The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-01-17
PAT GROVE IS
IN BILLINGS
FORMER CROOK AND OUTLAW
COMES 70 HELP BROTHER.
TING TALKER
10 Here In Billings 70 Aid His Broth
e., Charged With Deadly Assault o.
Charles NJ e-Tells About His Own
v~arteoated Career OF the Past.

1900 GWf1TE hf0T0TgESf
Charles Mpe-Tells About His Own
varieoated Career Of the Past.
Pat Grove OF Omaha, perhaps one
of the most widely known men In the
country and one with a past which ia
certainly interesting IL not vivid, is
in Billings to assist in the defense OF
his brother, "a. j. Grove, who is &C
cused Of shooting Charles Moe on
the bench some time ago.
Grove might be termed the ''uni-
versal ~scapegoat." He has been &C
cused either openly or c~overtly OF
more crimes, robberies, kidnapings,
burglaries a nd holdups than any man
in the United States, vet practically
nothing has ever been proved against
him and II his friends. and they are
many, speak truth, he is more sinned
against than sinnig.
There's nothing to this crime
thing" said Grove yesterday as he
ordered up a long, singing creme de
menthe, .no thing in It. 1 spent Is
years in hell because / thought break
ing the law was better than keeping
1t. I grabbed q bunch OF money and
spent 1t all, and | lived In constant
fear Of the police and Of capture, and
/ decided at length to cut It out and
live on the square. That was after
the Cudahy kidnapping.
he Il Writing.
And I'm doing 1t now. i have a
nice little home on Calumet avenue in
Chicago, q nice wife and q pretty lit.
tie baby, and I'm doing my honest
best to make q living by writing. And
since I've done so rye been happier
than ever before.
What do 1 write about? oh,
mostly my own experiences and what
they have taught me. i've done my
little bit ID prison and I've had my
fling at crime, and / know what both
are. My purpose now Is to aid as
best I can In reforming our penal
system and In lettering conditions to
prevent crime.
"our prisons and reformatories are
now but incubators Of crime. II a
man goes to prison or a boy to reform
school for his first crime he learns
worse ones from his companions ii
the institution, and even II he goes
out and tries to start square, his
mind ID dwarfed and his abilities
smothered BY the confinement Of pris.
on and he can't earn an honest liv.
ing.
we should use our criminals IN
working on good roads, and teach our
boys a trade E. Only thus can we even
partially rid ourselves Of the menace
OF the criminal element.
His Own Start.
my own first start in crime arose
from indus trial competition. I ran
q little butcher shop in Omaha and
the Cudahy company came down and
opened up right across the way. It
was Cudahy's son 1 kidnapped later.
They Drove me out Of business
and l went to work for them. Well,
there was . good deal OF money lying
around there and I was getting 81 a
day. I began glomming some Of that
extra none and-well, I started that
way. For Is years after that / made
my living BY outlawry. I never shot
a man in my life, but I've been all
shot to pieces myself; I never robbed
a friend OF took money from anybody
who hadn 7 plenty. but I cracked
some banks and held up my share Of
trains and climbed over many an en-
CINE tende : and told the engineer
where to stop while my pals went
through tn express car.
"Of course it was exciting and all
that, but i didn't pay. It was all
wrong; dead wrong, and after / had
been tried three times In Omaha and
after 1 had done three years in Mis-
souri,. I learned my lesson and learned
it good. never saved any Of my
loot, and had to start over again
pennilesS.
TO Help Brother.
Now I'm out here to help my
brother, A. J.. Grove. He's up on q
charge Of shooting a man, / under
stand. He's always been q harmless
old fellow. q little cracked. I think, in.
the top fat, but honest and hard
working. He may have shot Moe,
but the pr ovocation must have been
great, as understand 1t was. I've
retained the best legal talent and will
do what l can to see that my brother
gets q fair show"
Crow is a big. powerfully built
man. smooth shaven and slightly
gray haired. He has keen blue-gray
eyes. and looks more like q prosper
GUS attorney or banker than an ex-
crook. His voice 10 pleasant. and his
speech correct save for a habit some
times Of dropping into expressive
slang. He is staying at the Grand.
Hl 80 u. u. -