charles Galle, eleven years old, and August Revis, nine years old, were taken to reform school this morning.
June 28, 1905
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