The San Francisco call., 1910-12-15
CROWD OF CROOKS
MAROONEDONR ROOF
Men Arrested as Suspicious
Characters Roasted by Sun
and Drenched by Rain

ANtFtA - el the As "a PiShPSesNceD
that has descended on Chieago," said
travelling man, lounginR in a hotel
Lobby, remind me Of an incident that
happened ia Connecticut two years so.
One OF the towns in Litohfeld county
weH celebrating It's centennial. Great
preparations had been made and the
! program included q commemorative
meeting in the park, a parade and In
the evening a street carnival and fire.
works display. On the scheduled day
farmers, factory hands and summer
! residents for miles around came Into
/ town: with them came BwFrm or
! pickpockets. burglars and strong arm
men, fully expecting 70 reap harvest.
| That was exactly what the chief OF
police had anticipated.
The chief was formerly attached to
the New York police force and several
! days before the celebration arranged
/ to have a company Of detectives from
| New York and Boston conveniently
! posted In the railroad station to collar
the crooks as they got of the trains.
I The plan worked TO perfection. In twos
and threes the crooks were nabbed and
1 turned over to the local police for ar
raignment before the police Judge.
/ without exception he held all without
| bail for "a hours for examination as
/ suspicious persons. In all more than
J so known criminals were arrested.
! PRISONERS PLACED ON ROOF
What to do with the prisoners was
/ a serious question, however. The jail
could not hold them all and there was
no other place in town where 1t was
considered safe to imprison so many
/ desperate characters Then a brilliant
idea occurred to the chief of police In
/ the outskirts OF the town was a new
1 four story warehouse with a fat, metal
/ roof He phoned the owner, got per-
mission TO use the roof, and proceeded
TO convey his prisoners there in
/ patches of ten. It was q novel expe-
rience this, to be fncarcerated on an
/ open roof, but It was not many hours
! before the novelty began 10 wear off
and the prisoners found themselves in
one of the most trying situations of
their careers.
ITO jump from roof to the concrete
/ pavement that borders the building
would have been suicidal; TO remain
/ on the roof was hardly more pleasant
BY 10 o'clock the sun had warmed the
metal covering until it was blistering
hot and as the hours dragged along
and the heat became more intense and
/ the humidity more oppressive the
prisoners begged to be taken down.
/ They were suffering as they had per-
! haps never suffered before and offered
!
1 on guard to release them But there
was nothing doing in the escape line
! and those poor wretches had to remain
! on the roof through the entire day,
one of the hottest days of the summer,
and at night were thoroughly soaked
/ by heavy rain.
LIKE PICTURE OF INFERNO
81 have heard of prisoners in the
orient being buried up to their chins
in sand and have read of the horrors
/ of the black hole Of Calcutta, but when
I saw those crooks sweltering on that
roof, dashing from corner to corner
/ in a futile attempt to escape the burn
/ ing rays of the sun, cursing the qua rds s
and each other and begging for free
dom, it reminded me of Dore's pictures
/ of the inferno. The brick walls and
red painted roof made a realistic set
ting and the crooks marooned there
/ performed the part of the damned as
I well as If they had been Tehearsed.
1T was pretty sick lot that ap-
peared before the justice the following z
morning. Their hands and faces were
! blistered and their clothing soaking
| wet. Some of them could hardly
stand. but one and all begged for q
chance to leave town at the earliest
possible moment This was given them
! There was no evidence against them. Sc
they were escorted to the station
packed aboard the first train out and
| shipped back to New York
And see that you don't return,
shouted one of the policemen as the
train started to pull out.
Return hoarsely replied one
crook. voieing the sentiment of his
fellows. If you ever see US in this
town again you can hang u.s.
TT might be a good idea If the pick
| pockets and other suspicious persons
picked UP by the Chicago police in
winter were marooned on one of the
bridges over the er."-Chicago
News.