Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-24

criminals. inevitably tend to blunt the
finer sentiments, and cause all means
to be regarded as fair provided the de-
sired goal be reached.
The civic or municipal police is So
cially and intellectually very far below
the political division. Being drawn
principally from the lower classes,
only very small proportion can read or
write. Add to this the astounding SUI
perstition inherent to the Russian ma
ture, and it is by no means surprising
that the mistakes of the civil police
agents are, except to those personally
concerned. of laughable character.
Thus. MIR. Hare was arrested and
compelled to tramp all the way to the
station. simply because the policeman
could not read his passport DR..
subjected to no little indignity for
distributing religious tracts. The in
telligent officer being totally unable
mother tongue, at once arrived at
looking papers were Nihilistic pro-
CARNATIONS. Such incidents are by no
means rare in the experience of for
eign travellers in Russia; the above ex-
amples of police stupidity are quoted
because they are the latest with
which the public has been made
acquainted. A more important
matter, however, is the COM
placency with which the Russian civil
police indulge in indiscriminate arrest
on the gravest charges. No one dares
offer aid to diving man, or to one sup
posed to be dying. in the street, as the
policeman almost invariably arrests the
nearest person on charge of murder
This is not done from any desire to
maintain the dignity of the law, but in
order to extort money from the accused
Should a capital charge not be pre-
ferred against the bystanders the po-
lice have power to compel their attend
ance daily at court for an indefinite
period, to avoid which Inconvenience
considerable sums are often paid by
persons who have the misfortune to be
found near dead body. Shtchedrin
once wrote as a squib that an enterpris-
Ing rural policeman would find dead
body mine of wealth. He could take
it to village. and threaten the inhabi-
tants with charge of murder unless a
certain sum was collected, and handed
over to him. Having received the
money, he could pass on to the next
village, and repeat the proceedings,
and so on, until he found it con-
venient to leave the district without
communicating~h his future address to
hissuperior officers. That this is not very
unlikely to have occurred is proved by
the fact that Mr.. Mackenzie Wallace,
who is probably the best informed En-
glish writer on Russia. having heard
the story, reproduced it in!his work, and
actually believed that the farce had
been enacted.
Hotel keepers and vodka retailers are
looked upon by the civil police as legit-
innate objects of plumber, the same re-
mark applying in a lesser degree to
their customers. If guest at hotel
loses anything, the police make him
pay for laying his complaint before
them; they make the hotel keeper pay
for allowing things to be stolen; and
very likely are in receipt of brides from
the thief for not arresting him. Thus,
when practicable, people take the law
into their own hands, and settle small
affairs by giving the culprit sound
hiding, whenever they can lay hands
on him. AS a rule, proprietors of
kabaks. or spirit shops. pay regular
tax to the police, in order to avoid be-
ing constantly harassed with petty
complaints. Globe.