The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-01-09
THE HOME LIFE OF THIEVES.
AZ Ease Only when Surrounded by Their
Families.

In response TO the card of a reporter for
The Sun, pleasant faced intelligent, mid
! dle-aged man, famous in the annals of bank
burglary, and now in the city prison on a
minor charge, came down from his cell on
the third tier. The corridor in front of MUIR
derers row was used as reception room.
Tell me how men i've" the reporter
said, who are pursued by the law"
I've been crooked" The famous robber
said, land now Pm square. I've made il all
up. If / should try | couldn't mention
more than five crooked men of whom have
any intimate knowledge. / always try to as
| sociate with square men. / don't feel easy
with crooked man. / can only tell YOU
my own experience and that of few men
like me. L never wanted a five dollar bill
! off OF any man. The most of the crooked
| men know are legally married. and they
love their wives and children not only as
we'll as other people love theirs but use
them great deal better. They set their
hearts on them. These children, and often
the mother, know nothing of the fathers
way OF making money. The crooked man is
often fearful of everybody He must con-
stantly be on his guard with square men
aud with MS own kind. There Is only one
place in the whole world where be can feel
at ease That place is his home, and be
| learns TO love it,
"Where do crooked men live?''
Many OF them keep saloons, or hotels, IN
| the suburbs of cities. They do this for the
sake OF getting cover. 1t gives them the
| appearance of a regular business, and they
are also out of the road of ordinary OBSERVE
ton. They can tell better whether or not
| they are being watched in these thinly set
| tied places. But for my part have always
| lived in this city, open and PLAN. When
| left my last house l told the man, when
surrendered the key, that if any man pre-
sented bill there for five cent stamp he
could cut off my arm. / never left a neigh
| borhood yet that couldn't come back to in
open daylight"
"If you wished to find a crooked man
in this city, and had to pace the streets to
look for him, what part of the city would
| you yisit?'
! II wouldn't know. / might find the
/ crooked men that have known in any re-
! spectacle part of the city. If you mean
sneak thieves and pickpockets, you know
| just as much about them as do. know
| nothing about them. have always lived in
respectable Deighborhoods. Ny wife was
always dressed like lady, and the furniture
| in my house was the best that money could
! bYy. Ny bed cost $780,"
Are the wives of crooked men usually
good women in their homes, and faithful 70
| their husbands?'
"As rule tthey are but there are some
| EXCEPTIONS as you might expect. i crooked
man is apt to have his ups and downs, and
| the wife's constancy is sometimes put to Sc
we're tests. Sometimes the wife learns to
| all, go forum. have always ha,ed drink
| ing, especially in women. A drunkard is no
| good to any man. To you the life of a
| crooked man may appear interesting, but 10
me, outside of the special transactions in
which he may be engaged, it is quite the or
binary thing"
How do crooked men first become crook
ed? DO they inherit the dispostion9"
| 81 don't know how 1T was with the men
knew. L found them crooked. guess
| their parents were square enough. | know
my paren s were | was pushed into the
| business. / had money. l was pushed into
the crooked business, and then the crooked
men tried to ruin me. | was the only one
that had money, and they wanted it. | can
| stand thief, but / can't stand a liar. With
a liar don't know what 10 DO"
| The reporter then visited two criminal
lawyers. each of extensive practice. One OF
| them said: You want TO know about the
| domestic lives of men that handle the Jim
my, do your Well. the best of them-I
/ mean the most successfal-are brave men.
The man that takes the jimmy in his hand
| to break into a house is not driven to it by
any sudden impulse. The scheme must be
| planned. He always risks both his life and
a long term of imprisonment. These men
| are just the kind to win girls heart. II Is
| astonishing how often they marry into good
| families or win mistress from them. The
| women are true to them when they get into
| trouble. The children generally go the
wrong way through force of circumstances,
though the parents are desirUus OF bringing
them up virtuously. The usual home of
| thief is in furnished rooms, where no refer
ences are required, and where there is no
| tea table gossip They eat at restaurants.
| The affection between husband and wife is
often intense, but it Is seldom lasting. A
woman who pawns ell OF her jeTelry to pay
the cost of getting him out of prison will
perhaps in the very next case be a witness
against him.
| 1.-The same characters are coming up again
and again in my business, but / never know
until / talk TO them what motives are actu-
ating them. The impulses of the criminal
| classes are generally good. krow woman,
| for example, who keeps adisreputable house
Her daughter is now being educated in
fashionable convent school, but doesn't
know how the money is got that pays her
school bills"
The other criminal lawyer said: THE
| average thief cares no more for his children
than he cares for Jumps of wood. He gen.
orally becomes attached 10 a disreputable
woman. He may love her intensely for
time He does nothing from day to day,
while he lives on her earnings. Now and
then he will make a strike in his line. This
money soon goes in gambling. and then he
lives again on the woman. | notice this,
that when the man is arrested the woman
will pawn her clothes and wesr her shoes
out in running to lawyers for him. but when
the woman gets caught IN shopufung the
man never comes near ber But the affec-
ton even of the woman is shortlived. Let
either man or woman be sent to prison for
year or over, the other viii not wait a month
before he or she picks mp another compan-
ion. If they are married the one out OF
prison will not marry again because it would
be higamy. but / never knew a case where
real faithfulness existed between pair of
criminals The wife may visit the prison,
and so keep up show of faithfulness, but it
is only in form.
The thieves of this city congregate in the