Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1937-08-05
GETTING DOWN TO
ASSTAC
CIT MIGHT HAVE BEEN"

a OF the principal streets Of q
nearby city last Friday evening. He,
with a travelling companion, still
two years younger, had p~artaken OF
wholesome food through kindly
housewives who had needed the
hunger solicitations of these mere
boys at their kitchen doors because
they surely had a mother some
where" Then, suddenly, without
any warning, the hand Of the law
reached out and seized one OF the
youths. There was a price" on his
head. He was wanted in Spokane for
having been one of the trio that
robbed a bank there last February,
and during the robbery had shot
down an aged bystander in cold
blood.
Loudly and boldly proclaiMfng his
innocence when FIST Appreciated,
the youth, when confronted with
copies of i%ngerprints, his w like
ness on Reward" posters in the
sheriff's office, Don broke and con-
fessd he was the same Herbert AL
len who had been sought through
out the country the past six months.
He was the one who had been writ
ten up" in a prominent detective
magazine. His companions in the
crime, the two Knapp brothers, had
already stood trial and were await
ing the hangman's moose. Allen,
realizing the seriousness OF his APP
p~rehension, expected when he was
returned to Spokane, they Will
hang me. | suppose"
His short span of adventure in
crime. related In considerable de-
tail to the writer OF this column, as
he SGT chained to an officer, had
lasted only through four years, but
into those four years had beer
packed a lot of thrills" for which
he was soon TO pay the price. Hit
trail of depredations, beginning with
b%urglarizing a grocery store In his
nom block when only Is years old
had come to the end. He had served
a term in the reform school, had
been paroled only to again hit the
trail of crime with car thefts. broke
iail. stole whenever he got the
chance" got most of his 'tips'
while operating gambling games In
Joints serving as the lair of arch
criminals. Then he concocted the
s'big Job of his career-looting OF
a hank In a sensational daylight
holdup in the city OF Spokane.
sss
Allen worked at Fort Peck sever
al months. travelled about the coun'
try under assumed names, even Wis
tied home twice since the crime
without being detected. Then ne
grew too confident in human nature
and his ability to evade apprehen'
sion. telling his pal, I'm Herb Al
len" The tousled-headed youth -
not unintelligent In appearance by
any means-paid tribute TO parents
who had always "been good to him.
They were good people; none others
in the family had ever been In any
sort of trouble. He had reached his
Junior year In high school at the
age of Is. His downfall he attribut'
ed entirely TO 1.-THE gang he trav'
eled with.
This is only one OF hundreds o.
similar tragedies occurring over the
country day after day. Juvenile
crimes are tragically numerou!
throughout the land. Plentywood-
no other city in the county Is with
out its depredations. B~urglarizing
petty thievery. purse-snatching' ev'
en- attacks on young girls, all make
up a portion of the crimes commit
ted in a small area OF cities by
Youths within the past few months
The erring boys are sometime
brought before courts and punish
ment meted out to them. but Their
even as In the case OF young AL
lent Is almost too late and th'
laws attempted r%etribution more OF
ten seems only to send them further
on their road to crime.
The time to deal with juvenil'
crime is not after it has happened
but before. That places the tasl
squarely up to parents. Authoritie
can help, social agencies can help
organizations such as Boy Scouts
clubs and systematic promotion o
Youths activities. will all contribut
much. But, after all, these agencie
can do no more than cooperate wit
parents, and parents should neve
ask authorities or social agencies I
assume responsibilities which the
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