Evening journal., 1914-07-27
PLAY A crime
IN OLD NEW YORK
10000 Boys Arrested An
nually For Attempting 10
Enjoy Themselves
KIDNAPPERS
ADDED MENACE
by CARLTON TEN EYCK.
Written for the United Press.

nobody elso docs. Not ono boy In a
thousand horo knows how 10 play.
10 play Il u crime,
There arc 10000 children arrested
annually in New York. They are no
dlfforont from other children-just
tho ordinary garden variety Of boys
and girls. but their first arrest is
usually a punishment for attempting
TO play. These statements are not
mere vaporings. They are included
In a report made by the Peoples In
stitute on THE City Where Crime
is Play" A boy in the congested dis
tricts Of New York is looked upon
as a prospective criminal from the
time he is big enough TO toddle out
In the gutter scrape up a little dust
and water and try to make mud pies.
When he gets old enough to run
and yelp and work off a little boyish
energy he is a disturber OF the peace
Like any other boy he arrives at
the age when he wants to play base
ball or football, there being no place
but the street in which TO play he
has broken the law. To him the law
is something to crush him down. hold
him in check, rather than a protec-
tion. Then comes defiance of the
law; organization of gangs to devise
ways and means of beating the
cop; additional arrests, and New
York produces its crop Of gangsters
Numerous instances are Gifted by
the Peoples Institute report which
go to show how the boy is soon ar
raigned in open defiance of the law.
The case of one boy arrested for
pitching pennies is mentioned. He
was actually playing marbles near
some boys who were pitching pen
nies. but they ran faster than he did
Another boy was arrested for playing
ball, but the boys he was surely play
ing with were not mentioned in the
complaint Another boy was arrested
for fighting. but the boy he was fight
ing with was not mentioned.
Street gambling is now hardly less
common than baseball or other street
games and as a matter OF fact step
by step the boy moves in his viola
ton of the law until crime becomes
play.
The Peoples Institute report de-
clares:
Gang stealing in many parts of
New York has come to have a definite
fern Of organization. A band of
boys. from three to six or seven in
number, will go from tenement to
Z tenement on Saturday evenings, TAX
ing orders from housewives for fruits,
, groceries, light hardware and cloth
ing, just as though they were deli
very clerks When they think they
have a sufficient number of orders
they go out on the street and by a
series of organized raids secure the
goods which the housewives have or
dered These goods are sold on a
regularly established scale OF prices,
which I'm most parts of the city is ar
bitrary, with no relation to the mar
kct value of the stolen articles. After
the boys get their money they retire
to their "hang-out," where the money
is divided into equal parts and the
possessors shoot craps until one Of
them has il all This boy divides the
winnings into two parts. one of which
he spends in treating the other mem
bers of the gang. The other half he
Is permitted to keep and spend for
himself
This Is a regularly organized form
Of amusement. which has existed in
the middle West Side for a decade
or more AS far as the boys them
selves are concerned. it is a game
and nothing more. The crimes COM
mitted are incidental to the game
These boys start out to seek adven-
ture, excitement and a treat I'm
guided and irresponsible with a tradi-
tion Of iawlessness based upon the
hostile Indifference Of their elders.
they have gone after their ends with
out regard for consequences, with the
, result that before their game is over
they have obtained money under false
4, pretences, committed larceny and
gambled, for any one of which acts
r they are criminally liable. Yet pun
e ishment for any one of these acts
D leaves the zest for adventure. the
D lust OF gambling and the taste for
sweets and cigarettes as strong as
r ever"
q In addition to gang stealing. gang
e fights form a part Of the traditional
4 play life of the New York boy. Among
p tie younger boys the fights are in a
L spirit of play. The theft and des-
Il truction of property connected with
] the NbuA1 Is merely lutlNtnldl IN lne
q eyes Of the boys. The New York boy
r manifests through these fights the
! spirit Of rivalry which other boys
, turn toward the baseball or football
games. A census taken by the Peo.
n rle's Institute last April showed 10.
= 600 children at play in New York
y They found 80 constructive games be-
= '"g played by $4,000 children. Twenty
- - 9usand were participating as ar
n audience. Wandering idle in tn,
streets we're 27.000 children In IN,
immediate neiehborhood of thes,
y children were 10000 adult loafers.
a As a menace TO the child of th'
.e tenement districts even in his stree
9 crime-play there is the kidnapper
le Tho Grand Jury has been told tha
$50 children have been kidnappe,
n within the past ten years. Their
le have been only nine convictions. Th
NJ "Kidnappers Trust" is said to hav,
At oxhorted S150.000 from parents o
N children who have disappeared. Ran
at SONS ranging from SIPS up to $3.50
$500 and even S20O0-the highes
that is known to have been paid
have been collected. A crusade 4
v. now under way to break up this kid
y mapping gang.