OCR Text |
Show AN AMERICAN HERO There is something ominous in the dispatch from Chicago which tells of the public reception of the news films depicting the bringing of the bandit and triple murderer Durkin back lo that city to answer for hist crimes. Evereywhere .that tlu'se films were shown the outlaw was greeted with storms of applause and the police were hissed and booed. As a sequence the authorities had to give orders for the withdrawal of the films. What does it all mean? Are the American people a nation of murderers murder-ers at heart? Is this after all the explanation ex-planation of the much discussed crime wave? Here is a young scoundrel upon whose head Is the blood of two officers offi-cers of the law, who gave up their lives in defense of decent people, of the home, and of. civilization. Th"ir only offense was that they represented represent-ed the average man and woman whe work instead of steal for a living, who live with their lawful mates and who seek to bring up their children as members of orderly society. And the man who shot them down is a hero, applauded to the skies by the thoughtless mob, a mob of th;se isame average men and women. But Durkin had spilled human blood. He was a murderer, and through so strange quirk in the popular imagin- aticn a murderer is always a hero, j We may discuss courts and legal j procedure and uoliee vigilance until i we are blue in the face, but the crime ! wave will not be abated until there is a change in the public attitude to-I to-I ward the taking, of human life and ; those who wantonly take It. i |