New Britain herald., 1927-03-14
POLICE CENSOR IS
 ACTUALLY SHOCKED
Boston Inspector Describes
 Banned Books

Boston. March 4 (CP)-Peopia should read more ot Mark Twain and Sherlock Holmes and less Of Marriage Beds" and Hard Boiled Virgins" in the opinion Of Police SUpt Michael II. Crowley CT Boston.
 He expressed this conviction today while discussing with ths United Press the recent action Of his de- partment and the district attorneys office in suppressiEg nine ausg dly impure books, including some Of the seasons 'hss. sellers"
 Too Much Free Love.
 Yes, sir, remarked Sgpr. Crow ley. thoughrtully, there's altogether too much free love in most Of these modern novels. Or course q man in ny position doesn't get much time 70 read. I buy 8 morning paper, told il up, put u on my dssk, and otran night comes before I get d chance 10 look il over.
 :. short time ago, tnA Boston Booksellers committee handed me nine new books. which. in their judgement, were immoral Now, I hadn', read any new novels for many years But c: course i, vas my duty to read these
 Was Really Shocked.
 Well, I vas really shocked I rouldnt have my children see those books for anything. Some Of the books were bad only h spots. Others were bad clean through. I nevs- saw SO much smut in all my life They were terrible
 For 3s years supt Crowley has confined his activities to those Of police officer, but q, the reporters Iealsst he turned literary critic for ! day 10 tell what vas wrong with soma Of the rins books that Bozton- ians TO longer can legally read
 Quotes Authority
 First, he said, T wan. to show you where we get our authority for expressing such books.
 He reached for the General Law, of Massachusetts" turned to section 2, chapter PIP. and read
 Whoever imports, prints, publish es. sells or distributes q book or other thing, containing obscene. tn- tecent or impure language, or. mani- fes.iy tending to corrupt the morals of youth. shall be punishable by i'm prisonment for not more than two years and by a fine Of not less than
 
 "As It Was" Is Worst.
 Now about some of the impure passag ges that We objected to," Snpt. Crowley went on. Take As IL Was, for example. That is unquestionahly the worst of the nine books sup pressed It was written by the wid- ow Of a British soldier who identifies herself only by the initials H. T.
 Before they were married. she and the man who later became her husband were rather intimate, 1t seems. One day they took their luncheon and went in a picnic in the woods While they were eating De put his arm around her. She drew away.
 Then we see her running deep irto the woods, apparently to escape lis affections. She hides in a thicket She waits for him to come and find her. When he does not come. she fears she has hidden her self foo well So she leaves the thcknt. linen he finds her and they re- fire deep into the woods. Intimate relations, painstakingly described, closely follow"
 Boston's official literary censor paused. with gesture indicating that he had cited ample proof.
 "Ihe Rebel Bird.'
 Then there's The Rebel Bird, " he continued. That's another bad one. Lot of stuff about free love and such. Bed chamber talk should be confined 10 the bed chamber and ought not 10 be printed. The stuff that's in these books may not harm an old man like me-" he said with smile "but t isn't proper for young folks to read. ...
 sAs I've said. I'm not much Of reader. l like Mark Twain and the Sherlock Holmes stories. I like the latter because detectives in the story books solve crimes so easily while we fellows who are detectives in real life have a hard time solving even the simplest cases. In my younger days I enjoyed Nick Garter and Diamond Dick-but I don't thlak these stories make good read ing for young folks
 Too Brutally Frank,
 The principal trouble with the modern novel. SuPt. Crowley helleV- ed. was an iasufficiency of aster-