PRIDE IN GRIME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1072, 20 July 1912, Page 4

PRIDE IN GRIME.

That there is honour am eg ihitAe’.s is n mat ter ol observation, ami besideis noiium-s ol honour, criminals frequently display a pride- In their unlawful achievements that is rather to respectable tolk. How nuidi ol tills is merely theatrical swagger and (hull, and how much proceeds irom a genuine feeling ot sell-sati si action, is not quitceriain. A ca.se in which both ol these emotions may possibly have a share comes to us Irom Tans. A -man ol twenty-nine years ol age was arrested and tried lor a burglary. He not only confessed his guilt, but with considerable pride drew attention to the tact that during his eight years’ career ol crime he had committed as many as 2Uo burglaries without detection by the. police. The judge was incredulous, but liie prisoner earnestly assured Inin that ho was nob exaggerating. The .judge then asked him lor the addresses ot the burgled houses, in order to verily tin 1 man s statement. “Ah, do you imagine ihul i kept a regular account ol my worki'” answered the prisoner. "I remember tho streets, tae. localities, the houses, and in passing in front ol them 1. could point them out. i have a, good memory.” ••But how is it you were not caught;-' Were you mu afraid ol tin.police:' ' pursued the judge. “J was, 1 was the answer; "but 1 was always very polite to tile ’policemen, and I always looked so decent that they would mu. hav e thought ol suspecting me. 1 Ihe are required to charge Urn hatlenes, assertion with .some scepticism, but win e. he, accompanied by two drove round various quarters ol lie city, calling at the scenes ol past imrglane.s, all doubts were laid aside. 1 wen-l,y-lwo bouses and Hals in all were visited, and enquiries made at each one elicited jin account ol a. burglary commit led there so many mouths or years beiore. The prisoner's claim to be the champion burglar ol the. world was, tlierelore. left unchallenged, and until some more skillul and audacious nimnher ol tlu> profession claim.-, a still larger record lie will continue to enjoy nio proud distinction, together with the sentence ol deportation for lile, which was bestowed on him as a reward lor ills activities. The reason lor this coniessiou ot wholesale villainy is not lar to seek, A single, charge would, if substantiated, have procured him a short, imprisonment under disagreeable conditions. Life in. a. convict" settlement, however, was Jess strenuous, and would become, indeed, quite endurable alter a time. Add to this the notoriety, the admiration and'envy of brother burglars, and the, satisfaction to his prolessional pride and personal vanity, to he won by a, complete avowal of his guilt.