The New York herald., 1878-12-02
THE POLICE AND THE PRESS.


HuMoRs OF THE CHASE AFTER THE STEWART
REsURREpTIoSisrs- IGNORANT DETECTIVES
DISPLAY THEIR rLL-BREEDTNG AND foLLy-A
REASON FOR THEIR FAILURE.
In every drama, h, matter how tragic. there is
vein of comedy which can bc easily by those
who turn upon the story the proper lights Even IN
the search after tho romans of the late A. r. Stewart
many things have trursred which readily arouse APP
preciative humorsts Among those not the least lu-
dicrons the mysterious movements and demeanor
of of the ward detectives. These gentry, who
supposed by credulous public to have been 'e.
tailed" because of their keen faculties, their knowi
edge of thieves and evil-doers, their moses ior
crime and their ability to appear and disap-
pear in different places and amid untoward
circumstances in the nick Of time. are usually it is
sad relate uttcrly devoid Of these attributes and.
from their diosyncrases, recognizable by crooked
men by horse fanciers. There are Ger
tain axoms in 'spolce business that is. New Yorl
police busine ss-perfectly well understood by ,nalc
fectors Among them may be mentioned the follow
ing:-The ward man always apes tho manners. habil.
iments and vcrnacuar of his captain II the latter
wears d black musta he Carr. ok collar Derby hat
pea jacket heavy guard chain coral pin, walks with
loungcr's ride carries his heal tribe on one side
and smokes Reina yctorias or Partagas the ward man
y
goodnatured produce dea'er. sea captain with his
.go ashore togs' on, "Broadwsy statue" or
song and dance artist on u tour of cap
tiyation, the will do the same. This is per-
fectly well understood by the cracksmcn, who IL
they have not already filed their album Of detec-
tiycs with the and portraits of the special
the force know the captain OF each precinct. and
recognize ..his man wherever they see him Then
too far the Central Office men are concerned.
nil, nf Hand nrt.. anI
and can generally tell when they are going OF on
special ease. With the exception Of Inspe. TOR Muir.
ray Captain Kcaly and few of their staff the rest
of the ely cops uncducated. superriliois, and
carry their canss upon their exterior as legible to
the about town the placards the breast and
back of 'od Tom." the peranbulating advertising
medium.
For the foregoing it is almost impossible
for ordinary detective to steal march upon
os T
arrests; but he cannot work up Mi the of crime
that occur in this great city, and 50 gigantic francs
successfully pcrpetrated and turned over to
''ward men and .cap;ains men to be investigated
rarely, if ever, LEGALLY nravclled These fellows,
who owed their appointment and prcferment on .the
force to local politicians for fidelity to them in local
political contests are in no way mt to cope with the
skilful maefactors who infcst great city.
Still one would think, from their mysterious
ncrs and bearing when they working up case.
that they were Just on the eve Of capturing the man
they are seeking and as in the case unsarth
the hidden treasure. This very popularity '.gives
them away as they call It themselves. to every man
OF ordinory intelligence In the Stewart search there
were few detectives who had been detailed to work
up the that did not carry their mission upon
their sleeves. It's importance too much for
many of them, and impaired to them air Of mys
terry and suspicion which prevented them from act
they were marked men, They could not cross the
street like business people. Of them, whom
the writer encountered, wanted to go to the east side
Of the town from the Central Office, they frst
walked to Broadway then went up down either to
Houston or aeath OF & ne1 crossed
liberately took Eighth street Grand street car
going eastward. This was done, it was presumed at
first, to throw the thieves off the scent to bam-
boozlc reporters. But such course had quito
opposite effect, for when reporter anybody else
thought it necessary to shadow detective his
picions were naturally awakened by this singular
swing around the circle, that Mr.. Officers
mcnts carefully watched and noted to the end.
Then too aside from the palpable indication be gave
that he important business, which he felt and
desired the public should not know the detective lost
great deal OF valuable time and made himself
ridiculous
M THE PRESS VS. THE PoIIcE a
From the very in the ste ewart in all other
cases OF magnitude, the police placed themselves in
antagonisn to the press. The officers. with
who might, in remote way, be in league with
the desccrators of Mr. stewards vault So they did
wasted more of their energies in that direction than
they could spare Furthermore they aroused spirit
OF rivalry in tho knights of the quill which BODIED
no good to the thick headed Dog6errys themselves.
I'VE will know what these fellows doing"
thought the newspapsr men; H. because IT. IS Of the
they have the foolhardiness to say shan't.
The result that in this battle Of wits the in.
tclgent Every ything the cloud of detectives did
known to the HERAIDa and as much OF their move.
monts detailed would show them how they had
been defeated without ''spolng their cases.. In the
antagonsm which was thus begottcn Inspector MUIR
ray office took part. II was only the ward
men, and especial details that made such donkeys
of Themselves Some the incidents attending this
side show in the great drama highly entertain.
ing. For example, whenever reporter was seen
monty uneasy. He would Immediately begin to act
in that ,,"chotont manner which tells more
4kay, utnrsls nf uSfteGa AMI
desire to escape unwelcome observer.
II the officer were speaking to any.
pared Then he would retire and return to ses
whether the newspaper man was ccnversing with his
friend. il he were the officer would. as two or three
Of them did to the writer. say the third party
See here; don't want you to give dis ting away.
pye hear OATS reporter he is. and de Captain
don't want to give noting to him; he don't. Dye
hear ~ ttf
Then to the reporter who stood laughing in his
face he would say, ''Sec here young TELLER. what's
dc matter wd you say, can't you never tumble
say, dye want TO Spite d. job Say, de cap'ns siyeu
orders dat you musut chin wild dis yere bcke Say.
dye heir 2 Drop on yerself !"
sIS,iufAR coUn1Esris.
No amount of explanation would satisfy such .
man that the reporter only wanted 20 know what
ought 10 be made public. One OF these officers who
after all is really good man. ordinarily speaking,
and therefore. may be cited of the best
samples OF his CLOTH said TO reporter In the writer
presence during The carry stages OF the Burke vree-
o. yer boots. Ycz tink yez have raped to dis yere
bi1ness Well, yez don't know noting about II.
Damn yer eyes, yen are ~ Dad as de tnicves dein-
selvesl Say, what dye want, ennyhows say, ara ye1
don tink dat yer racket. We'll. yez won't git it.
sayi Dye hear dat? Yez won't SIT it, Now you
jist keep clear Of dis yere Inn. Dye hear1 DE Cspn
don't want no chinnin wild nobody; newspaper
man bout dis Dye hear? sherry! Git! lin
lookin' after dis yerc ting myself; am. Say! Dye
hcarY Well, dat settles IL
The npshot OF all this that hard feelings were
engenderci between the press and police, 10 the
serious injury Of the latter The two should always
be friends. but they will be while the rank and
file OF the police controlled by politicians, who
foist many lgnornmuses OH the taxpayers.