The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-09-06
MISCELLANY.
LONDON FIGHTING GANGS.


The fighting gangs have an organization
almost as complete as that of the police.
Each gang has It's captain, who, again, has
junior officers. A certain order is invariably
preserved, and the members of the baud are
under certain responsibilities as to the spoils;
for the gangs are by no means simply Or
ganized for the purpose of fighting each
other. That is pleasant delusion whiGi.
helps to reconcile the London public to the
fact of their existence. The majority of the
members of these organizations--youths
whose ages range from about sixteen to
twenty-two-are plainly and simply thieves
There are bodies of young men who roam
about at night simply for the sake of mis-
chief, and whose playful violence frequently
has unpleasant results; but when the regu-
lar gangs fight it is not for mastery. 1t not
unfrequently happens that one set, bent on
the extension of its territory, invades the
district of another Then there has to be
some sort of rectihcation of frontier,
brought about by the usual process. Re-
Gently there was such conflict between the
Dove Row gang and the Bow commoners, in
which the Dove Row gang came off victorious.
Such incidents as these, however, are mere
episodes in the great epic of juvenile
crime. The object of the gangs is robbery,
If necessary with violence. What do you
do st nights ~ said recently to youth
who had been member of one of these
bodies of juvenile roughs. 'What did they
do9 Why, they waited around, and if any
body respectable passed they tripped him
up and robbed him." ibid they use yio-
lence sometimes2" "He should think they
did. They wore broad leather belts with
heavy buckets on them. Sometimes they
carried sticks, but the belts were best Oh,
they took lots of thingsn "What would
they do If they took watch ?" "Why,
pawn it to be sure. They often meet in the
mornings to reckon up what they had done
the night before. Many time they robbed
shop tills. One of them hid himself behind
the counters and the others waited outside.
No; their parents didn't know much about
it. Most of them had no parents Those
who had, generally left home and went to
lodgings. They lodged together, mostly,
two or three of them in hesame place. They
didn't read much very few of them couldn't
read perhaps one would read TO the others
sometimes. Didn't know that they had
ever killed anybody, but had many time
knocked people. down" Eyes" he said in
reply to another question; "they fought
other gangs to see who was the strongest.
Some of them had been in prison lots of
times; they didn't mind it much-they got
used to it. Had left them now and was
trying 10 lead a better life."
The fighting gangs are mainly composed
Of lads who, if they have ever done any
work, have found the conditions of labor
neither sufficiently pleasant nor sufficiently
profitable. Utterly ignorant and unframed,
they seem to see kind of heroism in their
pIuseut Inuae OF iif@- Tlei-- sl,isits aAss
much the same as that which animated the
buccaneer and the brigand. Punishment
merely hardens them, for the only thing
which they regard as shameful is the want
of "pluck and endurance 1t is not merely
during the last year or two that these gangs
have come into existence. On the contrary,
many of them have existed for years They are
regular feeders of the vast criminal popula-
ton Of London. When q thief has age or
experience enough to stand alone he leaves
the gang and embarks in private ventures.
Probably his maturity comes upon him in
Jail He is too old to go back to the gang
again; the "Wild Boy period has passed
over, and he deserts the New cut or Bow
common lane for the obscurer haunts Of
habitual crime. Pal Mail Gazette