The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-02-02


bers only slowed up when the trucks
began to travel In armed conveys. The
hold-up man read about the arming of
the trucks--and quit the game.
The press is to the burglar what
Dunn and Bradstreets are to the mer-i
chant. 1t tells him where and when
to operate. When he reads that one
member of his clan overlooked safe
with 500, ,O00--why, he knows that the
safe is there; and the newspaper de-
scription generally gives him the,
LAY" so exactly that he can walk
right in and pull the trick.
In an interview, an official Of the
American Bankers Association stated
that 85 per cent of the arrests of bank
hold-up men in the past two years
were gangsters, young fellows be-
tween the ages of l8 and 80. These
gangsters don't plan their jobs. with
the same precision as the ex-craeks-
men, and invariably leave trail be.
hind them.
stand unqualified by my statement
last month that the newspapers have
brought these gangsters into the hold
up game. In Detroit last winter, dur
ing the bank hold-up "Crime Wave /
talked with the leaders Of three diff
ferent gangs, who had been captured.
Those three fellows, all under 80, told
me they got the idea from reading
newspaper accounts Of successful
hold-ups all over the country.
In the Maryland State Prison
about six months ago, talked with
young fellow who is serving life
sentence for the hold-up Of the Sandy
Springs (Maryland) Savings Bank.
during which the cashier was mur-
dered. I got his history. He was a
product Of Chicago's South Side; a
| dope fend; had never. done any work
to speak of; and had been in turn,
sneak thief, pimp, and pickpocket. He
too, told rue he got the idea of hold
| ing up banks from the newspapers.
| His first attempt was successful; his
second one failed; and he is in prison
for the rest of his life. He is only rs
While visiting my friend Thomas P.
| O'Donnell, one Of the greatest, detec-
| tives in this country, youth 1S years
| old, was photographed and finger
printed. He was an unusually fine,
clcan-cut looking boy. I inquired of
Detective O'Donnell what the boy had
! done, and was informed that he tried
| to hold up bank. l took fancy to
! the kid and talked with him.
His father and mother had been
dead for Is years. He was a product
| Of the reform school, where he had
| been sent at the tender age of ten
After being confined for six years, he
was turned out into the world, alone
friendless and penniless. to. earn q
living.
In reply to my question as to why
he tried to hold up bank, he said:
well, read how the fellows in New
York and Chicago were getting
away with it, so I though I would
make one big haul and beat it fol
California"
There can Be absolutely no ques
ton about the bad effect that the
publication of news about hold-ups
creates. ) What's the sense IN publish.
ing sucf news? Who benefits by
such publication? Nobody but the
criminal; and the sooner the public
and The press realize this and cease
trumpeting the doings of the bandits
the sooner will this form Of Grimm
! ality decrease. At least, there will
be marked depreciation in the re-
cruiting of juvenile offenders, from
which class comes, Of course, the
| hardened man Of crime.
! am perfectly astounded OF the
| stupidity of our detectives, bankers
and society in general, In contending
! with the Crime Wave" Everybody
seems to be cropping helplessly in the
dark, shaking their heads and won
. dering how this problem Of the
Crime Wave" can be solved. The
stupid, asinine methods that society
has employed to combat the "Crime
Wave" only makes it seem q problem.
Five years ago, when committed
my last bank burglary and paid my
final penalty to the law, there was
no such thing as prohibition The
crooks Of every section still consort-
ed in their old hang outs, which were
invariably saloons or rooming houses
attached to barrooms. There was still
an Underworld having a definite To-
Gale or geography. Then. there was
fairly stable criminal population.
and an amount of criminality that
varied little, year In and year out
Criminal methods were more or less
liked, varying only according to the
application Of new inventions and
discoveries in science, such as dyna-
mite and nitro -glycerine, which reyo.
lutionized safe and bank robbing.
Today, all this is changed. The old
Underworld is gone, the hang g-outs
are closed, the criminals are scattered
n