I Was a Bandit

First published in 1929, this memoir by Guerin offers a cautionary tale of a life of crime. Born in London in 1860, Guerin moved as a child with his family to New York City. As a teenager, he was in and out of jail and by 1887, he was back in England working as a safecracker. The next year in Paris, he committed his most daring caper—robbing the American Express office with two others. The crooks dynamited the safe and escaped with $250,000, but Guerin was caught fleeing Paris and wound up being sentenced to life in French Guiana. That’s where he became famous for being the first man to escape Devil’s Island. (Though in fact he escaped across land from a mainland penal colony.) He spent his later years going back to petty theft, and when not in jail was often homeless. He died penniless in England in 1940. Colorful language keeps the pages turning, though readers should be prepared for some ethnic slurs. True crime fans will welcome this memoir by a forgotten but once famous criminal. (Dec.)