Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-04-02

~"o hVuiooAo Va tuo oSouttuuuity --CTltut 7
requires the concurrent action Of many
persons, each doing his part in the
planning, the wacthing, or the work
itself. There are gang operators, such
as piok-pockots, burglars, counterfeit
ers, forgers, and that ilk then there
are also the soltaircs, who, to be-little
Wordsworth's line, have souls "like o
star, and dwell apart" doing their
work each on his own hook Of such
are the sneak thieves, passers Of bad
money, receivers Of stolen goods, high
waymen, etc. In whatever way, how.
ever, promises secrecy and success,
each 10 ready 70 do his part, and thrs
the principle of a division Of labor il
brought to bear in depredating upon
the public. Ifit were not 90, the very
existence of crime, on Its present scale,
could not be kept up o month.
The various roles are distributed
carefully among the members of the
fraternity according to the peculiar
aptitude Of each. There are cool, cal
culating, long headed fellows, who do
the planning and furnish the specifi.
cations; another class Of mind devotes
itsclf to investigating the features Of
the plan, getting all the necessary facts
and weighing the probabilities Of sue
cess and profit; still others, who have
tho gift Of being able to travel upon
their shape and do the genteel, act as
spies and drant couriers by visiting
the selected premises or examining its
neighborhood In the guise of would-be
tenants, To some tho foundation and
construction of overy new building
designed for financial purposes be.
comes matter OF careful study, and
weak spots arc noted, tho situations
OF vaults and safes recorded, and SINH.
lar items dotted down with reference
to possible operations in the future
and after all these have done their
sapping, and mining, and planning,
and pioneering, come tho rough-and-
ready fellows, with their tools, and
ladders, and nerve, to go ahead and
do the work thus carefully cut out for
them. Here, certainly, is organiza-
tion, business system, division OF labor
and so forth, with vengeance Nor
is this all. The organization has its
seminaries OF learning, its teachers
and trainers ofneophyte thieves, burg
lars, pickpockets, and what not; it
must have its skilled and trusted tool.
makers, for whom, of course, a wide
field Of employment is open, and
whose mechanical dexterity must be
of no mean order. Moreover, necess-
ty exists for conveniently located pre-
misses where plumber may be tempor-
arily or permanently concealed pend.
ing it's distribution in dividends or its
sale, or its metamorphosis and trans
formation into something safely unlike
the thing stolen; others, whcro coun.
terfeiting, forgery, rendovousing, etc,
can bc secretly carried on; others,
where vehicles can bc hired or kept
for the transfer of the active opera
tors and their booty from place to
place. The organization, to use the
language of an impassioned writer,
"has its own places Of congregation
and indulgence wherein TO expend its
ill-gotten gains, to boast Of its exploits
to sympathizing listeners, to tell Of
the dangers it has encountered and
the hairbreadth escapes it has nchiev-
ed; wherein also TO communicate in.
formation, concert plans and form
confederacies for future operations, Of
all OF which ample evidence may be
gathered from the reported daily pro.
ceedings Of the several police courts
Of the metropolis"
From all this II seems reasonably
clear that the criminal class In any
largo city, such as London or New
York, numbering as they do thous-
ands in the aggregate, are constantly
engaged in felonious operations against
property and social place under the aus.
pices of an organized system, amount
ing almost 10 mechanism, which in
wolves concurrent action based on skill
full plans and governed by carefully
devised rules and orderly regulations.
And it has occurred to some OF the OBJ
servers Of this organized conspiracy
against law and society, that, nftor
oil, the whole mechanism pivots on o
single pin, the withdrawal Of which
would cause the whole machine to
drop TO pieces, and, Of course, stop
working. This essetial pivot is tho
capital virtually supplied for faclitat-
ing felony by property owners who
permit, for pay, their premises to be
occupied and used by these organized
outlaws in carrying on their immense
business. These are the real culprits,
for they furnish the means By which
roguery lives and thrives. II every
house thus rented or occupied for pur-
poses connected with this vast net
work Of crime could bo disposscssed
of its tenantry, and no new quarters
were left opon for such occupancy,
crime, as a systcmatized, organized
business, would collapse like soap
hubble.
Several plafs have toen suggested
for the adop,,,cS:.. of meas to tho de-
sired end. That the hoase owners,
who are at once the main stays OF
crimc and prominently accessory to
its commission, should in some way
be mulcled, seems only just; for why
should they be allowed TO load upon
us all this burden and pocket a share
of the thieves booty besides, without
some sort of public protcstY As tho
matter now stands, society is paying
a premium upon criminality by the
impunity and even protection given
to the principal member or, so TO
speak, the special partner, in all this
crime. How does such person, who
willingly shelters thieves, differ NOR.
ally from n professional receiver OF
stolen goods, and why should society
or law admit Of any distinction 7 The
landlord and criminal who are men,
bors Of this copartnership are virtu-
ally coDspirators against the commn'
| nifty, and should he made liable jointly
and scyorally for t,,e evil consoc cncncos