FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1926, Page 23

FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE.

A CRIMINAL'S CAREER.

THE CROOK'S OWN STORY.

(By RONALD HUGH MACKINNON.)

"I am sentencing you, not for this offence, MacKinnon, but because you have disgraced a good and an honouorable name." These words, addressed to mc by the famous Sheriff MacKenzie, at the Greenock Sessions nearly twenty years ago, still ring in my ears when I think of the strange happenings of my life since then. For that was the first time I ever came into contact with the law, and yet my knowledge of right and wrong was indeed full, as my father was a police officer and- my uncle held a high position in the Glasgow force. Had I but listened to their advice my lines might have been cast in more pleasant places, and I should have known nothing of escapes from prison, of the dread of being a fugitive from justice, being able to venture out only by dark and trusting none, man or woman. I have learnt my lesson, however, and in sitting down to write this short chronicle, it is with the hope of dissuading some wayward young men from the life of crime which brings only misery in its train. I was born in ISS7 in Hampden Street, Glasgow, my father having been for years in the Argyllshire police, and, in fact, he had courted and married my mother when he was stationed at Port Bllen, Islay, When he retired he became an agent for a company in Glasgow. My uncle was a lieutenant in the Glasgow police, from which, I believe, he retired a few years ago. My Childish Grievance. Unfortunately, my mother died- when I was four, and my father when I was twelve, and then another uncle, Mr. Dougald MacKinnon, of the White House, the Mull of Kintyre, took charge of my younger brother and myself. For nearly three years I lived at that house, being educated in the neighbourhood, but there was some adventurous spirit that urged mc to free myself from these home associations, and finally I ran away and reached a farm near Loch Gilpin, where I hired myself to a farmer at a place called Gariop for six months. I suppose, because of a more or less childish grievance against this farmer, Lachlan Johnstone, my first break into crime can be traced! back to Gairop. It all arose through a promise he had made mc that I could attend a local fair. Some time previously, when taking sheep across the loch, I had fallen and broken my leg, and then I found this farmer most unsympathetic. The refusal to let mc go to the fair was tne last straw. I decided to run away, and the same night I left my bed, which was in a hay loft, hid my trunk under a hedge, and walked to Glasgow. Afraid to call on any relatives, and without money, I turned to crime, and, hiring a bicycle, immediately pawned it for two pounds. With this money I took passage by boat to London from Leith, believing that in London there was work and opportunity for all. ' I was sadly disillusioned. In Holloway I fell in with a Scottish estate agent, who was exceedingy good to mc, Inviting mc to his house and endeavouring to get work for mc. I am afraid I was a wild young man, however, and wanted adventure more than anything else, and the form of my adventure was that of theft, for I stole a cheque book, and cashed sufficient of them to provide mc with money to spend. Still smarting under the grievance I had agaiitst the farmer at Gairop, I decided to go back and have my revenge. I did go back, and waited around the house for two days till tiiere was an opportunity of entering when all the family were In the fields. In the wardrobe of a bedroom I found Mr. Johnstone's coat and about thirty pounds in notes and silver, as well as two deposit notes for one hundred pounds each, and, not knowing the value of these, I burnt them. With this money I made my way to my , mother's home at Port Ellen, stayed ln the local hotel, and' made a great dash with-the stolen notes. I Invited all my old friends for drives, and spent the rest of the time . drinking, till all Port Ellen knew of the \ way "Bonnie" MacKinnon was behaving. The morning I decided to leave Port Ellen was a fateful one for mc. When I reached the landing stage a constable arrested mc, and I was eventually taken before Sheriff MacKenzie, at Greenock. The whole of my history and that of my father was produced ln court, and then, in sentencing | . mc to six months as a first offender, the Sheriff made use of the words with which I • open this story of my career. I servedl my sentence in Greenock prison, , and on the morning I was released a detect tive was waiting for mc outside the gates, , and I was again taken into custody, brought to London, and charged with stealing a -flute from the house of my benefactor in Holloway. Certainly it was not done as a theft, but merely as a jest, and' yet he prosecuted, » and I was bound over at the London Ses- ! sions before Mr Montagu Sharp. Arrested Once Again. 1 The Prisoners' Aid Society'now took a hand In an attempted! reformation of mc, i and obtained mc a post as a barman In Theobald's Road, but the sight of money t lying around l was too much for mc, and one I Sunday*afternoon I cleared the whole house, i and came back to Glasgow. Then came an adventure which brought . mc into contact again with my family, for I was arrested in Woodlands Boad on sus- \ picion of breaking open a telephone box, and was taken to the Western police station. Who should open the door of my cell after I had been there a few moments but my own uncle. 1 His astonishment at seeing mc under 1 arrest was so profound that he was d-umb- > founded. Then he said: "You young scoundrel, can't you go straight. Well, I have l no mercy for you, for every chance has been ofiered yon." I When I came up for trial I learned 1 that . there had been an epidemic of these 'phone- [ box robberies, and, naturally, they were all , blamed on mc, though I was not guilty of . them. However, one month's hard labour was my sentence. Upon my release I determined to make an ' effort to go straight, and I applied to Mr. Motion, the clerk to the Glasgow Council, » for a situation, explaining my circumstances - and the fact that, just faefor this last sen- ■ tence, I had been seriously ill with pleurisy : ln Preston, and was destitute when I arrived •in Glasgow. I was recommended to Mr. Bonald Grant, of the Board of Trade offices , ln Bath Street, and as the clerks were just , being engaged under the 112 scheme of the . National Health Insurance Act, I was taken j on, and; remained.there for over a year. My. lungs had become seriously affected through the pleurisy, and, in consequence, though I ' passed the actual written examination for ' entry to the Civil Service, I failed medically, and was once more out of a berth. Mr. Graham, of the Income Tax Com--1 missioner Department, however, came to 1 my asistance and gave mc a. clerk's position. I was eworn-in not to divulge any J. secrets of incomes either of companies, or individuals, but I experienced many mild '■ surprises when I found out some of the s figures. What struck mc as most remark- , able was that the incomes of the qnack : doctors, with which Glasgow abounded at » that time, far exceeded those of the certlfl- . cated medical men.

The same bar to a permanency—my health—resulted in my leaving this position, and I was flung, therefore, on my own resources again with no possibility of a permanent position. Lapsing Into Crime. I lapsed into crime, therefore, after two years, only because of discouragement and necessity, and, I suppose, the latter is the reason why most men drift back to evil ways. My offences took the form of frauds on the Benevolent societies in Glasgow. The fact that I was a native resulted ln many a sympathetic ear being given to mc, till I made the error of forging the signature of one of the secretaries. I called at his private house and told him my tale, and he gave mc a card to tae treasurer, who was employed at the Post Office in Wellington Street. On my way there I forged the initials of the secretary on the back of his card as well as a request for money. I received the money. But, later, when the fraud was discovered and my photographs were shown to the treasurer by the police, there was not much difficulty in apprehending mc, and Sheriff Thomson sent mc to six months' hard labour. During that sentence I met "Gentleman Jim," or Jim Goodfellow, as he was known, a famous Scottish character who was undergoing five years for a big burglary at Ayr. He was then practicaly blind. Whilst I was in prison, another famous crook, Bice Beid, came there to start- his sentence of 14 years for safe-breaking. Facing the world again meant breaking into crime, despite efforts I made to get another job, and I resorted to the safest form of all crime—burgiary. Tou never show yourself, and once rid of the "stuff you are fairly safe. By means of these burglaries I managed to rig myself out with some decent clothes, and then I began to enlarge my field of operations. One particular Job I did at thia time I well remember, and, as the victim is still alive, I will disguise the place at which he resides. He was a business man of considerable •means, who ran a large farm at X as a hobby, and was a complete faddist. He would, in fact, buy almost any patent machine or new fangled idea for cultlva-'' tion, so that he could brag about it afterwards to his friends. Knowing of his little peculiarities, I called on him, saying that I had a patent plough to sell, and produced an American catalogue of a well-known firm of Implement makers. He wanted to buy. and offered mc a cheque, but in order to gain his confidence I asked him to let the cheque lie till delivery. Planning a Coup. After a drink to celehrate the sale, I informed him I was going over to Wicklow to complete a deal there, namely, the purchase of the effects of a farmer who had had to join the Army, the farm being weU equipped with every form of modern farm implement The faddist farmer bit at once, and wanted to come In on the deal, though actually I explained that I was charged to buy on behalf of other clients. He persuaded mc, however, to let him come ln, and actualy offered to send a cheque for . £400 in care of a firm of auctioneers in Wicklow, and to send a dependable man with men to aid in the purchases. The rest was easy. I crossed with this man, collected the cheque, gave my companion the slip, and immediately made tracks for Holyhead and home. But money gained in this way is easily spent, and for a month I had a wild fling, leaving myself with nothing but a quantity of good clothes. These stood mc in good stead in carrying out a series of hotel robberies in Glasgow, one of the easiest forms of crime, •though one takes considerable chances. When Glasgow grew too warm for mc I made my way back to 'London, and soon fell in with some accomplished househreakers, an association which culminated In one of the most amusing and almost Incredible escapades of my career.

I was given the tip that a big house in Streatbam was unoccupied, the family all being away at the seaside. I burgled the place one night with comparative ease, and ransacked all the rooms, finding some jewellery and a quantity of money, as well as about £500 worth of War Loan Certificates. These I had no idea how tf., cash, but l made inquiries at a post office and found that I had to write, as the owner, whose name and signature was on the bonds, to the Comptroller of the Post Office asking for an authorisation to realise on the script. Having no notepaper bearing the name and address of the house, I had to make another burglary, and I actually used the study in order to write the forged letter to the Comptroller of the Post Office. In due course the letter of authorisation came back, and two nights In succession I had to again burgle the house in order to obtain this document, which was calmly reposing on the front door mat for mc. With this in my possession. I had no trouble at all in cashing my uonds. I believe the affair was a mystery at the time, and this is the first occasion on which the solution of the robbery has been made known.