Show HOODLUMS AND FIREARMS I How the One i Developed and the I Other Employed Salt Lake ia a very fortunate city I ti inhabited by persons of quiet and cedate manners who keep out of teate r trouble by being sober and minding their own business but we bave here as elsewhere the elements of the nopdlnm boys and they grow very rapidly when given bait a chance A hoodlum is a species of humanity who prowl around at night when all good and decent people are in bed who loafs about the street in the daytime day-time when honest persons are at work who drinks swears and uisoci ate with Tile women who yell on I tbe streets and thus disturbs the peace who throws snowballs and stones at passers by and while pOS B ng the yean of I young man exhibit a lack of sense which would shame an average boy of 12 who congregates congre-gates on tie streets with othen who spits tobacco juice on persons as they pass uses vulgar language speak discourteously dis-courteously and vulgarly of ladies crowds good citizens ofl the walk who lacks all the instincts a gentleman and yet is highly indignant i you intimate that be is not a gentleman Hoodlums often steal always lie and sometimes commit graver oflenees It is not necessary for a person to be all these things in order to become a hoodlum nearly any two or three cf the qualities will make a fair specimen speci-men and it is with hoodlums as with others they have the good bad and indifferent degrees Now while Salt Lake has few of these specimens it has the elements necessary to make a great many which is the more to be wondered at us they are generally young men of more than average intelligence intelli-gence and have enjoyed bettor opportunities op-portunities than those who make hoodlums in other localities The idea that a young man should be allowed to have his fun when it is of a character which implies looseness is ridiculous Such fun means hood lums in time and if there were only a bare possibility of the hoodlum element ele-ment developing here the city officers should take every means to prevent it however severe they may be or however hard it may go with sone persons These young men who want to be allowed to have their fun should bear in mind the fact tbat Salt Lake City was not built nor is it maintained for tneir special bonefi they should remember that the citizen citi-zen who has a proper regard for the rights of other citizens never complain com-plain of his lack of fun that the laws are not made for those who are good but for those who are bad that the decent citizen can have all the fun he wants without violating a law and when he has a regard for the sentiments of others has a right to demand that they shall respect his privileges that when a young man gets drunk and disturbs the peace be not only disgraces himself and brings shame upon his family but he violates vio-lates a law and can be arrested that when he uses foul and profane language lan-guage be violates 1 Jaw and can be arrested and punished as he can also when he helps to block up the sidewalk side-walk throws snowballs at inoffensive citizens hoots and yells insults ladies associates with vile women assaults persons or attempts to injure policemen who are the guardians of the public peace Perhaps in no other civilized tnty in tbe world of the size and population ot Sal Lake is more lenience extended ex-tended to violators of city laws than right here nowhere do the police officers endure more insults or put up with more abuse from offenders than right here In tbe larger citiw persona are arresed i they persist in blocking up the public thoroughfares as h i done here nearly every day in tie year and which is generally one of the lightest offenses and if i when a policeman orders them oIl they happen to look very cross or to speak a disrespectful word they are areste and punished and are fortunate fortu-nate if they escape testing the weight I of a billet on their craniums Almost I any day in the week you can notice persons here defy the police and when arrested abuse them right and left l aoplying the foulest epithets imaginable and it is the exception where the officers resent such insults in doing which any judge would uphold up-hold them The police must inspire respect and when they cease to co BO the people have a right to demand their removal 1 is a singular exhibition exhi-bition given here frequently also of public and press denouncing an offi cer every time he finds it necessary to employ force and in ninetynine cases out of a hundred these very individuals in-dividuals were onehalf said to them that is said to the officers when performing per-forming their duties would go to far greater extremes than do the officers Nowhere in the United States would such a foolish cry be raised against the men whose sworn duty it is to protect the public and who in BO doing risk their own lives If persons dont want to get clubbed they should keep sober and attend to their own business and observe the laws When undue violence is exercised by an officer the law provides ample redress These bowlers about tbe cruelty of police would be the first to abuse the oolice did the officers not cub a person who might happen to atsauit and insult them or a lady in their company Nothing would be too cmpany severe then All good citizens officer time will uphold an ofcer every wi until it i is shown beyond doubt that the officer did go too far ofcer The trouble with young men in this city is tbat many of them guilty ot the offenses stated are members of highly respected families and out of regard for their families while it is deal more is endured not right a great eJ dured fom them than from otbtrd These young men have not been slow to take advantage of this consideration con-sideration and have imposed upon it beyond all reason Just as soon as they happen to get caught they cal up the fact of the respectability ot their families and use i as a handle to shield themselves pretending all the time that they want the matter kept quiet because it i would burt the feelings of their fathers mothers and other relatives Tbe sentiment and regard for the feelings of relatives at such a late hour is sickening and babyish The person who has any regard for the feelings of his family will show that regard by keeping out of scrapes which would bring disgrace upon his people A regard for sentiment and emotions that is not awakened until the person using i ai a handle bal brought disgrace upon his family is a regard that is too ethereal to DO Ct tected Tbo young man who has a reined for hIS family will show it by keeping himself respectable i he is unwilling to do that he should be ashamed to use it to shield himself after being caught afer seems t be a popular notion among young men that it is manly to carry a pittjl What do they carry crry pistols knives or slungahcta for7 To protect themselves they will tell you prtect From whom and there you bare them They will tell you they carry arms to protect themselves from any person who happens to attack them This perDn implies beyond dispute that they go where they ire likely to get into I rows and that they are prepared for a row This i not the case with a person r per-son who is sober lawabiding and minds his own business He has no need of arms because be avoids places where and persons with whom he ia likely t get into trouble and being lawabiding he never thinks of fighting fight-ing and ia unprepared I is nonsense non-sense for young fellows to say they might be assaulted Men who hove grown whie headed who have traveled in London Paris New York Chicago St Louis Ban Francisco and other large cities where vice is notorious will en you that they have walked the streets of those cities at all hours of the day and night never carried car-ried a weapon sod never needed one because they attended to their own business and bad the sense to avoid places where they might get into trouble Thi habit of carrying weapons is a pernicious one and i the true inwardness of many a killing could be known it would tell a story like this A young fellow who wa good enough hearted who would not harm anything unnecessarily un-necessarily but who went with persona per-sona with whom and to places where he might get into trouble and who bad a goodsized dose of the big head thought it was manly to carry a weapon He got into I difficult while halt full of wine with just such another young fellow a himself also half lull of wine and by way of bluff only puts his hind behind him a though he were going to pull a pistol the other sees him knows his reputation reputa-tion for being n fellow who carries a weapon for Ifel defense puts his band behind him in earnest pull a pistol fires and kills his friend and the result is justifiable homicide I you play with edged tools you must expect t get cut if you carry a pistol for self defense you must expect you will some time have occasion occa-sion to UBe it and in such an event you will meet somE one like yourself and you will either be wonnded or killed or be held to answer a charge of wounding or killing some one else There are times when it is wisdom to carry weapons but young men in this city rarely i ever see such times Parents should take weapons from their weak minded sons for to carry arms in this city is an evidence of cowardice or weak mindedneaa or both generally both These men younc and old should stay at home keep sober avoid bad men bad women and bad places attend t their own business and they will neither need weapons lor eelfdefenee nor run the risk ci being beaten by police I is a i am thing when beating and bad reputations are not deserved de-served and nntil the growing habit of drunkenness and licentiousness licentious-ness and disregard for the rights of peaceable citizens is checked tbe police should be urged to redcuble their vigilance and their severity |