CANNOT GO STRAIGHT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22628, 20 July 1935, Page 25

CANNOT GO STRAIGHT

CROYDON GOLD THIEF ROBBED HIS FATHER Cecil Swanland made a bad start in life —he robbed his own father. And now (says the London News-Chronicle) not even the love of a beautiful young bride of six months can make him go straight. Ever since he was a boy he has preferred the tortuous way of crime, yet he has ability that would have won him a fair measure of .success in almost any profession. Now, not for the first time, he is realising that the man who can’t ■’ go straight generally does go straight—to gaol! He was sentenced stt Croydon Quarter Sessions to seven years’ penal servitude. With his latest exploit—the theft and mysterious disposal of £21,000 worth of gold from Croydon airport—Cecil Swanland has capped an adventurous career of “artistic” crime. Artistic, for in many ways Swanland is an artist. He describes himself as an artist, he dresses like an artist, and in many of his coups he showed considerable artistry.

It’s true that he has generally been found out and has paid the penalty, but perfection in crime is no more easily attainable than perfection in art. And if his latest coup was not so perfect as it might have been, it was at least successful in that some people are £21,000 the poorer. Fashionable restaurants and luxury hotels have been the haunts of the Man Who Can’t Go Straight ever since, in his early years, "Tie was gaoled for 15 months for stealing a camera and a motor cycle. When he robbed his father, Swanland, seh., in the hope of teaching his eon a lesson, prosecuted him. But the hope was as vain as the lesson was wasted. HIS GENIUS. *

From one crime Swanland went on to another, with an interval for rest and reflection behind prison bars. And, as he progressed, so did hig daring increase. For instance, it took infinite nervo to accomplish what was probably Swanland’s first spectacular coup. By some means he had obtained a cheque, and he cleverly forged Lord Roberts’s name to the tune of £1750.

Se was staying in style at a well-known it End hotel at the time, and he grandiloquently ordered one of the commissionaires, an ex-army officer; to cash' the cheque for him. It took the police a month to locate the forger, and the “ Man Who Can’t Go Straight ” had plenty of leisure in the next six years to wonder where he had “ slipped up." Previously, according to his record, Swanland’s criminal genius had been confined to somewhat limited channels. He had been a mere letter box raider. In company with another man he looted office letter boxes by means of paper bags covered with bird-lime and attached to strings. Even heavy packets stuck to the gluey surface, and these petty thefts “ kept the pot boiling ’’ while Swanland thought out more profitable ventures for the future. Forgery appealed to his artistic temperament, and when one day’s letter box haul included a cheque book, Swanland branched out on this new line. That book cost the banks £6Bo—and cost Swanland six years behind prison bars. It is a surprising fact, however, that, although frequently “ downed ” in his battle of wits with society, the “Man Who Can’t Go Straight” has never been down and out.

As soon as the prison gates clanged behind him and he breathed the air of freedom again he would blossom forth in (he West End of London as a man-about-town, a successful artist, or a financier with big business on hand.

And jn these roles he found unlimited opportunities for the exercise of his criminal genius. CHANGE OF TACTICS.

A wealthy visitor lost a well-filled wallet—Swanland lost another year of liberty; a woman lost £4OOO worth of jewellery—Swanland “ took another rest”; and when that spell of imprisonment was followed by another four years for clothing thefts the “ Man Who Couldn’t Go Straight” decided to change his tactics.

He became an employer of men who can’t go straight—or at least he reaped the fruits of their labour. As a “ fence ” Swanland waxed even richer than he had done as an active crook, but he was too well known to “get away with it” for long. His career as a • receiver of stolen property came to an abrupt end with a sentence of 21 months’ imprisonment on a charge involving goods valued at £IOOO. Six months ago Swanland deserted his crooked ways to enter the lists of love. And, having won a beautiful young bride, it seemed for a few weeks that the man who hadn’t been able to go straight could do so with Cupid at the helm. The fact that Swanland is behind prison bars again shows that even Cupid is not all-powerful. For his last exploit Swanland is believed to have devoted three months to careful preparation.

At a certain time he knew a valuable consignment of bullion would be at Croydon airport. For a certain brief period, he knew, the gold would be left unguarded. And, with infinite patience and precision, he timed every move in the bid for a fortune. And his plan succeeded — succeeded so well that £21,000 in gold has utterly vanished. It is true that Swanland is no longer at liberty to enjoy the fruits of the biggest coup in his career. But, somewhere, there is a stolen fortune of £21,000 —the price of the tears of a desolate bride, the wife of the "Man Who Can’t Go Straight.”