THE WAGES OF SIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 30 November 1927, Page 7

THE WAGES OF SIN

CRIME. THAT DOES NOT PAY ; MORE PRISON THAN PROFIT ■-'V Adairi Worth,- perhaps the greatest -- criminal of the past half-century, robbed 'other people of money and jewellery 7 worth £600,000. Safe-cracking, diamond Tobberies, Iburglary—-all; came alike ;to him. At one -time he owned a racing stable, a steam yacht, and had magni-ficently-appointed flats in London and New York.! Yet he died Between them, George White and I .'Max Shjnbnrn netted £540,000 out of the robbery of the Ocean Bank. Yet in 30 '-. years each spent 25 in prison, - and they, X'too, left nothing behind them. \ Goudie, the Liverpool bank clerk/defrauded the Bank of Liverpool of £170,000,; hut it profited him nothing, for iV what-he did not waste, in betting other .criminals;got out of him by blackmail. .George Manolescu, knowa as the "Prince of Thieves," stole £30,000 in Paris, £40,000 in Argentina, and thousands elsewhere. He travelled with a , secretary and' a valet/ visited the best 'clubs, but eventually became prior, and was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. He lias written a book on his experiences in which he confesses that crime does not pay. "The newspapers constantly (tell, of '.'■' huge hauls made by thieves. It has been stated that the value of jewellery stolen in London; alone exceeds. £1,000,000 a year, of which only about a quarter is 4 recovered. Figures of this kind give unprincipled young men the idea that crime pays ,but it is a mistaken impression. It was stated recently that the average earnings of four criminals who worked on a fairly large scale were 12s, 14s, 19s 6d, and 25s a week respectively. Each spent about half his time in prison. ; ■ Most thieves spend so much of their time in prison that the total amount of their thefts does not average up to the wages of a junior clerk or an assistant in a' small shop. ; Even when they are at liberty their earnings are not- large. While planning and executing a burglary the robber spends weeks of such tense excitement that, when the job is carried through, he feels forced to take a holiday. The brain and nerves relax, the erring man drinks and gambles, and probably falls'into the hands of harpies who prey on him till he is penniless. _ Then lie must fix up another "job," and the whole dreary round is enacted all over again. Sooner or later he is caught and goes to prison for a long term. It must also he remembered that the thief is always in the hands of the "fence," or receiver, and never in any circumstances will lie get more than one-third of the actual value of the goods he has stolen.

A typical case was that of Frederic Landau, who stole £IBOO worth of jewellery from a South African diamond merchant. lie also stole a few notes. Less than a fortnight later he was caught changing one of the notes. He had already spent all the money he got for the jewellery, which was about £3OO.

There is, however, one record of a. man making burglary pay. This was a Frenchman named Chicot, who was arrested in. Paris some years ago and charged with stealing linen. In his rooms was found a diary containing details of nearly 1500 burglaries. Chicot robbed small houses and his average haul was worth no more than £5. But he told the police that he "went to prison happily" because lie had saved a nice sum and' hidden it where they would never find it.