The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-08-12
CRUEL FIENDS IN MEMS
CLOTHES EVEN MURDER
LOUNGE LIZARDS" NEW TYPE
OF SOCIETY CRIMINAL, LOOK
FOR POOR MOTHS.
THEY ROB HIDDEN LOVE NESTS
New York City's Gentlemen Crooks
Prey Upon Pleasure-Seeking Wo-
men, Who Are Decked in Gems and
Fine Frocks by Angels"

NEW YORK, n. Y,-Out OF the
maelstrom OF New York's social life
has evolved new type OF criminal
cruel, cold-blooded and tigerish, with
the outward appearance OF a gentle
man and the inward hardness OF an
apache.
Lounge lizard" he has been term
ed, because of his niceties OF dress and
speech, his outward look OF refine
ment. and his familiarity with the
forms of cultivated society. He is es-
sentially predatory, seeking his VIC
tins chiefly among women and young
girls whom he may lure into his pow
er and blackmail, rob or murder with
easy indifference.
Butterflies of Pleasure.
Butterflies of pleasure" they may
be called, and in all the country there
is no place outside New York in which
so many of them are dragged down to
ruin.
Every now and then the report OF
case in which one of them is the VIC
tim is flashed along the wires to the
corners of the land, but the warning
in the case is disregarded and Others
press on to take their places and invite
the same experiences and mayhap the
same fate.
The lure OF the great city flashes
far and draws its worshipers from
many homes. In 1917 there were re-
ported to the bureau Of missing per
sons in New York $4,000 runaway
boys and girls, and iii 1922 this num-
Der had sweled to 10000 20 per cent
OF whom were girls.
1t is from the ranks OF such as these
who have not been restored to their
homes. and from among others drawn
to New York by the ambition to gain
fame and fortune in the movies, or in
the concert hall, that many OF the vic
tins of the lounge lizard come.
Wolves Ready to Prey.
This wolfe OF the white light dis
trict, with suave manner, punctilious-
ness of dress. soft speech and the gen
eral air Of refinement, knows every
cabaret and hotel in this dazzling sec
ton OF the metropolis and is constant
ly on the lookout Tor his prey.
Sometimes a girl Of pretty face and
figure, who has failed in her quest of
fame and fortune, but who must eat,
attracts the notice Of a wealthy adj
mirer. who forthwith becomes her
angel" installs her in a luxurious
apartment and showers upon her furs
silks, jewelry and dollars-and dis
Greet visits.
Such was the experience OF Dorothy
King, murdered year ago in her silk
curtained chamber; OF Louise Lawton,
choked to death more ecently-both,
according to police, the victims of
lounge lizards, who sought their Jew
elry and who made death incidental,
or accidental. to their robbery.
There are many apartment houses
in New York which harbor women OF
this class, and they are regarded by
the lounge lizards as their special pre-
serves.
Always Seeking Victims.
I'm certain sections" said Judge
William McAdoo, chief city magis-
trate, apartment houses may have
one or more women of the King or
Lawton type. The rent is paid prompt
" by their admirers, the occupants
outwardly are respectable, visitors car
ry the social stamp, excuses, II in
dulged in, are committed elsewhere,
there is nothing which violates the
conventions, and no questions are ask
ed"
But the lounge lizard hovers on the
horizon of the love nest, like a hawk
over songbird's nestlngs. He sees