Evening star., 1938-02-13
By Mary.C1rter Roberts

By Mary.Carter Roberts
PERSONS IN HIDING. BY j. Edgar
Hoover. Boston: Little, Brown
d Co.
r TAvING read this book, the re-
viewer decides that from now
on Mr.. Hoover is her favorite
L L composer of thrillers. For
che has seldom gone through a bona
hde mystery novel which had more
compelling interest than this true
account of famous crimes and GRIM
inals and of the great man hunts
which have In recent years occupied
the attention Of the whole Nation.
Newspapers, while such hunts have
been in progress, have kept the public
aware Of the external aspects of the
quest. Now Mr.. Hoover gives us the
inside, or at least as much OF it as
he deems proper, and 1t makes .
fascinating tale.
Under picturesque chapter headings
he gives US the stories of such infamous
public characters Is Ma Barker and
her sons; Alvin Karpis and his COM
panion Dolores Delaney; Dr. Joseph
p. Moran, the physician who spe-
cialized in facial surgery and finger
tip alterations; John Paul Chase, who
acted for Baby Face Nelson as a
cover-up man: Louis Phillip Piquett,
the lawyer who harbored Dillinger
under the plea that that constituted
professional service; Kathryn Kelly,
whose ambition to have real GRIM
inal for a husband made her train
George Kelly in workmanship until
he won the nickname ''Machine-gun"
Kelly; Edward Wilhelm Bentz, who
combined talent for bank robbing
with a cultivated taste in literature
and an ambition to play every first
rate golf course in America; Eddie
Doll, CASTOR Means and number of
other assorted extortioners, robbers,
swindlers and similar gentry.
His method is about the same in
each instance. He goes back to the
subjects beginnings, recounts his re-
peated violations Of State laws and
then shows how, when finally the
criminal came within the jurisdiction
Of the Federal Government, the G.
men were prepared to act and In
what manner they went into action.
II this makes his story a long series
Of victories for the Bureau of In
vestigation. and it does. Mr.. Hoover
Is modest about it. He plainly is
delighted with the efficiency of his
outfit. but he also points out that
there are some four million-yes. four
million-criminals at large in Amer
lea today and that the number can
easily grow instead of diminish un-
less the public itself takes a hand at
law enforcement. That, indeed, is
the theme of the book-the public's
present indifference to crime and its
duty to demand proper law enforce
ment.
Yet. while Mr.. Hoover has made
this theme abundantly clear, while
he has driven it in at every possible
opportunity throughout his book, he
still has written q fine, thrilling mar
rative. His story of the taking of
Alvin Karpis. for example, is great
reading. His character sketch of
Kathryn Kelly shows him to be a
highly able psychologist, not devoid
Of . sense Of humor, either, as are
20 many who make psychology their
profession. AS for the epic of Ma
Barker and her sons-why it is too
bad that Mr.. Hoover had so to con-
dense it; one feels that there was
full-length book in that story alone,
and that it would have been unin-
terruptedly interesting. The reviewer
indeed read this book in . single
pull, and that Is something which
does not happen often.
IT Is hardly necessary, Of course, to
write that Mr.. j. Edgar Hoover,
chief Of the Federal Bureau Of In
vestigation, has done no glorifying
Of the criminal. But it may surprise
readers to learn the causes to which
he ascribes much of our crime. He
does not find that the majority of
the big-time law breakers have been
victims of "underprivilege," or that
they have been slum children. or
that they have been reared in GRIM
inal environment. Instead, he finds
that most of them could have led
honest lives well enough; they were
obsessed, however, with a longing for
luxury and they hated to work. In
some cases they were dazzled by the
reputation of famous thugs and prac-
ticed their own thuggery with the
devotion of acolytes. In all cases,
however, says Mr.. Hoover, there has
been found Q psychology which CEN
ters in supreme egoism; the criminal,
he observes. is an individual who sees
nothing except his own desire. AS
for the famous honor thieves
notion, Mr.. Hoover scouts that abso-
lutely.
Most severely he blames parents,
and particularly mothers, for the
lapses Of the young into crime. The
old egotistic statement, my boy Is
different" indeed, serves as his chap
ter heading for the story of Ma
Barker. who died defending her boys
from the law, "a bullet-heated ma
chine gun in her aged hands" Never,
he says, did this terrible woman admit
that her children had done wrong. A
similar psychology in other parents,
In his opinion, has frequently con-
tributed to the making of law-break-
ers. Mr.. Hoover, indeed, finds it i'm
possible to be sentimental over any
aspect OF criminality. And If he does
not know. 1t Is difficult to imagine
who does.
The book is q grim revelation Of
conditions which make our high crime
rate possible, and . heartening ac-
count Of the Federal machine which
exists to fight the evil. It contains,
too. a statement by an expert as to
what the average citizens duty Is in
the matter Of reducing crime. And
it Is absolutely first-rate reading.
THIS PROUD HEART. by Pearl s.
Buck. New York: Reynal & Hitch
cork