Evening Star Newspaper, September 15, 1926, Page 18

EVASION OF ANTI-PISTOL LAWS HELD-GREATEST MENACE IN U. S. Federal Cbngress May Act to Make Ban on Guns Effective—Mail Order Houses Make . State Regulations Futile in Big Cities. = Chapter VIIT. BY LOUIS SEIBOLD. Pistols are as plentiful as pencils or et handkerchiefs in the larger ties of the country, according to po- lice authorities. The criminal apparently hhs less dif-| ficulty in buying a revolver than a | citizen intent on protecting himself and his family from eriminal aggres- | n must obtain a per e before he can eve keep a revolver for defensive purposes. | The professional criminal, burglar, | holdup man or feudist, recognizes no Jaw that has heen framed to date to | prevent him from obtaining the most effective tool of his profession. The pistol fs obtainable under the most convenient conditions by the adoption of a mere subterfuge. Law Widely E The dapper, well dressed young man | you jostle in the cre may have a | Zun in his hip pocket or in a sling under his left arm. A recent raid of a night club where the frivolously in-| clined mixed with the representatives of the underworld vielded 17 revolvers. The Sullivan law of New York State | prohibits the sale of revolvers except on the written permission of the po- Jice department. That this law 1s either evaded or not enforced is estab lished by the daily police records.. Searcely a day passes but the police dragnet brings to light dozens of guns Which are carried despite the law. A step in the right direction was the passage by the last Legislature of a bill adding from five to ten years to the first sentence of a criminal con- victed of armed felony. Second, third and fourth offenders will receive pro- portionate increases in sentences. In its report the Baumes legislative committee recommended that all crim inals possessing guns be deprived of | the rights of commutation or compen- sation in reduction of sentence. This suggestion also failed to pass the Leg- islature, due, it 1s belleved, to the “gun Jobby™ and the influence of lawyers in the lower house who are engaged in the practice of criminal law or are sympathetic to the business of manu- facturers of guns. This bill passed the Senate. It was “killed” in the Assem- bly. ed. National Curb Pending. There is now pending befors the United States Senate a bill, which, in the judgment of authoritles on crim inal law and practice; would greatly | curtail thewalewof revolvers and make it moresdifficult for criminals to pos- | sess them. This measure prohibits the transportation of revolvers through the mails except for defen- stve purposes recognized by police authorities. Present methods by which the pro- fessional criminal secures his supply of guns are simple and convenfent. One way is for him to lay in a supply of burglarious artillery through the fences and pawnshops. There is even an easier way and this is resorted to every day in the year. A killer whose tools have been con- flscated writes to & New York dealer from some New Jersey address, in- closing the cash or money order to pay for a gun. The dealer puts the pistol in the mails and that is all there is to the transaction. The dealer gets his profit and the crook gets his gun to resume his law- Jess activities. Some way of PlUEEIng up this gap in the law is vitally necessary, in the judgment of police officlals. Menace Worst In This Country. The pistol menace is one of the most threatening features of the so-called crime wave. Police authorities gen- erally agree there are proportionately more armed criminals in this country than any place else in the world. Pistols play but a small part in the annual criminal record in London and other large Iluropean citles. Hold ups of the sort which daily occur in New York and other American citles lly unknown abroad. magistrates and the judges of the Special and General Sessions Courts in New York City and courts with criminal jurisdiction in other parts of the country have recently adopted the policy of dealing severely with gunmen. Sentences as high as | 40 years have heen imposed upon | marauders who have used pistols in | holdups. Yet even this has failed to| check the spread of felonious attacks, The professional criminal uses pis- | tols against his own fellows in under- | world feuds. usually growing out of disputes over the division of loot, as | weil as against the honest citizen. Check Safer Than Cash. An {lluminating explanation was furnished the writer by a New York | detective. | ¢ Ina craps game in the Longacre dis- ftrict one night one of the players won $30.000 re proprietor of the game offered him the money in $500 | bills. The winner, who noted that geveral of the hurd-featured men in | the room were moving toward the | r with their hands on thelr pistol | ets, declined to take the money. | end me a check,” he saild to the “I wouldn't get two blocks money on me.” me in for considerable at- the Jast session of Con- al laws were pro- f pholes in the ad- { the country’s criminal tention Eress posed minist £o in the Senate t on of revol without official House most tant l'ederal step | 0 the activitles of | 1l felons wus in the form Tered by Representa- | wteher of Louis- | tion provided ent of & commission | nd three members | 1o be known as the on to investigate crime. - eriit pass The iy curb X T WYY Y vuse, Probe Plan Due Again. e closing davs of the ses- | cher resolution was losi e ———— e said he believed | inded thoroug! iny and the adoption of drastic res to make certain the ade- | punishment of jonal As a preliminary step, he 3 te survey designed to expose the weak spots in the laws and procedural methods emploved | by prosecuting, judicial and «1‘| ..—¥~ said, a1 comp police, The Hecht Co. i bab and nur- sery furniture. cribs murdere 1 agencies, should be undertaken. no question,” said Mr. that the present situation a menace to our entire social structure. Crime has become the besetting sin of the Nation. There are probably many causes for these conditions, but I am sure remedies can be found to correct the faults. The best way to do this is to locate the faults and to formulate remedies o put an end to them." Advantage at Trial. Mr. Thatcher cited as ome of the chief factors in the present crime sit- uation the indiscriminate sale and use of pistols by professional criminals. “Our young folks are o quick with the gun,” he said, d guus are too sy to obtain. Some of the newspa- rs, or rather journals, also encour- age crime. They make heroes of and stick-up men. The moving picture houses, with their salaclous and suggestive movies, also help to complete the vicious circle. “In many States the criminal pro- ‘edure favors the outlaw. In my State, Kentucky, he has 15 chal- lenges to 5 for the Commonwealth, and in some States he has 20. This affords the professional outlaw an opportunity to make his own jury. The laws of evidence lean in the same way in some States. Our philan- thropists and, parole boards, with a few exceptions, pamper the criminals and have done so for several years. Easier to Escape. “Advancing civilization benefit the criminal. The automobile i a beneficent development, but it has made commission of crime and escape of the criminal a hundredfold easier than 20 yvears ago. The telephone, seems to THE EVENING STAR, WASHING'i‘ON. D. €. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 15, 1926, the radio even, and other develop- ments tend to surround the under- world element with safeguards and screens which make suppression and detection of crime more difficult each year. “The newspapers, our cotirt records and everyday life show the great growth in crime. Chicago has more murders than England, while *other cities haye their peculiar problems emerging from the underworld. Amer- ica’s_besetting sin is crime. Yet few people or governmental agencies are glving much thought to this progres- sive deterioration of a large part of our population. We accept the situa- tion quite complacently. “It is time to study the whole prob- lem with a view to safeguarding so- clety instead of the criminal. It is my hope that this commission could obtain a background which would sketch the causes of crime, particu- larly the reasons for its increase in this country, what improvements should be made in the criminal code, what laws should he enacted or amended, what degree of legal uni- formity throughout the land should be sought and how the criminal should be. treated.” CHAPTER II. It 1s the opinion of Chief Justice Frederick Kernochan of the Court of Special Sessions that any adequate so- lution of the crime situation must in- | clude a complete revision of the code of criminal procedure. The Court of Speclal Sessions in- cludes 13 justices, who sit in the five boroughs of the city to try misde- meanors. The trials in the Court of Special Sessions are without jurles, and consequently are disposed of with considerable more rapidity than in many other courts. In discussing statistics of crime with the writer, Justice Kernochan ex- | Why Worry Where to Go? | | WE REMODEL AND STORE Excellent Work—I Phone 6305, And Aok T (o Coli Tor NEW ENGLAND FURRIERS Benjamin Sherman, Pre 618 12th 3t. N.W, preased the opinion that they ‘“reflect great discredit upon this country.” He ‘went on to say: “Proper police work is obviously necessary in the detection of law- breakers. The adequate and swift punishment of the gullty, for which the prosecuting officers and the erim- inal, judges are responsible, is, how- ever, just as important a factor as the work of the police.” Prosecutions Are Discouraged. Justice Kernochan said that “nothing is more discouraging to proper police work and nothing more encouraging to crime and criminals than the es- cape from conviction of one known to be guilty simply because provisions of our code of criminal procedure, de- sighed to protect the innocent, make it well-nigh impossible at times to con- viet the guilty. “When a man is arrested.” he con- tinued. “one of the most important questions is ball. Identifieation data are needed before bail is granted. The new law permitting fingerprinting be- fore conviction will go far to end the evil of false identification, resulting in the balling of hardened criminals.” Justice Kernochan discussed certain of the provisions of the new criminal laws passed at the last session of the Albany Legislature, He gave these as samples of the types of revision he favors. The law permitting the joint trial of defendants jointly indicted, for example, is a great ald in facilitat- ing the process of the courts. Ac- cording to Justice Kernochan, many witnesses were lost to the State in cases of joint indictments because they did not wish to waste so much time in court. Justice Impeded by Ball. “The ease with which a criminal is admitted to and obtains bafl” said Justice Kernochan, “impedes the due administration of justice. The whole question of bail and bondsmen should be carefully investigated. Laws al- ready operating to curb the activities of professional bondsmen should be strengthened and an investigation of bonding companies and their agents should be made.” Justice Kernochan expressed agree- rsent with lawyers who believe that the present criminal code protects the rights of defendants in such an elab- orate way as to interfere with justice. Many of these difficulties, he believes, could be done away with by legisla- tion if the Legislature were supplied with the proper statistics, studles and other information to act on. “The work of the crime commission recently appointed by the governor S_;_ncial Swuaday Excumions OUND Tty bAang BALTIMORE Tickets on sale every Sunday, good on all regular 1:00 P.M. trains—7:15 from to and including Union Station (except No. 6, 9:10 A.M.)—good returning on all after- noon and evening trains same day (except No. §, 1:52 P.M.). Avoid the Sunday highway congestion. 60-minute trains with clean, modern coaches make for travel safety and comfort. Baltimore & Ohio LANSBURGH & BRO. 7th to 8th to E~FAMOUS FOR QUALITY SINCE 1860—Franklin 7400 3 B3 < »' 3,600 Imported English Broadcloth Shirts Grades worth decidedly more, go on sale tomorrow for only— 1 15 Imported English broadcloth for exceptionally smooth quality—tailored with a precision worthy of the excellence of the fabric. White only—shirts that will grow more lus- trous and better looking the more they are wash- ed. And man! what comfort there is in the gen- erous cut of them, sleeve lengths exactly right, cuffs finished as you'd have them—every detail in keeping with a far higher price than $1.15. Sizes 135 to 18. STREET FLOOR. LANSBURGH & BRO. Corduroy * Robes Plain and Embossed $5.98 Almost a uniform evening in any dormitory —good-looking corduroy robes like these. they well as comfort. Heavy quality cordu- full and long. roy, cut Sizes 36 to 52. THIRD FLOOR. mean warmth as % A 51 but .the in ihieitr any kind and lustrous. any For 15 Cobweb texture— firm weave of heavier silk, and wearing qualities vou'd never expect chiffon hose. glistening, transparent length is free from flaws of , evenly knit beautifully $1.98 THIRD FLOOR. LANSBURGH & BRO. Chiffon Silk Stockings— 1,200 Pairs of Them! Full fashioned — perfect - quality — pure silk — all shades—and the price only French nude, shadow, nude, banana, atmosphere, white and other shades to choose from. Tops and soles of fine lisle. STREET FLOOR, LANSBURGH & BRO. Rayon Chemise and Bloomers Lovely pastel shades—of silky rayon, tailored and lace-trimmed styles, of unusually good quality rayon. Sizes 36 to 44. | should heip in this matter” the jus- tice said. “I have long favored the establishment of such a commission }with wide investigatory powers, and I bel e that when it makes its report we will have taken a great step to- ward the simplification =nd perfection toward the. solution of “the, crime problem.” : & N (Copyright. 19265 * (Continued tomorrow.) o 37 Ray Pierces Six Feet of Lead. A new ray reported by the eminent physicist, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, will plerce six feet of lead without diffi- cuMy, it s sald. The best: X:-Ray pro- duced fn the modern hospital will not go through more than half an inch bt lead. The wave length of the new ray is shorter than that of the uitra violet rays, X-rays or the Gamina rays, being one ten-millionth of the ordinary light wave length, which measures about discovery of the.new ray is the result of 20 years' searc Every pair Silk from top to toe, perfect and full fashioned. " Colors Orchid, French Sizes 8 to 10. price. months to come. needs in this sale. one fifty-thousandth of an inch. The of our legal system, and éonsequently |; - Philip Blush, Sudan, Grain, Ale- san, Bambon, Nude, Pearl, Blue Fox, Ecstacy, Banana, Torterelle, Gun Metal, Sil- ver, Moonlight, Grey 31, Lulu Belle, Almond, Mauve, Blonde, Beige Blonde and Black. Most attractive home in the 16th St. Neighborhood } 1619 Decatur St. e center hall flanked on either side by s finished; batler’s pantry and kitchen fully equipped. Electric refrigerator; large spacious rooms on bgth-the upper floors with 3 baths; servant’s toilet in basement; aute- matie laundry machinery and efficient hot-water heating plant. Il There Is a large two-car separate garage of consistent design with ! the home. The grounds surrounding are most attractively landscaped with rare plants. The owner has authorized us to quote a reduction in price from 855,000 to 345,000 Terms Can Be Arranged T et hoe For sveclal nformation ‘Beginning the Outstanding Hosiery Event of the Year Semi-Annual Sale of Our Famous Additional Space Ha Been Devoted to This Sale " Sizes Will Be Arranged Separately on Large Tables Extra Saleswomen Cashiers and Charge Facilities This greatest of all hosiery events begins promptly tomorrow morning at 9:15 a.m. Thousands of discrimi- nating women who constantly wear our number 275 Beverly “Lavender Stripe” Caiffon Hose because it is un- excelled for extreme sheerness, fine, even texture and serviceability, eager- ly await this évent and, rightly so, as only twice a year do we offer this nationally known make at a reduced As the savings are so pro- nounced, we urge you to anticipate all your present and future needs for It would not be amiss to even select your Christmas Remembér' This Is Our Style 275 Lavender Stripe Beverly Chiffon Hose ole——=a|———=alc|———1lalslal——2lal——xxla] T ol e o e ol | i 17} i —olc——— o e e =] e [oje————I=e=—=——— 3] iy E o o e ———— ja ———1]