The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-12-20
CALLS IT A FRAUD
Chief Donovan Aroused About
Juvenile Court.
Release of Confirmed Boy Thief
Excites Him.
DOESN'T STOP CRIME.
Has Tendency to Encourage
Thefts by Boys.
Promise to BE Good and Are
Then Released.

Eliga Steele, who seems appropriate
~ named. as he seems to have a facul-
~ of attaching himself to about every
thing that is loose, was released yes
terday by Judge Hayden OF the probate
court Steele is a black youth OF per-
haps ten summers with as many ac-
companying winters and the sum of
the two viii not equal the number of
times he has been arrested charged
with all kinds of crimes.
Four bicycles were stolen one even
ing last week and the boy was arrested
with one of the VIII reels in his possession
and at once confessed that he had
taken the others and told of the dis
position he had made of them. A
week or such a matter prior to this
time he stole a horse and wagon from
a rural mail carrier who had left it
tied near the pOstofflce while he went in
after his mail. He was out of jail then
for a day or so and in the meantime
turned in a fire alarm just to see the
fire horses run" as he expressed it.
II tell you that juvenile court is one
of the greatest farces in operation,
said Chief of Police Tim Donovan this
morning, land is responsible for more
thieving among the boys and youths
of the city than a school of thieving
could be. The boys know that they
will not be sent to jail for their mean
ness and that the worst that will hap
pen to them will be that they VIII get
a Sunday sermon from the juvenile
court OIICeFS ana lnen De luIIleQ iOOSO.
This boy Steele who was turned loose
yesterday is a confirmed thief and one
of the boys who has caused the ponce
the most trouble, and after we finally
caught him almost in the act and ne
confessed to his crimes h e is taken over
to the juvenile court and sent home.
This way of handling thieves may
be all right in story books but 1t went
work in police circles and the police
force has had more trouble from the
petty thieves Of the city since the
iuveEile court has been in existence
than at any time in the past. Our
men are kept busy chasing the boys
about the city and when they capture
them the result is frequently as it was
in this case yesterday
Last night the home of Mr.. Espman
at 139 Grafton street was stoned by
party of boys and several large win
similar nature have been frequent in
that section of the city of late If we
detail men on case of this kind they
may spend several days in running the
gang which IS guilty of the offences to
earth ard getting them into police
court.
1.-The evidence against them may be
conclusive and in most instances some
of the boys confess and .implicate 9TH
er members of the gang. and then
they are turned over to the juvenile
court. and they promise that they will
be good and won't do it again and they
are turned loose Many OF these boys
are old offenders who have been be-
fore the police as well as the juvenile
courts before but that does not seem to
make any difference with the Juvenile
court for they are turned loose again.
THE way that the juvenile court
operates in Topeka it is an encour-
agement to the boys to steal and COM
nit their petty depredations and they
laugh at the efforts to punish them.
There has been an epidemic of bicycle
stealing in Topeka for months and
hardly a day passes that some one does
not report the loss of a wheel and
some time reports of half dozen
wheels come in within a few hours of
each other
This thieving is done in nearly
every instance by boys who take the
wheels to a pawn shop and get fifty
cents or a dollar on them or else sell
them to their companions who refuse
to steal them This court 7 know is a
popular one to the humanftarians of
the city but it is no good from the
standpoint of the suppression of crime
in the city and a nuisance to the po-
lice. It's all right to try and talk the
class of boys who find their way into
police court into reforming, but the
juvenile court is a nuisance and a fall
ure all the way through and the only
people who receive any advantage
from the law are ones who draw sal
aries as officers"