The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-12-26
Crime and Punishment
New York Times)

JACK" Diamond has got his" He
was sentenced some time ago under
the law and by the court of gangdom.
The judgment of his pals has at last
been carried out. To make the tri-
umph of their higher law more strik-
ing. his private executioners punished
him only a few hours after he had
been acquitted on the charge of a
mere crime against the state-his Sec
ond acquittal this year. Once he was
cleared of a charge Of murder. That
was q height SO mean, piddling, though
cruel and staggering, that a ruffian
could hardly hope to reach it.
Seventeen years ago, doubtless
through some error of justice, he was
sent to a reformatory. Except for the
intervals when he va recovering from
shot-wounds bestowed upon him by
cynical desperadces who knew his con-
Scientious ScrupleS against the use of
firearms, or under occasional arrest by
too suspicious police, he escaped cap
tivity. It Is a footnote to Attorney
General MitchellS recent structures on
the procedure of appeals in federal
courts that Jack" was "out" on ap-
peal from a four-year sentence for
violation of the Volstead act.
He lacked the vigor Of Bill Skies;
but he was doubtless a fair specimen
Of his class. A little more intelli-
gence and possibly a little more cour-
age, enterprise and brutality would be
tho only distinctions between him and
the important chiefs Of gangland. In
various parts of the country and al
most every day VI hear Of capital
punishment inflicted by ~gangsters up
on gangsters with whom they are at
feud about the distribution or profits
OF their business. disputes about their
territorial or local rights, quarrels
about the division Of the swag. We
see the law of society almost impotent
against crimes of violence. If the
courts often fall. the law OF the gang
seldom fails. The criminal against
society too often goes scot-free. The
offender against the custom of the
gang or the amenities of comradely
crime isn't apt to live long unless he
is tucked away safely in a federal Jail
Such Is the triumphant adrlinistra-
ton Of American criminal justice that
a notorious gang leader, laden with
enormities, unconvicted after a long
career of violence, car be jagged only
for fraud. omission to report his fat
income to the federal authorities.
These secret tribunals of assassina-
ton in communities where murder, lie.
gally prosecuted, has such a knack oi
going unwhipped of justice ART
shameful, sinister, familiar incidents
Of American contemporary life. What
are the gangs? There used to bt
gangs Of corner loafers and young
rowdies. There were q few othe,
gangs, easily broken up. Now there
are powerful and dangerous gang.
which can't be broken up. One sue.
ceeds another as a newly opened
speakeasy takes the place of ont
closed. A great commercial stake, TIT
profits OF a ~prodigious business II
beer-running. rurn-running, bootleg.
ging and all other varieties of the il.
legitimate liquor traffic, causes, nour.
ishes and supports the lords and SER
vitors Of gangdom. The father ane
mother Of all these gangs, murders
and summary executions are thu
Eighteenth Amendment and the Vol
stead act, which enlarges and dis
torts the purpose Of that amendment.