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Bernard Welch en route to prison.
Reprinted with permission of the DC Public
Library, Star Collection, © Washington Post.
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From his criminal record, it seems obvious that Welch was
driven by compulsion. The thousands of burglaries during his lifetime indicate
that he was an over-achiever. While that might be laudable in the working world, in
the world of crime, it eventually leads to defeat, as Al Capone learned in the
1930s. Over-achievers have a need to succeed for many reasons, including the need to prove their superiority to others. According to many psychologists, this compulsion is underlain by a person's belief that he,
or she, really is inferior.
I believe Welch secretly believed he was inferior and
that he probably turned to crime as an antidote for that powerful insecurity. He was a
school dropout, and at best, a self-taught plumber destined for a second-rate
life. He wanted more, but had no way to get there. The only thing he had ever
been good at was stealing, so that was the way he went. Welch stated in a press
interview that he enjoyed the “thrill” of a life of crime. Why? Was it because
he was able to prove by stealing and rape that he was better, smarter and
stronger than his victims?
It must have been in his early teens when Welch realized he was different from everybody else. Others would resist doing certain
things they believed to be wrong. They were restrained by conscience, and it is evident that from an early age, he was not. It seemed there was nothing to hinder Welch from doing whatever he wanted, except the penalties of law – and that only mattered if he was caught.
Of course, he was caught and incarcerated several times. He
could have changed his course at any time, but he didn’t. In prison, he learned
new criminal skills and refined old ones. He even received some degree of respect from
fellow inmates, more than he garnered on the outside. He must have relished
that.
Welch was quoted by the newspapers as saying, he intended ”to have it all,” meaning he could get whatever he wanted by criminal means. Did he believe he could go on forever and not get caught? Did he think he would be able to retire to a condo in Florida some day? That would never happen. He could never retire. He was what he was, addicted to life choices he was powerless to change. Intellectually, he had to understand his only retirement plan would be penal servitude. But something within his psyche must have overridden logic, obscuring the ultimate outcome of his criminal career.
Deep within his core, Welch was so confidant in his ability
to elude authorities that he had no real exit strategy. To quote Paul Marturano, his 1975 fellow
escapee, “He (Welch) has got confidence you wouldn’t believe. He figured that
he could always get out…one way or another.”
It was that sort of hubris that eventually brought Bernard Welch to a humiliating downfall.
— Jim King