Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13

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law he could impose no severer SEN
tence on that particular hit-and-run
driver.
The very dictates of humanity and
the promptings of sympathy, that SC
few lack. would seem to make it almost
impossible for a person to rush off and
leave a perhaps mortally injured victim
lying helpless, with maybe their only
chance to recevor depending on medi-
cal aid reaching them as quickly as
possible. We read almost daily OF
shocking cases concerning victims who
were left to die after being struck by
some motorist who failed to stop and
make his identity known.
Despite the memorable manner in
which they are hunted down and the
severity of the punishment that is sure
to be visited upon them when they
have been convicted, nevertheless this
type of crime seems to be increasing.
There are many reasons for this, how
ever, and the responsibility for some OF
these reasons, strange to say, rests with
people other than the actual culprit,
Some of the Reasons.
The main purpose of this article
however, it not to point a moral sc
much as it is to chronicle some of the
actual reasons actuating a person that
might cause him to commit such an
act. Also, 1 shall set down a few ac-
tual instances with which I have come
in contact personally.
Undoubtedly two causes OF h ma
iority of hit-and-run cases are boot
Logging" and "joy riding"
The so-called practice OF running
liquor seems to consist of securing a
fast car and attempting to elude any
possible pursuit by fast driving. We
read constantly of thrilling races
staged between bootleggers and the po-
lice. A particularly shocking example
of this occurred a week or so ago. Two
b~ootleggers, pursued by a motor cycle
officer, struck and killed an unfortu-
nate pedestrian and never stopped, but
continued their mad flight until the
pursuing officer shot their tires fiat and
so captured them. Incidentally, the
courage and zeal of the officer in ques-
ton is worthy of the highest common
dalton. 1t is men like him that make
tradition. AS the British would say, he
carried on"
Undoubtedly, b~ootleggers are the
worst offender against the hit-and-run
law because they usually have a load
of expensive liquor which they are
anxious to avoid having c~onfiscated
which would be almost inevitable were
they to stop.
But the bootleggers have a close Sec
ond, in this respect, in the 1oyriders
They, too, are anxious to avoid being
stopped as they are almost sure to be
found out if they encounter the police
under any circumstances.
AS a rule, joyriders are inclined, by
the fact that they are driving a car
that does not belong to them, to be
much more reckless. They are always
q tri1e weak mentally also, or they
would never attempt such a rash act
as stealing an automobile just for a
short joyride. When you have the COM
bination of natural recklessneSs and
weak mentality, coupled with the fact
that they do not have to exercise any
regard for the car they are driving be-
cause it belongs to some n else, and
that some n else a stranger-why you
have one mighty dangerous ensemble.
In practically all the cases where the
license tag number Of a hit-and-run
driver is secured by ONE chance OBJ
server, etc, it is found that the Car
has been previously reported stolen OF
else the tags are proved to be dead
Dead tags are ones which have either
been stolen or were secured by giving
q fictitious name, address, etc.
BootleggerS prac-