The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-07-09
PRISONERS IDEA
OF A CRIMINAL
He Wins Prize by Writing one
of the Best Papers in Answer
to the American Magazines
Question.

The American Magazine recently
offered prizes for the best replies,
to the question What is ia criminal?''
Here lie one of the winning ans wers,
written by man in prison.
What is a criminal? Tonight ]
pace the narrow confines of my steel
barred cell and ask myself for the
hundredth What is crimi-
nal? Is he, as Lombroso claims, a
moral degenerate? Is be the mental
imbecile that metaphysicians in
learned yerbiage assert? Is he the
hardened, desperate malefactor, the
sinking, murderous beast that pencil
ogists would have us believe? Is he
the victim of adverse circumstances.
unsavory environment, and chang
ing social conditions? Or does he
wage war on organized society for
adventures. sake? Why is he a
criminal?
CARRIED in the veslment of dishon-
or and disgrace, / myself am what the
world terms criminal. Should not
know the meaning of the appellation
far better than the casual observer?
For many years my life has been the
life of an habitue of the underworld.
Criminals, so called, have been my
associates and my friends. / have
known them in the moments of their
success, l have known them in the
hours of their failure. Failure that
spells oblivion, the oblivion of cold
gray walls and eart-breaking, mo-
notonous. man-killing routine. |
have seen how recklessly they can
live, and | have also seen how game
ly they can die. | have known them
Intimately, and well, and never have
been able to discover any differ
ence between them and their more
fortunate brethren. They entertain
in their hearts the same ideals, the
same hopes, and the same ambitions
as do average men.
The Different Kinds
Those who commit crime as a
matter of choice are few indeed.
Many follow it as means of livli-
hood because it is the only vocation
open to them; and they must be men
of stamina, courage. and brains. if
they would survive. Those who
match their wits against the vast re-
sources of the Powers Who Rule
must be clever rogues indeed. They
are, in short, just such men as those
who attain success in other walks Of
life-no different. The same ability
to think and plan, the same nerve
and determination, the same un-
swerving loyalty, the same persist
ent application that diverted into
legitimate channels would have won
for them recognition in any sphere
of endeavor. These are the men
who have chosen crime as voca-
ton, because their talent and train
ing equipped them for that career.
just as you may have chosen the law
or the field of high finance for SINH
lar reasons. And these men in some
degree succeed as law breakers, but
even they must pay the cost of their
success. And the toll is not light,
my friend
There are others, men who were
born hundred years too late. Men
who live as their kind has ALWAYS
lived-by the strength of their own
right arms. To them might is right,
and they know no other code. They,
too, are criminals, are they not?
These are the men who have
never learned to turn the other
cheek. These are the men who
strike back. Society tramples them
under its feet, and they arise from
the dust with grim murder in their
hearts. They cannot forget; they
cannot forgive; and so they fight to
the bitter end with the blind courage
of their breed.
Not Fish Nor Fowl
Some, the very machinery of the
courts has converted into criminals.
| see them every day in the chrysa-
lis stage. They commit some minor
infraction of the law, some petty
offense, and for that they go jail
In Jail they receive scaut considera-
ton and little courtesy from either
their fellow prisoners or from the
police. They are neither fish nor
fowl. They note the fact that the
good thief is respected and feared
by one, and extended the hand of
good fellowship by the other.
Straightway they determine to be-
come criminals some few sue.
coed. Many more fill our prisons.
Won aak What ia cririnalS Tn