The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 12, 1916, Page 8

v Dnvewey entering the gronnds of the state school at Mandan and two of the bmldings seen through tlle trwe. The Honest Opinions of a Tl oK What Andrew McLeod, Bank Burglar, Thinks of Courts, Prisons and Men as Told at Bismarck Pemtentlray toa Leader Representatlve - HE Judge sits up there hke a priest with his Jong face as hard- and smooth as marble and the- heart in his breast just the same, ‘“He says to me, ‘Gullty or not guilty ?? “ ‘Judge,” I says to him, ‘what case are you tryin’ me on, now? Are you tryin’~ me for packin’ a gun or are you tryin’ me on this record the cops has dug up?’ “‘We're tryin’ you on the charge of - carryin’ a concealed weapon,’ he says, “‘Aw, no, judge,’ I says; ‘I look into yer face and I can’read it like an open head and square of chin. - The restlessly rollmg eyes and an unmistakable draw- ing down of the corners of the mouth are the only marks of the criminal world upon_ him. He referred to these pnson mannensms' “I can ' forget all that,” he : himself. said, and in an instant that expression was gone and in its place was the face . of " an honest man, He can speak thoroughly correct English yet in talking of his criminal career he falls into the typical manner ‘of speech of the prison world : “I have carried a gun all my life, but I’ve never shét a man,” says this . six-time loser.- “A man doesn’t need to shoot to -protect him- self, because most men are cowards. murderers are cowards.” All '_ book. These Hoosier cops made me for < BANKERS PAY TRIBUTE a five-time loser and’ your goin’ to send - me qver the road because I got a record.” All right,! T says; ‘go ahead; give me my bit an’ Ill do it like a gentleman. ‘“‘One "year in the state pembentlary, says the judge.” - 'THE MAN WHOSE HAND IS AGAINST SOCIETY - The man- who spoke substantially as above was Andrew McLeod, confessed criminal, ‘a “six-time loser”—that is,: servmg time for his sixth conviction of crime—a - crook ' since boyhood—and a "good deal of a man at that. Through the courtesy of Warden Frank Talcott of the state penitentiary McLeod .- was permitted to hold a-friendly conver- sation with a representative of the Leader. He and the Leader man sat * * mlone together in a waiting room at the state prison and he talked at length of prisons: and his own career.and life in general seen from a side from which not many men see it, the side of the man ~whose hand is against the law and its officers. McLeod:is both ashamed and proud of lns profession. “Oh, I'm " said, with the ‘air of & man making a clean ' confession. He didn’t hang’ his _’head ‘when he said it." He’s not a man_ who ‘asks any ' odds of anybody./ But there are degrees of thievery, some ‘With- - in the law and some outside of it, some mean and cantemptxhle, others perha‘pe _.as defensxble and more nearly honest ~than’ some that take place thhm the % law. ’ He is a bxg' ma.n, blg physxcally and ' o not small mentally, a man of .clear eye, of deep ‘chest and ' mnscular frame. He - : in no "low btow. “Hi head is that ofa , - broad of,forea a_thief,” ‘he" 'TO PROFESSIONAL ABILITY . McLeod is a bank burglar. ] “Are you ‘a ‘good one?” the reporber asked him. . He grmned and gestured w1th open palms in expressive fashion. “It took me”nine years to get by at - “Joliet with my last bit,” he said, “My minimum time was five years. ‘The . Illinois Bankers’. association "kept me -© there ' the ‘rest of the time. They wouldn’t let' the pardon board turn: me loose.” : McLeod told some scatbenng detaxls of ¢ an eventful life, - something about his ideas of- prisons: and gave a ghmpse of It is at least the code his code of honor. of 'a bold and rugged spirit, a will ~ unbroken. - Reference to the offense for: which he was arrested :in’ Fargo a few: - months’ ago caused him to refer m the’ ‘matter of physical courage.: “It 1sn’t necessary . to shoot anybody to protect ' yourself with a gun, The sight of it ‘or the sound of it is enough, “Ninety per cent of men are cowards. .- They’ll not face a man in & standup fight with a gun. Policemen—the most of ' them—are the biggest cowards of all. “I remember when I was in this state back quite a few years ago. I was with a gang in one of these burgs pulling off “a. job. I had one of these sawed-off express messenger's guns and was standing on a corner as a lookout. THE TOWN MARSHAL WHO HAD A BUSY SESSION : “I heard somebody running and I see - the town marshal hot-footin’ it down the . - street toward me. in the shadow—see?—and he didn’t. see I was. standing back me. When he got within about half a block of me I cut loose with this old can- =~ ' non—over his head, see? . “Say, you ought to seen this guy! T- never saw him turn at all he did it ‘so fast, and he was beatin’ it back the other way faster than he come. : = “Well, there was a pal of mine back anythmg for you. “A fellow don’t get a chance after he 'tartsm - this game. There’s always plenty of sympath; for the. -ex-conviet, but: ‘good. “Pm sorry, they all say, but T can’t Nobody wants to ' S chance w1th a thle A goats. I dropped mto the depot at one of these, places in. the eyening.” The ' waiting room was4 hghted and there were { several people there.. When I' came: m* the door the station agent was sbandmg right near by w1th his. back toward the door, 5 A “He didn’t hear me at first and then‘ : he turned and saw._me.standing right back of him. . His face went white and he looked like he thought I was goin’ to kill him on the spot. I watched ‘him standin’ there with his knees knockin’ together and it made me kind o’ sore. - I put. my hand on his shonlder and felt him tremblin’.like & leaf: - “‘What’s the matter, fellow,’ 1 says, ‘You' ain’t afraid o’ me, are you? I wouldn’t think o’ hurtin’ WOUL s “‘Cheer up,) 1 says, fyou’re among friends and everything is;all right.”” “Now you know that guy might have Tun out of there hollerin’ bloody murder and thieves and the first thing you know I'd a been pinched an’ this fellow would have gone into court and swore that ' I tried to. hold up ‘the' station. What chance would T have lu}d’ Spme gmart that don’t do him e in the next block and this scared guy’ ran_nght toward him. “When - he “got’ nearly .there: my pal cat loose with his: ‘ comes back in my. direction again. It was gettn} 50 good that I had to blaze st to see‘-what he ‘would '