The morning call., 1892-05-16
THE CALL CALENDAR.
NAY 1892
EPIDEMIC HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

Road agency is breaking out again with
singular yirulence. On the last day Of last
month a lady was killed near San AndreaS,
and tie stage-drYer was badly wounded.
On May 10 the stage that runs between Red
ding and WeaYeTyille was robbed near
Reddng, and on the 14th the same stage
was stopped near Shasta, the treasure
stolen. the messenger killed, and the driver
wounded. No one has been arrested for
any Of these crimes.
Yet it is plain that # every resident Of the
district in which the robberies were COM
mitted had exercised a fair degree Of dill
Gence and vigilance to catch the robbers,
some of them would by this time have been
in custody. Robbers must eat and sleep
Ike other people. To get food and shelter
they must enter occupied dwellings, and eX-
change words with their occupants. Their
appearance. manners, and language must
attract attention; they ought TO be spotted
wherever they are seen. How is il that
they are not?
The methods Of dealing with highway
robbery have long been familiar to thief
catcLers. In Italy, Greece, Mexico and
Spain, where highway robbery was at one
time a recognized calling, The police authori-
ties reduced the business of extirpating the
robbers almost to a certainty. This they ac-
complished by making the haTb0ring, con-
ceauug, feeding CT sheltering Of the thieves
a crime punishable with the same penalty
as the robbery itself; aud when they found
that a TObber had found food and refuge in
a farmhouse, they held that the fact was
prima facie evidence Of the farmers COM
plicity. In parts Of Sicily and Greece each
district was held responsible for loss Of
I,
were seized and sold to make it good. This
policy consolidated the farmers against the
bandits; by steadily adhering TO it for a
few years, the malta Of Sicily, who had
them selves been bandits, but who entered
the service Of the Government as mounted
police, succeeded in extirpating highway
robbery in districts which had been cursed
by il for generations. Joachim Murat
crushed cut road agency in CalabTia; it has
always been feared that he shot some limo
cent peasants; but he imbued the peasan-
try with the idea that it was safer for them
to blow out the brains of bandit on sight
than to run the risk Of being arrested as
his confederate.
The villains who are going round in
California Tobbing stages, numbering
drivers and bringing shame On the fair
fame Of the State cannot lead the lives Of
heTmts in holes in the rocks They must
now and then reappear ID the light Of day
and hold converse with their fellow
creatures. When, as On Saturday, they
capture $4,000 in gold they must 90 some
where 10 dispose Of it, to lodge it for safe
keeping to exchange il for the things they
want. IL the parties whom they accOst are
possessed of ordinary intelligence their sus-
piciOnS must be aroused a highway roh-
Der does not look like an honest laboring
man or a clerk out of job. His face, his
clothing, bis arms. his nervousness, betray
his calling. There must be some who half
detect him at a glance. Are the residents Of
Southern Shasta on the alert 70 pick out
possible rOad-agents from the strangers
who appear in their towns and villages
If they are, we should presently hear of an
arrest or two.
We have fallen In this country into the
fashion Of Offering rewards for the appre-
hension of fugitive criminals and the plan
has the advantage of whetting the zeal Of
volunteer detectives But il has the disad-
vantage Of inducing sheriffs, constables
and policemen to wait for the publication
Of q reward before they begin the chase Of
their quarry. Many misereant escs pes
owing to the delay which occurs while tile
detectives are waiting TO see ''how much
there is in it." Railroads run swiftly; a
thief who has possessed himself in Califor-
MIA Of several thousand dollars in gold may
turn MP in less than a week In Texas or
British Columbia. II is when he has Just
committed his crime, and before he has
made his plans for escape, that there is
the best chance Of laying hands on him.