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Show BERT SOBENSON'S LIFE REVIEWED Quest Of Ease Br ooght Crime And Death TRAGIC TALE HAS VITAL LESSON (Editorial) . A bullet from a police officer's gun at Hammond, Indiana, just outside of Chicago, a few days ago cut short a misspent life. Bert Sorensen, 22-year-old Provo Bench boy, was killed in the act of stealing an automobile. Although but a youth, Bert had piled into a few brief years the experience exper-ience of an aged criminal. And yet at heart, he was not bad, say those who were acquainted with him. He had many admirable qualities and a most pleasing personality. Had Bert Sorensen Soren-sen in his childhood learned the necessity neces-sity of work and obedience to law, he undoubtedly would have become a genuine gen-uine success. The son of honest, up-right parents, Bert was reared in an average home not a rich or a poor home, but an average aver-age home a place similar to that from where come 90 per cent of the successful success-ful men and women of America today. His brothers and sisters, reared in the same environment, are respected and honored citizens of this city and county. At school on Provo Bench, while not brilliant, he showed more than average was sentenced to the state prison where ' he became an exemplary prisoner. Once more his ability to appeal to the sympathy sym-pathy of others brought him freedom when he was paroled to Chief of Police Otto Birk, then a deputy sheriff of Utah county. For a time Bert was engaged en-gaged in honest work and during that period was straightforward and reliable. It was not long, however, until friendships friend-ships made within the prison walls crossed his path and at their instigation he returned to a life of crime. A second time he was taken to the state prison. After a short sojourn there he again used all the art of his winning personality to persuade the board of pardons to give him a second parole, this time to Bishop A. L. Culli-more Culli-more of Lindon. In response to the pleadings of loved ones, Bert promised to lead a natural life and no doubt he was sincere in that promise. But he had built himself the wrong foundation to remain true. He had failed to recognize work at its real worth and looked upon it as a drudge. The short time he worked he was straight. When idleness replaced ability. And then one day in his early teens, Bert decided to cut short his school days, although he had not completed com-pleted the grades. He had arrived at the stage where he knew more than father, mother, teachers or other associates. asso-ciates. Schools were not for such as he, Bert mused, and there was no one strong enough to bend that decision. Work on the farm became just as irksome as had the school work earlier. There was no other work to his liking to be obtained in the neighborhood, so he began a life of ease. It was so much more pleasant to loaf, to hang around the shops and garages than to go to school or to work. But growing boys need spending money. If they don't want to work for it and father refuses to furnish it, they must get it some other way. The old saying that "An idle brain is the devil's work shop," was just as true in his case as it has been in many others. Thus in his many idle hours schemes were concocted for obtaining money "easy." Followed burglaries and forgeries which brought the lad into the toils of the law. His appealing personality, his seeming genuine repentance, touched touch-ed a sympathetic cord in the hearts of the officers, and leniency pushed justice to the side. Continued idleness again brought Bert into misdeeds and again the clutch . of the law reached out for him. He work he returned to crime and lawlessness, lawless-ness, which shortly led to a third trip to the state prison. Again he became a trusted prisoner and was given many advantages by the warden and guards. Realizing the futility of appealing to the state board of pardons for a third .time for mercy, Bert, perhaps again influenced by a more mature criminal, left the prison farm several weeks ago while a trusty. i What happened until he tried to steal an automobile in Hammond, Indiana, a few days ago, no one will 'perhaps ever know, and it is just as well. He was seen by an officer who opened fire on him, the bullet lodging in the groin. Now, at the age of 22 years, he is dead. Six years of that time were spent mainly in an effort to make life easy. Instead of that they brought to him death, and to his" parents and brothers and sisters, tears and heartaches. The life of Bert Sorensen the polished, pol-ished, polite and pleasant youth who sought joy in ease should point the way for the boys of this section. Ease leads to destruction. Misguided youth seeks it at almost any cost save work. And yet WORK is the greatest blessing bless-ing God ever gave to man. The sooner youth learns that lesson and becomes thoroughly absorbed in it the more certain he is of ultimate success. |
