MAKING OF THIEVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 21, 16 April 1927, Page 18 (Supplement)

MAKING OF THIEVES

GLASGOW’S UNDERWORLD DANGERS FOR GIRLS TJEMARKABLE comment on the grave dangers run by young girls who come to Glasgow in search of employment is made by the “Weekly Record.” Every year there is a big influx to the city of girls from villages and small towns who arrive in Glasgow for the purpose of securing situations as domestic servants, but very often these girls are unsuccessful in their efforts and it is then that {hey fall victim to the evil machinations of a most undesirable set of women. Many of these girls who fall victim to the wiles of the people who live in constant fear of the law are turned into professional thieves, while others meet with a fate much worse in character. Recently there was sentenced to a term of three months’ imprisonment a girl of 23 years of age. Tall and good-looking, she was very well dressed in fashionable clothes and would have given the impression, if one were to meet her in the street, that she was a capable young business woman. In fact, she was one of the cleverest female thieves in Glasgow. The story of her downfall is typical of many of her type. When 18 years of age she came to Glasgow—sent by her parents in Ayrshire—to a situation as domestic servant in a house in Gjffnock. The girl, however, did not find the role of servant congenial, and, after saving a few pounds, she left the house, thinking that it would be an easy matter for her to find a job more to her liking. Before long she was down and out and perforce had to seek shelter in a low-down lodginghouse for women. Here she met a middle-aged woman well known to the police as a cunning criminal. This harpy fastened on to the new arrival, and, playing the part of the sympathetic foster-mother, soon had the girl in her powers. , fehe supplied the girl with decent clothing, and another job as a domestic servant was secured. After about a fortnight the old woman sent her son to the house where her! “protege” was employed with a letter to be delivered at the back entrance. The Snares The son helped himself to a piece of silver-plate and when the lady of the house missed it she instantly challenged the girl. She, In turn, fled in terror of being arrested and sought sanctuary with the “kind old woman” who had been so good to her before. It Is easy to guess the rest of the facts. Using the threat of exposure to frighten the girl the old woman soon had the new recruit doing her bidding, and so it came about that she became an expert at. the "inside job.” That is, getting situations in big houses and then arranging for her male associates to accomplish easy coups. But some of the girls who find their way to these lodging-houses are used for a different purpose, and they do not always find their way to the “hotels” unaided. There are a big number of women in Glasgow who spend their time on the look-out for victims, and the railway termini are their favourite haunts. Bong practice makes these spies or touts expert at the game. There are, as is well known, a class of men who grow fat on playing the confidence-trick on country “mugs.” Their female prototype is the woman who ensnares innocent girls to their net of vice. But whereas the man fleeces his “pigeon” of his money and then bids him a hasty farewell, the woman is ■ not content until she has robbed her victim of her good character and honour. Innocent Ensnared These women who, themselves, have led a life of shame, would make film stars green with envy, so clever are they at playing the dear-kind-lady-I’ll-be-like-a-mother-to-you stuff. Getting a young girl to trust them is like eating pie. It is no wonder that innocent little country lassies fall. These girls, once they- have taken the road from which there is seldom any return, naturally become ashamed of what they have done, and very soon the letters to their parents cease, and It is thei that those at home experience all the heartburnings of a terrible grief, agonised at the mystery of j the fate which has overcome their loved one. Very seldom, indeed, is it that the parents trace their daughter, and, when they do, it is to find them the victims of an underworld trap and leading a life of shame.