Evening star., 1925-09-13


their complete recklessness and dis
regard for law and order. Police
headquarters estimate that the gang
Sters number something like 5000,
and this relatively small number of
men are causing the officials more
anxiety than all the rest of British
crookdom put together. So fragrant
has the reign of terror" become that
Home Secretary Sir William Joynes-
Hicks has announced that he intends
stamping out the gangs at all costs
and by every means in his power.
Probably amendment of the law
relating to crimes of violence will be
necessary, for normally the crimes of
the race gangs would come under |
the heading of common assaults or |
malicious wounding," and are pun |
ishable by sentences entirely made |
Quate-6 to Is months Imprisonment, |
which has no terrors for the harden |
ed gangster. Also convictions are |
exceedingly hard to obtain, owing to !
the systematic terrorism of witnesses. |
The remedy suggested is sharp |
terms of penal servitude with fog |
gings and long terms of preventive |
detention" for notorious characters.
Not Gun Toters"
The British gangster is generally |
careful not to carry a revolver, not |
because he has any particular objec- !
tion to the use of the Iethal weapon, |
but because a criminal found in pos |
session of firearms becomes liable TO !
far more serious penalties than the i
''unarmed" variety. Britishers will |
not tolerate gun play in civil life, but, |
Ilogically enough, they are relatively |
tolerant toward the brutal ruff1an, |
who merely smashes the skull of a |
citizen with a blackjack or beats in |
his face with a bottle or piece of lead |
pipe.
The favorite weapons Of the race |
gangs" are bottles, crowbars, ham |
mers, razors, lead pipes, sandbags |
heavy walking sticks or the deadly |
strip of rubber tire, which can be |
easily carried and easily discarded !
With these weapons they are entirely |
reckless as to the nature of the in !
juries they inf1ict and in their inter
gang wars they deliberately set out |
to kill or MAIN their opponents, |
knowing the said opponents and their
friends will not testify against them
to the police.
Two Sentenced to Death.
The mentality of these men was
shown during a recent murder trial |
at Leeds, when two gangsters were
sentenced to death and others given
long terms of penal servitude for the
murder of a rival gangster. The T
death sentence absolutely stunned the
two men so condemned and one of
them burst out, Il am absolutely in
nocent; l only hit him with a poker" t
The victim had died from a shower |
of blows from pokers, crowbars and |
razors. He was admittedly tough" |
himself, and had, in fact, deliberately |
gone to meet his attackers when |
warned that they were out to get |
him." The idea that even a fatality |
Oh he ico-
able by hanging came as a real shock |
to the gangsters.
In any other quarter than Sheffield /
(the actual scene of the crime) they |
might have escaped with a prison
term for manslaughter, but Sheffield !
has long been notorious for its muir
derous race gangs and the author i
tiles pressed the charges to the ut
most. incidentally, had the crime and /
trial occurred in Chicago or New York |
the London newspapers would have
printed long cabled reportS-aS evil |
dencing the normal lawlessness in
America. AS 1t occurred in Sheffield,
and as there was no gun play, the
whole affair was merely Jumped as
the work of race gangs and got very
little publicity in the leading English
newspapers.
Cripple Their Victims.
Usually the gangsters are content
to maim rather than kill their vic
tins, but for sheer callousness and
brutality they are individually and |
collectively as dangerous as the most |
heavily armed" East Side or Chicago !
gunman. Perhaps more 50, because /
the expert gunmans aim is usually |
sure and the end painless, whereas !
the "unarmed" British ''gangster" in |
fiicts frightful injuries and mains or
cripples for life wretched victims |
who would probably rather be shot t
outright, if they had any choice in |
the matter
Convictions Inefficient.
The recent Sheffield murder convic-
tions by no means curbed the activi- |
ties of the gangmen in that district, !
and of late there has been a remark
able series of desperate affrays, usu-
ally arising from gang quarrels, all |
over England. The gangSters care /
nothing for the police and make their |
backgrounds just where they think |
they will. or where they happen to !
encounter their foes and victims.
The other evening a fight broke out .
in a South London saloon and a man
was pursued across busy Waterloo |
road, his attackers welding chairs. |
bottles and crowbars openly. When /,
the victim took refuge in a hair |
dreSSerS S store they proceeded to |
wreck the place in their efferts to get |
at him. All this within sight of the |
traffic cops and others; yet only one !
arrest was made and only police evi- |
dence could be adduced as to his con-
nection with the affray. Neighbors |
and pasSers-by declined to be mixed up |
in any form with gang fights. The ,
prisoner openly b asted that his gang
would fix" anybod! who "butted in" !
and promised special attentions for the /
two policemen who arrested him.
Fight OH Bus Roof
The same night, in another part of |
London, a fight broke out On top of a |
motor omnibus, and the conductor.
who interfered, was beaten uncon-
scious and thrown off the bus into the !
roadway. One arrest was made later,
but there was little real evidence of |
the prisoners share in the affray. Re-
Gently three notorious toughs broke
into a club at Brighton and savagely |
slashed a bookmaker and some club !
officials with razors, but little evil |
dence was Forthcoming against them
Again, a dozen men seized a motor
car and drove round London looking
for some unknown victim, and in
broad daylight attempted to break
their way into three houses in side !
street off the crowded Strand. They
were interrupted by the police before
they achieved their object (the victim