GANG WARFARE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 January 1929, Page 2

GANG WARFARE

BILLIE BOYS V. THIS STICK!T BOYS. GLASGOW, Nov. 13. AYiir lists been declared hetwen rival street gangs in tin* eastern and southern districts of Glasgow. 'l’u-day at tile Eastern Police Court we were told of a gang riot in an East End picture house. These gangs are peculiar to Glasgow. Composed of youth in their ’teens and led by elected chiefs, the gangs adopt quaint title and use fearsome oaths.

Among the more notorious are the Billie Boys and the Stick it Boys, the Norman Conks, Baltic Fleet, Hoineos, and Lollipops. One of the first gangs was the Bed Skins, now extinct, which was led bv a girl. The Glasgow gangs are not sinister in their organisation nor so dangerous in their activities as are the gangs of Boudoirs East End, and of Sheffield, hut they are a source of much social discomfort, besides being a hot-bed of potential crime. Idle youths find an outlet for their vitality in the exciment of the feuds, and the scars of battle are worn with the same pride as that taken by German student duellists in their sliced faces. Most of tile gangsters are red-hair-ed, and this, together with the. Celtic temperament, may account for the ferocity of the fights, in which old swords, sticks, bottles, stones, razors, and lengths of rubber piping are used. Bailie McLellan, who sits in ' the Eastern Court, is known and feared for his severity in dealing with disorder, and young William McNeill was not at his ease when ho appeared before the bailie this morning. Last night it seemed, there had been more excitement in an East End picture house than wirs provided by the programme. The Billie Boys and the Stick it Boys were in the house and oil the warpath. The dark silence was unbroken until shortly after 10 o’clock, when suddenly the war-cry of “Up, tlie Billy Boys!” was shouted. The Sliekit Boys immediately took up the challenge, and when the manager turned up the lights the rival gangs were at each other’s throats. Women and children rushed .screaming for the doors, which were burst open, and an audience of 600 saw a cinema picture played in real life. .Just how William McNeill got mixed up ill the light was not clear. The manager said that McNeill, who was “fighting like a Red Indian.” was dragged over the seats and ran into the street and the arms of a policeman. William denied that he was a Billie Boy, although a constable testified that lie hoard him shout, “Come on. Billie Boys, come in here!” William said ho wanted to see the pictures, and he was surprised when a man with a black eye came to him and said, “What’s up?” William was on the point of asking the man how he got his black eye when ho himself received a bang on the back of his neck. Bailie McLellan did not helieve in the innocence of William, whom lie fined £3 3s, or 30 days.