The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-03-14
Fair Enough
Nv wEsTBRoOK PEGLER


he did on March assert that II was IesieA
who described as criminal scum consld-
cradle portion of the winter clientele OF Miami
and Miami Beach. own up 10 having useo
this dainty term more than once out 'nniA
.h.+ Alfred as an old time settler there ana
.r neiehbor OF some of the most roous-
t;o,,s pineapple men and practitioners OF tne
MoaI+isr has trick, should know that 1t was
49,. a..I;ad ~ his clothes-line friends by Jonn
Edssr Hoover. the young King Brady OF our
time and the eye that never sieeps. ~
Hoover was moved to such languase one ,;+t1a |
ter when he went to the MlaiA4s because
, uds he looked, by day or night ne saw
co,,ntenances which set him men1any w
-,,nr;na the decks and decks OF little pic.ul -
cards IN his big plant in the Department -
Justice. h1;ro nc such
and have always preferred tne 800 Tho
crank sports to Stock speculation oecau seo,ar
hurt is comparatively trivial anu i.us,. +h.t
over. often did enjoy describing scenes '.a.
a stranger could perceive in the Mlamls ou'
which the sheriffs. mayors and policemen
were unaware of. .,
It sometimes even occurred to my cynlcai
mind that there might be colluslon pes"s
the dealers and the local statesmen ana Pc
haps gifts of money from the CORNER ~ s:H
latter Lne1T
tress Of all believers in self government aiioel
freedom. But they never did pay me any
never-mind until usually along toward tie "a
ter part of March which had become an an,
nual festival like the Mardi Gras or harves'
moon and was known as crime-must-go wen.
About the end Of this week most OF the Vlsieole
would be gone and the aroused guaroldhs
would state truthfully that there was not q
wheel spinning anywhere In Dade county anu
victory
heart.
Once. the legislature up in Tallahassee was
GOING To Subpoena me to come and tell ALL
and the way I understood 1t was that thg
member who had this brash idea thougnt
was already up around Louisville aolng SUI
of INV tender prose about the steeds. lns'eau,
however. I had tarried around ORLANDO anu
when I wired the member that woulo oe
glad to come over they were 30 aIariiieo 'i'"'
thew adjourned the legislature
NV friend, ALI Runyon, says the cr1Hilnal
SCUM with whom he lives on friendly terms
do not engage in professional practice IN 1ne
M;anis and sort Of agree that In this respect
the community enjoys an Immunity IKE uia'
of ST. Paul for many years under Jonn " NoL
nor when St. Paul was known as pilsohe.S
base and Toledo which had similar ar
rsneement The rule in st. Paul and Toledo
was that professionals landing in town were 10
register at headquarters even before Lney
registered at their hotels and were placed on
+te;r honor MT To noisbehave and usually kept
the pledge. the results being that these. cities
had more criminals and less crime tnan you
could find anywhere else outside big prison.
Rut in the Miamis temptation sometimes over
came moor weak members Of the scum as one
time when a prowler ran up magnl1icen1
score in iewelry and was caught and given
something like 40 years. He said 1t was
low down dirty trick because he had oeen
practically licensed for an exclusive conces.
sion to rob the idle rich and accused some OF
the most stately local personalities OF partner
ship with him.
of local thought and civic affairs replied IN
credulously and at my last hearing OF him, \
when I went to Raiford to call, he was still IN
the death house for safe-keping because ne /
had broken Jail and been recaptured and the /
warden said he was just too busy to mess with 4
iai1 breakers. The warden was liking TO keep
him for 40 years in the death house although IN
Florida 10 years is about the maximum 1or
anything and is usually dealt to rural axe muir
derers who slav five, main unwed mother and
babe in frenzy.
It is a peculiar fact that, each In his way |
Alfred Runyon and have made pretty good
thing out Of writing about the criminal scum
Alfred has been their interpreter in such ri
bald stories as Butch Minds the Baby and
has larded the American language WITH IEuCA
of theirs which is raucous all right but much
less picturesque than you might suppose. I
mean that while ALI has rabbit ears and FUN
nels in their thoughts and wordage, he also
paints on little dabs Of color of his own be-
cause, actually. most Of them are Ignorant
buns with very little imagination.
While Alfred was fe1lowshippins with the
scum over these years and plainly enjoying |
their company, I was aloofing them personal
ly and casing such overconfident extravangat
slobs as Georgia Scalise and Harry Rose
among some others. Georgoi was neighbof
OF Alfs winter and running around
with little Augie Carfano and the old boot |
logger who calls himself Jimmy Kelly which
is not his name and all were playing high So
cial that year with neighbor Al Capone. Geor-
gio never could understand how he got fetched
and that Rose. who thought he was in the
clear. was actually so stupid that he just
couldn't keep out of Jail So. ANYWAY All
played one side Of the street and worked the
other and we have both done all. right.
will wager that you never neard the
criminal scum story. that am aoout 10 re-
late. One winter in Palm Beacn: cropped
into the office of Barry Shannon, the MANAGER
Of Bradley's big gambling house, and noticing
some ba1l-bats in corner asked Il Me oeal-
ers and the bows of the committee, who lurked
in the darl, of the parking space at night,
were n1avino a little one old cat Oh no, Mr..
shannon said and rolling up desk revealed
. variety NJ weapons ranging from six 7-8
h1ack;ack in a BIB width to blast-furnace OF
s.1ra5 ~ 20 gauge Then pointing up behind