The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-02-27
THE SEVEN DIALS."
VISIT TO THE RENDEZVOUS OF LON.
DoN's DEsPERADos.
The Toughest Of the Tough as Seen I'm tho
English Capital-A Brute's Face
Swine OF Tenement
House.
london Cor. Courier-Journal.I

london Cor. Courier-Journal.(
Dickens has made the "Seven Dials"
famous. 1t is the roost and rendezvous Of
the "Forty Thieves" and scores of the most
abandoned and desperate dare-devils to be
found in the precincts of the wicked metrop-
oils. Strange to say, it Is in the heart Of the
city, and within few squares Of some Of the
principal streets. 1t Is "near cut" to many
important places If you don't got your
throat cut on the way. As | stated before,
seven streets radiate from its hub, and you
drift into 1t from almost any direction. 1t
gets its name from the fact that formerly
each Of the seven buildings that face upon
the square had a clock on its front-hence
"The Seven Dials."
A walk Of a few minutes brought us to the
center Of the "Seven Dials." We were now
about to enter in msdias res sure enough.
The inspector stepped up to the policeman on
duty, and gently exhibiting his card and
some other sort Of insignia, exchanged few
words soto voce. The shrill whistle of the
policeman sounded and another uniformed
knight bobbed up serenely as though from
the bowels Of the earth
We formed q procession eight strong, and
set out down one Of the dreariest streets fol.
lowed by q villainous crowd, who were GER
tain that an arrest was going to be made, A
short distance and we stopped in front Of
dilapidated old building. One Of the police
men went to the head Of the column and the
other brought up the rear, while We moved
on the enemy. We groped our way, Indian
file. through dark Railways down a narrow
staircase into dimly-lighted cellar-room
filed with ferocious and crestfallen charac-
ters, There they were of all ages from the
10 year old boy to the hoary head, They
were taking their sorry suppers, and our
visit was q surprise party.
1t was q sight shall never forget They
were the toughest of the tough, and their
photographs would make our American
rogues gallery blush. 1t was a study to see
the various expressions o. the hard, hellish,
crime-stamped faces Some affected an air
Of Indifference to our presence, and went on
munching their meals without looking up;
others gazed at US with an assumed eye of
innocence, which seemed to say, "You are
shockingly rude to even suspicion me;" q
few did not disguise their displeasure at our
unannounced call, and corrugated their
brows and snarled and showed their teeth
like dogs. The , -ungest, boy Of not over
10, as soon as he got over his scare, "guyed"
US, and offered to treat to the stale beer in
his pewter tankard His bravado sat sadly
on such young shoulders. A man stood in
front Of the fireplace who had evidently seen
better days His eyes were fixed the floor.
and he never once lifted them His cloth
ing was ssedy, but trife neater than those
about him, and q badly demoralized plug
hat raised him several degrees above his sur
roundings. His features were deeply fur
rowed by vice, but through the hard lines
you could read q few traces Of former re-
spectability. An old man, whose sharp, sly,
sneaking face seems to have inherited sin as
q birth-right, and feeding himself from q
pocketful Of uncooked vegetables, which he
had no doubt stolen from some green grocer,
or market stand.
The most individual character was a
rather young, stout built man in whose face
there was scarcely an indication Of human
being. There was fearful fascination in
his features that held you with snakelike
charm. His features were square, bold and
British. His nose lay fat on his face aud his
large, yellowish-gray eyes had the wide-open
roll and eagerness of panther. His ex-
preston seemed to say, II could lap blood
and deem it dainty dish" He sat bold,
upright, with cap on his head and glared
full upon US. l have never seen just such a
face, and am at q loss how to describe it. Il
appeared TO be a nature but bit above the
brute, and unconscious Of its degradation.
1t was a scene worthy Of Dickens pen or q
great painters brush. II 1t was not a hot
house Of Hades am no Judge.
When we had fully surveyed the scene the
inspector asked us, as a matter Of form, IL
we recognized any one." and upon our re-
spending in the negative we filed out as we
came In, the police parading with presented
batons. A few jeers and guys" were fired
at US as we departed. The inspector always
asked us in these dens il 1--WE recognized any
one" as he was supposed to be in search OF o
culprit Had the thieves thought otherwise,
there would have been a row at once as they
are not fond Of visitors chaperoned by blue
coats
We were told that the proprietor of the
wretched den we had visited was wealthy,
pulled the reins over a pair, and lived in
sumptuous style. He never sees the place,
but collects through an agent His father,
it seems, gave his personal supervision to q
similar rancho until he got seven years for
receiving stolen goods, and his rookery was
razed to the ground by order Of the city
council. Our route took US to a tenement
structure down an alley where 800 of these
wretches. male and female, are sheltered
and fed as SO many swine. The policeman
on duty said the guests were nearly all out
at that hour, and that many Of them did not
got in until after midnight We boarded
the underground railway and had a look
through east London, notorious in criminal
annals. Hundreds of abandoned people nerd
together in tn. district, where they are
fed and housed by wholesale at q small
figure. A man or woman superintendent
has charge, and sees that their meals, such
as they are, are served up satisfactorily
The Inspector told US that he had made
many Of his most noted arrests In this dis
trict
In nearly all these places we could hear
the word wanted" softly passed as soon as
we crossed the threshold. That meant O
warrant was out as they thought, and 1t
showed they were accustomed to the ap-
pearance OF such documents. Almost in
variably those we saw braced themselves
with rigid would-be expression Of inno-
cence, which was painfully artificial from
the suddenness with which 1t had been
masuued