The sun., 1903-10-18
lust CRIMINALS
- BY IMPULSE.
Sudden Moments of Temptation
That Make Thieves of
Honest People.

'I've known lot Of folks with happy,
outstanding ears, ingrowing chins, claw
like fingers and close-set eyes who never
did an o~nery, much lesA criminal act In
their lives. although you'd never get sub
scribers to the Lombroso head-measuring
asa guide crime idea to believe it, re-
marked a noted New York detective. "Tve
met up with philanthropists who were
shifty-eyed, sneaky-looking and possessed
Of whole lot Of the physical points OF the
Lombroso and Nordau typical degenerate.
ana yet they were men who couldn't get to
sleep o nights for thinking of the misery
Of the world and trying to dope out plans
to make unhappy people happy.
And I've stacked alongside Of case
hardened desperedoes, crooks OF both
sexes. craggy ones that enjoyed the very
smell and taste Of devitry, criminals born.
who didn't have Il sign on them from head
to heels that wasn't the mark OF a thorough
bred, and who could hand you as winsome
an eye gaze as convent girl on recep-
ton day and pass you as appealing line
Of innocent expression as a Pine street
promoter who's trying 10 sell you Beau
mont oil stock at 20 cents the share that's
going to he listed at sos the share on Dec.
Is next.
4All OF the hard-luckers occupying prison
cells are not criminals by instinct. Slews
and slathers of them are criminals by i'm
pulse, 1t would help some il, to-day. l
had dollar for every branded one know
who. from utter squareness jumped into
trouble like cat hopping trels by giving
in to quick and overmastering tempta-
ton.
"A dozen years or so ago up in West
chester county town an aged bum. who had
drirted to the place a few weeks before
and had been getting his whiskey money
by doing odd chores, got to the end OF his
hawser He was a pretty sick old DO
when he applied at the hospital for bunk
and treatment.
aThey took him in, but they saw that
there was nothing left OF him but the husk, ;sp.
and 80 they made him comfortable to pipe
out easy Just before he took the ferry
over the dark river he whispered to the
nurse that he'd like to have word with
the hospital superintendent.
"The hospital superintendent showed UP
at the cot. The old wayfarer pulled from
around his neck piece Of string to >, which ,cI
KEY Was Id5tciitN' AhV iiuIIuNA 'iiN ny
to the superintendent, gasped the name of
New York safe deposit company, gave
the big passing -out tremor-and was gone.
This hospital superintendent. was a
strong man. He was about 40. ard had got
his education by working for it with his
hands. He had been everything but a
barber and policeman in order to push
care Of big batch OF brothers and sisters
besides.
HE wasn't a goody- -goody. but just a
square man. He had fought and worked
for every shave, shine and smoke that he'd
ever had. He was getting ahead and gain
ing reputation, but most OF his income
was going for the education of his younger
brothers, and he had never known the feel
ing OF having $40 velvet since he'd been
aWef1, about two weeks after the old
b,lms death, this hospital superintendent
was in New York. and he happened to pass
by the safe deposit establishment that the
The superintendent still had in his pocket
the key, attached to a string, that the dead
tramp had given him:
"He was Of the opinion that tho old mans
mind had been wandering when he named
that safe deposit company. but, anyhow,
just out of curiosity, he decided to ask the
safe deposit people il they had the name
OF the deceased 'bo on their books, They
did have The dead man had rented safe
deposit box from the outfit seven years
before, and the box rental had been regu-
Larry paid. .,n,-,,.ond.n. altar r.oro.
formalities, was permitted to open the box
with the key in his possession According
to custom, one of the safe deposit employees,
this one a young fellow, entered the vault
in which the box was located with the
The latter opened the box
with his key and then he had to fan himself
for a minute with his hat.
4The box contained two tightly wrapped,
rubber banded rolls Of yellow bank notes.
each roll of about the size Of Twenty-Five
bundle Of cigars. The superintendent OF the
hospital removed the rubber bands from
one of the bundles, and he saw that it was
made up OF bills Of all denominations,
from ones to hundreds, 1t was obvious
that the two rolls figured up whole lot OF
money.
THAT was the hospital superinte ndent's
critical minute He told me all about it
afterward. Without waiting to count the
money, he said in low tone to the young
~ fe deposit chap who was with him in the
vault, and who was looking with an ex-
preston of amnzement at the two huge
bundles Of bills
"Youand I are the only two people in the
world who know anything about this money.
Is il to he cut? What do you say for
third for yours?'
"Thatll suit me- replied the young
clerk
"The SUPERINTENDENT told me that If, ten
minutes before, ANYBODY had suggested the
remotest likelihood Of his ever trying to
snag out one cent that didn't belong to him,
he'd have well-nigh killed him.
But, he addeu. In telling me about it.
the hunch to get hold Of that money seized
me like flash and could no more have
resisted it than maj in the electric chair
could resist the current sent 10 kill him.
"The superintendent stuffed the two rolls
CT money into satchel, turned in the key
to the safe deposit people with the state
ment that he had found only few value
less papers belonging to the dead man.
and then went to hotel room with the
Young 81 fe deposit clerk. In the hotel room
they counted the money. and they found
that il amounted to $54 900 exactly.
"Thn superinte endent gave tho young
follow $4,000, and the latter said that he
we 4 perfectly satisfied with the cut. That
left the Superintendent 500 900 to the good.
.He had hardly put the theft through,
made the division and separated from the
Young fellow before he was sore on him
self, but there was no turning back at that
attn pe OF 1t, ana he therefore tried to COM
fort himself with the reflection that the
dead hobo miser probably had left no heirs,
and that the money was capable Of better
use in his hnnds than II it had been dis
covered by somebody else in the presence
of n number Of witnesses and had reverted
to the State for ack OF heirs.