St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-06-11
CRIME FROM A -. 4.
BUSINESS STANDPOINT
NOES any criminal ever make q
success Of his business?"
Ry George Ads


NOES any criminal ever make
success Of his business?"
This question was asked of Inspector
John D. Shea few days ago.
"What do you mean by success?"
"Well, does he make great deaD OF
money and escape imprisonment"
THAT depends on whether he calls
himself an out-and-out crook or merely
operetes as highly moral business
man." replied the inspector, with a
smile. Among the so-called profess
sional criminals there are great many
who get hold of large sums of money
ut times, and from the money stand
point you might say they were fairly
successful, but In nearly every instance
they are finally landed in some peniten-
tiary."
"Do you know of any professional
criminal who escaped punishment Alto
gether?"
'Yes, ! know of one, and he Is the
only one can recall at this moment.
He lives ON the West side. This fellow
has been q burglar and all-round crook
for years, and we are well satisfied
that he has done good many jobs,
but we have never been able toget him.
He has been wonderfully lucky. One
night he was brought into the Des-
PLANES street station with dark lam
tern, putty knife and some other
tools of the trade on his person. That
is as near as we ever came to nabbing
him in the act. He had been caught
in an alley. II he had been an old,
timer we might have got him out OF
the way for awhile on such proof, but
as he had never been convicted before
we couldn't do anything. This fellow
has had g. great many par, ,ers, and
every one OF them has beei. caught.
Most of them are doing time now, but
he has had remarkable luck. He'll be-
sent over some day. though"
When @ man starts out to be o pro-
fessional criminal, how does he usually
betray himself to the police? Does he
become oEerconfdent after one or tive
successful jobs?"
'Yes; he is apt to take chances if he
has got away with two or three Jobs.
He begins to think that he is too
smooth for the police. Usually, how.
ever, he first comes under suspicion by
being seen In company with crooks
who are well known to the police.
criminals naturally flock together and
make friends with one another. The
common danger and the common inter-
est help to make them intimate. Il
natural for them to work in gangs and
pairs, and fellow who starts out on
nus own hook Is almost sure to land
in o gang very soon, and as soon as he
does he comes under the notice OF the |
police"
There are some, perhaps. who have
proverbial bad luck?"
I, "yes; there are plenty who get out Of
one penitentiary just in time to break
into another. Criminals as class are
poorly paid, il you count in the time
that they serve. Leaving the wrong
and right entirely out of the question,
it's bad business proposition. Just |
as IN instance: A few years ago an
expert bank sneak named Murphy was
let out Of Joliet, and the next week
he showed up here In Chicago. One
or the detectives met him and brought |
him to the central station. asked him
what he was doing, and he said he
was looking for work and was going to
lead ON honest life. He swore by all /
that was good and holy that he would !
never steal another dollar as long as he I
lived. / didn't want to doubt the man,
but I told him that II he wanted to be
straight he'd better get out of Chicago
and away from his old pals and settle /
down In some quiet place where the
police wouldn't be watching him all the !
time. He thought well Of my sugges~
tion and left town. About week after
that we got word that couple of fell
laws had been caught down in Ohio
trying to do job in country bank.
The police in Ohio couldn't identity
these fellows, SO Andy Rohan went
down to take look at them. OF course
Andy knows more crooks by sight than
any other man in the department. The
minute he saw these fellows he rec
ognized one Of them as Murphy. Being
q good professional. Murphy was put
away for few years in Ohio.
"one night / was turning the cor
I.er at Halsted and Madison streets and \
saw man and woman crossing the
street. got just o glimpse of the man,
but I knew. that hadseen him some-
where before, but couldn'tsplace him.
When / had walked about 100 feet or
SO from the corner I heard some one
yelling behind me and saw people run
= 4 -
back and pushed into the shop. and
there. standing In the middle Of the