CROOK’S ADVENTURES

Evening Star, Issue 21784, 28 July 1934, Page 17

CROOK’S ADVENTURES

REVELLED IN THE LIFE Belund the sentence passed on James x'attersou ao -Uaryieoune Police Court recently lies the story of an amazing life, it reveais iiim as one of the most daring criminals ever deported to Britain as an undesirable. And on the very day before he went to prison for three months, “Smiler 11 --as he is known—-told me the dramatic stpry of his career in the gang world of the great American cities, writes a correspondent, in an English journal. For this returned Briton with the steely eyes and the sardonic smile has been rum-runner, gangster, and cardsharper, and has rolled the dice with death and won. In Detroit “ Smiler ” got his first chance in a racket. He was the “ dummy ” for the gambling joints. In other words, ho shouldered the blame when the den was' raided, and obtained the doubtful distinction of being arrested nineteen times in a single month.

“I revelled in the life,” he told me, “ but eventually it got too hot, and the town gave me notice to quit. Well, being a young man, 1 took the proverb’s advice, and went West. And t made good, too—with a professional gambler, one of the slickest fellows 1 have ever met. Ho taught mo how to control the dice, so that any sequence could be turned up at will. It was impossible to lose.” “ Smiler ” paused at the thought of these glorious clean-ups—£4oo at a sitting—and grabbing two , cubes of sugar, made one or two . dice passes. “ We were a tough couple, but wo found Minott was tougher when wo got there. My friend pulled his gun in the stockyard—-quite innocently, to clean it. But we could not make the good citizens of Minott believe that, and his action was greeted with a salvo of revolver shots.

“ With hell popping all round us we took cover behind some railway trucks., and when the target practice ceased wo crept back to our cabin. That night a ghostly crew, complete with cowls and cassocks, brandishing pistols and sawed-off shotguns, descended on us. It was the local lui Khix Klan. They waited silently while we dressed. Then with guns prodding tho small of our backs, they pushed us forward into the night. And thus, silently, they escorted ns to a freight train. _ . . . “ Back in Detroit I threw in my lot with Joe Vermitte and his bootlegging gang. From Windsor, on the Canadian side of tho river, we brought over gallons of liquor in a fast motor boat, under the very eyes of the Federal officer.

“ Just about then Angelo was the Tsnr of Detroit’s beer barons. Ho bandied the town like' a Broadway blonde handles a big butter-and-egg man. Yet there were still crazy fools in the town willing to match f'eir wits against his brain and power. And one night the entire filter plant of his booze

disappeared. That started something that could be finished in only one way. Imagine my surprise when 1 was tipped off that Angelo suspected me. I was on the spot. “ I was in Maud’s speakeasy when the warning came, and hardly had I time tp grab a couple of guns than the Tsar himself, cnmnleto with bodyguard, came in. Not the first time I was staring death in the face, but never have I experienced such a dread as I did then. Yet I poised my guns to shoot, determined to go out fighting. “ But to my amazement the • poker face of Angelo broke into a broad grin. ‘Turn off the heat, Rniiler,’ ho chuckled. ‘ Sorry we got you wrong. But the two guys who did that night’s work don’t live here any more. . . I drank his health.” “ Rmiler ” called me back. “ Here’s your pocket-book,” he smiled; “ tho boys reefed you for it, but I would not let them do that to a pal. So long! ” «