The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-04-25
How Honest Men
Become Criminals

honest man to become a criminal by
suggestion" was the curious state
ment made by well-known New
York detective who was In Washing
ton recently on business. "I'am re-
ferring now to men who permit them
selves to develop an abnormal inter-
est In the ways of professional GRIM
lnals.
II wouldn't call II 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 a big man hunt on they
follow 1t with acute interest, put
themselves in the place of the hunted
man, and dope out schemes OF escape
Tor him. A certain percentage of
such calculators are bound to expert
ence the hankering, sooner or later,
to nut their schemes for evading the
officers of the law into practical OPP
Grafton, IL only fer the foolish pur-
pose of finding out how their plans
will work
Working in New York now on a
salary of few dollars a week is
broken, middle-aged man who used to
be treasurer of a bonding and in
demnity company at a salary of S10,-
OCO a year. This man developed a
qdeer bug for mentally tracing the
movements of fugltives from justice,
especially embezzlers.
II was acquainted with this man,
and he endeavored to pump me for
all 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 pursued man could run. without
fear of extradition. Once | gave this
man a 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. If l didn't know you pretty well
| I'd have my suspicious of you as
1t is
We'll. he only laughed and told
ne that he was interested in the SUBJ
| iect Just as other fellows were in
.erested in old fiddles or rare postage
stamps or the trim of their whiskers.
Anyhow he laughingly added,
If l did jump, and you were sent
after me, you'd never be subjected to
:he embarrassment of taking me, be-
cause you'd never get me. If 1
couldn't beat all these pin-headed
| 'ugitives 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
hat he made his jump and l got him
as easy as hot-footing banana
qeddler. l went straight to the little
villa he had taken outside Genoa,
! Italy. When / nailed him he was the
most stupefied man you ever saw, for
he'd made his hop at the beginning
Of his months vacation, and had laid
all his plans with what he thought
was mastery adroitness, according
to his chart, with thirty days margin
of time to accomplish the scheme in.
! In consideration 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 ire
sponsibility in him and an 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
a New York department store, a girl
was nailed while trying to lift pair
OF inexpensive gloves. The girl had
an account at the store for any
amount that she chose to spend up to
the thousands. She wasn't arrested,
OF course, but she was led to the rear
office and chided by the head of the
firm in 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. it
is kleptomania-it must be-.
| " No, 1t isn't replied the girl with
the utmost candor. It's not klepto-
mania at all. / don't believe in such
Stiffness. l just wanted to see IL I
could do 1t without being caught,
that's all. A lot OF the girls were
talking about shoplifters - they
seemed so fascinating the girls
dared me to try. l 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 word of 1t, will you?' and
the head of the Arm, knowing pretty
well which side his bread is buttered
on, of course only tells the story
without using the girls name, but
the incident illustrates an occurrence
which Is common. Plenty of women
lift things from counters lust to see
If they can do 1t without being
caught, and when they succeed in get