Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-11-20
COP AND CROOK.
Some Of the Opposite Relations
They Sustain to Each Other.
A Short Lecture, Under Terse Heads, on
the Merry. Merry Burglar and
the Peeler.
What is a policeman

What is q policeman?
Dear, dear reader, a policeman is a man
vested with the garb of authority and
crowned with the responsibility of preserv-
ing the public peace. In doing this he may
even break somebody's head. The peace
must be preserved. The policeman, robed in
loyal blue and dotted with shining buttons,
is the walking embodiment. of the majesty
of the law-city law.
What is a burglar?
A burglar. my SON, Is n of those natural
enemies to the human race, that cometb in
the night time, and .maketh free with the
property Of his neighbers. Burglar is the
generic term, as used, and the family in
cludes robbers and thieves, the latter being
IF the bold and sneak variety. The the.
oretical burglar, armed with jimmy and
jack-no reference to p~olitics-boldly plies
his nocturnal vocation, displaying q general
fondness for counting rooms and Offices
safes. The milder variety discovers. un'
fastened doors and windows, enters with
stealth and exits with celebrity, and what
ever valuables he finds are movable. He is
the everyday sneak thief.
is be in Wheeling?
He is, and very numerously in Wheeling
And not only in Wheeling, but also the sur
rounding towns. A glance at the daily
papers shows this fact altogether too pain
July. He is here in the form resident, the
form migratory and in the form tramp. For
every visit that the papers make know there
are ten they do not, for various reasons.
Nine out of ten householders visited keep
the affair a secret, because they have no
hope Of recovering the borrowed goods and
because they dislike the publicity. Report
ers hear of some cases and they are print
ed, but the mass of others are never told,
or, ifthey are, they are in the deep bosom
of the police headquarters buried. They
occur and then they are unknown and for
gotten. Certain it is then, that the burglar
is in Wheeling and is miscellaneously scat
tered about from the centre to the confines
thereof.
Where are the police?
Come off! The gallant bluc-eoated
sleuth-hounds of the law are not omnipres,
ent. Not by a large plurality. There are
people who regard a policeman as some SUI
perior being, with the front of Jove him
self. There are Others, who do not. The
burglars-do not. 1t frequently happens that
one tookon the police tocsin is, like a blast
on Roderick Dhu's bugle-horn, worth a
thousand men, and in ninety-nine cases
out of one hundred the sight OF a.pollceman
descending on q gang Of crooks is like Cid
Campeador at the head of the Spanish
amy. But The burglar snd the police
man 20 not herd together They arc not
birds of Il feather. WhiIethe policeman is
trowling in one quarter, the crook is oper-
ating in another, and BY some singular,
economic provision, they seldom meet. Yes.
It is the manifest duty Of the policeman to
watch the burglar. The citizen expects it
and the city pays for it. The law allows 1t
and the court awards it. He is expected to
prevent crime, as we'll as to bring the Of
fender to Justice when a crime has been
committed.
What thinks the public9
Well, judging from the expressions that
reach the reportorisl ear, the public has a
small, underlined idea that the police should
prevent many of these robberies and bur.
glaries. 1t believes that, by proper vigilance
the police might discover the comparatively
few authors of the comparatively many rob-
berries and by bringing them to justice, reduce
the number. Iii patent that a gang" is st
work and the public thinks the police might
spot I some Of the suspicious characters
prowling about the city. In fact, the public
having an idea, as aforesaid, that the police
man is being q somewhat elevated above the
plane of common humanity, may think the
police can do more than ought reasonably
TO be- expected. Still, the public usually
has very decided ideas o fits own, in its
way.
Is the force large?
1t numbered twenty men including the
chief. This is an increase of eleven over
the palmy days of yore, but perhaps the
population has kept pace with it. This
force has night men and day men and none
of them are overworked. Detectives are
not made in an hour and perhaps not of the
material Of which policemen are wrought.
How cap you tell? AS for yanking up plain
DRINKS, breaking up fights, keeping the eide
walks clear and yanking Migrants in out Of
the wet, our force will favorably compare
with "the finest" Even where a sidewalk
mash is concerned, some of our dandy cop.
pers are not far in the rear. But this has
nothing to do with burglars. Neither have
the police
Are the foregoing facts?
Presumably they are. Undoubtedly the
burglars and burgiaries are facts. The po-
licemen are living facts. What are you
going 10 do about ii? Redouble your yigi-
'ance and double lock your doors. Place
your dependence on a bull pup aud not on
a policeman. Policemen are not detectives.
TEey are not hired as such. Pinkerton
does not live in Wheeling. Is this article
intended as a reflection on the present
force? 1t is not.