Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18
'sGrahann

~ in this age OF machinery.
They're all wet. Here's little
human document dredged up by the
radio. It comes to me in the form OF
letter. bearing the initials w. Il. ="
penciled on fools-cap paper and post
marked Vancouver, British Columbia.
1t tells its own story:
Dear Mac: while back you
printed something about what q nne
idea 1t would be II they would put on
the radio every day something Shout
how q yegs or . stick-up man doesn't
have a chance to get away with any
thing In the long run. This hits me rs
a good scheme, and I ought to know,
for / worked quite few years as q
burglar and second-story man. and l
quit because something like what you
were writing about happened to me.
"A good many years ago l was living
in Chicago, and 1 turned quite Few
Jobs around there. lived IN thiro-
rate hotel-a sort of dump-across the
street from a big newspaper ONCE.
had done a stretch or two, and knew
the flatfoots had their eyes on me, so
was working alone and being careful.
had been up to some small town north
of Chicaso-Glencoe or Glencove, l
think the name of it was-hguring to-
take the post office. One not summer
night I went into my room ana sat
down on the bed, making me a little
map of the post office layout and flgur-
ing out q getaway. / was going to get
the last Northwestern train up to this
tank town and knock over the post once
about o'clock in the morning. AS
said, it was hot and my window was
open.
while was working, the telephone.
which was one of those old-fashioned
crates on the wall rang. 1t scared me
a little, as ! hadn't figured to let any
one know where was and had no
telephone calls. But thought / had
better answer 1t.
Who is this?' asked.
"A deep, solemn voice In the box
answered:
Your conscience!
II blew the hotel and scratched the
post ONCE job. Maybe 1t was just be-
cause / was scared. But, hiding out in
a Clark street fop-house the next few
days, thought things over and chalked
up q few figures showing the time had
? put in and what I had got out OF Is
. years Of proving and safe-cracking.
and began to see that / was sucker.
,, / knew big, friendly italian over on
, Water street. and he gave me job
heaving produce. I've worked ever
since. and I've got a nice LITTLE roll in
, the biggest bank here in Vancouver,
: and sleep sound every night
! was III CnlC6BO lOI UllLCS VI IOut
! years before 1 came here, and l often
. wondered who made that crack over
the telephone. On the street one day
. met q big dick from the Harrison street
station, who one time had helped to
; put me away for three years.
Hello, Flatfoot!' says.
"'Hello, yeggr he comes back.
!, I'm no yegg,' 1 says.
~ know you amt says the dick
: I shouldn't of called you that. Do you
want to know something
1T know 4 lot, but I suppose 1t
wouldn't take long for you to tell me
, all You know wisecracks.
Listen says the dick. You'd be
in the hoosegow right now If it wasn't
, for me. You remember that Glencove
post Office Job you planned to pull and
didn't? Well. 1 had logged you to
Glencove, and l knew just when you
were going to soup that safe. That
night strolls down to the newspaper
ONCE with Jimmy Carson, o police re-
. porter, who worked at Harrison street.
to give his boss an earful about some
: thing he wanted to know about. I'm
! looking out of the third-Story window
at this dump across the street. and
there on the third floor I see you set
ting on the bed with q pencil and
paper. knew you we're figuring that
job knew your room number. So ]
| graz Lne pHOuS AHQ give YOU LAlaL COh-
science stuff. I did it just for joke,
never thinking it would get the wind up
your back. Another dick and picked
you up when you left and trailed you
down to South Clark street. You didn't
have q dead mans chance to crack that
post ONCE. even II you had tried
Il and the dick became good friends,
and he helped me to get q better job.
LAS I said, Mac, the big idea which
finally got into my skull was that
was q sucker. When you printed that
piece about the radio, telling young boys
to lay OF hold-ups, etc, I figured that
here's q chance to do for thousands OF
boys what this dick did for me. Sup
pose every night or two the radio says:
This is your conscience speaking;
Listen. suckeri Figure yourself In and
out of the hoosegow for Is or 20 years.
paying fall-money to lawyers and dodg-
ing around like a rat, and maybe getting
to be q sniff&. the way they all do in
stir. and then finishing up in a strait
jacket, or a hop-house, or the chair or
the river, or on a cold slab after you've
been ventilated with bullet holes by
cop etc.
Don't have any big politicians or
professors do the talking into the radio.
Have somebody like me, who knows how
to talk to these Squirrel-headed young
folks-like I was-who think they can
win ut this Stick-up trade. Believe me,
Mac, I could hand them q line of talk
which would make them run home to
their mothers and stay there! The best
Of it is that pretty near every speak
easy and dumps like that has a radio.
So 1t wouldn't be any trouble reaching
the right guyS-you could reach them
by the thousands. From what know
about this crime business, the one thing
to get over with the beginner is this
sucker argument. He will listen to that
when he won't listen to anything else.
The radio is q great rig for this business.
I'm serious about this, and I'd like to
see 1t tried"