Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1947-07-18
I MEET
| the incest
PEOPLE
BY GLENN D. KITTLER

laughing, and innocent. He stood
before the judges bench in jul
venile court with a nonchalance
that came from repeated visits.
! With other reporters, | stood
behind the judge and heard him
reprimand the boy for a car
theft.
The Judge spoke harshly and
cruelty, denouncing the boy for
disappointing his parents, adults
who trusted in him, and his
friends. Then he said sharply,
I'll have to send you to the re-
formatory, Don, for six months"
The judge got to his feet and
went to his office. At the door,
he stopped and signaled to me.
"I'm driving downtown, he
said when ! came to him. "Do
you want a lift?"
The first few minutes of our
ride were in silence. | could see
the JUICES mind was deeply oc-
cupied. At last l commented,
"There's not much chance for a
kid like that"
The judge did not respond at
first, but finally said, "There was,
but there's not now"
"Did you know him." l asked.
eyes. I've tried to work on
him for two years. l used to like
him quite WE'LL" said the judge.
And then he told me the story.
Don was the oldest Of three
boys. His father, a worker in a
furniture factory, drank and even
tually reached a stage where he
could not support his family or
live tremendously with his wife.
He joined the army long before
the war and was constantly away
from home.
His mother, never a patient
woman, became embittered. She
| nagged at her sons as she had
once nagged her husband. Don
was Is then.
He felt that boy Is years
old should have his own spending
money, so he took job shining
| shoes in a bowling alley. 1t was
gay life. Each evening, when
| work was through, he and the 9th
er bootblacks Clipped in for
drinks which were brought from
the tavern nearby. Conversation
was tainted with innuendoes, ad-
jectives were always profane.
The feminine of the species en-
tered Don's life and he soon be-
came an authority on the ways
of women. But pleasure was eX-
pensive and Don soon found he
did not earn enough shining shoes
to support himself in his new,
fast circle.
One night he mentioned this
to a fellow bootblack. The friend
had a solution. 1t was quite
simple. Merchants always left a
little money in their cash registers
at night. All you had to do was
find a way to enter. The fellows
had plans to do little procuring
that night. Would Don care to
accompany him? Don did.
So Don became a thief. 1t vas
daring, it was exciting, it was
fun. 1t was also profitable. For
several months, he joined his
friend on regular nocturnal VS.
it's to locked shops. But the po-
lice had annoying talent for sus-
pecting the right people for
wrongdoings and when the stu
alton became a little uncomfort-
able, Don and his friend left
town.
Travelling by freight trains,
they journied to the northwest.
This too was exciting and fun.
This was life. This was seeing
the world.
When they had money, they
slept in cheap hotels and tourist
camps. When they were broke,
they slept in box cars. They were
rarely without money, however,
because they learned new ways
to gain funds, all Of them dis
honest, some Of them immoral.
In North Dakota, the two boys
were arrested for vagrancy and
their hometown police were no
titled. Because there were no
| specific charges, the police merely
asked for their return. Home,
they were taken before the Ju-
| venile court judge.
Now the judge was an old man
| with an experienced eye. But
| even the wisest of men can be
deceived. And Don deceived the
Judge. In Don's friend, the Judge
| saw Immediately all the unpleas-
antness which can turn a way
ward boy into a criminal adult
and the judge sent the boy to a
corrective home.
But in Don, the judge thought
he saw potential goodness. Don
was smart boy. On his travels
he had learned that there were
people in this world who would
pay him money for being pleasant
He was smart enough to con-
clude that this same pleasantness
would obtain other thing. From
| the judge it obtained leniency;,
The judge sent Don home on his
| promise that he would be a good
| boy. Don was good, all right:
| Good at a lot of things.
He returned to his job in the
bowling alley and became more
questionable in his pursuits OF
fun. He soon. realized that there
were other ways of earning mon
ev with Jess effort. Among his