| Show VIGILANTES WAR ON RURAL CRIME Loss From Fann Thefts Is Greater Than From Bank Robberies an and in Illinois Organize Vigilante Corps By WILLIAM C. C UTLEY no IiO is Public Enemy No 1 I The kidnaper The gang W WHO killer The bank robber The racketeer Perhaps At least it is these desperadoes whose spectacular exploits make the big headlines Their ruthless and merciless work often conducted right out in the open is not in infrequently infrequently in in- frequently touched up with a bit of or showmanship which makes them the type of characters which fire the public imagination The urgency for lor exercising every method within human means for lor apprehending these criminals is not to be minimized Due But the very publicity ascending e sometimes to outright ballyhoo In Inthe the enthusiasms of the more vigorous vigorous vig vig- orous press which attends their c comings and goings unfortunately overshadows another type of public pub lic enemy who works quietly and andIn andIn i In n most cases Inconspicuously but whose evil deeds are often orten of ot more s serious erious consequence than those ofis of h his is more spectacular brother in crime rIme The citizen elIzen who lives In rural areas or on the farms often otten entertains enter enter- tans this Rural lintel Public Enemy No 1 In his hll own back yard without k knowing It For this ilia Is le the common common com corn cornmon mon chicken thief He lie and the othera others others oth oth- ers era of ot his Ills kind who steal Iteal horses borses cattle and farm produce and machinery ma ma- chinery are collectively far tar more Important to the farmer than all of ot the bank robbers In creation Importance li Is Unrealized Unrealised Chicken stealing Is to usually regarded regarded re to- as a low type typo of crime perpetrated perpetrated perpetrated per per- only by the small email fry the t i. i t x it l g sK r Y J lM rL 1 it This new method of 01 Identification Is la applied to the ear of livestock or under the web of the wing of poul- poul try It facilitates Identification of stolen property and thus thul Improves Improve j chances chancel of convicting criminal criminals hungry hobo or the wayward rain min joke I darkey Often Otten when the thief Is caught he Is sent on his hili way with a kick in the tile pants or Is II simply given a q 1 good scare It Is la not unusual to find the farmer he has hos attempted to burglarize protecting him from prosecution which might net him six months on a state penal farm a II sentence that might be regarded regarded re re- as a 0 little stilT for just stealing a chicken o or two taro Stiff StiD sentence The monetary monr loss Ion to ro farmers farmer last lad year fOar in one state irate alone Illinois rom Illinois from chicken stealing Healing and kindred rural crimes crime was more than rhan the rhe loss Ion of the entire nation Iron from bank robberies and according to toRoss toRoss Ross ROil C. C Saunders rural crime prevention tion rion inspector Jar Jot the state Hate agriculture a department From the h. farms Jarms oj of the Ih tale state says Saunders there were stolen Helen chickens chicken head ol of cattle calli and uncounted toot and im im- Other states have been subjected to enormous losses from what seems on the surface to be petty thievery A survey conducted In Indiana b by bya a farm magazine revealed that In a single Ingle year there thero were head of ot poultry stolen 2322 hogs head of other livestock gallons gallons gal gal- gallons lons of gasoline bushels bushel I of train grain There were thefts of tools v a Ross ROil C. C Saunders leader luder In till Illi Illinois Illinois' nois' nois model rural crime prevention n campaign and Implements thefts of cloth Ing thefts of goods and 2253 miscellaneous thefts from farms In Illinois thicken chicken thefts for to ten n yearn ara durin during which some lame sort lort o of f check has haa been have e averaged about a million bead head o of f chickens annually and lea head d of livestock The situation which reached a II climax when a young ma man manof manof n nr of Will wm county was wu brutally mu murdered murdered mur mur- r dered white while trying to protect hl his s employer against loss at the hands hand s of ot thieve thieves called for tor action Mss Ma M Meting Starts Start It Action that was Will taken In this tate state e has bas proved so 10 successful that no now w Illinois Illinois' methods are serving as a amodel amodel model for the combat against run rural 1 t crime In la other states Inspector Saunders working under Walter Waller I L L. 1 state director of agriculture agri culture and In close operation co with press and radio has served as the focal head for the tile campaign Already It Is ie bearing fruit for while the decrease e In crime throughout through through- out the nation notion generally last year lear was U 13 per cent the decrease In Illinois was 40 per cent Especially In the last six months has the fight against rural crime proved to be a victorious one for Ju justice Uce 1 It t began in Joliet t Will county with td witha a mass man meeting in which more than rhan farmers farmer gathered the rhe murder of 01 youthful oU John u who Iho ho went to ro investigate a suspicious car in the neighborhood of 01 his hit employers employer's em em- farm and anda was a that shot in cold blood Eugene the negro ho killed him hint escaped but bur wa 0 found later in Tennessee shot ho to death by a bullet from Irom a 32 22 De Because ause Will county was the first openly to declare war on rural I eie I crime the results of at Its meeting and organization organisation were watched with Interest by the entire Middle West The farmers of ot the county themselves themselves themselves them them- selves were In la a n fever heat of ot Indignation indignation In in In- against the three or four tour complaints of ot theft which had been made to authorities every night From evidence uncovered at this meeting and at meetings In other parts of the state It became apparent apparent ent that rural thievery was not the work of Individuals but of gangs Often these gangs were led by seasoned seasoned seasoned sea sea- criminals who had been driven en from Irom the cities titles by the e t campaign against crime there These leaders hired men to make systematic small thefts the combIned combined com coo total of at all of them was enough to stamp the new racket as a s Important Cattle Rudling Returns Even cattle cottle rustling became big business to the gangs although 1 It t was not to be sure the cattle e rustling of ot the old West In these days of 01 smooth concrete highways and anc am moving fast-moving trucks It Is possIble possible ble to steal a few head bead of cattle load them onto a truck and move them across a state In III a single night Often the gangs worked In relays one truck spiriting away the stolen animals and another waiting for the load to be transferred to It II at the state flate line Sometimes the gangs gang's hideout was or miles away from tram the area where most of at their thievery was perpetrated Farmers slow to awaken to the a of the disappearance of their livestock and chickens afew afew a afew few head at a time were often entirely entirely en en- unaware that their neigh neighbors bon bars were experiencing similar losses small losses were seldom reported reported re re- ported farmers In some cases cages un an- undoubtedly thought themselves full fully capable of coping with a common chicken thief Where It was actually actual actual- ly ty discovered that the thefts were the work of gangs or of the more desperate type of criminal farm tarm famines hesitated to report thefts for fear tear the burglars would return and set lIet their bou houses boules es or farm buildIngs build build- Ings Ing on fire tire The Th answer seems rem now to be that Iha in fn union there i Is strength Thirty day days alter after the 11 Will ill county farmers farmer met mt and organised Sheriff green tea wa was able abl to 0 report that rhal thievery had stopped Hopped How did these fumes farmers effect this efficient clean up so swiftly Eye Ere Opened Ears Ean Peeled Definite Instructions are given Ilven all farmers In the area Farmers and their families are trained rained to be on the lookout for tor suspicious automobiles automo automo- biles bites and suspicious looking looking strangers strang streng ers era and situations When a theft Is reported the farmers Immediately report any anI actions action or persons of a e suspicious suspicions nature that they may mal have observed at or sear near the time of at the theft More lore often otten than not the Information obtained leads toa to toa toa a solution of the crime How flow this thin works may mal be shown by bl a few examples Recently a II man rasa was convicted of stealing cattle-stealing In la Iowa lie Ile had been a t transporting the cattle through illinois 1111 illi- nots nois to his bis farm form near South Bend Ind lad Two women saw his truck atan atan at atan an oil station and the furtive man man- manner manner ner tier of Its occupants aroused sus sus- The women copied the name and address from the side of the y i Eugene chicken thief who slew Joliet III lit youth and was later slain himself In Tennessee truck The result was an arrest followed by conviction and the recovery recovery re re- coer covery of the cattle b by the owner A former farmer near Chicago law raw a ca car r parked along alons the he open highway Y fo fono Jarno Jar for forno r no apparent reason reaton lie became suspicious lus- lus took down own the license sumber num- num ber and reported it The result resul was teas the he arrest arres' of oj 28 chicken thieves wh had operated as a gang and had stolen stole n thousands o oj of head of 01 poultry in nort northern north north- northern h ern Illinois In another case a ap suspIcions P pending moo man went to ro an oil station to buy gasoline at two o'clock on a cold 1 winter morning His actions action s and general conversation didn't didn t quite ring true The They were reported and Sheriff Clarence Roth noth of Champaign Cham Cham- county caught several cattle cottle and hog bog thieves as a result Other Methods Method Help Cases just like these can be rattled rattled rat rat- tied oil off by the hundreds Cooperation opera Co tion by all the farmers a really simple thing to accomplish In areas where losses have been heavy Is about all that is needed It has been shown that the gangs pull up stakes when the farmers unite against them There are other methods which can colt be of ot great help belp A large number number numer num num- b ber er of ot hen houses are now being equipped with burglar alarms which have proved effective But even more Important is the Institution In each state of uniform registration of poultry and livestock If It It were required that some kind of Identification Identification mark be put on the web of t the he wing o of poultry and on the ear ens or some part port of the body of at animals that would be a protection It is u all too 00 frequent an n that ha suspected criminals when their heir cases come tome to 0 trial are of 01 necessity acquitted because the complaining farmer has hOJ no noay nay ay of oj positively identifying iden iden- identifying his poultry or his live lice stock This branding C can can make such uch identification idea iden ri possible A method has bas been developed In Illinois which seems to fill tin the bill billand and which will probably be adopted soon b by the farmers farmer of 01 other states The mark Is la quickly applied with a simple tool and the application Is John whose murder at the hands of a rural thief stirred Illinois farmers larmer to action far for more humane than the time old branding with a hot Iron and Is In effect somewhat similar to tattoo tattoo- tattooIng Ing lag Branding of ot course would also remove the packing companies which buy bUl the farmers' farmers product from embarrassing positions In which they thel sometimes find tied them- them selves They occasionally and quite Innocently Innocenti buy stolen poultry or livestock from Irom thieves without knowing It and thus help belp foster rural crime The law makes It man man- for tor the tile buyers of ot stolen goods to reimburse the losers upon proof that the property was stolen O e Wo Wat ta rn tint n |
