The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-27

inc ponce q LOT OF trouble.
He was in the business three months. all
told. The boy is six feet tall and weighs
1SS pounds. He is not twenty-five inches
around the chest. and steady 1o-year-old
boy could whip him. Hissen told me that
he was paperhanger when he became too
Ill to work. The doctors told him that
trip would help him.
II had to have the money he told me.
I figured that saloonkeepers were more
liable to have 1t than any one else. So
calculated that If l could catch a bar
tender alone and put him in the icebox j
could get away with pile. had to have
gun first. / went out with an old pistol
determined to hold up the first man met.
That man was private Waterman. / got
his pistol, fierce-looking old bulldog, but
1t was no good. 1 held up seven saloons
and over fifty men with that useless gum
lust from this boys desire to travel
and his lack of conscience as to where or
how he got the money. We owe many days
of trouble said the Chief, "He started
a hoid-up fever. which has resulted in 200
attempts at highway robbery. Yet / can
not denominate him highwayrnan. He
Is Just hoodlun.
Then take Rice and PIoehn, Is and 90
year-old boys. They started from San
Francisco last June. They stuck up sa-
looms and grated their way to st. Louis
They were very successful in evading ar
rest. They got to st. Louis swollen with
success. One night they started from
Twenty-first and Chestnut streets and
went to Taylor avenue and Forest Park
boulevard. They had some drinks and
went out agreeing to hold up the first man
they met.
.They had a 22-caliber pistol between
them. no bigger than a doorkey. They held
up one man. when Zeigler and Mccarthy
got hot on their trail. They were in Jail
in an hour. They coolly sat down here
and told me just what they had done in
St Louis. They are doing five years each
now.
These hold-up men are not highway
men. They are bad boys but scarce worth
considering as capable criminals. Still
they will shoot and kill much quicker than
a thoroughgoing, clever and really trou-
blesorue crook.
They are just like dime novel products
Why, that miserable little boy, Rice,
feet 3. and weighing LIS pounds. told me
what fun they had at Venice. ILL.,, one
night. Rice was doing in a saloon. The
bartender shook him roughly. The boy
pulled his gun on him and threatened to
shoot. Rice and his pals, mere kids, then
departed. A crowd of negroes, friends Of
the bartender. gave chase. Rice and his
comrades fired at them as they reiterated.
Rice hugely enjoyed telling me what
fun it was watching the negroes dodge.
NJ,t,f,,r- m ,,ood trfee b,,rc1ar hanIr r0ln-
Der. etc. detests SO much as a fight.end
as 1t may. To commit one crime is bad
enough, to kill or wound in doing 1t is
worse. The wise fellows appreciate that
fact The dime novel is in the kids. how
ever. and they will as soon kill as not.
EXPERIENCED CRIMINALS
ARE NOT INVOLVED.
..Safeblowers are under our hands in
the big cities. They really do not exist
any more. That job on Russell avenue last
week was the work Of hoodlums. not safe
blowers The safe was weak one. and
the job rough. No good safe-cracker
would think of breaking a combination
as they did. A good safe-worker would
have opened a safe like that in ten min
utes without the use OF tools. That job
was done by rough hands.
.The common sneak thief is the boy
hold-up man after he has done term or
two in the Penitentiary. grown wiser and
lost his bravado but not his inability to
or distaste of work. He still bankers for
the drugs and cigarettes. He resorts 10
petty larceny instead Of hold-ups. We
can control the sneak thief Little by lit
tie we land him In the Penitentiary. He
steals little and the little he does steal is
of slight value.
',Fhe daylight robber Of the Christmas
season IS usually negro. The cocaine
negro is desperate case Many of the |
lower-caste negroes are grievously adj !
they know. neither fear or caution. They |
will commit robbery under policeman's |
nose when arrest Is certain.
Murder comes Just as easy to them as |
robbery. OF the white hold-up man. low |
as he seems to be, 1t must be said that he |
ktsSwnnnen alone as rule. and never hits |
or Injuries one IL he does attempt to rob |
will hit a woman quicker than he will a |
man. The negro under cocaine Is brute |
and the most desperate Of criminals. Nine |
They are not criminals, properly speaking.
As rule they work when they can find |
1t. They resort to robbery only when In |
need of food and lodging. They are |
brutes, not clever criminals.
How about the Kortkamp jewelry rob- |
berry? That was the work of green |
hand. daring robbery and clever in that |
y succeeded. The thief was most for
tunate to get away.
!. Had he been a window thief he would |
have had confederate throw the bar
across the door OF the store as he broke |
fashioned bars across them. An expert |
eneed thief would have had pal to put |
this bar up to impede the clerks as they
neglected this precaution. He got away /
with II, but 1t seems that every one ran |
the other way when they saw HIM
man is largely of the same kind as the |
hold-up boys spoke OF a moment ago. |
Take note of the boys who committed the |
All of them under q, all dime novel, cigar. |
cite. drug and liquor ffends, They Come, |
cut swathe for few days and we have |
them.
.coN MEN, MOST
TROUBLESOME CLASS.
what becomes Of all the swell Grim |
inals. the star bank sneaks. con men, safe |
crackers. ETC.? Well. most OF them are |
In prison, have reformed. or have taken |
there now and then. Those safe-blowing |
jobs at Grand Tower and Anchor, ILL.,, the |
other day we're the work Of good men. AT |
Anchor they s cut the wires leading out OF |
fed. In both cases the booty In sight was |
from 5000 to 1000. These are sums worth |
2 good thiefs while. and the punishment |
if he is captured is not relatively greater |
than he would get for stealing SIS In q |
hold-up. Then he avoids circumstances
which conduce to murder. which is the |
thing ell good crooks especially desire to |
1.-THE con men flourish yet They are
the best booking. cleverest men gaining a
living by dishonest means. They are hard |
TO reach because they keep as wen within |
the law as they can. and because they |
deal with strangers, mostly farmers who |
are about to leave town and who will not !
stay to prosecute or who, fearful Of being |
shown up In their own communities az |
Tlbes' and .come-ons. The con men are |
usually well educated. smart takers, and