The times., 1901-06-16

know. an jumps from jag TO Jag Hke
a shammywah [chamois, l SUPPOSE;
as | heard a fella say once, an III
bet you money it works harder trylh
to be good between jumps than Bean
Town does the year round. ram
what We ain't or what ye don't do that
cuts ice with me; it s what ye Shouldh
be an is ana what ye do that yS
oughn't to. The fe!la that's aiDlcsed
| with this disease an struggles t. get
over it knocks the half-good fella
sru5glin into cooked hat
| And again:
" Did you see what Bishop Potter,
of New York. said about this being
the only town that had not asked
him to come and say something apo5t
the reform of municipal government!
" No; | never see the religious pa
pers. What did the good Bishop say
! IF | remember correctly, he was
quoted in the papers as | have stated.
| He was eh? Wei, now lemme tell
! you somethin else about this berg.
You was askin' bout the front that
Boston puts up. l suppose you mean
was stuck on red neclSties an thought
| knew all about EN-, / never liked to
have anybody tell me that l wasn't
next to the latest shades o red. 1t
| used to give me a pain all over. It's
the same thing with Boston and her
| goodness. She don't want Bishop Pot
| ter To come up here an tell her she
amt next to the latest curves in good
| ness. Hully gee, noi That goes
| against human nature. Besides, Bos-
ton amt SO bad as York, and why
| should she take tip from her sister
| wNilowin in the mud? That goes
! against all kinds o nature -
Perhaps the most interesting chapter in
the book, from the point of view Of the
! student of people, is that which deals with
| one OF the men who squared il "a thief
who turned honest and became a detec-
! tive and then turned "g.after." 1t is a
! pathetic tale, and its pathos is as grim
and stern as the humor of other passages
! in the book. There is nothing very light
! and innocent about the world of graft
! The chapter on The Mouth-Piecc Sys-
| tenn and that other on The Known
/ Ihief's Expense Account" show in a
startling way the cost of crooked work
/ in criminal circles and the police force
| which the public has to pay The Tax
| payers Bill is another chapter of the
same kind. OF burning interest therefore
| is the last collection of testimony, enti-
tied What the Dead Ones Say and
giving the idea of the tramp himself on
the subject of the prevention of crime
One of these dead ones''-thieves who
have given up the business-offers a sug-
gestion which is at least worth serious
attention These are his views:
Get the people interested in wantin'
coppers that won't graft and then
fire every bIoomin' one that does.
That's the only way that you'll ever
get Chi or York or any other berg
cleaned up, and If you live TO be hun
drcd you won't discover anythin' else
that 5 better. l know il, cause I've
watched the business hard for over
thirty years, an can tell what works
an what doesn't The reason I ! want
she police under the National Govern
nent is that tie pub cant change
as mind so quick as il can now with
che police run by the cities. 1t I'D
nave to take four years O the thing
anyhow, and hell of a lot can be
done by the police in that time if
they're on the level Wy, I'd be will
in to guarantee to corral ev'Ty good
gun in the country in four years I l
was chief o such a force. With the
National Government behind him,
wise copper could sweep this country
! absolutely cleSn O prpfeshnuls.
Why can't the Secret Service De-
partment at Washington do it, then|
l asked
In the first place, because it hasn't
got a big enough force, and in the
second, because il only keeps track o
guns that graft off the Government
But l can tell you that when / used
to be on the turf there was nobody
I ! hated worse to have on my track,
exceptin the Big Man 1.-THE Pinker-
tOnsl than Secret Service guy, an
just because / knew I he had the
Government behind him. l used to
touch up p. 0. boxes now and then,
and ] made one or two nice getaways,
but it's the leariest work I l ever
done. For weeks after d made thai
kind Of touch I'd worry about bein
copped out. gun. you know, is
superstitious old fool, an | use TO
think sometimes when ! was worryiu'
that the Government had nothin' but
eyes. 1t couldn't a seemed any more
terrible to me ( I'd thought was
the Almighty himself. Once. l remem-
E4r q q ra4fa TgI4
l had a dream that the Almighty was
after me for sure. They say I If a
fellow doesn't wake up out o them
kind O dreams the Almighty actually
does get him; but / woke up. an /
was mighty glad l did. too. You Re all
in a perspiratiOn when you dream
ghost stories like that But
you see what m dTiVin at. don't yOu2
/ say that the police have got to be
so strong and straight that gun
thinks O home an mother right away
the minute he knows they're after him.
There's guns that get scared silly
when they hear that the Big Mans
after en-. an my idea is that you got
to put the police Inder the Govern
mcnt before they'll stop graftin' an
learn how to frighten guns. That's
what d do, anyhow, if ! was the
high monkey-monk in this country.
Course: ! could go on an tell you
how I'd pick out my men. but that's
small matter. The big thing is TO get
the coppers under the right system,
y
to do it lettin' the towns run their
own police forces "
Another man advocated the revisor sys-
TEN. He said:
of course he's got TO be on the level
or the thing wouldn't work But Won
put an honest man in such a position
give him the right TO discharge men.
chiefs included and let no one be
over him whom the discharged coppers
can appeal TO. and the fatties and el-
bows Of his old town nd be so polite
and good that they could go to heaven
ground All that they need is $ some ne
body to curl en- up with a rcd-hut
poker. an they're as obedient as
KIDS
There are a good many different inter
csting varieties Of crookedness in this
book, and it IS worth the study of any
reformer, even if he has to read it with
a thieves dictionary at his elbow, and
some If his prejudices in the safe deposit
It tbs the truth. and whatever its sug-
gestions are worth. they are made by men
who know the ground and have no direct
interest to serve in their revelations and
opinions. One more suggestion forcibly
made by more than one gun" is that the
punishment for first offences he made
harder and more disagreeable than it is
THE Man Who Has Squared It. express
cd his views after this fashion:
The only thing thatIl ever stop
professional stealing is punishment.
If I were runnin' stir, and had the
fun say about the professional guns
I'd never let EN- go out on parole, Fd
never let EN- be parduned and IA
never let up on EN- while they was