Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-25
||'Plj[ICE ARE "BUM,'
ASSERTS BOY THIEF
,,.Hnan. Who Robbed En-
,Iover After He Got Another
Chance, Is "Broke"
rouLoN'T BEAR SUSPICION

,..,,rc,ng calmly that he thinks
.s s.r,vs got bum police force ir
.@m.,,,nh;a @ !" Charles Hoffman, oI
r'n,n.swood, n. j.. the "boy forger,'
!, eating in Memphis, Tenn. for the
.,rIyal Of Detective Garvan, who has
s.,ted for Memphis to bring him back
Alter his second fight with Other
..onle's money. the sixteen-year ole
=, wired the Philadelphia Police De-
W. ,u,ent eorly last week that he was
av 10 come back and take his medi
.rs and he is a little peeved because
Nv aid not come after him more
quickly. o
-...r from the f. II. White Co. last
ps Pupps neglected to deposit in the bank, he
"rsrt broke" in Chicago, and
,,;HeS by a roundabout course to Mem
sh's after living short time with q
E.s,o family. Memphis police arrested
S,r In the telegraph office.
Excuse for Second Theft
A, Hoffman told his story to Sergeant
,t,,ler. Of the Memphis police. over q
S,il l' meal at the Hotel Arlington, which
-.s tbe first the boy had enjoyed in q
rssk he said his second theft was
rrompted by nagging and the pointed
Srser @ Of suspicion and accusation.
n couldn't stand it," he told the
vrseant. Even my mother told me
M wouldn't have anything to do with
me II I ever stole anything else. Of
course, don't blame my mother In
M least. It was all my fault and l
INIT blame any one else.
INV clothes bothered me- he said.
II was wearing a heavy winter suit,
"a Il was blooming hot in Philadelphia
h rave all my money to mother, and.
re, II was tough all around
'Ill bet they had at least two col
umns in the Philadelphia papers about
me-" said the boy.
he also spoke few well chosen
words Of regret. I'm going back now"
Ne said, but I'll never see Ceilings
wood, nor mother and father. nor my
dm, for they'll surely put me in prison.
"Too Much This Time"
"Tye done too much this time
"Bnt." he added, II think they've
rct 0 bum police force in Philadelphia
W. been waiting since the first of the
week for message from the police
there, and they didn't send for Inc until
Only s433 of the $45sO which Hoff =
man took from Whites was in cash.
That explains the brief extent of his
Inst flight. He hired high powered
notorcar to take him to Lancaster, he
nid. and engaged a berth on Penn
|Clyania fier for Chicago. For short
lime he spent recklessly in the finest
hotels In the loop district.
Mrs. Edgar 7. Hoffman, the boy s
mother. made every effort TO repay his
employers afteT his first theft, but when
The second was reported to her she de-
dsred she was through
81 fought for him tooth and nail be :
fort but now l am through she said
when the news Of his disappearance
vas brought to her. 'He must take
bis medicine.
Went to Sunday School
81 tried so hard to bring him up a
6ne, good boy. When he was a little
boy he always went to Sunday school.
Later he took to studying to be an
artist. He was n great home boy. I
couldn't drive him off the porch eve
rings."
His mother said then his only vice
was extravaganza.
He loved beautiful things. The time
k got money from the bank last autumn
and went to New York he didn't spend
Il wastefully, the way you'd think n
!cung boy would. He rented an apart :
ment and furnished it with wonderful
draperies, teakwood tables and things
of that sort. He spent more than $1,000
for draperies for one room alone. And
be had decorators come in and do the
work"
Detective Garvan left for Memphis
this morning to bring Hoffman to Phila
dslphia.