Richmond Press, Inc.                          Richmond, VA                          1938

The Lulu Gang

The headquarters of this gang was on the corner of Madison and Cary Streets.  The gang grew in numbers, power and authority from year to year, until the time of inevitable disintegration.

On one occasion they made a foray into the territory of the Grace Street cats, who in some way had given casus belli, captured seven or eight of them, forcing the remnant of the enemy force to take to their strongly fortified places, to-wit: Their fathers' and mothers' dwelling houses; and returned to Cary Street in triumph with their prisoners.

But now a fatal ambition motivated them.  They must go back and capture the rest of the Grace Street cats.  So they, moved by evil counsels, locked their prisoners in the cellar of Wallace Marshall's house, which was situated on Main Street in a row called Park Place, and went off on the second foray.  They captured no one; saw no enemy forces, nor any signs of them.  And, when they returned to deal severely with their prisoners, according to the laws of war and the comity of nations, why, the wretched Grace Street cats had executed the distinguished exploit of escape.  They had dug a hole in the brick wall that separated Mrs. Marshall's house from the cellar of the house next door, crept through the hole, just like General Morgan from the Yankee prison in Ohio, and rushed through the unlocked cellar next door.

Another time, going against their traditional enemies on Grace Street, they captured the whole gang, root and branch, bag and baggage, and brought them back to their own territory.  Obedience was compelled by a devilishly ingenious device.  They had provided themselves with short pieces of annealed wire-baling wire, as civilians call it-and short stocks for cleats, or twisters.  Each took his prisoner, wrapped the wire around the wrist, shoved the cleat through it and gave it a twist, making it cut, or threaten to cut into the flesh.  "Come along!" And you bet the prisoner came along.

Near their headquarters there was a large lot called the Penitentiary lot, because it belonged to the State and in its center was located a big spring that had furnished, in other days, the Penitentiary with its water supply.  The lot took up the entire square.  It was sunken, some twenty feet below the street level and there was a high fence all around it.  Into this lot, through a convenient hole in the fence, they led their prisoners; and there, all sheltered from observing eyes, they wreaked their revenge.  Made their prisoners clean up the lot, collecting all the brick-bats, tin cans, sticks, old shoes and so on, and pile them in the middle of the lot.  Then they laid their prisoners down, faces up, on the ground, drove pegs four around each and tied their wrists and ankles to said pegs.  And left them there, the little villians! to be released as best they might.

Wallace Marshall, Bob Smith, Seldon Chockley, David Dugger, Dick Duke, Harry Little, Harry Gill, Gibson Little, Harry Puckett, Tom Vial, Lem Fear and his nephew, who was the same size, Joe Brizzolara, Sam Rowsey, Kay Burnett, Otey Edwards, Charlie Duke, who was called Yuckey, in pure kindness, and many other attractive and enterprising captains made up the gang.  They bound themselves to one another by solemn oaths and, in token thereof, had themselves tattooed between the thumb and the back of the hand with four little round spots.  And if you should meet any of them, even to these distant days, just you look at the hand and you shall see for yourself.  For each will carry the mark of the Lulu gang to his grave.