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by Robert Elliot Burns (Author)
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, first published in 1932, is the dramatic firsthand account of Robert Burns and his struggle to live a normal life following a single disastrous choice he had made as a young man. The story begins with the end of World War I and the return of veteran Burns to the U.S. In 1921, Burns, out of hunger and desperation, took part in a grocery store robbery with two other men. The men were captured, and Burns was sentenced to 6-10 years' hard labor in a Georgia prison. The robbery had netted the men less than $6.00. Burns, shackled as part of a chain gang, successfully escaped after four months and made his way to Chicago, where he married, started a magazine and lived as a free man for 7 years. For a second time, however, he was arrested as a fugitive from justice after Burns became involved with another woman and was turned in to authorities by his wife. Burns was returned to Georgia, and again placed on a chain gang. Incredibly, Burns managed to escape a second time and traveled to New Jersey. At the time of the book's publication in 1932 (followed by a movie nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933), he was still a fugitive from the law. Included in this new Nighthawk Book edition is an Epilogue detailing Burns' eventual fate and an copy of an illustrated True Detective Mysteries article featuring Burns' story.
