New-York tribune., 1922-02-26


mendous advantage held by the motor bandit
The taxi bandit, with long record Of rob
berries against his name, is admittedly the
chief bane Of the police. Messengers who are
carrying payros, postohice employees who
arc transporting mail pouches and men and
women employees Of business houses on their
way to bank the days proceeds fall steady
victims to the robber who has an automobile
ready for the getaway.
Sometimes the auto is stolen uoacbins.
which makes The case more interesting from
The standpoint Of the student Of criminologya
advance. To risk ones own machine In q
venture that may be fruitless would be folly,
in the eyes Of tho modern bandit. Conse~
quently, machine is stolen. II the getaway
is successful the automobile can be abandoned
with no computations on the part OF those
who have used 1t. Or 1t may even be de-
stroyed by being run off an embank1ncnt into
river. L Is to be said FOR the oldtirae crirn.-
nal who used means Of transportation other
chan those which nature had given him thas
ne was not SO utterly calloused as TO destroy
his means Of escape. # 1t happened TO be
stolen horse which bore Dick RYDER to safetv
The highwaynan never disn1ounted and drove
the animal to death over an embankment or
into quagnre. There is usually an effective
paragraph or two telling Of the parting of tho
criminal with the good stced that had borus
hin to safety, though for the most part tie
gentlemanly fellows who filed the place now
occupied by our soulless bandit crews usually
operated with their own horses, which were
mslvelously trained naga, ready to come at a
whistle and capable Of showing their heels to
anything else in the way Of horseAesh
With the automobile has come valuable ecs
ccssories which have formed nc small part Of
the loot OF the modern thieves. It IS esti-
mated that tire thefts in New York City alone
have been running close to $4,000 wear.
The taking Of other accessories IS in proper
ton. Probably the returns from stolen lap
robes mean more than the entire proceeds Of
Mr.. Fagin's handkerchief sales
When Dickens was daivirg into criainolorv
lie fur trade vas just abous getting into
swing. Since that time it has reached pro-
portions truly staggering Furs 10 longer arc
ssrt DON tie Big Muddy but they arc reach
ing the markets by vay OF hundred other
more rapid routes. Made I'D into wearing
apparel furs become something valuable
enough to attract the Individual Of crin1ina!
instincts. The fur thefts that 60 on through
out the country are amazing. The only furs
that apparently are safe are those on the
animals behind the bars Of geological gardens
and even that safety may be debatable.
Some ealln-eyed individual among The crowds
at the zoo may be figuring out way BY whict
all those furs may be secured, perhaps With
The unwilling help OF the assistants. Just IS
some fur thieves, on leaving New York
apartment house With their loot the other day,
prevailed upon The Janitor to help them dow
The stairs with their load
AS for Nancy, it must be admitted that shs
would be a sorry helpmeet for an up-to-dats
eriminal nowadays. One does not realize how
the crime wave has carried women along OF
It's crest until he locks back over newspaper
files ard sees Such headings as "Mother oe
Five Arrested For Forty-sixth Time as s
Burglar,' "Ruified RaffIes OF Fourteen
Trapped BY Her Skirt. Which Catches in
Fence as She Tries to Escape With Gang" or
''W oman Waits in Auto While Partner Holds
Up Passers-by.' And there was that handy
young woman who, the other night in Central
Park, even Went to the length Of tying victims
70 trees after her male companion had robbed
them. Or the more independent one-a
spinster no doubt with no too great enthusi-
asm regarding male capaoilities-who held up
victims single-handed.
To-day the average magazine editor will
Tell you that stories Of crime seem to have
lost their interest. Probably it is because
such stories are more amazing as they are re-
lated on newspaper front pages than they can
ever be made in fiction. The writer of crime
stories wears himself to pitably nervous
state devising plot in which some new inven~
tion figures, and before the story can be print
ed out it pops, much better done, in newspaper
type. Nor will it do to reverse the process
and depend real life stories for iictionai
suggestions, as before an idea can be worked
up into literary material and accepted it is
quite overshadowed by something newer.
Perhaps a few years from now there viii