Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-03-03
TALK ABOUT CROOKS.
THEY ENTER PRISON TIME ON PROFIT
AND LOSS ACCOUNT.

A Tbiers Real sentiments-No Honor
Among the Craft, Except Through Me-
cessitv-pying In Poverty--Nonsense.
sTbieves-I mean professional thieves,
criminals of the higher grade said
| Mai Lawrence Harrigan, appraiser or the
mort. ''pursue their crooked career with
tbe same feelings that honest men follow
their daily vocations. The business man
expects a certain percentage of losses dur
inc the wear Just as he has reason to be-
lieve that he will meet with unexpected
! Gains. These losses or gains are entered
nm in the profit and loss account. The
professional thief or criminal philosophy
! cally argues to himself: What l gain
gain easily, and | must be prepared to
| serve portion of my years in prison. Ii
/ it is little, so much the better for me; II 1t
is much, so much the worse for me.
ayes. sir" he resumed, 'the thief
looks upon his terms in jail or the penl-
Tertiary as so much lost in the game. He
is u thief and next to devising ways and
means to acquire without labor the prop
ertv that belongs to others, his mind is
bent on devisng ways and means to keep
out of prison He is like man playing at
cards-he wins or loses. recall an in
stance that illustrates what | say: One
morning at about O'Clock, after waiting
out all night, | arrested a notorious hotel
sneak. AS soon as | put my hands on
him he knew what he was wanted for.
! There was a dead case against him, and
when I touched him on the shoulder and
said that the captain wanted to see him,
have no doubt that he made up his mind
to plead guilty and get off as cheaply as
possible. 1t was in winter, and as we
walked together down Morgan street on
the way to the police station, we passed
an old cobblers shop. Early as it was,
and q bitter cold morning i. was, too,
well remember, the old fellow was up,
pegping away at his work by candle light.
The thief glanced in at the industrious
shoemaker, and then said to me:
81 have spent seven of the past twelve
years in prison, and yet have done bet
ter than that cid fellow He works from
early morning until late at night to get
his bread and meat, and then he does not
live as well MS / do in prison, and when |
am on the outside l live on the fat of the
land with plenty of good clothes, gay
companions and everything that money
can buy. l wouldn't trade places with
him him right now and | know that l
am booked for q trip up the road
/
appetite They do not steal for the sake
of stealing. They want money with which
to crafty their passions. If the passion
! is not for women-and it most always is
it is for cards or drink. The thief,
when in funds, lavishes it on his woman
| or leaves it at the card table. Some of
| the shrewdest and most adroit thieves are
| the veriest children in the hands of faro
| dealer. Say thief who has often talked
about 'squaring it,, as they call reform
! ing, does get several thousand dollars,
what good does it do him? Women, wine
and cards get it in short order, and he
must go to stealing again. These things
he must have. He won't work for his
money, so he continues to steal. There
! have undoubtedly been cases of reform,
and many small town has its hotel or
saloon keeper held in esteem as an honest
man by all who know him, and yet that
man has history which he would like to
forget A police officer is not much of
| believer in reformations. "
''These people are very honorable in their
dealings with each other, are they not?'
'You mean honor among thieves?'
There is no such thing. Thieves make Il
virtue of necessity. They are known to
each other all over the land. Any thief
knows that if he should 'squeal, or he
tray brother thief, he would at once be
a marked man, and that the entire fra
ternity would make it their business to
see him settled, or in other words, con-
! victed for some one of his own crimes,
and that right speedily. A great deal of
/ sentimental admiration is wasted over
/ these men who honorably refuse to betray
/ their companions. Thieves are like any
other class of men. They have their
friendships A man would go to ex-
tremes to help his pal out of trouble,
while as for another thief in whom he had
no personal interest he would say, He got
into that trouble himself, let him get out
himself
You may put it down as rule that no
matter how successful they are, they
either die in the penitentiary or the poor
house. All this stuff about thieves lead
ing double life, one of crime and the
other in good society; of their wives sup
posing that they are engaged IN reputable
business, is good material for novels and
plays like ''Jim the Penman," but there
are no such cases. The professional thief
does not aspire to any such life. His
origin is always low. He commenced
stealing when boy, and his educatio
was perfected in the House of Refuge,
/ W
the time that he is sent to the penitentiary
he is apt to be desperate and reckless and
undertakes jobs that an older hand would
hesitate about engaging in. When he
comes out he is more cautious. He comes
from the slums, and is brave and shrewd,
Justas the women of his own class are often
OF surprising beauty and seeming refine
ment; beautiful green and golden flies
born III the muck heap. Men of position
very rarely sink to life of professional
crime If they do they become forgers and
sWlndlers, but in nine cases out of ten
even this class of criminals have worked
thelr way up to their exalted position in
the fraternity
New \ ork is, of course, the headouar-
tiers of all thieves of the upper class.
there are dozen quiet little places where
the beer is good where they concregate
ana plan their little excursions into the
country. One can almost imagine a gang
Oh burglars sitting down and mapping out
a route Just like the manager of a show
thht Is to make one and two night stands
a great deal of nonsense has been written
about thieves having grips and passwords
ana language of their own. They inst
idUuraly drltt together and instinctively
hllow each other. Their Masonry is in
voluntary They talk shop when to-
seVl'ef' just as lot of printers or tele-
graph operators or shoemakers do. They
exchange information as to fences and
hahS outs, and then when landing in a
strange city they know where to 90 TO
meet Their own kind. "-Globe-Dem
A