The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-11-16
The Folly of Violence.

J
The ex-artist in safe and easy methods
Of annexing ether peoples property laid
down the morning paper with sigh.
Whenever see these headlines about
a Carnival Of Crime ne said, IT blush
Tor my former profession In the old
days We used TO do business in q polite
and gentlemanly way. Nobody ia our
set ever thought OF using a slung-sh0t
or other deadly weapon. Such methods
were looked upon as coarse and inartis-
tic, as well as Improbable and unsafe.
There was no talk then IN the newspa-
pers of Brutal Hoidup Men Terrori5a
the North Side, or anything Of that
kind. We worked quietly and modestly.
kept our names out of the papers and
our photographs out of the rogues' ga
Iery. Fifteen years ago the strong arm
ed men began to break into the busine s
They used pieces of lead pipe, brick bats
and other similar arguments IN order 10
persuade people to give up their property.
What they did necessarily reflected on
all Of Us. I stood it as long as 7 could,
but finally I was fairly driven to IL
respectable. Now it appears that the
business has deEenerated into merely
brutal commerciaIsm- It IS no longer
fine art And yet I cannot see why any
man even now should run the risk Of
USING NlCleAL measures HlAIAA tAAC W. n
can be made so much easier and safer
by the exercise Of little brains and In
zenuity.
Suppose, for instance, a couple OF gen
tlemen of leisure reach the city after a
hard journey in q half-starved condition.
Presumably they have much more appe-
lite than money. Now the mod tn deem
crate method OF satisfying that hunger
is to break into q grocery store, for in
stance. hold up the clerk at the point
of a gun, lock him in the Ice box, rob
the ca,sh drawer of 1916. and dine on
crack p cheese and dried apples, iEci-
dentaEy running the risk Of q long term
in the penitentiary on cha ges of bur
glary. assault with a deadly weapon,
and two or three other equally serious
offenses
a few years ago. when I was IN ac-
tive practice, we managed such things
differently. If my friend Clarence JeR-
kins and reached the city in a condi-
ton of temporary financial embarrass-
ment we would have been insulted at the
idea of dining at any but first-class
restaurant The fact that we had only
twenty cents between Us was the least
of our troubles. In tire first place We
would pick out q restaurant where they
use metal checks, with the amount Of
your bill stamped upon them. Il is
easier to make a mistake in handling
that kind Of ready-made checks than
those paper affairs on which the cashier
writes down each item Having found
our restaurant. Clarence would walk in,
sit down at the rear end Of the room
and order a meal costing, perhaps, a cou-
pie of dollars. I would wait for half an
hour in order to give him chance to
almost finish Then I would walk in and
sit down somewhere between Clarencs's
table and the cashiers desk. I would
order a cup OF coffee and a piece Of pie
and my metal check would usually be
handed to me al the same time. In q
few minutes Clarence would finish his
repast and would walk leisurely forward
exchanging checks with me as he passed
my table. Stopping at the cashiers
desk ne would pay the ten cents called
for and go out few minutes later
would happen to glance at my check and
would notice that it called for 50 That,
Of course. would excite my indignation
and I would denounce the waiter for
making such an absurd mistake. Or, If
I thought it wiser. I would simply lose
the g check and ask the waiter to give
me a new one. declaring that he had not
given me one before. IN every case IL
was easy enough to arrange matters so
that on payment Of ten cents I was able
to walk out without further question.