New School St. Louis Criminals

St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond had respect for the “old school criminals”, who plied their trade in St. Louis during the late 19th Century. Tuttavia, he did not have the same degree of respect for the thug tactics of the “new school criminals”. These criminals made up for a lack of finesse with great violence.

Chief Desmond said most “new school criminals” began their careers by running away from home. After being on the street for a while, Chief Desmond felt most were beyond reform. Characterizing them as hungry half the time and drunk the other half, Chief Desmond described them as unskilled criminals, who often bungled their jobs but fought like wild men to escape capture.

John Joyce alias Scut Crane was the first hobo criminal to operate in St. Louis around 1885. Joyce would sit around saloons. When he observed a man with money, he would encourage the man to get intoxicated. He would then offer to escort the man safely home. When Joyce and his victim would come to a dark alley, Joyce would club the victim with a billy, clean out his pockets and leave the victim in the gutter. It took the St. Louis Police several months to catch Joyce.

Thomas Stockton pulled a similar game. At the time of the story in the St. Louis Repubblica on June 24, 1900, Stockton was serving his fourth term in the Chester, Illinois penitentiary. The last time the St. Louis Police arrested him, Stockton had only been out of the penitentiary two days. Stockton fought two detectives in a saloon on Sixth and Pine Streets. The detectives eventually bashed him into submission. Stockton was sent back to the Missouri penitentiary in the same suit they released him.

Elmer E. Fuller was found in a doorway on Pine Street during a storm. Fuller had been trying to pry open a lock. He acted innocent and refused to talk “to protect a lady’s reputation”. Tuttavia, a gun was found on Fuller. After a week, Chief Desmond was able to figure out Fuller broke out of a Kansas jail. He was returned to the Lansing, Kansas penitentiary to serve his sentence.

Chief Desmond singled out William “St. Paul Tip” Thornton as one of the worst of the hobo criminals. Thornton murdered Officer Nicholas Hunt after robbing a Downtown establishment.

Thornton was still considered a boy by Desmond. Despite coming from a good family in New Orleans, Thornton ran away to San Francisco, where he began his criminal career.

During his time in St. Louis, Thornton organized a group of young burglars and robbers. While the crimes were not well planned, the short but strong Thornton escaped most arrests through his quick resort to fists or firearms. Thornton shot Officer Hunt, when Hunt almost ran him down after a robbery.

St. Louis criminals haven’t gotten any less violent since Chief Desmond’s days as St. Louis capo degli investigatori. I wonder what he would think of today’s criminals.

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