The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-06
PINKERTON RECOMMENDS
 USE OF WHIPPING POST


 down to a great big feast when we came. These men were identified for five dif- ferent burglaries in Illinois country banks and were convicted One of them. sickly fellow, whom l tried to make something out of, said to me: There aint no good of your talking to me, for won't give anything away; don't never do anything of that kind. You nave got h-of a good man heelinK us, but some day the boys will find him out and when they do he will be a dead one. And sure enough little while after that he turned up missing-iust dropped out of sight I don't know what becama Of him, but suspect they do. He simply disappeared.
 NOW that is the class of people that are committing most of the crimes to- day. Their headquarters are in all inc large cities. New York and Boston sn well as Chicago have their proportion of them but I think the police of Chi cago have more intelligent idea and a more thorough knowledge of them than the police in any of the other larza cities, or anywhere else in the country They handle that class of offenders bek. ter.
 "The 'yeggemen' are the most reekles. creatures in the world. They place no value on human life not even on their own. They would just as soon kill as to steal, and will kill anybody who interferes with them. They handle nitroglycerin in the most reckless manner although they know it's explosive power.
 ''The most dangerous criminal in tha world" continued MT. Pinkerton, .ls tho one who invades the house where you and your family are asleep. In ninety nine cases out of a hundred he will kill you If you wake up or make any out cry. He will take no chance of capture. have always contended that for that class of crime, as well as the 'hold-up' that comes up with a pistol and either kills or robs you, there cannot be to se- were a punishment think we should have public whipping post in Illinois, just as they have it down in Delaware Some years ago party of swell criminals with silk hats and kid gloves. went down to Wilmington and attempted to rob A bank. They broke into the cashiers house to get the keys and tied up all the members of the family except a negro servant. She crawled under bed, but left her heels sticking out. They grabbed her by the feet, but she managed to jerk away arsl ran out of the house and down the street screaming murder, watch, and as a consequence those fellows were surrounded and gathered in.
 "They were tried and sentenced to ten years at hard labor, several hours in the pillory and forty lashes on the bare back The whole criminal world was tremen- dously excited and exclaimed: Why. you ain't a-going to whip Big Frank" and Kilrain and the other fellow (who- ever he was)I It can't be possible they are going to do that But they did 1t all the same and they put it on good and plenty. Every time they laid the whip on their backs they cut the skin, and the blood ran down in streams Then they put them in the stocks, where everybody has not been a bank robbed in Delaware and you don't hear of any safe burglaries or house robberies down there. Why? Because the crooks are afraid of the punishment. They keep clear of Dela- ware. They would rather go to prison for ten years than be whipped once, and they take no chances. It would reduce crime 35 per cent in Chicago if we could have the whipping post. The police force
 
 Are the many foreign colonies prolific of crime?'
 well, yes. more or less. You find in those sections a good many anarchists. They are of all nationalities. But the 'yeggmen' are the most dangerous of all the criminal classes. I do not know what the outcome of this tramp question is go- ing to be. It is a very serious question, and one that has got to be taken up with a heavy hand, because year after year they get bolder and, as I said be- fore. let anybody attempt to interfere with them in their work and they will shoot him down. My remedy would be the whipping post. I have been criticised for that statement but strong abuses require strong remedies. Delaware is the only place I know of where the whipping post is used. and there is less crime there than elsewhere"