The one-legged, bull-faced negro in the hospital was watching my
assistant, who, of his own volition, and without being ordered to do it,
was laboriously polishing the brass chandeliers hanging from the
ceiling.
"That boy ain't no thief," he remarked philosophically. "A thief is a
thief 'cause he won't work, in or out of jail."
A crook will waste many days, nay, sometimes weeks and months, and take
infinite pains to plan a robbery, the result of which he imagines is
getting something for nothing. Sometimes the prize is nothing, sometimes
it is considerable; and then it is dissipated in gambling, dope, and
riotous living. The fruit of legitimate work he considers a meagre
result of foolish painstaking effort.
The mental calibre of these men is similar to that of naughty,
precocious children, or of savages; they have streaks of yellow and
streaks of insanity; they often have a strong will, but no morality; a
keen intelligence, but no principle; a purpose, but no good or
high-minded ambition. Almost without exception they are gamblers; they
lack imagination, but they are possessed of an over-weening, childish
vanity; they have great stubbornnesses, but no sense of proportion or
responsibility.
Their ideals are wholly physical; they love fine clothes, jewelry, good
food; they admire the fair sex, they crave money for all the physical
results it will bring. They are very proud of their criminal successes,
of their reputations as "tough guys," bad men with terrible records,
fierce and relentless in their loathing for "squealers" and "bulls."
They consider their gallery of Immortals as unique, and never
sufficiently appreciated by those outside their world of life.
A complete lack of imagination prevents them from foreseeing the
futility and the inevitable result of their lonesome battle against the
united forces of society.
An almost unanimous characteristic is their cheap sentimentality, but at
bottom they are nearly always kind hearted. They have, too, a keen sense
of justice, and often they are willing to admit that they deserve their
punishment; but they rebel savagely against the injustices, the inhuman
treatment, the tortures, inflicted by prison authorities. It is the
helplessness of these prisoners, and the indifference of the public
towards them and their fate, that make prison authorities so cowardly
and brutal. A healthy publicity in prison matters, and a more charitable
and sympathetic attitude on the part of the public, would very soon
change the attitude of the wardens and the keepers.