The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1918-06-25
CRIMINALS
OVERRUN
GERMANY
Especial to The Times.l


PARIS, June 25.-Amazing
facts concerning the unprecedent-
~ outbreak of crime among civil
tans in Germany are gradually
/ booming to light despite the eff
forts OF the Hun authorities to
suppress them.
II Is now possible to quote the
hctual facts of the lawless wave
from the German press itself. as
revealed in copies just made avail
able.
Industrial district OF Germany has
! Increased 600 per cent during the
war. that the number of thefts in
Berlin are averaging 800 a day,
and that many cities at night are
.terrorized by armed bands of rob-
Npers. are among the facts shown
by German newspapers.
Have Examples.
This orgy of violence and pill
lage is all the more startling be-
cause OF the reputation which the
German had claimed. before the
war, of being a law-abiding peo-
pie.
1t seems that the precedent set
by the Prussians in their assault
upon Belgium and France has
been used as a model by the
civilian populace, and that the
large-scale reign of vandalism,
brutality and robbery inaugural
ed by the Hun army in conquered
territory is now being followed on
q smaller scale by the women and
children in Germany itself
Prisoners Fill Jails.
According to the "Deutsche Ia
geszeitung' of April 16, 1918, it
was declared at Berlin in report
by Prosecutor Plaschke to the AS
ISOLATION for the Betterment of
Prisoners that the jails which
were practically empty in 1914
are now crammed with prisoners,
and that women and children
under IS form the greater proper
tion of all persons convicted OF
crime.
The "Rheiniseh-We Faelische
Zeitung" of April % says:
Numbers Climb.
"Among the consequences OF
This long war. which if they are
easily accounted for are none the
less profoundly deplorable, may be
cited the great increase of child
crime. In a conference recently
II Oh lett e
subject were given which reveal a.
really frightful state of affairs.
From these documents ii ap-
pears that the number of convic-
lions of young people made by the
lower court in the judicial district
of Arnsberg was 50 for the first
quarter of 1916, and had reached
265 in the third quarter Of 1911.
In the district of Bielefeld, the
number leaped in the same period
from III to 507. In the district
of Bochum the figures were re-
spectively 6S5 and 2069.
Increases 900 Per Cent.
"The figures are all the more
alarming If the whole period of
the war Is taken into considera-
tlon. In the district OF the supe-
rior court of Hamm the number
of convictions of young people
was in 1914, 1927; in 1915,
6194: in 1916, 1851; and for
n917, $4,000. Juvenile crime has
thus increased 900 per cent in four
years of war;
The nature OF the crimes re-
fleets the conditions OF misery and
food shortage In the central en-
pires. Boys and girls. often or
ganized in bands. plumber clothing
stores, steal food from shops and
private homes, hold up passers-by
at night, and often start small
reign of terror in the quarters
where they operate. The police
are powerless because so many OF
them have been called to the col
Ors.
Vienna Also Powerless.
German papers tell OF various
i effort being made by the authori-
Eties to handle the crime menace,
ysuch as the patrolling of the
streets at night by military police,
sthe better lighting of the streets,
tand the reinforcement OF the po-'
lice by agents OF the other public
services.
- The "Berliner Tageblatt" de-
ciares insurance statistics reveal
that there are now an average Of
800 burglaries day in Berlin.
In Austria, according to the
'1Neue Freie Presse," the number
or crimes committed in the streets
was twice as great in the first
quarter of 1918 as in the same
period of 1917. The "Fremden-
blatt" OF April 22 says the major
ity of these crimes are committed
by boys and girls between 1 3 and
10, and that even school children
are found among the bands of
thieves which infest the streets
and stations In Vienna, as in
Berlin, the police force is insuffi-