When the ship arrived in New York I was turned adrift in the city without a penny or a friend.
"It is not my purpose to describe my sufferings, as such description will do no good and interest nobody; particularly as the purpose of this confession is to declare the Vrain conspiracy and its failure; so I will pass over my early years as speedily as possible.

To be brief: I became a newsboy, then a reporter; afterwards I went West and tried my luck in San Francisco, later on in Texas; but in every case I failed, and became poorer and more desperate than ever.

In New Orleans I set up a newspaper and had a brief time of prosperity, when I married the daughter of a hotelkeeper, and for the time was happy.
"Then the Civil War broke out, and I was ruined.

My wife died, leaving me with one child, whom I called Lydia, after her, but that child died also, and I was left alone.

After the war I prospered again for a time, and married a woman with money.