WOMAN AMONGST GANGSTERS

Shannon News, 31 July 1928, Page 4

WOMAN AMONGST GANGSTERS

MISS ALI BABA.

AND HER FORTY EX-THIEVES TURNS CROOKS INTO HONEST CITIZENS.

The ex-burglar faced me across the table,* the kindly-faced matronly woman sat next to him. The man seemed desperately anxious to please his companion, and prefaced every remark with a respectful “ Please, miss.” The door opened violently, and a young man with two days’ beard and hollows about his cheeks almost ran in.

“ Please, miss—l’ve got the job!”

“Splendid, Jim,” replied the woman, and introduced the newcomer. “A year ago Jim was an expert motor bandit,,” she said with' a friendly glance at him. He grinned cheerfully as she continued: “I doubt if there was a better driver in the underworld. Then, after a short holiday at His Majesty’s expense, lie joined the league, and found it was safer and just as profitable to become an honest driver. He has been out of work for two months —no faylt of his —and now he has just fixed up*. another job I sent him after this morning. Fifty shillings and lunches. He needs the money; there’s a young wife and a very small Jim Minor at home.” Seven Years’ Silence. •Jim Senior struck ycJU as the sort of young man who would be good at anything with his hands, whether it was “lifting” a pearl necklace or driving a three-ton van; a good-natured fellow, easily led by stronger-willed companions. Luckily for him, Miss Marjorie Evan-Thomas has plenty of the right, kind of .will-power (writes Claude F. Luke.) She needs it in her curious mission, for she is secretary? manager, office girl and a few other things of the League of the Straight Road (Shoreditch), which she founded nearly eight years ago and has run single-handed ever since. Although constantly cramped through lack of funds (she has only a small allowance from her mother and a few, very few—donations to keep things going) she has managed to enrol in her league 40 of the toughest members of the Underworld and has seen that they have kept their promises to go straight. Now*, after seven years’ silence, she is telling the world of her work because she wishes to enlarge its scope. An influential committee, that includes a princess and a peeress, has been formed to back her efforts.

“Wobblers” Won’t Do. When I asked ker how she began, she told a romantic story. ‘'During the war I did hospital work and became friendly with a wounded soldier, who told me he had been released from Dartmoor to join the army. He was a Shoreditch man, and had spent much of his time in prison for burglary. He said he wanted to play the game, but never had a chance. “This gave me the idea. When war was over, the ex-burglar became the first member of my league. Other lawbreakers who wanted to start afresh heard about me and brought their friends along. Thus we grew. Now we are 40 strong.” It takes a man to belong to the league.' “Wobblers” won’t do, and Miss Evan-Thomas-is careful to accept only men who are seriously trying to fight back. There is a six months’ probation for every new member. They are, found jobs (a difficult task with ex-convicts), their womenfolk are lookafter, they are helped in times of illness, and Miss Evan-Thomas straightens their legal tangles. If a member lets an employer down he is fired from the league for life. This has happened only once. A man stole 12 shillings, but his employer did not prosecute, as the man had a record of three years’ excellent work.

During 1924 and 1925 every member was employe’d. The General Strike took its toll, however, and now 16 are out of work. Slowly Miss Evan-Tkom-as is finding places for them as van drivers, dockers, warehousemen, and clerks. One ex-bank robber now handles hundreds of pounds a week as wages clerk! * In 1920, hearing of the league, the Rev. "Dick’! Sheppard offered tho use of St. Martin's crypt every evening as a meeting centre. The Rev. P. 8.-Clayton, M.C., of. the Toc H., similarly lends them his church every Friday for social evenings, when concerts and lectures are held.

“At present,” continued the secretary. our headquarters consist of a tiny canteen and a flight of stairs. Every night (my work begins at 5 and ends in the small hours of tho morning!) we meet in St. Martin's crypt and compare notes.” Naturally, Miss Evan-Tkomas has made enemies. She has drawn to her side men from some of the most dangerous gangs in London, and thereby incurred the hatred of other members. -•Heir life is a risky one. There was one dark night when she was 'spat upon from a gloomy Shoreditch doorway; and on- several occasions bricks and other objects have dropped mysteriously from upper windows, missing her by inches! She' is constantly at. war on behalf of her members. One man had ‘joined after a term of imprisonment, and she knew his gang was trying every means to get him back. “I learned that the gang was prepared to stop at nothing; and one night his wife walked in here, pale as She did not speak; there was no need. I whispered 'Bill!' and she nodded —arrested for robbery with violence! Ho stood to get IST years, I; found, as I expeeted, that it was a framed-up job by his old gang ‘friends’, but I had* no legal proof. However, I

fought the case, and instead of 12 years he received only 12 months.” While he was in prison he showed a photograph.. of his wife, who is a remarkably pretty girl, to a fellow conyict who was due for release immediately. It was a bad blunder. At two o’clock in the early morning a taxi drew up at the woman’s door, and there was an urgent request for her to dress and come down. She did so, and the man in the car said: “Bill’s escaped; he’s hiding at Hampstead, and says you are to come with me to him. ’ ’

The voice was that of the man who had seen and admired the photograph. When Bill left prison there was niur dor in his heart, but, thanks to the league, the happiness of the man and wife was. restored. Miss Evan-Tkomas does, not spare herself to clear her friends’ honour She attends identity parades, defends police cases (it is so easy for a gang to make things black for a member who wants to quit), and interviews Scotland Yard officials. A Cruel “Frame-up.” One of her men was accused of stealing a £5 note at Southend. He pleaded that he had received it while gambling with some other men (these were members of his old gang who were out to plant a crime upon him). One of the prosecuting witnesses declared that the accused man's tale was obviously untrue, as the site he claimed to have used as a gambling pitch did not exist. The man, in consequence, got three years' penal servitude.

Miss Evan-Tkomas, however, had excellent reasons for believing in his innocence,yand, after a little private detective work at Southend, she not only found the actual plot of land he spoke of, but also secured independent witnesses to prove that the gambling had taken place. She had the site photographed, and appealed before Lord Chief Justice. False evidence -was proved, and the man's sehtence reduced to 12 months under the Prevention of Crimes Act.