Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1874-09-03
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Something About the Poiice.-EiI-
ton -Beecher-BoyVen in the Field
-GiendeH ming. An Excellent
Charity,

NEW \ oRK, Aug. 81.
Go where you viii in New York, you
viii see strong, stalwart men, clothed
In a blue uniform, and armed with an
exceedingly seryiceable club, each with
silver badge on which is number.
These men are the guardians of the city's
peace, known by respectable people as
police, and bv the class who most fear
them as cops" and. CHARLES. The
great majority Of them speak the sweet
Irish brogue but they are, notwith-
standing, as rule, good, fair men, who
eonscientiously and braveiy perform the
duty assigned them.
Some facts as to The cost of keeping
the metropolis in order may be of inter
est to your readers. To properly police
this city requires an army of ?, 500 men,
besides, the number required to officer
| them. There are forty captains, be-
/ sides inspectors. and an additional force
of detectives, whose business Is the
hunting down Of criminals and the find
ing Out Of things dark and strange that
require more shrewdness than ordinary
moFtalS are supposed to be gifted with.
To support this force requires the neat
SUM of S3,00o,0o0 annually.
Each man on the force has certain
territory which is his especial business
to protect and care for, and his duties
are multifarious. 1t is his business TO
see that no rows or riots occur in his beat,
that drunken men are kept from dis
turbing the peace of the neighborhood,
that no unruly or disorderly crowds con-
gregate to the violation of the peace,
that doors are securely. locked, and, in
short, that law and order is observed.
Each policeman is compelled to stay on
his beat six hours then he sleeps six,
and is on ak more, that is, twelve out
of the twenty-four hours he is walking
up and down, keeping his eye on every
body and everything. Is there a fight {?
The poor policeman grasps his faithful
locust and sails in. He tears apart the
combatants, puts them under arrest, dis
perses the crowd. and takes the chances
of having his own brains knocked out,
by that terrible class OF outlaws whose
highest pleasure it is to kill or MAIN one
of the hated class who stand between
them and their crimes. Does he see q
CONSPICUOUS looking person abouta build
ing? 1t is his duty to watch him, to
catch him if he commits an act which
the law takes cognizance of, and to get
him into safe keeping. Itthere a child
lost 1t ia his duty to find it, and, by
passing the word and description it is
generally found. In short, the police
man is the general guardian, but for
whom the city would be delivered over
to the hordes of seulless scoundrels who
infest it, aud would be place which
no peaceably disposed man would live in
for q minute; And for this service, for
the risk of being Knocked on the head,
and shot or stabbed any minute, he gets
the magnificent sum of $50 per month,
with no pension if he be manned in the
discharge of his duty.
When you come to New York, and
feel like eursing an inefficient police,
think of the work they have to do, and
the miserable pay they get, and with
hold your maledictions.
TMToN-BEEeHER.
Forgive me for writing this heading,
hut can't help it. The fact is, the air
is full of Tilton and the earth of Beech
er. Elizabeth, Moalton, Susan B. An
thony, and all the rest of them are re-
volving in everybody's mind like the bits
of colored glass in kaleidoscope, and
you can't get away from il. There IS
something in wickedness that one must
dwell on it.
Since | wrote you last, Moulton has
made his statement, and, presto, public
opinion, which is about as steady as the