The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-12-22

The Missing Child-Refsrm OF the Police
system-A Congregational Detective.
New YORK, Dec. 20, 1874

| SurpdSSeu IN urdmaLlc eueCL any
thing that has been done on the mimic stage
within the memory of the Oldest inhabitant.
1t is rarely that an ending is effected so entire
| ly in harmony with the demand of justice,
| swiftly retributive of crime. The interest of
the scene was heightened by the dying declara-
tion of the culprit, that he was concerned in the
abduction of the Ross boy, whose abduction in
| Philadelphia, some months ago, has occasoned
such wide spread comment and speculation.
At first the conclusion was jumped at, that the
mystery was about to be cleared up and all the
particulars of the capture and concealment of
the missing child revealed. Subsequent inqui-
ries have compelled a modification of this hope
full view of the case. and the probabilities now
are, that the expiring rufiian merely sought TO
invest his exit from life with some kind of i'm
portance by falsely representing himself as an
actor in the chfd-stealing performances. If
that was his motive, he was not altogether un-
successful. On the slender clue he furnished
the police have been working with unwonted
zeal, but without any practical result The
whereabouts of the lost boy remains as impen-
etrable a secret as it was before. Charlie Resses
turn up daily in every quarter of the Union,
but each proves on investigation to be some
body else.
Probably nothing in the whole history o. de-
tective police business, was ever managed more
maadrotly than the pursuit of this hapless waf.
1t seems incredible that his captors should
not have been hunted down. The difficulties
of their concealment were a thousand fold
greater than of their discovery. Other cases OF
woful blundering, of following wrong trail,
of working upon mistaken theory, are charge
abe upon our constabulary. The Nathan af-
fair is remarkable instance of the kind. But
that band of robbers should hold child as a
hostage, demand ransom, carry on an extern
sive correspondence, and continue negotiations
with as much sang troid as If they were prose
cutting matter of ordinary business, and yet
preserve their incognito is a circumstance strik-
ingy illustrative of the adaSe that truth is
stranger than fiction"
That such events can occur is calculated to
weaken the public faith in the capacity Of the
| guardians of the peace, to meet the require
ments of their position. The detective ser
vice calls for peculiar gifts in the way of ana
| Lying evidence, and weaving isolated threads
of fact into consistent and impregnabls
fabric of truth. 1t is business which re-
quires tact, patience, secretivsness and rars
skill. Dickens has drawn two admirable por-
traits of this character in the person of Mad
gett and Bucket These creations Of fiction
are represented as enjoying their craft, with
EXTREMIST relish, and addressing themselves TO
it with sleepless vigilance and utter indiffer-
| ence to toll or discomfort. The Inspector Of
real life is unfortunately as dull as Dogbsrry
and as easily imposed upon as Malvolio. He
is very apt to suspect the wrong man, TO move
in the wrong direction, and unconsciously TO
aid the criminal to escape, rather than to sur
round him with such a net work of damagin.
circumstances that extrication finally becomes
impossible.
If our people knew enough to create and
maintain good local government-which it
must be confessed with modification they do
not-one of the things they would insist upon
would be the organization of an independent
police system, no eficer of which from COM
missioner to patrolman should be connected
with any political association; that should pre-
serve scrupulous neutrality in party matters,
exercising Of course the right to vote, as Ill
good citizens ought to do, but not going be
yond that; out of consideration for the preju-
dices and partialities of people of all shades Of
opinion, of whose lives and property they are
the recognized protectors. There should be as
many grades in the force as there are in the
army, and the stimulus of the prospect OF pro-
motion should be an ever present incentive to
distinguished service. The detective cerps
should be composed of picked men, and q sub
antial scale of rewards should be established
to compensate them for acts of merit and sa-
gacity. In this way employment on the police
would be open to a larger and better class of
men than it now attracts, and chances would
be open for acquiring fortune by honorable
and praiseworthy deeds in the way of recover
ing stolen effects, or ferreting out heinOus
crimes. The adoption of cast iron rate of
pay, is the vice of the civil service, and No.
where does it work so badly as in the depart
ment of police, where the hest man may be
well worth an hundred times as much as ths
least capable member of the force although both
may pass examin alton and obey the regula-
tions The most effective method of securin.
able conservators Of tbs peace, is to make the
duty respectable enough to open il to the COM
petition of men whose ambition viii prompt
them to win fame by the display of energy and
talent.
If such plan were adopted in good faith,
| and all fayoritism or influence ignored in the
selection of candidates it would not be long be-
fore we should have such evidences OF the
efficiency of the establishment, that the dan.
gerous classes would find the metropolis an sx-
tremely uncomfortable place to prowl in, and
the increased cost of maintaining the improved
order of things would be largely countsrbal-
anced by the public exemption from the spo-
liations of all kinds of robbers from the bur-
glar to the sneak thief.
Voluminous as are our records OF crime,
densely as our prisons are filed, vast number
of depredations battle discovery and punish
ment. 1t is rather the exception than the rule
| to find a man who has not at some time or 9TH
er been stripped of his watch or his pocket
book or both, or family from whom plate or
other valuables have not been snatched ut
moment of incaution, but not one in ten OF
these victims has ever received back the whole
or any portion of the lost valuables. IL COM
| plant is made at the station house, thing
| which the uninitiated are pretty certain to try,
the officer in charge remarks to the indignant
visitor with smile of provoking indiffersnes,
that those things are happening very frequent
| ly now and advises o more careful attention to
bolts and bars, or a more constant watch
fulness over the pockets, especially in public
conveyances and miscellaneous crowds. II it
is mildly suggested that perhaps the plunder
may be regained, a shrug of undisgused pity,
not unmngled with contempt for the inquirer,
simplicity is the most that will come OF it.
| Once in great while, robbery more daring or
more extensive than the average, creates
temporary stir in the precincts or at headquar-
ters, and an arrest is made, whereupon the
newspapers indulge in elaborate laudations OF
| the argus-eyed alertness of the constabulsry.
There is something amusing IN the ingenuity
| of rogues. The same dexteffty ought to be
| turned to profitabl> account in honest pur-
suits. Then again, it is astonishing what shall
low altifices will dupe people, who have the
credit Of being reasonably bright The trick
played the other day on dentist in New York
and repeated on another in Brooklyn, almost
simultaneously and probably by the same ras-
cal, seems so transparent, that the only way to