The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-30 00:00:00

BANK ROBBERIES,

The burglars must soon give up breaking the banks of
Maine as a bad job. Not that they find the- vaults too
strong, nor that they go to the work with less preparation
nor that they usually fail to get hold of a plenty of booty,
but that they run the very unpleasant risk of detection
capture, and imprisonment in the lime district. We
wonder that with the remembrance of the Bowdoinham
robbery fresh in their minds the cracksmen who plun-
dered the Lime Rock Bank at Rockland last week should
have ventured to undertake operations so near to Thomas-
ton where Sims and his confederates of the Bowdoinham
affair are at work in the service of the State. Their in-
discretion will, however, be of value in several respects—
in the workshops of the State prison, as a warning to
burglars generally to steer wide of the country detectives
of Maine, and possibly in giving a lesson to the profes-
sional thief-catchers in the larger cities.
The story is short and simple. The Lime Rock
National Bank was entered by five scientific
cracksmen who adopted the popular expedient of getting
at the vault through the wall of an adjoining apartment.
They carried through the robbery successfully, escaped
from the city, and, having buried their plunder, scattered
in all directions to wait until the excitement about the
affair should have passed. Before nightfall of the follow-
ing day two of the gang were in limbo, together with
several persons of Rockland who had aided, perhaps in-
nocently, the escape of the robbers. Shortly afterwards
two more of the gallant party had been captured. The
fifth escaped. The Portland detectives had been notified
to be on the lookout for him but Portland is a
city large enough to have a "ring " of detectives, and if
common rumour be correct she may assume metropolitan
airs in that respect and boast a ring that in all its more
marked characteristics cannot be excelled in any city of
the country. However that may be, the burglar escaped
arrest, although he was known to be a party in the rob-
bery, and was also known to be on the Portland boat.
With this exception the suceess of the officers of justice
was complete. The robbers were captured and the stolen
property was recovered, There is no loophole in the laws
of Maine or in the administration of justice in that State,
so far as we know, to lead to the belief that the case will
not be followed up by prompt trial and conviction, and by
the sentence of the criminals to terms of wholesome
duration in the State prison.
We manage these things differently. Everything is
done by rule. When the robbery has been discovered the
case is put in the hands of detectives. The reward to
be offered for the money, not for the thieves, must be
arranged first of all, and the zeal with which the case
shall be followed up is exactly proportioned to the pecu-
niary inducement to activity. The shrewd detectives
then take a great deal of pains to place an embargo on
the news, .lest the intelligence that a robbery has been
committed should come to the ears of the burglars. An
air of mystery is thrown about the affair, and the news-
papers are requested to give publicity to supposed facts,
so as to mislead some one, it matters little whom. In a
week or two the affair has been partially forgotten. The
losers by the robbery assume more cheerful countenances
as though they had recovered a part of their property, the
detectives become more mysterious and reticent than
ever, and the public is only prevented from forgetting the
whole affair by the marplpts of the newspapers who per-
sist in inquiring occasionally what is to be done about the
robbery. In a month we are ready for a new case. We
need not specify any particular instances for our readers
to recognfze the above as a true history. The new ad-
ministration of our city police has had no opportunity to
show its vigilance and pluck, but for a long time past our
sketch of what might happen would stand for the story of
any one of a dozen great burglaries. Even.in cases like the
last famous robbery, where the shrewdness of an ordinary
business man would tell him whom to suspect and arrest
at once, the effort has invariably been to make a plain
matter very mysterious, either with the hope of increasing
the share of the booty to go to the detective force, or to
furnish an excuse for the inaction or absurd action of the
officers.

We commend the country method which, if not scien-
' tific, yet results in the capture and punishment of the
guilty persons, and not unfrequently in the recovery of
the money besides. The detectives have the consciousness
of performing their duty and of receiving the applause of
all good citizens, which, if not of so much value in a
mercenary point of view, is an object worth striving for,
to say the least. The losers do not always get even a
dividend on their losses. We suppose that their love of
money is as strong as it is in other people. But they
labour under an impression, well or ill-founded, that
the surest way to put an end to burglary is to make it
unprofitable. When it has become a settled thing, that
once in so many years bank depositors must divide
their property with those who would rather take it by
force than earn it honestly, the fratprnity of iJurgleal will
become a recognised class, much larger than it is now,
and very likely more respectable. They may even aspire
to the protection of the laws against such arbitrary action
as that the Maine detectives have been guilty of. An order
was introduced in the Legislature this winter to direct in-
quiry into the possibility of more stringent laws against the
compounding of felonies. The lawyers have examined the
statutes and find that they are strong enough. The diffi-
culty is about enforcing them. So long as the robbed are
contPl4o4 to forego the natural desire to see the criminals
punished, so that they get their money, or a part of it
back again, and so long as the officers appointed to prevent
violation of the laws and to arrest and punish the violators
care more about their private gains than about the en-
foreelpent of Oa law, the present system will continue.
The remedy is in public sentiment and in a stern and un-
yielding demand that the first aim be to seize, convict,
and imprison ciffendets, This remedy ought to I:R3, can be,
and we are hopeful will be applied.—Boston Advertiser.

THE GROWING CROPS.
WASHINGTON, um? 9.
The monthly report of the Department of Agrical7,
will contain full returns from all sections of the count')
relative off
relative to the appearance of the Winter grains wit
opening of . Spring. They picture a small and ,
growth, thinned in places by Winter-killing, weak an
unthrifty in spots from loss of vitality by long exlissure
under ice or to freezing winds ; but with these except' ''
en
vigorous, of good colour, and ready to start under th
influence of a genial Spring, into luxuriant and healthful
growth. These blemishes are neither general nor veriiii
marked in locations where they appear, with occasi°l)
exceptions of severe freezing. While the appearance;
wheat is by no means as promising as it was last year,,
difference is due more to backwardness of gr°„., ter,
caused by late sowing, followed by an early 11'`i00
which allowed of little more than germination In the
cold weather set in, than to injuries by freezing. 111,1
northern part of New England on the Ist ofAPTther
winter grain was lying under two feet of snow, and an ~,1.
month will better determine how it endures the vic;,o,l
tudes of early spring. The winter to that date
been generally favourable. New England, howe'tely
produces but a small amount of the cereals, and int•oo
spring grain. In New York more than half the cennlti- e
report a favourable prospect for a crop. The same is "
in regard to New Jersey, whence correspondents rep 41.
that the sowing season was dry : cold weather came ear
and the winter was changeable, but the extremes of
~eber
perature were not great, nor the winter be
general or severe. In Pennsylvania a majority' of late
counties report wheat and rye below an average, from 1516
germination and unfavourable conditions for growth he'oo
the winter sets in. In Delaware wheat is small, but 1108
well ; in Maryland backward and thin, and in .itrtt
level clay soils it was drowned or frozen out.
two counties in Virginia report a generally fsv'tte
able condition of winter grains, while but four of. 0
forty-two reporting, rate the condition of wheat belcaol
average. Forty counties of Georgia report, but six
ce.
which represent the crop as unpropitious in appearn•
Comparatively little wheat is grown in Alabama,
sippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. Few counties
Tennessee fail to send a favourable report on winter gr 7,4
and but little complaint is made in the reports of le' /I.
of forty counties of Kentucky. A majority of the 1)110.
ties of Ohio reporting represent wheat and rye as ,e pot
promising in appearance," " below an average," or b y
so good as last year." The injury, however, is of suable
character generally, as to be remedied by the faven'' to
weather of April and May, and the later reports inclics•il
that April has brought much of recuperation in its ge'-;,-
weather. More than half the counties of Michigan
port favourably, though injury was done by freezing
thawing. In some sections of the State the grain
,„43
under three feet of snow on the Ist of April. The rebt„
from Indiana indicate a condition below the average
yi
majority of the counties, but the injuries nice:,
generally be repaired by. favourable spring .`„,01
then In Illinois the sowing was late, the gr°lo
generally prepared, and the winter coming earlier ttl`:
usual, a poor chew of weak plants too often rest: 0
The freezing and thawing of a comparatively open wi"ijo
I was therefore disastrous. Yet there were farmers 0'
got in their winter grain early on well-prepared land,
eey
the result, despite the changes of an open winter, is Siteti
in green and vigorous wheat : fields that were raalll ,;see
were also exempt from the ravages of the frost. -1-4110$
suggestive facts appear year by year, and it is a pity
such hints are not more generally taken by the
Later accounts indicate an improving condition, an;;tet
average crop is yet possible in the State. Little
wheat is sown in Wisconsin, but that little is pronulA
Minnesota grows, too, but little winter wheat to sPe',,
while not more than one-tenth of the crop of lenivi
sown in the fall. Same winter-killing in Missouri, the
the appearance of Ali plants is improving with Ali;
advancing spring. No State sends more encouras
news than Kansas, scarcely a complaint coming ie9F
any county. Nebraska sows spring wheat eh 0t
There is a fine prospect of another good crop in the 011
wheat-producing State of California, and the returnsnati
Oregon are generally favourable, as are also the Otte/
from such portions of the territories as produce 101'
grain.—Newark. Advertiser.

DR. RIMMER'S ART SCHOOL.
A New York paper of recent date, of which I have se ,r!
slip, says that immediately on the exhibition of Ir. Bin,'Tot
great picture of " Venus Listening to Cupid's Acmlool
his Exploits," it was bought by a connoisseur for S.I"
I am not at all surprised ; for though I saw the WWI) gt.
fore it was quite finished, I felt it was a master-piece, Pi d.
ting Dr. Rimmer in rank with the old masters of F4l°o
as his "Fighting Gladiator Wounded' put him high 611104
the masters of sculpture. 1 hope the connoisseur will 0 .sw
the picture to be exhibited in Boston, before it is put
ijiir
his gallery ; for even the admirers of Dr. Rimmer's j 5.
tore here will be surprised to see how great a painter Ileby
We hope that the intimation that he isabout to abandon of
position as director of the Cooper Institute of Design alt
Women has no foundation in fact, for this school et
00
justifies the suggestion of au English critic and gi to
admirer of his fighting and wounded Gladiator,
0,,
whom was told his method of teaching a class in Poe
ton—" he could make the greatest school of art in to
world; for in no European school are the pupils taiii;'l
draw from knowledge, but always from dead models. pl
the Cooper Institute he is the sole director and teacher, 6,3
it is very wonderful to go into that long suite of rooms '!6;
see all the variety of works ; in one only is any drawly
from casts. Tho lessons in drawing are received 11 kg
classes, who go into the lecture room with their sketch beclo
while he stands at the blackboard, and, with chalk in 1'911,1
illustrates to the eye all the inward machinery of muscle 9d
nerve that affects the outline, as it varies With the action 20
expression. He then gives them problems to solve 'ole
their lines, how to draw the back, for instance, of a nian 5t.,00
is twisting a branch from a tree, or hauling a bucket
a well, etc., etc.; and then criticising the drawings
by caricaturing the errors in his own copy, and drn'oe
the inward parts within the outline to slew 401,
contradiction of truth made by the false lines. In geP`ti!o
teaching to draw is merely setting the pupil to draw ilryi
eye, and at the best pointing out the mistakes made tift
is like teaching musio by the ear, instead of by beiena
method. But Dr. Rimmer shows his pupil why the MI6, e
is one, and supplies the specific knowledge to the veri
as well as mind, that will prevent a recurrence of I 00
ensure the right lines. Another exercise is to preserk
object of nature or art, and let it be studied very thorollgri;
and thou to remove it and let each draw it from mo°
and still another is to give a mere glance at an object beer
reproduced from memory. He also proposes that at a' 41.
tarn stage of progress some should, on their way to scuji
observe some man or animal in a moment of action,;oB
then attempt to reproduce it from memory. He showeu,
on the blackboards of one room, where these exercises
iot
made, several horses, boys, men, dogs, in attitudes that oer
needs have been momentary; and they were sv°o for
ful. In some rooms were young ladies with sitters tbS
their portrait , to be taken in crayon or oils, and Wer9
liikenesses were excellent. In another room ladies.
,;14
paintng the 'most lovely groups of flowers, whose 111;0if
prototypes were before them, arranged according to, 'ose
own taste, 1 saw no poor work of this or any kind• jet!
young lady was finishing quite an elaborate picture, fT,O!
the trial of St. Stephen, which was her own enn,posni,ol
and, in the thronged sculpture room, there were sevalo
statues, which were original works of the young ig,loo
Thus were going on at once crayon drawinu, water-c 0
painting, oil painting of historical and ideal subjem,,7l to
portraits, flower painting, and sculpture, and it seems
me that the work was of singularly high order in all jsi
kinds. Dr. Rimmer is present from nine till one everldie
in the week, and visitors are admitted only on Frlreyl
except by special permission of Dr. Rimmer. On oti
days he takes into the lecture room different claseesvit
special points, and 3very day from twelve till one the 17 00
school listens to a lecture. The 150 lectures Of veti
course take up the general principles of art and efori,
subject that it behoves an artist to be familiar with—bisal
costumes, manners and customs, forms of architeec' yl;
and manufactures, ethnology, the mythology °` the
nations, and, in short, whatever cultivates 00
imagination or defines the limitations of n%iir
It would take a half dozen different men together to yQ
ply Dr Rimmer's place; and even if he could, by givitrs 01
teaching, bestow on his country several more Wor, ,
art, as great as his Gladiator and his Venus, it would
be doing so much, after all, for American art as oil
school is doing, under his direction, and which a° 13
person excepting himself could direct. For 0011
method, which others might and doubtless ",tiet,!
adopt, he adds a personal power of ill u stq 0,!
that is only possible to original genius. " They ic.l tie;
draw an outline after," he said, "when my outline l'rtilt
full of a life that I can only give by exertions that coveropl
with perspiration and make my heart beat I cannot i
face expressing anger that they will feel and copy
for the time being in imaginary experience angry n-L'i 004
Luckily Dr. Rimmer is at the age when he is more
than of an individual ; and personal ambition,is swa4d
up in the higher sentiment which is better grad" IS)
making living artists than any work of art which Ing-',
reproduce itself.—Boston Advertiser.

An extraordinary scene was witnessed in T, A-'e(ll°
A private of the sth Dragoon Guards, named El ryel);
had been tried by court-martial and was awaiting Av'ol32
tence for having absented himself without leave 9,11,107,
to Barnsley,pretending that he was sent to make 1-)Rd
arrangements there, while being removed by a gut DP,
away, and fled for a considerable distance from tu j 0"
racks. He was pursued by the soldiers, and was fire
and was at last caught and taken back.

London: Printed and Published byWILI.IAM ANl),n
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Office, Nit
Strand, in the. Precinct of the Savoy, in the t-I°'
Middlesex.—lflonday, May 30, 1870

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