Laws Are Meant to Be Broken or at least Bent

[tomswift2002]

Con is a cop but also a friend of theirs. I would still consider that something they would get in trouble for though...

Actually...at that point in the series the Hardy's and Con Riley were not really friends.  They were acquaintances, but the relationship between Con and the boys was nothing like the relationship that was developed in the Casefiles where Con was the opposite of Collig and the boys could trust him.  Really the way that we know Con Riley and the boys now comes from the Revision period of 1959-1973.  Of course there is still one book from the Grosset & Dunlap series that is still in print that still has the Con Riley from the pre-Revision period: The Mystery of The Chinese Junk.

With the Revised volumes of 1-38, whenever Con Riley appears you'll notice that he is a much more friendlier character towards the Hardy's, while in #39 he tends to be more of an acquaintance of the boys and a characature of cops from the 40's and 50's, and then from books 40 onward Con is back to his "normal post-revision" self.

[hardygirl847]

Hmm very interesting!

[SDLagent]

He wasn't their friend in those ones.

[hardygirl847]

Well whether they are friends or not...they should still respect him and his authority. Con isn't like Biff or Tony or Phil...He's still a police officer.

[MacGyver]

Then in Hunting For Hidden Gold (1928) the boys and their friends lob snowballs at Con Riley.

I seriously doubt throwing a snowball should count as assaulting a police officer. (unless perhaps it's an all out barrage.) I'm not saying it was really nice or anything, but if Con was as good-natured then as he's portrayed later (regardless of his relationship with The Hardy Boys) I'm sure he would've laughed off with little more than a warning and probably a snowball or two of his own.

[SDLagent]

Still, it's next exactly the role-model behavior the boys display in the later books, where they won't even break the speed limit!

[tomswift2002]

Still, it's next exactly the role-model behavior the boys display in the later books, where they won't even break the speed limit!

I seem to recall a few times in the Casefiles (I believe one occurance happened in A Killing In The Market) where the boys did go faster than even the posted highway speed.

[SDLagent]

Yeah, the boys break a few more laws in the Casefiles then they do in the revised Original and Digest books.

[hardygirl847]

I seem to recall a few times in the Casefiles (I believe one occurance happened in A Killing In The Market) where the boys did go faster than even the posted highway speed.

I've always thought they were guilty of speeding...especially Joe. But that's rather minor compared to other things....

[SDLagent]

I've always thought they were guilty of speeding...especially Joe. But that's rather minor compared to other things....

Like breaking and entering, for example, which happens almost every book.

[hardygirl847]

very true! They are quite the locksmiths...