THE outbreak of robbery and lawlessness of late in Chicago has aroused the newspapers and people of that city to the great need for better protection of lives and property. Several mass-meetings have been held to urge better police protection, city officials have planned a vigilance committee as an aid to the police, and an anti-crime federation has been formed, and has been growing rapidly. Mayor Harrison and the police magistrates come in for severe criticism in the press, while the police force is regarded as inadequate.
Courtesy of the Scientific American. A Cone Pushed Up from the Interior of Mount Pelee.
The news columns of the Chicago papers are full of items about the criminal situation. In the month from September 27 to October 27 there were 394 burglaries and holdups and only 88 arrests. In the last six months seventeen police magistrates have had before them 226 persons charged with carrying concealed weapons. Of these 121 were discharged and on 105 only a slight fine was imposed. There are now more than 1,000 cases awaiting trial with only four trial judges in the criminal court to dispose of them. During the four days of December 6-9 inclusive, fully 20 persons were held up and robbed, and in one instance a lawyer was shot while running away from his assailants. He died the next day. In the majority of cases the bandits have been young men, but in one case two young girls imitated the highwaymen by robbing two young women in the street. Saloons have been "held up" and patrons robbed. Other places of business have been visited and proprietors and patrons forced at the muzzle of a revolver to deliver up their money. One attempt was made to "hold up" a street-car, and two men were beaten into unconsciousness and then robbed.
Mayor Harrison and chief of Police O’Neill attribute these criminal outbreaks to the wide publicity given to the operations of the car-barn bandits, and to the carrying of concealed weapons. They claim that efficiency of the department has been weakened because of the labor strikes, and that 700 policemen are now doing strike duty. A "flying squadron" of police has been organized to round up these highwaymen, besides all-around thugs and undesirable saloon loungers. The mayor has issued orders to the police to use every possible means to stop the carrying of concealed weapons. As a result, the police are now busy "running in" vagrants and criminals. At one time the "flying squadron" visited a number of lodging-houses and saloons and searched about 1,500 persons, but no concealed weapons were found.
"It is time a strong check was put on the habit of carrying pistols," says the Chicago Journal. It adds: "It is ridiculous to suppose that personal safety requires an ordinary person to go about armed. Even with the prevalence of highwaymen in the city, a revolver is of little use to its possessor, and its dangers are far greater than its benefits." The Chicago Tribune declares that "the inefficiency of the police is great, but the laxity of the police magistrates is even more serious. Even in the higher courts ridiculously small penalties are often imposed." The News of the same city says similarly:—
Not only are robberies increasing in number in Chicago, but the highwaymen are more bold and more desperate than formerly. There has been a marked and significant change in the character of these crimes during recent years. Formerly the footpad rarely resorted to violence save as a means of avoiding arrest. To-day the robber’s weapon is used to injure, maim, and kill. Having robbed, he is likely to beat his unresisting victim into insensibility. In short, he is a murderer as well as a robber. The responsibility for many of the failures to enforce law and administer justice is not hard to place. It is the "political pull" that protects the dive-keeper and it is the same villainous influence that hampers the administration of justice and secures light sentences and bridewell pardons. . . . Crime is but the natural result of tolerating abuses that breed crime.
