The morning call., 1893-12-24
THE FOOTPAD QUESTION.

Judge Wallace's sentence OF Patrick
Smith and James Thompson to twenty
years in the State prison for holding up a
citizen on Howard street month ago will
have a wholesome effect. Garroting
which made life in New York trou-
bled dream a few years since, was
STAN ped cut by a few such sentences. A
thief will risk few months of jail to get
purse or watch, but when the venture
may ost him his liberty for the best part
Of his life be will hold back. a vision of
twenty years of compulsory labor with
civil death is TO many minds more appall-
ing than the gallows.
That we have in San Francisco at this
time an unusual surplus of unemployed
men, some of whom may be driven to
crime. Is not to be denied 1t results logic
ally from the drift of idle men from dis
tant communities. 1t has been assisted by
the prevailing Eastern notion that the
Midwinter Fair is going to furnish en-
ployment to thousands of worEmen. But,
all said and done, the popular estimate of
the number of tramps in this city is proba-
bly, exaggerated. Where the floating popu-
]ation has been gathered into one spot it
has not materialiZed in formidable num-
bers. There are probably fewer hungry
men in San Francisco than there were in
1873. a very considerable proportion of
the Eastern tramps are drifting through
the rural counties, where they can get food
at the ranches and shelter in barns.
The current stories of footpads and hold
ups are also probably in part exaggera-
lions. At police headquarters these stories
are often received with incredulity. In
a seaboard city like San Francisco a Ger
tain volume Of predatory crime always
exists. There always lave been, there
always will be a certain number Of vaga-
bonds who prefer to get their living by
rObbing timid and helpless pedestrians in
stead of going to work. Are there many
more such adventures now than usual
Men whose business requires them TO go
out at night must think so, for within a
few days four hundred applications have
been made at police headquarters for per-
mits to carry arms. The next thing which
we shall hear will be that some tipsy rev.
eler has been shot down by frightened
wayfarer who took him for a robber
When the footpad panic becomes epide mic
wanderers through the streets at night
see highwayman in every shadow. Every
body emembers the story of the man who,
hootliy LOluO OA u AaIh AlSuL
being jostled by passer-by, put mis- hand
to his pocket and found his watch gone
Turning fiercely on the man who had
jostled him he demanded ''his watch, Or
The watch was promptly surrendered. On
returning home the robber-tamer found
his watch OH the chimneypiece.
The way to deal with the situation is 10
keep cool head and steady nerves, and to
steer clear at night of dangerous localities.
When footpad is caught, his sentence
should be exemplary, to the end that
others shall be deferred from initiating his
performance. There is room at San QUEEN
tin and Folsom for few more guests, and
if possible they should be permanent and
not transient boarders. But it is folly to
assume that every one who walks the
streets bOllow-eyed and ragged is a pro-
fessional robber. There are many honest
fellows in this city who are forlorn because
they cannot get work. They are not
pleasant objects of contemplation. There
is a glare in their eye which indicates that
they are standing on the ragged edge of
self-restraint. An empty stomach is an
unprincipled taskmasteT. They need not
absolutely go hungry, for the Salvation
Army stands between them and starva-
ton, but the pauper dole leaves a bitter
taste in the mouth, and accounts for wry