The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-28
ORR DETECTII,E SYSTEM

necessity for a radical reform in the So-called
detective branch of the police. 1t has been
demonstrated over and over again that our
detective system is not merely worthless, but
that it is a direct encouragement to crime.
The detectives by their own showing, are the
habitual associates of professional thieves
and burglars; and experience has shown that
it is nearly if not quite impossible to pro-
cure the arrest and conviction of this class of
offenders by their aid and the only redress that
those who are robbed are able to obtain is to
offer sufficiently large reward to induce the
men who are paid by the public as officers of
the law to exert themselves for the recovery
of the stolen goods. If the reward is large
enough. and is offered in time, before the
thieves have an opportunity to carry their
plumber out of the city, stolen goods can
nearly always be regained, but the burglars
are allowed to remain at liberty and to pursue
their business almost without fear that they
will be called to account for their misdeeds.
Two rec ent cases will illustrate in the
clearest possible manner the practical work
ings of the detective system, and demonstrate
not merely that it is worth nothing as pro-
lection to property. but that it is dangerous
auxiliary to the criminal classes. few
months ago the store of Mr. George W.
Vogel on Chestnut street, above Eleventh,
was robbed of about $40, 600 worth of goods,
for the recovery of which a reward of $1,000,
or ten per cent, was offered. AS the thieves
we're able to obtain from twenty to twenty
five per cent. of the value of their plumber
from the receivers of stolen goods, the detec-
y,ofo tn fio1 oil thar fba hup
or the goods, and the whole as therefore
dead loss.
On Sunday last the store of Messrs. Besson
& Co., No. 91S Chestnut street, was robbed of
goods to the value of $6SOi. A reward of
twenty-five per cent. of their value was imme-
diately offered by Besson & Co., and yester-
day-within forty light hours of the commis-
stun of the robbery-svery item was returned
by Detectives Levy, Neff, and Fletcher, acting
under the orders of Chief Mulholland. Messrs.
Besson, by offering as much as the thieves
would be likely to obtain by the disposal of
the stolen property in the usual manner, had
no difficulty in effecting compromise with
the aid of the detectives, who readily found
means to bring the thieves to terms when the
reward was large enough to stimulate them
to activity.
The facts which we have related speak for
themselves, and prove conclusively that the
detective system is utterly demoralizing to
all who are in any way brought in contact
with it. The persons who suffer from the
depredations of professional burglars see no
way to make good even portion of their
losses except by themselves committing an
offense against the laws of the Common
wealth in compounding the felony; while the
detectives, so far from aiding to bring the
robbers to justice, merely act as the agents
for effecting an accommodation between
them and their victims, and sharing with
them in the division of their pluuder.
To the apathy of our merchants in submit
ting to the present disgraceful system, without
making some determined effort to bring about
a reform, must in a great degree be imputed
the corruption in the detective force. So
long as the detectives expect, as matter of
course, the stimulant of a reward to induce
them to do their duty, they will not move
unless they are paid for doing so, and 50 long
as our merchants are willing to violate the
laws they must expect to suffer. One efficient
step in the way of reform would be to bring
| to trial those men who offend by compound
/ ing felonies, and If q few convictions on this
charge could be procured, and the offenders
sentenced to the full extent of the law the
interests of society at large would be much
better protected than they are now, and
merchants who suffer from the depredations
of burglars would be compelled
to consider the public interests before their
own. AS for the present detective system,
we have no hope or expectation that it can
be reformed. 1t is rotten to the core, aud it
had better be abolished altogether than to be
maintained as it now is. Ii the merchants
who compound felonies deserve punishment,
the detectives who aid them in compromising
with the thieves ought to be visited with even
severer penalties; and as there seems to be a
pretty plain case against the officers concerned
in the recovery of the goods of Besson q Co.,
ju dicial inquiry into the whole affair is nc
more than the public have right to expect
THE FOURTH CONGRESS[ONAL
DISTRICT.
WE publish to-day a trenchant address OF
Hon. William D. Kelley to the workiugmeu
of Philadelphia, which will be read with deep
interest. We scarcely think that this ire
sistible argument was needed to exhibit his
antagonist as an arrant demagogue unwor-
thy of the confidence of any party, but at the
same time committed (as far as such maI