Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-22
CRIMINAL SUGGESTION.
To Study Crime May Make Yourself a
Criminal


| Criminal.
1T Is quite possible for a normally
honest man to become a criminal by
suggestion" was the curious statement
made by a well known New York de-
tective who was In Washington re-
Gently on business. II am referring
now to men who permit themselves
to develop an abnormal interest in the
ways Of professional criminals
II wouldn't call 1t safe thing for
any man to attempt to figure out In
his mind what he would have done to
escape arrest had he been in the boots
Of some captured criminal whom he
had read about. But that's a thing
that thousands OF men who think
they're honest are doing all the time.
/ When there's big man hunt on they
follow 1t with acute interest; put them
selves in the place Of the hunted man
and they dope out schemes Of escape
for him. A certain percentage Of such
calculators are bound to experience the
hankering sooner or later to put their
schemes for evading the officers Of the
law into practical operation, II only
for the foolish purpose of finding out
how their plans will work.
Working in New York now on a
salary Of few dollars a week Is a
broken, middle aged man who used to
be the treasurer Of a bonding and in
demnity company at salary of $780,
900 a year. This man developed a
movements of fugitives from justice,
especially embezzlers.
II was acquainted with this man
and he endeavored to pump me for all
I knew about such cases. He liked to
talk about the fleeing ones. He laid
out routes for them in his mind. He
knew the extradition laws by heart
and had at his fingers ends every
country in the world to which a pur-
sued man could run without fear Of
talking to about this hobby of his.
YOU'D better can that stuff told
him, or it'll begin to tester in the back
Of your head and get you going. I've
known such things to happen, and no
man is more than one-eighth as strong
as he thinks he is. II didn't know
you pretty well I'd have my suspicious
Of you as 1t Is
WELL he only laughed and told me
that he was interested in the subject,
just as other. fellows were interested
in old fiddles or rare postage stamps
or the trim of their whiskers.
Anyhow he laughingly added, II
did jump and you were sent after
me you'd never be subjected to the
embarrassment Of taking to me, be-
cause you'd never get me. II couldn't
beat all of these pinheaded fugitives in
making a safe and sure getaway, so
that none Of you would ever nail me,
I'd want to have my head. bagged.'
Not more than six months after
that he made his jump and I got him
as easy as hotfooting a banana pedler.
II went straight to the little villa he
had taken outside Genoa, Italy. When
Il "do lhC luOot StopC.Ce
man you ever saw, for he'd made his
hop at the beginning Of his months
vacation, and had laid all of his plans
with what he thought was mastery
adroitness, according to his chart,
with thirty days margin Of time to ac-
complish the scheme in. In considera-
ton Of his returning most Of the swag
he only got eight years,
That man put himself in the way
Of becoming a criminal by suggestion.
His studies Of the movements of flee
ing absconders developed an irrespon-
sibility in him and a ache to put to
the test the getaway plans that he
spent so much Of his time In doping
out, while yet he was an honest man.
There Is no calculating how many
shoplifters, especially young women,
are led to try that sort of thing
| through hearing and reading about
professional lifters. Not long ago, In
New York department store, girl
was nailed while trying to lift pair
| Of inexpensive gloves. The girl had an
account at that store for any amount
that she chose to spend up to thou
sands. She wasn't arrested Of course.
but she was led to the rear Office and
chided by the head of the firm in a
gentle sort of way.
Perhaps you should put yourself
in the hands of a specialist for treat
ment' he said to the girl, who wept
softly, With you, beyond a doubt 1t
| Is kleptomania-it must be-
mo, it isn't replied the girl with
| the utmost candor. It's not kleptoma-
mia at all. don't believe in such silli-
| ness. just wanted to see II / could
| 10 1t without being caught, that's all.
A lot Of the girls were talking about
shoplifters-they seemed so fascinat-
ing-and the girls dared me to try.
meant to exhibit the gloves to them
as a trophy and then send them back
| to you by mail anonymously. You
won't ever breathe a word Of It, VIII
you? and the head of the firm, know
ing pretty well which side his bread
was buttered on, of course, only tells
the story without using the girrs
| name, but the incident illustrates an
occurrence which is common. Plenty
of women lift things from counters just
to see if they can do it without being
caught, and when they succeed in get
| ting away with it once they try 1t
again and again, and allow the habit
| to become fixed upon them until the
inevitable day of discovery arrives.
THE people who become criminals
by suggestion are nearly always the
veriest plugs at any line Of work they
take up, for first rate criminals are
born, not made by suggestion or In
any other way. When Jimmy Hope,
the cracksman, was working he was
lust as much of a genius In his par
ticular line as Paderewski is said to be
at piano humping or Saint -Gaudens
with the sculptors sclay."-Washington
Star.