Being a criminal in old-time Phoenix


Being a successful criminal is a very good-paying job, with flexible hours, and you get to be your own boss. It does, however come with some very high risks, and it never appealed to me, but I know that it's something that people have always done, and always will do. Today I'm imagining the risks and rewards of being a criminal in old-time Phoenix.

My first thought is of being a petty criminal. That is, picking up things that were left around, like maybe someone's jacket that they took off and hung up on a fence. Let's see, what else? Maybe stealing a pie cooling on a windowsill. The rewards for this are pretty small, and of course the risks are pretty high, like being shot at, or beat up, or having a dog sic'ed on you.

But to be a more advanced criminal takes some special skills, and investments. For someone who can climb porches, and roofs, there would be things worth stealing. This is best done at night, and one of the risks is simply falling off the roof and breaking your neck. You would probably need to invest, at the bare minimum, in dark clothing. It might be good to carry some weapons. Locks would be easy to pick, and most doors would open with skeleton keys, but you'd have to remember to bring your tools along.

Going up higher on the criminal scale, you could rob banks. This is a very high-reward option, but the risks, especially in old-time Phoenix, were pretty darned high, as Phoenix has always had good lawmen who weren't afraid to shoot you. I can't imagine being shot, even in the leg, and it seems like a risk that all the gold in the bank wouldn't be worth to me. Of course, all jobs have their drawbacks, I guess!

Since my days of climbing on roofs, and porches, are long behind me, and I'm not brave enough to rob banks, I suppose a criminal endeavor that I could do would be cheating at cards. From what I understand it's a job that can be done sitting down, and any type of attire would be fine. The thing to do is to look like some kind of out-of-town rube, who has more money than sense, and sucker people into a game that way. It would require some slight-of-hand, in order to slip aces into your hand, but that seems a simple enough thing to learn. Of course if you got caught you would probably be lucky with a beating "within an inch of your life", and you would risk getting shot, and possibly tarred-and-feathered.

I grew up reading books and watching movies about towns with timid townsfolk who could only be saved by some mysterious stranger riding into town, and then realized that the townsfolk of the old west would be far from timid, with a good percentage Civil War veterans, and good with guns. You steal from them at your own risk!

Image at the top of this post: Looking east over 1st Street between Washington and Jefferson in the 1890s, Phoenix, Arizona.

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Comments

  1. As an avid reader, your stories make me happy to learn and take me to years gone bye. Thanks.

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