THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE GANG
The gang age, from ten to sixteen, is one of the most important eras
in a boy’s life. One man out often may belong to a church, one out of
five to a fraternity: but as Sheldon has shown, three boys in every
four are members of a gang; and the character of this gang determines
in no small degree what sort of men these boys shall become. Taking our
lives through, our parents probably make us most, and next to these our
wives. But next to our wives, in their influence over our characters
and careers, come for most of us, the group of companions whom we knew
as boys and who together with us formed our special gang. Our domestic
education takes place in our parents’ home and in our own; but our
social training has had at least its foundations in our gang.
Curiously enough, in spite of the fact that three quarters of all boys
are members of gangs, the gang plays a somewhat inconspicuous part
in the literature of boyhood. Neither in “David Copperfield,” nor in
“Being a Boy,” nor in “A Boy’s Town,” nor in “Tom Brown,” does the
gang, _qua_ gang, appear. There are traces of it in Owen Johnson’s
Lawrenceville stories, and in certain tales of Elisha Kellog, dear to
the heart of a generation ago. Only one story of boy life, so far as I
know, gives the gang anything like its full value in boy psychology.
This tale is “The Story of a Bad Boy” of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. The
“Centipedes,” to which the Bad Boy belonged, were a real gang. They had
their local habitation, their badges, their ceremonies, their secrets.
They went camping together, swam and boated and fished, snowballed the
constables, fought the boys from the other end of the town, bombarded
the sleeping inhabitants of Rivermouth on the night before the Fourth,
and altogether comported themselves like the indefatigable young
savages which all proper boys have been since boys were. The story is
said to be highly autobiographical, to be, in short, the inside history
of Aldrich’s own gang. At any rate, it seems to be the most adequate
account yet in print of a typical boys’ gang, told with insight and
skill. One can hardly imagine a better introduction to the ways of all
boys than this story of a bad one.
Like most persons who were once boys, I was myself in my boyhood
days a member of a gang; but I never began to realize the spirit and
power of gang life until, between 1902 and 1905, I sat behind the
Principal’s desk in an Industrial School for Boys. Before that desk
stood each new-comer, and it was my duty to place each boy in his
school work, and to be responsible in part for his discipline. I soon
learned that rightly to guide a boy in the School, it was essential
that I know pretty thoroughly, not only the boy’s personal traits,
but also the social conditions of his home and of his neighborhood. I
asked, therefore, many questions about home, school, and playmates,
especially about playmates and the way in which the boys spent their
leisure time.
Many boys, after a short acquaintance, told me freely the inside
stories of their gang life. Occasionally, to start a narrator when
he stopped talking, I would put in a question: “When do you meet?”
“Where?” “What do you do nights?” “Saturdays?” “Sundays?” “Whom do you
let in?” “Have you any rules?”--and the like. Where a boy had a good
memory and a fair command of English, no questions were necessary; he
simply went ahead and told me quite frankly all he knew, while I wrote
down the story as nearly as possible in the boy’s own words. Later
when, as probation officer in a juvenile court, I became responsible
for the behavior of dependent and delinquent boys, I carried the study
further.
As a result of this information, it soon became evident that certain
gangs were doing irreparable harm. Two boys, for example, out of one
gang had been sent to the State Reform School on the same day; another
contributed to the same institution, five of its six members. Good,
promising boys, too, they were, though the world thought otherwise.
Apparently, then, some gangs at least were pretty thoroughly bad.
On the other hand, some gangs proved to be almost as thoroughly good.
Their members were real boys, but on the whole the gang was helping
them to become worthy citizens and upright men.
I have especially full information concerning sixty-six gangs; and I
pass without more ado to the boys’ account of certain of them. Most
men who read these pages can supply the inside history of at least one
other.
_The Morse Hollow Athletic Club_
This is a typical all-round gang, though its main purpose was to play
games. Its membership varied somewhat with the game, but it usually
contained from nine to eleven boys, between twelve and seventeen
years of age. Of these one was Irish, two were French, two Americans,
one Negro, and one Scotch. The historian of the gang is the Scot, a
distinctly bright boy who is now doing well at the printing trade.
“Met nearly every day in vacation time; had a shanty for a clubhouse
over in the woods; met there most of the time; met on R. A’s hill.
“R. A. was the leader. One that could jump the farthest was made
president; one could jump next farthest, vice-president; next,
secretary; one that could jump least distance of all was made
treasurer; club was for athletics, so that was the way we wanted it.
“We played baseball in the spring and football in the fall. We didn’t
let a fellow into our club unless he could play baseball or football.
Nights we would meet on the corner of the street and talk over games.
We have been going together four years; we take in a new lot of younger
boys every year. Sometimes we put a fellow out of the club because he
will not pay his share of the expenses.
“Sundays we went to church; sometimes we would go up on R. A’s hill
in the afternoon and watch some men play cards for money; they gave
coppers to the boys.
“We often jumped a freight to Gates Crossing and then went berrying or
after nuts. We used to play Indians in the woods; one boy captured the
others and put them in a hole. We had three detectives. We stole some
apples out of orchards. We had a fight with the ‘Garden of Eden’ gang;
we were coming home from football; we guyed them for beating us; they
fired sticks at us; we made some swords out of wood, got an air rifle,
and made an attack on them and drove them up on to a haymow in a barn.
“We sometimes ran away from school; two of us would go out at a time,
so as not to throw any suspicion on the gang. Our rules were that all
members should be present Wednesdays and Saturdays, and each boy should
pay equal parts for ball. When there were disputes the officers would
most always settle them.”
_The Tennis Club_
This is a thoroughly good gang, one of the best gangs I know. In
fact, I came to know about it at all only because one of its members
dropped out, joined the distinctly evil “Dowser Glums,” the account of
which immediately follows that of the Tennis Club, and as a result got
himself into various kinds of trouble. The same boy gave me the stories
of the two gangs, adding frankly, “If I had stopped in the Tennis
Club, I should never have been sent to a Reform School.” A thoroughly
worthless man, twenty-six years old, was in the Glums, while Mr. M.,
the father of one of the boys, was practically in the Tennis Club. The
contrast cannot be described in words.
There were fifteen boys in the Tennis Club, twelve to seventeen years
of age, all Americans except two Swedes.
“Met at tennis court at M.’s house. Met after school, nights and
Saturdays. Had a captain of baseball nine, captain of football, and
treasurer. Treasurer collected things at M.’s house,--gloves, rackets,
etc. If a fellow was a good ball player or an all-round athlete, let
him in. Sometimes fellows [by way of initiation] pounce on a fellow
and give it to him for two or three minutes. Tell a fellow he didn’t
belong there and he would leave. Been going together for seven months
when I left off going.
“M.’s parents would buy things for their boy and we could use them.
We played tennis, baseball, football, cricket; went bicycle riding;
camping out. Went a little ways from M.’s house; went out to camp days,
swimming, boating. Made a boat and went fishing for pickerel and perch.
Play ball and cricket after supper till dark. Sit in porch and talk
over stories a little after dark.
“Ring doorbells and play tick-tack on windows of fellows of our club.
Sometimes would have a fight; other fellows would stop it. Never let a
big fellow pick on a little fellow. We were against smoking.”
_The Dowser Glums_
This tough gang contained four Irish boys, three French, one American.
The members were for the most part seventeen or eighteen years of age,
except the man of twenty-six. The place-names, I suppress, as of no
interest.
“Met out in the woods back of an old barn on Spring Street. Met every
day if we did not get work. Any fellow could bring in a fellow if
others approved. Put a fellow out for spying or telling anything about
the club. Tell him we didn’t want him and then if he didn’t take the
hint force him out. It had been going for two years; broke up now, I
think.
“We played ball; went swimming, fishing, and shooting. Each of us had a
rifle. Meet [at night] and tell stories of what we had done during the
day. Go to shows. Go and watch dancing class. Sundays we loafed around
streets. Sometimes went on a trip in the country. Went shooting. Other
days catch a freight and go to W---- and L----. Went to B---- to shows
and circus.
“Purpose of club was to steal; most anything they could get their hands
on; fruit off from fruit stands; snag ice-cream at picnics. Robbed a
store and put it in an old barn,--revolvers, knives, and cartridges.
Work for two or three days, then loaf round and spend our money; spend
money for circus. Sometimes folks would make us spend for clothes.
Play cards,--poker, whist, high low jack. Played in the woods. Smoke
cigarettes, pipe, and cigars. Biggest fellow drank; he tried to make
the other fellows drink but they wouldn’t.”
_The Island Gang_
Twelve boys: four Irish, three French, two Poles, two Germans, one Jew.
Ages between twelve and eighteen, but generally about fifteen. The boy
who told me the story, one of the Frenchmen, said with much pride, “We
never got caught stealing.” I have since watched boys stealing from the
big markets; they certainly have reduced it to a science!
“Met on L. Street; all lived on that street. Would not let any gang on
that street. Give a strange boy a licking.
“M. was ring-leader,--steals most; says, ‘Come on’; biggest and oldest.
Didn’t let anybody in after we started; been going together five years.
M. started it, and asked us to be in the gang.
“We played run-sheep-run, tag, relievo, hide and seek. Stay out all
night; have a fire down by the foundry. Go to shows Monday and Saturday
nights; like Railroad Jack, Great White Diamond, White Eagle; like
plays where there was fighting.
“Jumped freights to S---- and P----. Ran away from home to U----;
stayed up there two weeks. Hated to go to school; ran away because I
didn’t like to study. Saw boys out, so I liked to stay out and play
baseball. Go to W---- Market in a crowd; steal apples, candy, grapes,
and peanuts; we never got caught.
“Put wires across the sidewalks. Fight with another gang; fought for
the fun of it, to see which was the strongest; fought with clubs. If
there was a dispute in our crowd, leader settled it. If two fellows
were fighting for a thing, the leader took it away from them and
gave it to another fellow. If a member of the gang lied to one of us
fellows, we called him a squealer; if he told on us, we called him a
spy.
“Get our money from junk. Drink beer. All smoke. We had our best times
bunking out, ringing doorbells, and tying cats’ tails together. We like
to plague girls,--ask them for a kiss, and things like that.”
_The Medford Street Gang_
Six boys: two Americans, four Irish. Ages between twelve and fifteen.
This is, paradoxically, a bad gang of good boys. Five out of the six
members landed in Reform Schools, and I knew personally four of the
five. All were distinctly above the average, and all are now doing well
in life.
[Illustration: BOYS “JUMP FREIGHTS” BECAUSE THEY “LIKE TO GO AND SEE
PLACES”]
[Illustration: “WE FOUGHT FOR THE FUN OF IT”]
“Met on corner of street. We had three different leaders; I was leader;
St. J. was leader. When we first moved there we gathered together and
kept together all the time.
“We played baseball, football, cricket, tag, and hide and seek. We had
a tent,--stayed out nights. We stole pigeons, broke into slot machines.
We all divided up about the same. If a fellow lied to one of us, we put
him out of the crowd for a week. Used to think school was too hard;
didn’t want to go because there was a show in town; stayed away just
for the fun of it. Best time was going to theatre, like comical plays,
Irishmen and fighting.
“We never used to think of girls, [“How do you treat them?” I had
asked.] I don’t know how to treat them; never tried it.”
_Another boy’s report of the same Gang--one year later_
The gang now contained seven boys: four American, three Irish.
“Met every day, right after school, corner Medford Street and
Somerville Avenue; thought that Medford Street belonged to us. If a
strange boy came around, try to pick up a fight with him to see if he
was a good fighter. A. was leader; St. J. was leader sometimes. Anybody
moved around there we thought safe to come in, would let him in. Put a
fellow out if he go and tell on us. We have been going together five or
six years.
“We play baseball, hoist the sail, how many miles to Barbery; go to
beach; go to theatre once or twice a week, City Square and Grand Opera
House; like love plays best. Sundays go around in city; wander around
the streets; go to beach. Other days go down to freight yards and jump
freights. We used to snowball Jews who came to slaughter house to get
food. Plague a man down there; ring doorbells; play tick-tack. Steal
money, candy, hens, iron, and fountain pens.
“All of us smoked. Get lager beer Saturday nights off beer wagons. Boys
gamble with dice; shoot craps. Chuck a fellow out who made a dispute.”
_The Methuen Gang_
Six boys: five Irish and one “Yankee,” between thirteen and sixteen
years of age. This is an especially adventurous gang, whose chief
amusement is travel. Note especially the characteristic initiation to
test the candidate’s resourcefulness.
“I was called ‘Bull-dog,’ because I stuck to it when I started a thing.
C. called ‘Gulliver’ because he traveled around so much. M. called
‘Puggie’ because he had a flat nose. O. was leader; biggest and best
fighter.
“When one fellow went out, let another fellow in; get a fellow who
would keep things to himself; make him take an oath. Put him [as
initiation] on a freight train and send him off alone to see if he
could get back alone; if he came back he was a member of the gang.
“Been going together three years. All live on the same street. Play
baseball, football, punch bag, tag, hide and seek, bull in the ring,
leap frog. Build forts and capture them.
“Go to boys’ club twice a week. Go to shows two or three times a
week. Like tragedies. Get up shows ourselves and let fellows from
the district in. Went to a show and traveled with the show as far as
W----. Stay out all night sometimes. Go off to different cities. Jump
freights. Sundays sometimes go off on a fishing trip, or a picnic out
in the country.
“Plague the ragman; upset his cart; run off with the rags. Ran away
with banana team. All work for a spell and then all loaf a while. If
one of the gang got hit, stand up for one another. Save up our money
and then go off for a good time; go to B---- Saturday afternoons; buy
our tickets on that trip.”
* * * * *
Boys’ gangs, then, as one may readily infer from the foregoing
accounts, are of various types. They may be large or small, good
or bad, long-lived or evanescent. Yet with all their superficial
differences, they are fundamentally alike. Each exists for the sake of
a definite set of activities--to play games, to seek adventure, to go
swimming, boating, and playing Indians in the woods, to make mischief,
to steal, to fight other gangs. Few are the groups which do not, at
one time or another, do all these things. Especially noteworthy is
the desire of the gang for a local habitation--its own special street
corner, its clubroom, its shanty in the woods.
All normal gangs, in short, are so much alike that if we discovered any
group among the lower animals acting with equal uniformity, we should
unhesitatingly ascribe their behavior to instinct. Without doubt,
there is a gang-forming instinct set deep in the soul of boyhood.
Whoever, therefore, would understand boys, must study their spontaneous
organizations.