Evening star., 1933-02-19


der f1eld).s
TAKE the depression factor first and
- consider the murderer as a Soci-
illogical phenomenon. He was AZ. He
had no criminal record. He had risen
from private to sergeant in the war, been
three times wounded. After the war he
had six months spell with the "Black
and TanS" in Ireland, but only as a
motor driver. Then he returned to Eng
land, got a job as a rent collector
through a friend, saved $1,000 and went
into business as a jobbing builder. He
was married and had three children. He
did not drink. He seemed to have had
no vices. Good father and good hus-
band
But in the slump his business Ian
guished He contracted debts He owed
Spatchett $780, He owed rent and rates.
Jobs had dried up. He had not work
even for one laborer What was he to
do? He answered that question in ac-
tion. He killed his friend, Spatchett, for
the $3.50 he knew the rent collector had
in his pocket. Dazed, he left the corpse
under his desk for "a hours before he
could pull himself together sufficiently
to plan his getaway cover the corpse
with oil and paint and start the fire
with a candle end. He thought he had
achieved freedom by this explosion of
murderous energy-he dreamed of start
ing a new life beginning as sign writer.
His subsequent behavior showed that
he was not so tough. The instant he
knew that his scheme for the perfect
murder had gone wrong he was, fright
ened to death. When the police got him
he told them everything and then killed
himself. But if he had been able to
rub along he might have died 40 years
hence in his bed. an obscure. humdrum
citizen who had always kept on the right
side of the law.
It is not such long Jump from the
man killing for $3.50 to the youth break
ing into a house for what he can find.
And the latter crime recently has at
tanned record proportions in Britain. It
has been found that crimes against prop
erty are higher in the industrial north
in times Of depression, but, taking the
island as whole, it is in the south that
the big increase has occurred Grimm
ologists mattribute this to the relative
prosperity of the south compared to the
north, the consequent expansion of
population in the latter zone, the larger
use of automobiles and the new popu-
larity of break-ins and smash and-grab
raids.
HOUSEKEEPING is easily the most
prevalent crime, having latterly taken
that place of honor from burglary. The
explanation is that the new crook, willy
and quick realizes that daylight
can be more helpful than darkness for
his particular purpose. Besides,
break-in by night is burglary, and the
sentence for that is very heavy. But
break-in by daylight is housebreaking,
and a lighter sentence attends that
crime.
CRIMES of violence are also higher in
the south. The location of the
capital, with 100000 persons concen-
trated within an area of TOO square miles,
accounts for that. Fourteen of the so
murders of last year occurred in London.
London, with 255 and 398 cases, reSpec-
lively, easily topped the list for rape
and woundings. Other big British cities
had only a few cases of each. And
smash-and- grab raids, the most spec
tacular type of crime in which the young
British criminal is indulging at present.
are almost purely London phenomenon
The big, crowded city offers tempting
prizes to the alert and reckless young
erook In q fast automobile The motor