The Dawson journal., 1884-01-24
IRREPRESSIBLE TRAMPS.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE FOR THEIR
SUPPRESSION.
Duty DevOlvinE upon Every Community
An Organized Police.
From Harper,s Weekly.l

ferocious murder of Mrs. Maybee and
her daughter in little village of Long
Island, and other equally mysterious
murders which have lately shocked the
community, have brought the problem
OF the tramp" before the country in
the most startling manner. Every one
familiar with rural or village life can
readily understand the conditions which
make such deeds not only possible, but,
within not very long periods, almost
certain. The scattered population, the
isolated dwellings, the peaceful habits,
the want of any organized Or efficient
police, with the existence of class of
wanderers, idle or half idle, and often
criminal, spreading themselves over the
country-these are the elements of the
situation from which spring with con-
siderable regularity petty thieving, out
rage, assault, burglary, highway rob-
berry, and murder, most of which go un-
detected and unpunished.
Cramps" for the greater part. are
the overflow from city life. Their ranks
are recruited from the vicious, the lazy.
and the unfortunate, who, driven from
the haunts of organized society and the
police, become, as their characters and
habits incline them, beggars, thieves, or
caiminals. The greater number are
simply idlers, strolling from place to
place, begging dinner here, a break
fast there, a lodging in some outhouse,
or sleeping la belle etoile, and living
on the pilferings of hen roosts or corn
fields. These are merely the drones of
the great human hive, who drag out in
filth and disorder their miserable lives.
But with these are the men of criminal
instincts and habits, fired with brutal
lust, hungry with the greed born of dis
sipation and drink, reckless of life, their
own or others, and trained in the terri
BILE school of self-indulgence of our large
towns. Woe to those who NAV meet
them in the lonely ways, or may extend
to them the hand of charity Their
trail across the woods and fields ia
marked with crime too horrible to de-
scribe, in comparison with which murder
itself is less terrible. And it is TO one of
these that the rustic household fnay at
any moment be opened when the ragged
costume, the unshaven face, the sun
burned hands, of the sturdy beggar ap-
pear at the door. It is with this ele.
ment that society must make up its
mind to deal.
The obvious weapon with which to deal
with it is police force. The average viii
lage or country community will shrink
from this. The suggestion to them
means an organized force of blue-coats
with sergeants and captains, and the
omniscient and generally useless detec-
tives. But this is not necessary. What
is needed is small force of mounted
men, young, active, alert, with Just
enough organization to enable them to
act together, and enough discipline to
secure fidelity. Their chief function
would be prevention rather than either
detection or arrest. Patrolling the
country roads frequently and rapidly,
keeping constant watch on suspicious
persons, appearing often in the more
secluded and exposed places, they could
soon make it extremely dangerous for
the criminal classes. An intimate and
familiar knowledge of all persons with
legitimate occupation is easily acquired
in country neighborhoods, and that
solves one-half the difficulties of police
work. A criminal is really far safer in
the dense populations of the cities than
he could be in a village with such an Or
ganization, since in the latter he would
necessarily be marked man, and could
hardly move from point to point unob-
served.
Such force should be organized in
every county, or it might with advan-
tage be made State force, outside of
the larger cities. Its members should
be carefully selected, with absolute free
dom from political interference. They
should serve for life, or as long as they
were faithful and capable. They should
have graded increase in salary, or pro-
motion, according to length of service
and superior merit. They should be
we'll mounted, uniformed, thoroughly
instructed, and we'll officered. They
should be pensioned for disability in the
service, or on retirement for honorable
cause, according to service. These re-
quirements, which are of value in any
force, would be essential in this, because
of its peculiar nature, and the necessity
Of securing the best men at the most
economical rates. Properly managed,
such force would practically put All
end in a short time to the worst evils of
which is not entirely feasible. The fact
that the tramp is practically unknown in
the tramp" and there is nothing in it the
outer districts of New York city, some
Of which are as strictly rural as the
heart of Long Island. is due to the
mounted police of the city, and this
could be applied in a modified form in
every community.