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Show BOYS COMIMT SERIES OF CRIMES Al AREffliT Two youthful offenders, whose bdld-ness bdld-ness in the perpciration of several crimes about tho city has caused a great deal of comment by the police, because of their very daring, were taken irito custody last night, following the breaking Into the 5 and 10 cent Woolworth store on Washington avenue. At 8:30 last evening, one of the employes em-ployes of the store, passing by, glanced into the window. He saw a boy dodge behind one of'the counters. He quietly openea tne ooor ana entered anu Biau-bed Biau-bed the boy, just as another youth darted out of the rear door. The clerk telephoned the police and Sergeant Blackburn, and Officers William Will-iam Dick, Sullivan and Manzel respond ed. The sergeant identified the captured cap-tured boy as Leonard Young, 7 years old, who lives at 131 West Twenty-eighth Twenty-eighth street, who broke into the Mid-dlcton Mid-dlcton home at 2965 Lincoln avenue, about two weoks ago and stole some bottled fruit and destroyed fruit jars, dishes and furniture In the house. Leonard was taken to the station, where he admitted the former theft. He also told who the other boy was, who escaped when the clerk went into the store, naming Roy Wilson, who lives at 268 Thirtieth street. In telling the story of how they broke into the store, he revealed a tale of criminal action that Is seldom paralleled paral-leled for coolness and ingenuity by hardened house breakers. He said they broke tho window over the rear door and one of them climbed through and opened the door to admit the other. They then left the door open, to assure a getaway If they were interrupted while at work. They damaged the stock considerably, opening drawers and scattering the contents In their search for the things they wanted. While they had nothing specific in mind, they took those things that appealed ap-pealed to them. A report had come in to the station that a boy had been frightened out of the basement of the house at 847 Cross street This led the sergeant to believe be-lieve the same boys wore implicated. Young admitted that he was the one. He said he had gone into the cellar to steal some bottled fruit The youngster had twenty-five rings, two purses, a box of matches, one bottle bot-tle of ink, three rubber balls, a rubber rub-ber stamp, a Ford key and $1.66 in nickels and pennies. The money had been taken from the cash drawer at the store. Sergeant Blackburn and Officer Dick got into tho police auto and young Wilson Wil-son was picked up near the fire station. sta-tion. On being questioned at the jail, he admitted being the confederate. Both boys said that, previous to breaking into the 5 and 10 cent store, they broke a window of a lumber office, of-fice, but did not succeed in gaining entrance. en-trance. They will be sent to the industrial school, from which institution they were out on parole, as the result of their depredations in the Middleton home and several other offenses of like nature. The police are unable to account for the tendency of these two youngsters to commit such crimes. They are clover clov-er beyond their years. But when questioned, ques-tioned, they make no denials of the accusations ac-cusations and do not seem to realize the seriousness of their offenses. It seems to be just a spirit of adventure, one of the officers stated, rather than a desire to commit the thofts for gain. This is shown by the fact that when the boys committed the robbery of tho fruit from the Middleton place, they tried to sell it for the most trivial price and did not exhibit the least caution about concealing their crime. It is a peculiar state of affairs and tho officers are at a loss to account for the moral turpitude. The boys are still in the city jail. |
