VENDETTA LAW

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1929, Page 26 (Supplement)

VENDETTA LAW

CRIME IN SYDNEY; THE GUNMEN GANGS. GOVERNMENT STIRRED AT LAST. (Auckland Star’s Correspondent.) Sydney, Nov. 15. Stirred, into activity by the apparparently unprovoked shooting of three men in a busy thoroughfare, last weekend, the Chief Secretary and the Commissioner of Police have expressed, their determination tb break up the gangs of gunmen who for so'long have terrorised Sydney. When I say “terrorised,” I do not mean that any but the' timid . aid perturbed over these shootings. Possibly a better word would be “scandalised, because the gunmen, excepting for an occasional bank hold-up, do not prey on the ordinary community. Mainly .they confine their activities to shooting each other, and many people are of; opinion that it would be a very good thing to allow them full play, so that they might shoot-themselves out of existence. There are two things- overlooked by the advocates of the self-extermination - plan, however. One is that there is such a thing as- the law, and that it should be upheld; the other is that the. shootings seem only- to increase the number of those engaged in vendetta — for everything points to it being a war of vendetta among desperadoes in what is known as the. “underworld.!’ , SHOOTING IT OUT. - In the last affray it is significant that two of the men shot were alleged to have taken part in a fatal raid on the house of a man named Devine at Kensington some months ago. On that occasion Devine repelled the, attack from the verandah of his house, and shot dead a notorious gunman named Gaffney—who had a remarkably “popular’’ funeral. Charged -with murder, Devine was acquitted by a jury. Devine also wounded another man named Tomlinson, and it was popularly predicted that Tomlinson and the friends of the dead man, Gaffney, would “get” Devine. However, Tomlinson was “got” ' first, for he was one of the three men shotlast week-end, and now lies dying ,in hospital, with his lips sealed in accordance with gangster tradition. His companion, Bernard Dalton, a tough character, has his lips sealed for ever in the silence of . death. And Devine, Leslie Archer and Leslie. Garrod,’ suspected of the shooting, are held by the police on the routine charge of vagrancy. That the police, will learn anything to justify them laying a charge or murder is moat doubtful. Nobody knows anything about it—though the shooting was witnessed by .a number of people. Meanwhile “Tilly” Devine, a notorious woman, several times convicted, 'has been interviewed by an enterprising newspaper man at her £2OOO home, and the public aro informed that on her verandah," from which her husband .shot dead Gaffney and . wounded Tomlinson, a man con‘stantly mounts guard with a rifle.' This is Sydney under-gang law!" . 3 WEAK AUTHORITY. Unhesitatingly the existing situation is the fatilt of the Government'fand the police. Although the'bvetically a license has to be obtaiiffed for -the possession . of. a., firearm, there appears to bo lio difficulty whatever in purchasing a, revolver. The police blanie the Government for not graiifiiig them sufficient to deal with the menace. "Tins is true in that there is. no proper restriction on the sale bf firearms, and that certain legal difficulties confront the police in regard to arrest arid search without -the fullest justification. But “desperate. diseases require .desperate remedies,” and the police -would have cordial public support if they strained, the law a' little in regard to ,-tfie gun fraternity. The abodes of most of these gangsters aro known. Why, it is asked, do not. the police raid their homes, with or without warrant, and search for firearms? And why do not .magistrates sentence to imprisonment persons found in illegal possession of weapons, instead of merely fining them? It seems that it.' requires the shooting of a few .policemen to make the “force” and the, law more effective. They might then combine in a real campaign against those who s« brazenly flout them. THINK THEMSELVES HEROES.' More or less, a' sectipn" of the Sydney Press is to' blame for what has come about by its “starring” of all shooting events in a style that tacitly glorifies the gunmen, or at least makes ; them. centres of glittering interest. Their doings receive more attention in; a week . than those of the League of Nations receive in a year. Tills'has created a great public interest in the gunman—and an interest that has become altogether devoid of horror or repulsion. Reports of shootirig are how read in the same spirit with which one goes to see a sensational drama, and it is known that there has grown 'up among gunmen as much vanity Over publicity-as there is among start. Soine of “themwould kill a man in'cold blood solely to. . gratify this vanity, if. they were sure of their jury—arid think themselves ’heroes for it. • .'. - • ’' ’’ . A. potent factor also in this ■ lawless.ness is the reluctance of juries to convict, and the totally inadequate . sentences imposed even when convictions are secured. It is a monstrous'exaggeration to' say (as has been said) that • iSydney has become “as bad as Chicago,” but uriless the law .is ' tightened up specially to deal with desperadoes, and the police display less squeainishness in hunting them out, the' time,is rapidly approaching when gunmen will become as numerous in proportion as they are in the American city where murder is a commonplace. Probably Chief Secretary Chaffey “hit the nail on the head” when he expressed his belief that the gangs were “a small. per cent, of the criminals, insolent and spectacular.”. Let him, then, set the police at these insolent ruffians arid'/ wipe them out! : * • • ■ ;