The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-18 00:00:00

BUENOS AIRES v. LONDON.

"An English Resident at Buenot Ayres " has sent
the following letter to The Times, far publication, and
which conveys a vivid picture of the crime that must
inevitably exist in a large city:
.• " " •

During the last year Hoe Majesty's Emigration C zamle-
sloimrs have from time to time stated through the press that
they considered themselves bound to publish warnings
against emigration to Buenos Ayres (a province where Eng-
lishmen are cordially and hospitably welcomed) on the
ground of want of sufficient protection for lire and p-operty.
Permit me as on Englishman who has resided at Intervale
for 15 years In S mth America, ten of them in Buenos
Ayres, to mention my personal experience of that capital
end London In Buenas Ayres L have never enccuntered
an attempt either of robbery or violence, and have boon
so accustomed to immunity that I never even curry
a walking stick as a means of defence. in L orion, which
I have lately visited, the following has just been my fate
I was dialog with some friends at a west-end club
on Friday evening last and lett about hal'part eleven. I
walked direct to my lodgings in Pall-mall, had arrived at the
doorstep, and when in the act of taking out my latchkey a
woman pushed, or rather squatted, between me and the
door, laid hold of my left arm, and turned back the breast of
my overcoat. Almost simultaneously, a man run against me
Violently on the other aide, the woman screamed and ran
away, while the man abused me in font language for having
pushed the woman, and threatened me with violence. I we
no aatoutided at his audacity that I never for a moment sus
pentad the real object of the attack, and before I could
recover from my astonishment the fellow ran MI round the
corner, ups dark street. Ina moment or two afterward I dis-
covered that my purse, containing a check for Elsa and chunk
put bill for Ise Bid., together with some gold and silver,
had been taken out of my left breast pocket. I gave chime
up some dark lanes tor a considerable distance, and
eventually met a policeman, who accompanied me in my
useless attempt to catch the thieves. Now, this in
exactly what occurs in South America when our Indian
pickpockets or " clear-farms ") of the Pampas came upon
your English settler and sweep away his cattle as my purse
was ewe pt away. If he resists or follows them his life will pro
bah!), pay the forfeit, as mine might perhaps have done had
I been successful in catching the thieves in the back slums
of the Seven Dial., or some such, to me, awf eland outlandieh
neighbourhood.
Brit the comparison Is much worse for the Emigration
Commissioners than for the River Plate Governments, for
there settlers or sojourners are plainly told that If they go
beyond the frontier they may make more money, because

laud I. cheaper, but they run the risk of losing their
because the Government cannot protect them; while here,
In civilised London. In one of the most frequented and
fashionable thoroughfares, within a stone's throw of the
highest police authorities in the kingdom, a peaceable citizen
Ix attacked on his own doorstep, ribbed of £l5O, and
threatened with having hie skull cracked, which would
probably have been executed were It net for some persons
who were approaching the spot.
After this escapade I am compelled to believe London no
more secure fur life or property than the Pampa, and cerLitnly
far less so than our city of Buenos Ayres.