Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-10
FEW TOUGH BOYS HERE
ODE GANG" NOT KNOWN IN
WASHINGTON.
A Detective Tells Why There Are Not
Combinations of the Youth
in This City.


| to say lately about the hoolgans of that
| city and comparing that undesirable ele-
ment of its population and the name ap-
| piled to 1t with that of hoodlum, which We
| have given to the toughs of our own Cities
remarked a headquarters detective sergeant
this morning to Star man.
This calls up the agreeable fact that
Washingtonians may announce, not without
some degree of satisfaction, that the hooli-
gan as he Is known in London and the
hoodlum as he is known In New York and
other large cities Is, as a distinct and plen-
tiful species, comparatively unknown in the
capital.
The size OF the city does not enter into
the question of the habitat of the hoodlum.
You will find him as proportionately as much
In evidence IN a modera tested factory city
as in New York, and in some of the smaller
cities the genus tough is actually as tough
and as reckless as any graduate of the
Bowery.
Washington, however, is pleasantly free
from the white hoodlum, while the colored
inflict with their razOrs more damage upon
themselves and birds of their own feather
than upon other people. In other cities all
mankind is the hereditary foe of the hood
lum. and he takes a pride in the very
offensiveness of his hardened Indifference to
the feelings and rights of others and
delight peculiar to himself in letting people
know what a desperate character he is.
He skates gayly for the time over the thin
Ice which separates him from the peniten-
tfary, to which institution most of these
chaps are ultimately transported a public
expense.
"De Gang" Not in Washington.
1.-THE American hoodlum is the direct
product of what may be termed an institu-
ton of metropolitan life Familiarity known
as de gang The streets form the only
playground for the tens of thousands of
boys in cities. and they as naturally con-
grega te in gangs as they dive off the docks
into the East river In summer. The fueds
between the different gangs of boys living
on the crowded blocks on the east and
west sides, from the dminutive scrapper
of six to the ready fighter of sixteen, are
as desperate and bitter, If not deadly, as
the feuds among the mountaineers in the
border states.
streets of Washington are the exception
rather than the rule. DE gang does not
exist here as a fixture as 1t does in other
cities. The nursery of the packed, double
deck tenements which develops the hood
lum. the sneak thief, the burglar, the sa-
loon bum and social outcast is not here to
propagate these undesirable products of
city life. Not that 1 mean to assert that
but 1t is so proportionately less that it gives
US comparatively little trouble.
The absence of de gang from the capl-
tai Is another reason why 1t forms de-
sirable place of residence and city among
others where children may be brought up
free from the contamination and associa-
ton of tough boys. Boys without number
are yearly led astray by the acquaintance
they make on the streets, and they become
members of gangs of the young rowdles on
their block or intersecting street corners
from sheer force Of locality and environ
ment.
A Cause of Crime.
ITO these gangs and their evil influences
may be directly attributed the prevalence
Of crime among the youth Of cities. Left
to himself, a boy would go to work and
develop into a good citizen. AS a member
of his gang he strives to emulate it's leader
in deeds Of deviltry, petty lawbreaking and
scrapping, and very soon the inevitable ar
rest comes. After that his downfall Is easy
unless he succeeds in shaking off his old
associates and habits and, in the vernacular
of his class. he cuts de gang dead
THE police of Washington make 1t a
point to break up soon as discovered
congregations Of boys on their beats who
are not out for legitimate play, and this
is one reason why these gangs have not
f1ourished here. Other reasons may be
found In the wide streets, easy accessibility
to the suburbs. where play may be health
fully INDUCED In; the numerous small
parks. which admit Of freedom of action
not to be found in the crowded lanes Of
tenement houses. and a general superiority
OF environment as regards space. light, air
and sunshine.
"In short, know Of no city where there
Is less lawlessness among the youth than
in the capital"