Evening star., 1924-05-08
POOR Environment
CAUSE OF N. Y. CRIME
Conditions Existent in Metropolis
Held Reason for Life of
Wrongdoing.
CELIA COONEY AN EXAMPLE
East Side Teens With Like Con.
ditions.
CELIA COONEY AN EXAMPLE
ny ROBERT r. SMALL.

NEW YORK May s.-The criminal
career OF the so-cailed "bobbed- hair
bandit" has been ended, so the New
York authorities hope. by her SEN
tence to Auburn prison for the limit
provided by the law.
But the conditions which produced
the "bobbed-hair bandit continue
to exist in New York City and at
least one of the conditions will con-
tinue to the end Of time. This latter
is the old domestic traEedy-the love
of a woman for a drunken. worthless
husband. 1t was the 'bobbed- hair
bandits" mother who loved the man.
She married him to reform him
She indulged him in every way. She
had eight children by him. But as
each child came it was neglected so
that the mother might go out to work
as a. scrubwoman to get more money
for the mans liquor. Also at night
she had to go out TO rescue him from
the drunken brawlS that were con-
stantly his lot The police arrested
him too seldom, but when they did
the wife would take all her money to
pay his fines.
Children Forced to Beg.
Eventually the children were sent
out on the streets TO beg. The money
they got by the exhibition of their
pititul. little undernourished frames
did not go for food or clothing. 1t
went for more drink for the father
Prohibition brought no surcease for
the Roth family of the squalid East
Side. Papa" Roth continued an ''ha-
poiice reports, and Mamma Roth"
continued TO scrub floors for him.
Lately she had been getting fine pay
scrubbing at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Mrs. Roth's thoughts, through the
more than thirty years of their mar
worthless husband. He was her first
and only child" so far as care and
affection was concerned. The other
children were unwelcome and neg
lected almost from their birth.
Last of Eight Children.
THE bobbed-haired bandit" was
the last of the eight Roth children.
She was born in a cellar, where the
family lived in one furnished room.
This was so crowded that at two or
three years of age the bandit" was
sleeping on the coal pile in the main
part of the cellar. Each morning she
was awakened and sent out to beg
pennies on the street. Not one of
these was she permitted to spend for
candy at the corner shop. The PEN
nies had to be boarded until they
were sufficient to go to the saloon on
the other corner.
out of such soil sprung the strange,
starry little weed that stood in court
yesterday and heard the solemn judge
''send her away" for from ten to
twenty years. In the same breath
similar ''stretch" up the river at Sing
Sing. The bandit" said the husband
who had been her tall companion"
in crime was the one good influence"
in her life, and she asked that they
be sent to the same prison and not
separated for SO many years. The
judge took no cogniZance Of such a
plea.
A remarkable part of this case is
that the husband has contended all
along that he was the arch-criminal.
that he suggested the career of crime
and the hold-ups to the wife who was
about to become a mother; Yet he has
Authorities. 10 one has delved deeply
into his past When sentence was inn
posed the judge addressed the girl
alone. She has been the spectacular
figure. but, as she herself has said.
who are running around she would
seek to give a warning. The judge
better served her desire in that
respect. In the severity of his SEN
the girls baby had but recently died,
he took no heed of the sad story of her
real life laid before him.
Yet the East Side teens today with
more families like the one which gave
the bob haired bandit to the world.
A recent report of the miserable hous-
ing conditions shows that as many as
fourteen persons are living in two
rooms. some in cellars, and others in
stables. 1t freely has been predicted
that these conditions lead inevitably
to great immortality and vice.
The "bobbed-haired bandit has
provided the awful example.
Copyright, 1924.)