The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-07-18
The New Crime Wave

The New Crime Wave
Entire forces Of city and state po-
lice, supplemented by federal Off
cials. have been baffled by the COM
plete mystery attending abductions.
With nothing to go on they are in
the position OF hunting a needle in
q haystack.
Aiding the kidnapers and hamper
ing the police is the fact that au-
thorities are almost invariably de-
MED essential information which the
friends Of missing persons could sup
ply. This Is only natural, in view Of
the fact that the sole desire OF grief
stricken families Is to have loved ones
returned unharmed. Their belief that
cooperation with the police may re-
suit in death to the imprisoned vic
tim IS not without foundation. Grim
malls Of this stripe would hardly shy
at murder.
The passage Of condemnatory reso-
lutions and Of laws carrying heavier
penalties only give mute testimony Of
society's inability to cope with the
situation. What we need is more kid
napers brought to justice to suffer
the punishments already provided
for.
To obtain this it is going to be
necessary for the public at large to
cooperate more closely with tho au-
thorities. If, when q man is reported
kidnapped. every citizen would keep
his eyes open for unusual happen
ings in his own vicinity and report
suspicious events to the police, we
should have more captures OF such
criminals.
The history Of most mystery crime
solution goes back to public interest
in the affair. In most cases hun
dreds Of clues, supplied by an alert
public, are run down without re-
suits, but finally there comes a tip
which puts the authorities on the
proper trail.
Quick reporting Of such crimes and
wide dissemination Of information
would be help in that it would ap-
prise the public to be on the look
out.
It was almost inevitable, after the
Lindbergh kidnapping, that this ma
ton should have had an epidemic Of
these crimes.
The relative ease with which the
perpetrators Of that monstrous out
rage eluded the law, bolstered by all
tho forces Of the nation, was ample
illustration Of the relative ease with
which this crime may be accom-
plished under certain circumstances.
Since then 1t is impossible to de-
termine how many persons have been
held as hostages, how much money
has been paid in ransoms. Many
sensational cases have since come to
light but there IS every evidence that
not all the kidnapings have been re-
ported.
OF the crimes which followed the
Lindbergh case only two have been
solved; one only partially. In the
case Of Charles Boettcher, II, Of Den
yer. the ringleaders went free, ap-
parently to continue their trade, for
they are accused Of having had q
part in the abduction OF william
Hamm at st. Paul.
The only complete solution In the
last half-dozen notorious kidnapings
was obtained in the case Of q Kan
sas City society girl.
Headlines of the daily newspapers
give sickening evidence OF the ex-
tent to which this crime has become
popular. A young man In New York,
= banker in central Illinois and a
neutrality-suspicious. in Chicago figure
In current news of this sort, created
by the activities Of dy-snatchers.
The cause Of Che epidemic Is clear
enough. Bootleggins no longer is
the highly profitable racket it once
was. The advent Of legal beer has
cut strongly into the demand for
strong liquor, and even before that
bootleggers were encountering tough
going because Of reduced demand. It
was only natural that men used to
operating outside the law should
continue to seek easy money after
one source OF revenue dried up.
The cure Is not so easy to arrive
ct. Numerous difficulties stand in
the way Of efforts to suppress those
engaged IN such crimes.
With thousands of interested citi-
Gems warned in sufficient time and
on the job, kidnapers would find
their activities tremendously handi-
capped. More convictions would be
obtained and steel bars would sepa-
rate these wolves from the outside
world.
In the meantime, those OF us who
are not rich enough to warrant the
attention Of such criminals find the