“Is Dread Bob-Haired Bandit Female Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde?
"Strange Phase of Modern Feminism Keeps Whole of Police Guessing Hard."
A Is the bob-haired bandit the first specimen of a new variety of criminal? Or is she an old variety acting in a new way? [ . . . ]
"Police theories to account for this peculiar development of feminism are many."
[She is ] a stenographer meekly taking dictation by day and a bandit giving orders, pistol in hand, by night.
[Her] fondness for grocery and tea stores might be the instinctive turning of a woman to the places with which she is most familiar, or she might choose these places deliberately because she could enter there without any possible suspicion."
[The New York World interviewed two anonymous experts in the field of banditry, Gangster #1 & Gangster #2]
[According to Gangster #1:]
"There isn't just one bob-haired bandit," said a former gangster who is now said to be trying to go straight. "There are several. We have always had girl bandits, for that matter. They same ones who used to be "boob bandits" a while ago.
You see, most gangsters have female gun-toters. The police know that. When a man goes out on a hold-up job, he plans it as carefully as a general plans a war vigures out his army, his defense and so on. And he depends mostly on his girl gun-toter.
"First a machine is stolen, the plates removed and new plates put on. The girl is given a special tailor-made suit with secret pockets for revolvers. Sometimes the pockets are hidden by a ruffle added around the waist; sometimes they are in the lining of the coat, with a piece of stiffening to keep the gun from showing--though a litttle automatic doesn't make much of a bulge in a coat. Then she is given the 'gats.' When they reach the block where the hold-up is to be pulled off, she hands out revolvers to the chief, assistant chief, and the chauffeur. She walks out first, looks to see if the coast is clear and then gives the signal for them to start. After that she acts as a look out while her 'general' doe the job.
"She has been promised a percentage, plus everything from new shoes to a new evening gown, swell times and automobile rides. She gets the promise, and that's about all. A number of these girls have told me of being double-crossed in such cases.
"Slowly but surely these girls learn how the jobs are done. The girl who has been double-crossed is out for revenge. She wants to show that she can pull off a job too. She has graduated from being a girl bandit that has been "boobed" time and time again into a bob-haired bandit.
"Now instead of standing lookout for a male companion, she has them stand lookout while she does the job. She is going to be sure that what she gets is HERS!"
[Gangster #2: "formerly a well-known member of underworld gangs on the west side"]
I am positive the bob-haired bandits are all poor girls. They would like to make an honest dollar, but they can't get jobs. Result, no new dresses like their friends have who are working. When a girl has new dresses her friends stay away from her, her people bawl her out and threaten to chase her away from home and she gets disgusted with life, goes to a cheap dance hall, gets a boy "friend" who, perhaps, is in the same predicament and they plan and carry out a hold-up.
"She does not go out to kill, although she gets a revolver. She goes out to get enough to buy a new dress and keep her parents from scolding her. One job is successful and they try bigger jobs."
[Mabel Abbot, "Is Dread Bob-Haired Bandit Female Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde? Former Gangster Has Theory" New York World, April 13, 1924, p. 1-2.]
A Is the bob-haired bandit the first specimen of a new variety of criminal? Or is she an old variety acting in a new way? [ . . . ]
"Police theories to account for this peculiar development of feminism are many."
[She is ] a stenographer meekly taking dictation by day and a bandit giving orders, pistol in hand, by night.
[Her] fondness for grocery and tea stores might be the instinctive turning of a woman to the places with which she is most familiar, or she might choose these places deliberately because she could enter there without any possible suspicion."
[The New York World interviewed two anonymous experts in the field of banditry, Gangster #1 & Gangster #2]
[According to Gangster #1:]
"There isn't just one bob-haired bandit," said a former gangster who is now said to be trying to go straight. "There are several. We have always had girl bandits, for that matter. They same ones who used to be "boob bandits" a while ago.
You see, most gangsters have female gun-toters. The police know that. When a man goes out on a hold-up job, he plans it as carefully as a general plans a war vigures out his army, his defense and so on. And he depends mostly on his girl gun-toter.
"First a machine is stolen, the plates removed and new plates put on. The girl is given a special tailor-made suit with secret pockets for revolvers. Sometimes the pockets are hidden by a ruffle added around the waist; sometimes they are in the lining of the coat, with a piece of stiffening to keep the gun from showing--though a litttle automatic doesn't make much of a bulge in a coat. Then she is given the 'gats.' When they reach the block where the hold-up is to be pulled off, she hands out revolvers to the chief, assistant chief, and the chauffeur. She walks out first, looks to see if the coast is clear and then gives the signal for them to start. After that she acts as a look out while her 'general' doe the job.
"She has been promised a percentage, plus everything from new shoes to a new evening gown, swell times and automobile rides. She gets the promise, and that's about all. A number of these girls have told me of being double-crossed in such cases.
"Slowly but surely these girls learn how the jobs are done. The girl who has been double-crossed is out for revenge. She wants to show that she can pull off a job too. She has graduated from being a girl bandit that has been "boobed" time and time again into a bob-haired bandit.
"Now instead of standing lookout for a male companion, she has them stand lookout while she does the job. She is going to be sure that what she gets is HERS!"
[Gangster #2: "formerly a well-known member of underworld gangs on the west side"]
I am positive the bob-haired bandits are all poor girls. They would like to make an honest dollar, but they can't get jobs. Result, no new dresses like their friends have who are working. When a girl has new dresses her friends stay away from her, her people bawl her out and threaten to chase her away from home and she gets disgusted with life, goes to a cheap dance hall, gets a boy "friend" who, perhaps, is in the same predicament and they plan and carry out a hold-up.
"She does not go out to kill, although she gets a revolver. She goes out to get enough to buy a new dress and keep her parents from scolding her. One job is successful and they try bigger jobs."
[Mabel Abbot, "Is Dread Bob-Haired Bandit Female Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde? Former Gangster Has Theory" New York World, April 13, 1924, p. 1-2.]
posted by A. Mattson at 9:33 PM
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