Detroit evening times., 1945-11-08
FAIR
ENOUGH
BY Westbrook
PeeIer

iuklNiNe iioih n Ncoi bld Nndiu
gang and now that he has been
pardoned with eclat by the state
OF Georgia and his sole claim TO
celebrity thereby exhausted, the
register still records no sale.
From the beginning the pub
licity of the scenario has made
a hero of a fellow who on his
record was a Stickup man and
who, we have a right TO sur
mise, might have done other
jobs and shot his way out. if ii
came TO that, had he got away
with the unsuccessful hoist.
l don't believe his story that
the original prosecutor jobbed
HIM into a plea of guilty with a
promise of a maximum sentence
Of one year. nor do l hold with
those who insist, arbitrarily,
that six-to-ten, which was what
he got, Is too much for robbery.
4 NY one who has ever had
"A any traffic with criminals
knows that 90 out OF every
hundred are victims Of bum
raps, false promises by whee-
ding prosecutors and the malice
of the judges.
l take the liberty TO assume
therefore that Burns is a liar
about that imposition on his
trusting nature by the prosecu.
tor, an Official who. by the way.
is often described in a whitening
way an ambitious" man, out
10 make a name for himself"
as though ambition were an evil
trait.
Burns says he was broke
when he came out OF the army
after the first big war and hung
around Brooklyn four or FIVE
months without finding job.
which may not be true in all
particulars but even If true was
nevertheless the experience OF
many better men who didn't
try 10 take il out on unofend-
ing strangers
II was melancholy and de-
spondent,' says he II was
broke. wasn't In q normal
mental state. I drifted 10 At
lanta. No money, no friends,
no place To stay. IL was
February and II was sleeting."
4 LII Of which, in the self-pity
"A Of Mr.. Burns. adds up TO an
excuse for robbery by contrast
with the judgment and conduct
OF many of us who also in our
time have been out OF work,
broke, m Ian c h Y and de-
spondent in surroundings no
worse than Atlanta and in
weather no less depressing.
/ guess We OF the newspapers
have 10 take responsibility for
this one because We certainly
gave Burns big party in print,
with art, and thus prompted
him into a book and a movie,
the ultimate result of which il
that he now regards himself,
not as a criminal who got a
very lucky break, but as VIC
tim Of social injustice and a
great reformer because Georgia
finally did abolish the chain
gangs.
We often do such things, per-
suadIng ourselves, as in this
case, BY our own zeal for
story that things are so which
amt
Here. our journalism ignored
the basic fact that Burns was
guilty of a crime against which
we are forever bowling and de-
voted ourselves exclusively 10
horror stuff about the chain
gangs and the backwardness of
a state which, at worst, was
conducted much better than
New York and California, In
many respects.
Seven years after he escaped
we are told he was denounced
by his wife who was divorcing
him which makes that lady
seem pretty ornery but here,
again. We are listening 10 Burns.
not that wife, who might give
us a different impression OF our
hero.
7 CALL attention TO the fact
Il that psychiatry recently has
become the refuge OF all sorts,
of rogues and that Burns pleae
that he wasn't in a normal
mental state" because he was
broke and sleet was falling as
justification for n stickup. is a
common defense nowadays.
TO BE sure. the chain gangs
Il weren't nice, but neither is
Alcatraz, and, moreover. in all
the convict working parties that
have visited, and they number
about 20 in Georgia and Florida,
the only prisoners wearing leg
irons were men who had tried
10 get away
And still moreover, in Florida
in recent years. the state prison.
ers don't 60 out on the roads
until they have misbehaved in
the big house at Raiford, which
is fine prison. as prisons go.
The assignment to the road In
punishment, and one of the war
u L.. A