The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-09
Most of the Criminals Join the
Army of Troops.
CRIME AS A PROFESSION
b Hoboes Are Recruited From the
Great Mass OF Discouraged Law
Brsakers-Aany Are Called.
Few Chosen.

dar? Do they reform and become re-
spectacle citizens under assumed
names. or has life behind the bars been
> severe that the bulk of them die
soon after release? Or are they, per-
haps. still doing criminal work. but
so SUCCESSFULLY that the police cannot
locate them? OF a number of ex-con-
victs all OF these things may be said.
Sone reform, some die and others have
improved their thieving methods and
are eluding their pursuers. There are
thousands. however. to be accounted
for and a great many cannot be found
among the reformed, the dead or those
still in the business. Where are those
absent ones? Unfortunately the bu-
reau of statistics and the intelligence
departments of the penitentiaries can
throw but little light on this matter.
They have, IL is true. certain data con-
corning former prisoners, but these
are very faulty and lea with only a
small fraction Of the thousands. Pris-
on wardens are too busy keeping track
OF prisoners already under their care
to be able to give much time to those
who have served out their sentences,
and the investigator must look them
UP undiueu Dy OUfclal apparatus III NJ
contemplates a search.
The bulk of these missing men, the
writer has discovered after several
years OF observation. must be looked
for in tramp life. Some of them get
there early and some late. but 1t Is the
retreat OF practically all criminals who
cannot be located anywhere else. They
become tramps because life on the
road comes the nearest to the career
they had h0naA RI Glnana1 in There
are a number OF men in the world who
go into crime as a profession with oil
the seriousness and determination of
other men who go into the law. medi-
cine or business. They have been horn
in criminal surroundings and been
made to believe that successful thiev-
ing is the most desirable and remuner-
alive occupation going. After a few
years OF lfe behind The bars the ma
tority OF them discover that they lack
sufhcient criminal wit and persever-
ence to do successful thieving. and thev
then become discouraged criminals and
join the hobo fraternity to get a living
and to watch as closely as possible the
careers OF men who are able to hang
on longer han they were. In a way.
all tramps may be called discouraged
criminals: all nave tried. at one time
or another, to become thieves. and
those who nave tried the longest ex-
pect and receive the most homage and
respect. A man who has spent 20
years i'm prison is the big man in hobo
society. His stories at hangout gath
erings always receive the greatest at
tention and his opinion about criminals
still active is accepted as the best that
can be got.
According to hoboes. il takes about
1--WE years to discourage the average
man who tries to make. a profession
~ aRfp,A IT,.
in other professions, that many are
called but few are chosen. and That
consequently the failures must be very
numerous. You may hear tramps and
ex-crim.nals discuss the talents and
prospects OF a young apprentice at the
business in quite the same way that
musicians pronounce Judgment on "a
young piano player. They all know.
or they think they know. what Is nee
essary and essential TO success in
crime. and they can tell you exactly
why they had to give IL up and now
they might have succeeded had some
thing not happened; but. once discour-
aged, they practically never try to
make another effort. This is a pecu-
ltarity about crime as a business that
differentiates Ii from most other call
ings. Take the ordinary brakeman. for
instance. He may fail a dozen times
in his various undertakings, but ne
seldom gives up hope of eventually
succeeding. This is true of the criminal
up to a certain point, but there are
very few of his class who can still
persevere after Is years of imprison-
ment.
1t is a theory of many criminals that
all society might be s~oclologically d.
vided into active criminals and dis
couraged criminals. These men say
that In every human being there is the
making OF an average criminal. and
that people would all turn out cr,mip-
ais III they were not discouraged i'm
early youth. Morality, in their opin-
ion, is not Unborn or a matter OF ira
dition. but results entirely from train
ing. They think that people might Just
as easily be ain for criminal pur-
suits as they are now raine to be Ie-
spectacle. and that II their scheme OF
life were thus turned upside down.
men Who now lead in honest callings
would turn out leaders in crime. They
explain their oYn defeats on the
ground that they were not taught early
enough how to stand punishment. An
old man who now spends most Of Ills
days in the Bowery thinks that II boys
who were being trained 10 be criminals
were Instructed in boxing as soon as
they can stand on their feet unaIded.
and were accustomed to giving and re-
ceiving hard knocks. IL would help
them immensely in withstanding the
effects Of confinement in p~enitentia-
ries.
A favorite pastime of old d~iscourag-
ed criminals is thinking out the de-
tails of crimes that they would commit
IL they had not lost their nerve. Like
passionate chess players who carry
around with them in their heads moves
that they mean to try on this and that
adversary at the game. so old GRIMM
ais. years after they have been laid on
the shelf. continue to think out Jobs
which they wonder no one tries. There
is no more pathetic scene in low life
than when n of these decrepit. tooth
less wrecks ~buttonholes a young pal
and ella for him with auavering
voice a scheme which he would try n
he were only 20 years younger. Up
TO the very moment when they curl
up submiss.vely in some old hogshead
and die. many of these men keep