The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-10-21
CORRECTING CRIME.
Objects of the Anti
Thief Association.
Opinions of a Member of this
Order.

A resident of Iowa passed through this
city during the morning on his way home
from keokuk where he had been attend
ing the Anti Horse Thief Association which
held IFS annual session at that place last
Wednesday and Thursday. He stated that
the session Just closed was one of the most
successful gathering which he has ever
attended He believes that the order will
soon become more general among tie
western stats than is now the cas-. and
thinks that with the increase of member
ship of the association crime and Grimm
mails will decrease in an adverse ratio.
THE PRESENT MEMBERSHIP
numbers about four thousand and includes
nearly all the western states. The states
represented at the session in Keokuk were
Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, and
the delegates aggregated over two hun
dred persons There is an effort now
being made to increase the numbers of the
association as the efficiency OF the order
is thereby made more pronounced. The
association is not as its name was indicate,
solely occupied in preventing or captur-
ing persons who appropriate horsefiesh
without the owners permission but is en-
gagged in preventing crime of every charac-
ter, and in experimenting criminals after
a crime has been committed. The utility
of such an organization among farmers is
manifest, and was particularly illustrated
in the early settlement of this portion of
Illinois. In detailing
THE Obj ESTS
for which the association was formed and
is still maintained, an influential member
says: The antis are a body Of men band
ed together for the protection of person
and property, to assist in the enforcement
of the civil law; not to take the law in
their own hands, by any means,
but to aid civil officers to enforce the law,
and to see that thieves and rogues are
brought to justice and made to feel the
weight of the law. In no case have the
anti's been known to take the law in their
bring criminals 10 justice after they have
been captured by the ants; and / will say
that but few of them escape their vigilance,
and they have been the cause of hundreds
of thieves and violators of the law getting
their just deserts.
THEIR MEETINGS.
We meet in secret, have our secret work
for the purpose of recognition, the same as
all secret orders. At the same time we
welcome all good and honest men to our
governs the subordinate orders The
grand order meets once in each year to re-
wise the work and transact all business
connected with the order. The subordin-
ate orders are chartered by the grand or
ders or by the grand worthy president
during vacation.
THE MEMBERS.
number 1000 and with each man consti-
tuting himself rs one of body as it were
of detectives, it is impossible for a thief
to escape with any stolen property, as we
protect all property belonging to a brother
of the order, and having the means and
influence if it is necessary to keep out a
committee twelve months the expense is
light. This is why thieves and rogues
fear US so much. They know when they
get in the hands of the ants, money will
not buy them off, and do say when the
anti's are thoroughly organized they are
the cause of more arrests and of bringing
bringing more criminals to justice than
any other society in existence, for many
criminals pass through the hands of the
anti's, not to be hung or mobbed. but to
feel the fullest extent of the law. Well
may all violators of the law fear and dread
them. Ask the convicts in the penitenti-
tentiaries of the states having the organ
ization their opinions of the anti's Hun
dreds viii tell you if it had not been for
the anti's they would not, be there; and the
reports of many good men are that if it
had not been for the anti's their property
would not be safe.