The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-01 00:00:00

THE HAUNTS

T IN LONDON.

"N. A. W." writes another letter, apparently.the last
of the series, on the haunts of criminals in London. He
calls attention to the queen of the Bluegate-fields in the
East-end. " She is known in the neighbourhood by the
soubriquet of Cast-iron Poll.' She is a celebrity, having
been convicted, as was proved at her last trial, no less than
fifty-three times. Of course nearly all these convictions
were light ones, varying in duration from 14 days to 3
months ; yet, from the time that this infamous woman
was 15—and she is now near 50— she has seldom been
much more than a month at a time out of prison. We
were not gatified at the sight of this strange heroine of the
place, as one of her companions (who, our detective assured
us, had herself been convicted nearly twenty times) said
that Poll, who at her last sentence got three years' penal
servitude for a daring robbery from the person, would not
be `out on the spree' for nearly another month. The
police of the district almost dread the release of this
woman, so much trouble does she give them. She has got
so accustomed to, and apparently enamoured of, the gaol
life that she will literally do anything after a short
spree' to get back to it. She will go 0 a
police-station and insist on being locked up ; but, of
course, as there is no charge against her, her unusual
request cannot be gratified. No charge,' she says,
well, I'll soon make one,' and out s'ae goes and attacks
with teeth and nails the first man or woman she meets, or
breaks the windows of a public-house, or, as she has done
over and over again, the windows of the station-house
itself. Then when she is brought back she cooly asks the
inspector why he did not lock her up when he knew she
was going to commit her offence, and the same question is
likely to occur to many of your readers."
But though the East-end is bad enough, "N. A. W."
considers the South of London worse, especially those
parts around the Mint and Kent-street in the Borough.
Murderers are not tolerated in the haunts, as they create
too much stir ; but every criminal short of these has a
refuge in the house's of the neighbourhood. "There is
hardly a grade in crime the chief representatives of which
may not be met among the purlieus of the Borough. It is
the greatest error to suppose that all, or even a majority,
of the criminal classes are continually passing through the
hands of justice. Griffith, the bank-note forger, who was
tried, I think, in 1862, stated in prison that he had car-
ried on the printing of counterfeit notes for more than
fifteen years. Of course this man was sedulous in conceal-
ing his occupation from the police, but there are hundreds
of others who almost openly follow equally criminal and
far more dangerous pursuits with whom the police cannot
interfere. Our present business should be to look up these
vagabonds, and our future vocation to destroy their re-
cognised haunts. It is no good killing one wasp when
we leave the nest untouched. Thieves, it must be remem-
bered, are a complete fraternity, and have a perfect
organisation among themselves. The aspect of the
quarters is low, foul, and dingy. Obscenity of language
and conduct is, of course, common to all parts of it, but
it is not, as a rule, a riotous neighbourhood. Thieves do
not rob each other, and they have a wholesome fear of
making rows, lest it should bring the police into
their notorious territory. These haunts are not
only the refuges and abiding-places of criminals,
but they are the training colleges for young thieves." It
is on this latter score more particularly that "N. A. W"
would suppress these haunts. "If the police were only
some night to make a cordon round Kent-street and the
Mint, in the-Borough, and take all they found within their
lines —man, woman, or child—l can't help thinking from
what I saw that they would do great good to the metro-
polis and its ratepayers." The position of the public-houses
in the neighbourhood also demands attention. Here are
houses of ill-fame, notorious for coining, card-sharping,
skittlersharping, and hocussing—but the police can do
nothing. They might search the house, but would find
nothing. "The Excise is to all intents and purposes the
landlord of these places, and a landlord knowingly re-
ceiving for his rent stolen property would be answerable
to the law. Is it not, then, a delicate refinement to say
that he shall not be equally liable for receiving money
which is by public repute derived from the, open en-
couragement of fraud and theft. In this matter I
am afraid the Excise cannot be said to be not guilty."
"N. A. NV." goes on to describe one of these South Lon-
don. haunts. They were much the same as those of the
East-end, only the writer seems to have thought them to
be viler. " The first house we entered was at the end of a
narrow, villainous-looking alley off Kent-street, and at the
door of the house were some half-dozen ' roughs.' Before
we entered my conductor told me that I should see nothing
but the most notorious and convicted thieves. Had he
sworn to me that I should see nothing but honest men,
I could not have believed him. We passed down into
a sort of cellar, or underground basement floor,
which had been turned into a kind of kitchen, and here
were assembled, to the number of about thirty or forty,
some of the worst types of the most criminal classes
London. There was not one of all those present whom a
respectable person would not instinctively have shrunk
from meeting in the day or night. They were mostly
young men and young women—or, I had better say:young
girls. Not one single one, from first, to last, could give
any account of himself as to saying where he worked,
what he worked at, or who had ever employed him.
Some said they lived By odd jobs,' some said they
worked `Down the river.' The girls said they sold
snatches, some said they sang in public-houses, some
that they begged ;' but not one man or woman.
could name an employer, not one could name
a single piece of honest work he had been
engaged in, and there was not one who did not
deny that he had got a penny that week. And this was
Friday night, and the men were all smoking and drinking
beer, and the women, I was told (it was then past 1
o'clock), had had their suppers more than two hours ago.
I spoke to many with a view of ascertaining if they had
ever been in casual wards or refuges. Of the scores that
I questioned, I only met with one who had ever been in a
refuge, and this was the conversation that passed in the
presence of my friends and my conductor. My witness waS a
young man of about 25, a convicted thief, a known rough, and
an associate of regular thieves. I asked him had he ever
been in a casual ward. He said, as all the rest said, No,'
and I believe quite truly, that he liked getting his own
living, and not going to a work'us.'—' Have you ever been
to a refuge, then? Yes ; I tried to go once.—Did you stay
there ? No, I didn't ; they asks too many questions,
and they asks them over and over agin, and when you
forgets what you've said first, out you goes.—But if
you tell the truth first, you surely can't forget
that? Oh, yes, you can, though, when you are asked over
and over again.—What questions did they ask you?
(A very long pause). They asked me if I had a father of
a mother alive.—Well, have you ? No ; they're both
dead.—Well, if you were asked that a dozen times you
would not forget it, would you? Yes, I did, and they
turned me out. The truth is you cannot get
your beer and pipe at the refuge ? Yes, that's
it (a great laugh at this ; and they makes
you say prayers, and this was said with a spit of
intense disgust) they makes you wash.' This was the
only case where I met any who had among these criminals
been at either a refuge or a casual ward. The house in
which this thieves' jubilee is held makes up some 120
beds, and the lessee, if I may so call him, pays 1:10 a
week rent for the place. In this place men are charged
4d, a night for their beds, and men and w omen is
In most other houses married couples are only charged
Gd. I was so much struck with this discrepancy
that I asked the reason plain and pointedly, and the
reply was equally plain and pointed. Bless you, sir, I
should no more think of asking if the people who come
here are married than I should think of asking if the men
who come here are thieves. So long as they pay their
money and are quiet I asks no questions.' After this I
need not further explain what the house is, nor need I
dwell upon the class of female childrenwhom I saw there,
and who, though living on their infamy, were more fit
for a nursery than a notorious thieves' house of ill fame."
In conclusion, "N. A. NV." says : " I do not pretend to
offer suggestions as to the prevention of all crime, but
this I do say, that unless the low beershops, the low pawn.
brokers, and the low leaving shops are put under the
entire control of the police, it is idle to talk of diminishing
crime in the metropolis or bringing in bills for its better
suppression."

The infant child of Prince and Princess Christian
was christianed at Windsor Castle on Wednesday afternoon.
The • Dorset Chronicle states that the Solicitor-
General has returned his fees in the Saurin case, believing
that the plaintiff's friends cannot afford to pay them.
The Guardian is glad to learn that there is an
itu-
provement in the health of the Bishop of Salisbury. His
lordship's condition is still very precarious, but there is
much greater ground for hopes of his recovery than there
was a week ago.

The New York Tribune says that Miss Van Lew,
who rendered the Stete SOlll3 service as a Union spy for
General Grant, in the Potomac army, is to ro eive the
appointment of Postmistress at Richmond, Virginia. This
is looked upon as a big thing for the women's rights people.
From a return published on Wednesday it appears
that the total number of sick poor attended by the medical
officers of the metropolis during the year ending 29th of
September, ISGB, was—indoor, 79,375; outdoor, 268,135.
The amount of remuneration paid to the medical officers,
inclusive of salary fees, dc., was £28,609 is. 9d.
The Prince of Wales is expected to arrive at Coa-
stant-itiople to-day. Mr. Elliott will go to meet him in the
Dardanelles on board the Caradoo. The King of Italy has
placed the Palace Cepo-di-Monte, at Naples, at the disposal
of the Prince of Wales, who is expected to Agin kinktly in
South Italy.

7 ,
Etr&
- •• ytto.

HER MAJESTY.

^ • -

WINDSOR CASTLE, March 31.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
and attended by the Duchess of Roxburghe, drove
to Twickenham yesterday afternoon, and visited
the Countess of Paris.
Prince Arthur accompanied her Majesty on
horseback.

Her Majesty returned to Windsor by a special
train on the South-Western Railway.

LATEST INTELL IGEN OE

(REU-ER'S TELEGRAMS.)

TIIE BRAZILS.

PLYMOUTH, April 1.

The London, Belgium, Brazil, and River Plate
Royal Mail Steamship Company's steamship City
of Limerick, from the Brazils, has arrived at Fal-
mouth this morning with 20 passengers, the mails,
£15,000 in specie, and a general cargo. Ifer dates
are :—Buenos Ayres, February 18th ; Montevideo
23d; Rio, March 3d; and St. Vincent 18th.

According to Brazilian advices brought by the
City of Limerick Lopez still continues to repel the
advance of the allied army into the interior of

Paraguay.
The appointment of General Asorio as Comman-
der-in-Chief had met with general approval.

LISBON, March 31.

The. Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's steam-
ship Oneida from Brazil, &c., arrived here to-day
at 9 a.m., and left for Southampton at one p.m.
with 70 passengers, specie, £8,475, 2,862 bags of
coffee, 1,147 rolls of tobacco, 854 packages (cocoa),
and 370 packages of sundries.
The La Plata, with the oatward mail of the 9th
March, was at St. Vincent (Cape Verds) on the
20th of March.