"GUNS" AND "GRAFTERS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20235, 20 April 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

"GUNS" AND "GRAFTERS."

l ' CROOK'-- PSYCHOLOGY. " Charles Gordon is requested to communicate with Geoffrey Bles, publisher, ; 22, Suffolk Street, Fall Mall, London, regarding the forthcoming publication oi his reminiscences, ' Crooks of the Underworld.' " This is tho actual text of an advertisement jecenlly inserted in a London newspaper, but up to tho prosent, in spite of the bait held out in tho form of royalties, tho author's whereabouts remain a mystery. When Mr* George Dilnot, the well-known criminologist, was editing the Deiectivo Magazine, ho received a visit from a person, who produced " entirely satisfactory credentials as being one of London's master crooks," and the articles here gathered in book form under the title " Crooks of tho Underworld" appeared originally in his magazine. Gordon—now a man about 40—after having been a " crook" from the age of 13, decided to give up crime. But his decision was not announced with tho nauseating hypocrisy which makes so many of these proposed good resolutions suspect. The grounds for his action, ho declared to bo purely personal. " I have not got religion, and I am not haunted b\ remorse. But I have had enough. It leads nowhere—and I am letting down Other people. I am broke and desperate, but I am determined to cut out the graft." The apparent sincerity of Gordon impressed both the late Mr. Fox-Davies, a London barrister, and Mr. Dilnot himself. But it is one thing to resolve to live honestly; it is quite another for a man with a long criminal record to carry out his intention, lie applies for work, but he lias no references. He tells the truth, and good-bye to his chance of getting tho job. Gordon passed his word that should he give up the struggle he would let Mr. Dilnot know. " After months of real effort ho fulfilled his word in a despairing letter. I have not seen him since." " Society" of Criminals. That the division of society into grades and classes is due not to rules and regulations, but to an inherent tendency of human nature is clearly shown by the fact that equality is unknown even in illegally organised communities. _ The criminal world, for instance, is divided roughly into " guns" and " grafters. A " gun" denotes a general thief, a burglar, highway robber, house-breaker, pickpocket. A " grafter" is the smoothtongued " con." man, the tale-teller, or tho person who obtains his livelihood through the medium of his nimble wits. And the " grafter" looks down upon the | " gun," as the skilled mechanic does upon the labourer. By the fully graduated class of "crook" the "faun's" work is known as " neavv," thereby that the penalty foi being caught at it would be heavy. A stranger, when mingling with a mob of experienced " crooks," and divulging the fact that lie was a screwsman."'"'that is. a burglar, would be immediate! v ostracised, because lie was a " heavy" worker. Detective Story Fallacies. The detective and tho " crook" of fiction are, according to this expeiienced judge, both absolutely impossible. " The sleuth who can tell tho colour of a person's eyebrows by the texture of the bootlaces lie wears, and the' ci'ook who is alwavs ready to hold up all and sundiy with the small automatic, which he is ready to produce on the slightest excuse, are myths. Tho deiectivo in real life is merely part of a huge machine. . . . The ' crook' who sports a gun is just a vicious foul. He has only to produce the weapon once, and he finds himself in the cold storage, with a very serious charge pending against him. he true gunman is an American product fast becoming extinct. The gunman in this country is a braggart and would-be desperado. He has read magazine stories about hold-ups, and has seen someone successfully lield- | up on every screen in every cinema lie has visited. The real ' crook' shuns him—he's a mug. . . . Hie clever and

astute criminal gets a vast amount of amusement out of the perusal of a detective or 1 crook' story. He sees at once that the writer is an outsider with a vivid imagination, who, put to the test, couldn't steal a sprat off a gridiron." Sir A. Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty is, in Gordon's opinion, an impossible character. " A determined crook with loads of experience knows 110 leader, neither does he care to lead. . . . Having selected

his confederate, or confederates, they amically discuss the matter, always open to discard one method on the suggestion of a better one."

On the subject of prison reform the writer is frankly pessimistic. While admiring the sincerity and enthusiasm of the authorities lie considers that the system puts a premium 011 hypocrisy. "The very best of the (apparently) prison reformed are the greatest humbugs in existence. 'llie man of character, with the courage of his convictions—no pun seems to be intended —would scorn to become a 1 crawler ' and a If he mentally resolved to give the straight life a go ' he would not find it necessary to bawl 011* hymns 111 chapel, learn and 'quote Scripture texts, become obsequious to all persons in authority and lay himself out to curry favour. A Topsy-turvy World. It is a queer topsy-turvy world, this underworld. Not by any without ideal or principle of a sort. " Honour amoiif thieves is 110 mere catchword. "Slash," in "crook" jargon meansto deprive one's confederates of their lair share of the spoils and it is ' one of the unwritten laws of grafters to put implicit faith in 0110 another, never to suspect a pal of slashing until he is caught redhanded in the act," Iho best type of crook, again, has a certain perverted sense of honour which forbids him to lend a hand to anything mean or despicable. " Women and minors arc sacred to lnm, although he often makes them the means of robbing someone who can easily to lose the amount he touches for. Filially, ■it should never be forgotten that many who have never seen the inside of prison bars owe their immunity more to their cunning than to their chaiactei. For as an American confidence trickster once remarked: " Steal a thousand and they gaol you, steal a mi lion they acquit you, steal ten million, they build you a monument." " Crook* of (he Underworld," by Charles G Gordon. (Geoffrey Bles.)