Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-02-20
BANDIT REIGN
BRINGS ALARM
( OVER BRITAIN
Inability to Solve Numerous
Murder Mysteries Stirs PO-
lice and Public.
LONE WOMEN IN PERIL

LONDON, Feb. 20-Were it wartime
now the propaganda factories of Berlin
would be turning out for home consump-
ton thrilling and reassuring tales of dis
rapting crime waves rampant in staid old
| England Since it is not wartime Ger
VNmany, it Is to be presumed, pays slight
attention, but the British press screams
the disgrace in black columns of type and
all England's writing to the papers the
cries as to the whyfor and schemes for
- prevention of crime.
very development of crime" says
e Star in blackface type, "as in war
countered sooner or later by defensive
measures.
AT present the authorities in this cOun-
try are concerned to find means OF
making the holdup of postofices and
banks too dangerous to be profitable"
POLICE CHIEF LAYS
BLAME TO TONNES.
Sir Neville Macready, chief commits
sioner of police lays the crime wave st
the doors Of young men discharged from
the army who have no occupation but are
entirely familiar with firearms and are
generally against hard work. On the
same DAY, however. that Macready gives
his theories regarding the reign of un-
bridIed crime. another column contains
his announcement that 1t has been de
cided not to arm the mounted police with
TevolYers.
"a revolver is very tricky weapon,
reads the paragraph. which explains the
reasons for this decision, land in the
hands of an inexpert or nervous con-
stable would be far more dangerous to
the general public than any single Grim
iual. Sir Neville Macready is on s@nd
lines in advocating greater restriction
on the carrying of firearms"
They do things politely over here.
UNsOLVED MYSTERIES
AROUSE THE PUBLIC.
There have been one or two fatalities
thus far in the bank and postoffice hold
ups but there have been many more
cases where the bold young ex-Tommy
has walked in with q gun and walked out
again with a bag of money, and no traces
l9ft The police departments fret under
such conditions, and the public asks
questions, for in this compact and closely
patroled country unpublished crime is
something that startles the average com
placent householder. 1t isn't done The
police always get their man They always
have. What's the matter with the po-
lice?
To an American. who has observed that
a large part of England looks upon Amer
lea as q broncho-busting, ixshooting,
lynch-law territory, all Of It, or almost,
wild west. this sudden prominence here
Of the "holdup man" is amusing. One
gathers that bank robberies and such
were considered things that couldn't pos
sibIy happen in a well-regulated country.
But there Is a more serious side of the
question. There have been some dozen
murder cases in which the guilty man
has not been identified, unsoIved. and
apparently unsolvable mysteries. all. This
is even more epochal in England The
police of the entire country have had a
record for tracking down murGerers that
has made a murder without conviction so
rare as to call tremendous press aud
public attention.
ATTACKS ON WOMEN
BRING RAIL ADVICE.
Several attacks upon women have been
made in Eng1and's compartment trains.
The murder OF a nurse. the goddaughter
Of Florence Nightingale, in q railway
carriage has stirred the nation TO such
a depth that suggestions have even been
made for an adoption of the American
Plan of railway coaches. where ID IL
pointed out, a woman can ride for five
days across the continent in perfect safe
ty. In all seriousness it can be said
that when Englishmen are so stirred by
an event as TO suggest changing the
small railway compartments which they
love for a long. single compartment
American coach they are showing real
concern.
Newspapers Of the last few days have
listed do and don't" advice to women
travelling, such as:
When possible occupy compartments
marked for women only"
DO not get into a compartment occu-
pied by only one man"
0Wbau poSSEhIa avoid ao0 ma rim pOfz I'm
which all the passengers are men, as
passengers may alight at various sta
lions and leave you occupying the com
partment with a single man."
LONE WOMAN FEARS
EVEN TRAIN GUARD.
Were the items of advice not made
serious and necessary by recent events,
and had the situation not become such