歌词
On May 7, 1931, the most sensational manhunt New York City had
Ever known had come to its climax. After weeks of search, "Two
Gun" Crowley - the killer, the gunman who didn't smoke or drink -
Was at bay, trapped in his sweetheart's apartment on West End
Avenue.
One hundred and fifty policemen and detectives laid siege to his topfloor hideway. They chopped holes in the roof; they tried to smoke
Out Crowley, the "cop killer," with teargas. Then they mounted their
Machine guns on surrounding buildings, and for more than an hour
One of New York's fine residential areas reverberated with the crack
Of pistol fire and the rut-tat-tat of machine guns. Crowley, crouching
Behind an over-stuffed chair, fired incessantly at the police. Ten
Thousand excited people watched the battle. Nothing like it ever
Been seen before on the sidewalks of New York.
When Crowley was captured, Police Commissioner E. P. Mulrooney
Declared that the two-gun desperado was one of the most dangerous
Criminals ever encountered in the history of New York. "He will kill,"
Said the Commissioner, "at the drop of a feather."
But how did "Two Gun" Crowley regard himself? We know, because
While the police were firing into his apartment, he wrote a letter
Addressed "To whom it may concern, " And, as he wrote, the blood
Flowing from his wounds left a crimson trail on the paper. In this
Letter Crowley said: "Under my coat is a weary heart, but a kind one
- One that would do nobody any harm."
A short time before this, Crowley had been having a necking party
With his girl friend on a country road out on Long Island. Suddenly a
Policeman walked up to the car and said: "Let me see your license."
Without saying a word, Crowley drew his gun and cut the policeman
Down with a shower of lead. As the dying officer fell, Crowley leaped
Out of the car, grabbed the officer's revolver, and fired another bullet
Into the prostrate body. And that was the killer who said: "Under my
Coat is a weary heart, but a kind one - one that would do nobody
Any harm.'
Crowley was sentenced to the electric chair. When he arrived at the
Death house in Sing Sing, did he say, "This is what I get for killing
People"? No, he said: "This is what I get for defending myself."
The point of the story is this: "Two Gun" Crowley didn't blame
Himself for anything.
Is that an unusual attitude among criminals? If you think so, listen to
"I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter
Pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the
Existence of a hunted man."
That's Al Capone speaking. Yes, America's most notorious Public
Enemy- the most sinister gang leader who ever shot up Chicago.
Capone didn't condemn himself. He actually regarded himself as a
Public benefactor - an unappreciated and misunderstood public
Benefactor.
And so did Dutch Schultz before he crumpled up under gangster
Bullets in Newark. Dutch Schultz, one of New York's most notorious
Rats, said in a newspaper interview that he was a public benefactor.
And he believed it.
I have had some interesting correspondence with Lewis Lawes, who
Was warden of New York's infamous Sing Sing prison for many years,
On this subject, and he declared that "few of the criminals in Sing
Sing regard themselves as bad men. They are just as human as you
And I. So they rationalize, they explain. They can tell you why they
Had to crack a safe or be quick on the trigger finger. Most of them
Attempt by a form of reasoning, fallacious or logical, to justify their
Antisocial acts even to themselves, consequently stoutly maintaining
That they should never have been imprisoned at all."
If Al Capone, "Two Gun" Crowley, Dutch Schultz, and the desperate
Men and women behind prison walls don't blame themselves for
Anything - what about the people with whom you and I come in
Contact?
John Wanamaker, founder of the stores that bear his name, once
Confessed: "I learned thirty years ago