The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-02-02
from National Pictorial Monthly foi
February.

February.
The whole world is changing, but il
TO class Of society has there been such
:; decided change as that which marks
The upward course of the criminal
Strangely enough, the reason fol
The most striking advance in the Tn.
Gerworld can be laid directly at IN"
door Of the reformers. They nav,
reformed the Notwithstanding the
crooks--b"t instead Of abolishing tn,
criminal class, they have forced the
criminal to use his brains-and the
direct result Of his sharpened intelli.
gence is the present highly successful
epidemic of crime.
Ten years ago the criminal was q
man of the Underworld-and he stay.
cd there. If he was clever-a bank
burglar-he became an ,"aristocrat'
- tise- >Itt.-Smi~worid.' ffUase burglars
were middle class" and so was the
highwayman. Petty thieves and pick
pockets were Of lower grade. And a
woman of the old Underworld was of
decidedly the lowest caste, a creature
Of the streets, whose mental abilities
did not allow her to rise to the dig
nifty Of a thief. She might rob n
drunken man,-but that was oil.
The first big upheaval in the Under
world came with the war. An amaz
ing number of criminals Of all classes
enlisted, and others took their places
in war industries. Naturally fearless
"A criminal must have a minus sense
ot fear-thcy went quickly, gladly,
and came through bravely when put
{" the test. The excitement Of war
especially of front-line war--appealed
- them.
That was the physical side; the men
al psychology was that for the first
;lm" IN their criminal lives these men
found themselves regarded as equals
rs men who would have despised them
rad they known what they had been.
The Underworld tasted of respecta-
Eility-aMd liked it,
Then the war stopped, and these
criminals, VINO had been good sol
diers, were shipped back 70 their old
Ives.
Il doH't know but I'd have quit the
pane said long Charlie, bank bur
Giar with reputation for several sue
rcsSful jobs: but. gee! You've got
% lj,". y lot pf the fellows went back
2. brtr ioh2, and I wen. back 70
mine"
When Long Charlie was discharged
from the army he found that the I'm
dcrworld was paying close attention
!" something that had come during
the "ar-prohibition. The Under
World found that there was just as
much demand for liquor, which could
no longer be bought from the saloon
On the corner, but had 10 be smuggled
into the country delivered by the back
way on dark night.
The bootlegger became q parsonage.
Long Charlie had been thinking Of
robbing a bank after his discharge
from the army but he gave up the
idea.
Today, he's really rich-outwardly
spcctablc--and married! Three
things mhcard Of in the Underworld
cf yesterday.
Ten years ago crook with a wife
wns n crook flirting with jail. The
ignorant women of the old Under
world could always be made to talk
Under pressure, and give away the
histories of the men who were foolish
enough 10 "tic up" with them.
One day Long Charlie arrived in a
little Maine village near the Canadian
border, and hired n livery-stable man
named Chaffe TO show him the sur
rounding country. On the drive,
Charlie talked about prohibition.
ChafTc told him that there were only
two revenue agents guarding the bor-'l
der in that vicinity, and that they sell
dom noticed what was going on along
the back roads.
Gradually, the men began to discuss