The Saint Paul Globe

UNABLE TO RESIST
CHARM OF BURGLARY

Man Who Has Served Thirty
five Terms for Crime Finds
Excitement Irresistible

LONDON, Jan. 5.--"Drink and gam-
bling and all the excitement of life
rolled into one are as nothing to one
compared with the excitement of com-
miting a burglary."

The strange history of the man who
uttered these words was recounted by
Thomas Holmes, the well known police
court missionary, in an address which
he delivered before the members of the
Ethnological society at the rooms of
the Zoological society, Hanover square,
W. Taking as his subject "Obscure
Causes of Disease," he instanced epi-
lepsy, mania, and weakness of intellect.

Repeat Their Offenses

Mania, said Mr. Holmes, is responsi-
ble for a vast amount of crime, much
of it of a very serious nature, for it
led men and women to the constant
repetition of one kind of offense. It
was in this connection that the speak-
er told of a man whom he had tried
to influence, for whom burglary had an
irresistible fascination.

"This man has served thirty-five
terms of imprisonment for burglarious
attempts, and he is now undergoing
penal servitude. Apart from his bur-
glarious instincts, he is manly, honor-
able, tender hearted, and in every way
an admirable fellow.

Tried to Reform

"Twice I set him up in business. He
tried hard to reform, but he told me
it was no good. The silence of the
night, the element of danger, the neces-
sary stringing up of the nerves, gave
him a fiercer joy than all other joys
put together, and nothing could keep
him from that path of crime."

Mr. Holmes gave other curious in-
stances of criminal mania which he
had met with. One man was honest
except where false teeth were con-
cerned. He stole these whenever he
had the opportunity.

A woman otherwise honest and re-
spectable was convicted thirty times
for stealing boots. She never took
anything else.