Cañon City record., 1902-08-21
AN EDIIun.AL lLOP
copyrtght. 1902. by 9 B. l. wts.l

vocatrd that the laws were too s'vCrs-
ly aGmin!st red. one night vixen in
his house alone burglar got in AID
forced the editor to open all his clos1ts
and drawers in search Of booty. Catch
Ing the man Off his guard. PlimptOn
felled him with single blow. buuu
and gagged him and then said to
him: You are the first criminal we
have encountered In the flesh. All our
arguments We're based on criminals in
the abstract. We have been deceived.
our delusior7 have been put to light"
The robber cursed him high and low
and struggled with his bonds and
Plimpton coLtinued:
Better late than never. however.
We shall now advocate the maximum
punishment for all criminals. You en-
tered our he ,Se to rob us Let us see
if you have nything worth taking"
He kuclt down beside the man and
searched his pockets. The search
brought to light gold watch. S3T in
cash and diamond pin. the proceeds
of n crime committed elsewhere
"Ah. this is better" chuckled Plimp-
ton This is more money than we have
handled in three months. We shnll ap-
prOprinte everything to our personal
benefit 1t is lucky You paid us II VISIT.
This plundCr dispcls any last lingering
fear that necessity drove you to crime"
He picked up the broom. broke off
the handle. and for five long minutes
he pounded the burglars body from
chin to heel. The man yelled and ours
cd MI
when the blows ceased he said:
"If | have to live a thousand years.
I'll have your life for this"'
Another one of our pet theories has
been that cr'-'ir&ls We're not vicious"
replied li,- ,'tIur 40 ne sat down to
rest. In the last issue of the Banner
we had n half column article on the
subject. We contended that the aver
age criminal had neither spite nor NAL
Ice, but was simply seeking to get what
the world denied hin, a living. You
seem to be thoroughly wicked man"
You bet ann
"In our issue OF two weeks ago we
contended that the average robber aim
ed to rob the rich only. and only be-
cause oppressed by capital. Were we
moment you entered this house you
realized that 1t belonged to a poor man.
There are at least ten men In this town
worth $4,000 each. but you passed
them all by"
81 wish ! had put a bullet into
your head and gone through the house
afterward"' growled the man.
The editor arose and welded the
broom handle for another five minutes
and then sat down to remark:
About six weeks ago there was a
case OF punishment In the New Jersey
state prison which aroused public dis.
cussion convict refused to obey or
ders and was given the strap. We con-
tended that a few kind words would
have touched his heart and broken his
resolution. while our esteemed contem-
poraEy argued that he should have
been punished an hour sooner than he
was. 1t seems that we were wrong in
that particular also"
Look out for me. old man." growled
the burglar as he gritred his teeth.
81 see. Our whole line OF reasoning
from start to finish has been wrong.
Excuse my pertinacity, but was 1t the
knowledge that Gould. Vanderbilt and
Astor had tens of millions while you
had only a few shillings that drove you
into crimeT
You are fool" was the blunt reply.
But, tell me. could you have found
work and lived an honest life had you
SO desired:"
Work. Why. you hump nosed blOke.
who wants work when ne can make a
living without? The only thing I'm
sorry for is that such a fool as you are
should have laid me by the heels in
this fashion. If was free. I'd roast
you ut the lire"
I'VE believe you would. but you
wont get free We can now clearly
see what an ass we have made of our
self in arguing as we have. and
And he rose up and applied the
broom handle again until his arms
ached. Greatly to his surprise the bur
glar called for mercy.
"Can this he a parallel case of the
New Jersey affair."" asked Mr.. Pllmp-
ton. "All our kind words produced no
effect on you. but corporal punish
ment seems to bring you to terms"
For heavens sake, don't wallop me
any mOre"' whincd the man. Let up
OIL me. and I'll make tracks. You've
had all the fun there was In II and
can afford to turn me loose"
mot yet. In our arguments with our
esteemed contemporary we have re
peatedly declared that criminals were
only hardened by corporal punishment.
We now discover that we have been al
together wrong and that
Don't, DON'T shouted the burglar as
Mr.. PlimptOn spat on his hands and
fIourished the broomstick. You didn't
get all my money If you will let me
20. will tell you where ] have hidden