The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-10 00:00:00

ABUSES IN THE POLICE.

The connexion between the thieves and the
police is so unequivocal, that it has become ne-
cessary for persons who have been robbed, and
who suspect that their goods are at the houses
of certain receivers, to apply for search-warrants
at hours when some of the officers of the esta-
blishment are absent from the offices. The mo-
ment the information is given, the trap, or po-
lice officer, if he happens to learn what is going
forward, gives the word to the " fence," who
acts accordingly, and the chance of regaining the
property is gone, except a pecuniary compromise
can be effected. In this compromise the officer
is a large sharer. There are generally four part-
ners in the produce ; the thief has a fourth, the
receiver a fourth, the officer a fourth, and the at-
torney, or Newgate agent, a fourth ; but of late
attornies are very shy of dabbling in robberies :
the exposure some time ago in this paper of their
agency with respect to bankers' parcels, has in a
great measure diminished their profits in this par-
ticular department of the profession. The Jew
agents, some of whom have been tried at the Old
Bailey themselves, and who are in the habit of
getting up alibi's and other modes of defence by
means of perjury, now monopolize the steward-
ship of the plunderer. At an investigation into
the circumstances of the escape of Ikey Solo-
mons from justice, it was ascertained beyond all
doubt, that " the thing" was planned by a Jew
agent • and almost the only meritorious determi-
nation,s, perhaps ever arrived at by the Police
Magistrates as a body, that of excluding the pro-
jectors of this base enterprise from the police
offices for ever, was instantly made. It would
be well if they made a proper use of a far higher
power, which they allow to lie in so shameful a
state of inaction, as to exhibit the symptoms and
effect of positive connivance. We are, however,
glad to observe one proof of virtuous iudignatica
upon the part of the Magistrates. The agent in
the nefarious business alluded to, admits that he
used to put upwards of 1,0001. a year into his
pocket by his trade. His exclusion from the
police offices and the prisons of the Metro-
polis, necessarily checks the tide of his pro-
sperity, and operates as a redeeming spirit
in the conduct of those who havo expelled
,Itiattc: ' --rt.. main cuticles upon evlcieli the receiver
depends are silk and broadie (broad cloth.) The
broadie at once findspurchasers amongst the Jews,
and the silk finds customers, not only amongst that
class of dealers, but amongst some of the most
affluent tradesmen. A very great house in the
neighbourhood of Finsbury has been known so
far to transgress the rules of fair competition, as
to act the part of receiver upon many occasions.
The proprietor, however, who had all the sinister
ingenuity of an accomplished thief, managed
things so well as to escape such a detection as
would compel him to hold up his hand at the
Old Bailey. The price it was, at which his
tricks had enabled him to sell the article, and
the acknowledgment of his confederates, who
never failed at one time or other to tremble in
the grasp of retributive justice, that fixed his par-
ticipation beyond all doubt. The name of this
congenial soul has not of late appeared in the
police vocabulary, and some ascribe the change
to fear, and some to virtue.
There is not, we will venture to say, a ware-
houseman in Wood-street who does not know
that there arc houses which are daily selling
bandanas at 25 per cent. cheaper than the price
at which the fair dealer can afford to dispose 'of
articles of the same description,—ay, even at
25
per cent. under first cost. The ladies at the
west end of the town are not aware, that when
they are making bargains with persons who
hawk about silks, they are encouraging the sys-
tem of robbery upon which we have animadvert-
ed. There is scarcely a shawl purchased as a
" bargain " in this way, that has not been in the
has risked his neck to get hold of what after-
wardspossession of some desperate housebreaker, who
adorns the shoulders of many a beautifid
woman. In fact, many a lady of rank and
fortune may say with truth, when she looks
at her new purchase, ‘F This passed to me
through the hands of a man who was or will be
certainly hanged." The removal of Ikey Solo-
mons, who, from the moment Dudfield was
" lagged," became the most extensive fence in
the metropolis, caused the greatest possible ex-
citement amongst the Jews. Indeed, to the
spirit of rivalry and jealousy amongst them on
the subject of an adequate substitute, is to be
attributed the very accurate information which
led to the development of so many facts as have
reached the public since his escape. He is now
beyond the reach for ever of the poor, spiritless,
corrupt, contemptible police, whom he
was al-
ways able to manage, having resolved to intro-
duce into America the system which he carried
on here for so many years with impunity. The
energy of the worthy magistrates, and the cor-
responding zeal and vigilance of the police, are
strikingly exemplified by the terrible fact that
thieves have no less than five or six times vi-
sited, by means of false keys, or false servants,
the premises which they afterwards robbed; that
they have postponed their last visit to a period when
the " swag" was sufficiently bulky,
not choosing
to lay their hands upon property of inconsi-
derable amount, when they knew that a little
patience would reward them for their for-
bearance ; and that they have often filled a cart
or hackney-coach with goods, within a few yards
of a watchbox, the inmate of which shammed
sleep. Sleep,
roaecttseristic of
credit ff.
silent for a shoati;
however, is so well known a cha-
racteristic
of
few
tahrt eec ahpliinituyan,nd,
we
rht,heant
he
sgenerally
The Bow-street Magistrates have expressed
thermelves alive to the horrible state of that

neighbourhood. It was mentioned a few clays
ago in the office by one of them, who saw what
he admitted was a faithful representation of the
nightly iniquity of the district in this paper, that
it was indeed high time to correct an evil of
such magnitude. The Magistrates of other
police-offices expressed themselves to the same
effect, and admitted that the occurrences de-
scribed were shameful in the last degree ; but
what improvement has taken place ? The flash-
houses are still crowded with thieves and pros-
titutes, who combine theft with their other
" dreadful trade." No inspector has been ap-
pointed to clear away the offscourings of the
town from those infernal receptacles : the gamb-
ling-houses have their accustomed visitors, and
abound with the same conspiracies to rob the
ignorant and inexperienced ; and the brothels are
still under the control of male and female mis-
creants. The informers abandon the neighbour-
hood, because they arc remunerated for the in-
dulgence of omitting the flash cribs from their
list of exceptionable houses. Johnson will, to
use the phrase of this profligate neighbourhood,
greedily " pull up" any publican who may sell a
glass of beer immediately after 11 o'clock, and
who may keep a well-regulated house ; but the
abandoned of society are allowed to revel at all
hours, and the thieves who own the houses in
which the riot is going forward, and who derive
an enormous profit from the sale of the most per-
nicious ingredients, exult in their impunity. The
continuance of this fatal disorder reflects deeply
upon the character of the inhabitants of the
whole vicinity of Bow-street. The ears of the
surrounding families must be accustomed to the
most odious expressions ; for it is impossible to
pass through any of the streets without hearing
language calculated to shock those who have the
least remains of delicacy, and still no representa-
tion is male. The respectable people, as they
call themselves, of the parish, never think of me-
morialising the Secretary of State, to compel the
Magistrates to perform the duty which they have
so shamefully neglected. This is the only course
by which any improvement can be produced.—
The undisturbed union between the thieves and
the receivers, and police, has its rise in the care-
lessness of the Magistrates, who are, in a great
measure, Fresponsible for the debauchery and
plunder which are nightly committed in the me-
tropolis. We repeat, that until the gambling-
houses, the low brothels, and the flash houses
are put down, there is no chance of the moral
improvement of the people.—Times.