The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-15
LONDON'S "SLUM" QUARTER.
A Visit to a Locality Where No Mans
Life Is Safe for Even a Moment.
Underground Dwellings Where Thieves aud
Murderers Have Their Headquarters
Rag Fair and Its Mobs.
II. E. Downes. In st. Louis POST Dispatch.

Z. e. Downes, In st. Louis Post Dispatch.
One of the very worst districts of London
probably the very worst now. that Hatton Gar
den is no morel is that long, narrow lane, With
its neighborhood, known to the initiated rs
'Petticoat' ane-to the uninitated as Middle
sex street. 1t is cut in two, almost even halves,
by a broader thoroughfare whose name, accord
ing to the directory l forget, but which is popu-
larly called Rag Fair after the Sunday morning
ceremonial. The residents of the entangle6 net
work of lanes, alleys and small streets which fill
the angles formed by this cross glory in a char
acter which is rot in the slightest degree doubt
ful, being well known to be as bad as that Of any
human beings can possibly be. The dangerous
classes Of London and Paris differ in one most
essential respect from the same kind Of
people in America. Probably the very
worst slums of New York contain no
creatures whose criminal genealogy
dates back beyond one or two generations. The
city itself has not been in existence over 200
years. while it's Sums can scarcely boast an
existence of much over half that period. Lon
don. on the contrary, was a great city prior to
the discovery of America. Its slums reckon
their age by centuries, while tho inhabitants
are the result of long generations of depravity,
and could, were it fashionable in those localities
to keep a family tree, trace their descent in
crime back from father to son for many genera
tions. Petticoat lane has one feature peculiar
to itself. That is the great Sunday market,
from which Rag Fair takes its name. People
who have travelled through many countries and
seen some strange and aweinspiring sights,
have never met with anything at once SO won
derful in its uniqueness; so picturesque in it's
utter responsiveness; so horrible and yet 30 fas-
cinating as this great free pageant It stands
alone among the sights which nature offers to
her children. On week days the neigh
borhood is nearly deserted, at night almost
co ually so. The criminal tendencies of Petit
coat lane are not of a noisy or demonstratiye
sort. This is the great criminal mandatory of
the world. Here the most dangerous thieves,
house breakers and murderers graduate, and
serve their apprenticeship, live and die. Many
of them are utterly unknown to the police, save
by name and the effects of their life work.
Scores of them have never been seen by mortal
eye, other than their pals" Here the Fagins
of London society ply their trade. In this To-
cality are the great melting pots, ready day and
night, and here the spoils Of great jewel rob-
berries are melted down and divided. In those
dark, silent houses the pickpockets of London
are trained in their arts, and here those strange,
mysterious murders that convulse London
society are planned and committed.
Persons may pass through Middlesex street
during the day time, if they walk straight
ahead, and show no signs Of curiosity. But it is
not safe to venture into the alleys at any time.
Behind those silent, ever-closed shutters the
baieful eyes of desperate men and
women watch your every movement. Let
them but once suspect that you are a
spy, and your life is not worth an hours pur-
chase. To all appearance Middlesex street is
one of the quietest streets in London. Occasion
ally, however, a knot of villainous looking men
will gather in some corner of the street, talking
in low tones, and in a language as unintelligible
to ordinary mortals as Sanskrit. Now and
again a Haunting woman in bright red or blue
skirts will fling herself-no other word expresses
the movement-from one house to another; or
the measured step Of the policeman whose duty
1t is to pass through Middlesex street, from end
to end, once every half hour, breaks the almost
vaultlike silence of the weekday, but this is all.
These policemen take their lives in their
hands every time they pass through this quiet,
but dangerous thoroughfare. Now and again
the dead body of one of them is found lying In
some quiet spot, miles away from his beat, but
more often they disappear from view altogether,
vanishing like the flame of a candle extinguished
by a breeze. At night the whole neighborhood
is dark, silent and deserted. Now and again
the sound of a scufae is heard in one of the dark
blind alleys, leading no where, with which
the neighborhood abounds. Ere the police can
reach the spot all is again silent, though fire.
Guently the blood stained pavement is a silent
witness to what has happened. But few lights
appear in the windows, and no suspicious char
acter is ever seen issuing from the doors. Yet
from here the great army of house breakers,
thieves and murderers sally forth each night to
do their deadly work. 1t is a fact we'll known to
the police that this nelghborhood, like Hatton
Garden Of old, Is undermined by a honey-comb
of underground cealarage, ~tortuous alleys and
hiding places, in which the pursued criminal
takes refuge, or from which the house breaker
may emerge into the night, in some Quiet nook
For from thu nla q IN xuhinh 1a rna1ac h;c hornn
INTO the houses which line each side of Mid
diesex street. and fill the courts and alleys
within the arms of that great cross, no one save
the inhabitants or the police in trios and quar-
tets nave ever set focI. Yet, stay! There is
one person who is always welcome, and whom
the viiest and most murderous rufian would
protect with his life, and that is the doctor. The
inhabitants of London Sums have learned thatin
the epidemics which now and again, almost every
year. in fact, rage with the fury of the plaques of
old amongst the deniZens of those filthy and
overcrowded novels, a doctor is a necessity.
When wounded and bleeding, as the result of
some unholy midnight raid, the modern Bill
Sykes flies, like a wounded stag, to his covert,
death will surely ensue unless a doctor can be
persuaded to take the case in hand. 1t is a
religion with London heathens-the only one
they know, save the honor that exists among
thieves-to protect the doctor. The most accom-
plished pickpocket in the lane will never flag"
his purse. The most c~ovetous ''Faginr on Rad
clitfe highway will leave the professional watch
anu cnain III all It's respondent glory untouched
upon his breast. A case occurred in the neigh
borhood of Seven Dials, where the doctor visited
o sick burglar. When he returned his pocket
book was missing. He was vexed, for it con
tanned a large sum of money paid him just before
by the patient, besides q valuable ring and papers
OF value. That same evening a knock came at
the door, and, hearing a colloquy between his
servant and some man. he went out. The Wis
itor, whose face was completely hidden, returned
him his pocket book, its contents intact, with
many apologies. 1t had been taken by a juve-
nile, who did not know the doctor.
Protected by two policemen in uniform, and q
detective in plain clothes, the writer of this ar
ticle once made a pilgrimage through all that
was visible Of Ave of these houses. They were
not the worst. for into those nothing short of
force could gain admission, but they were very
bad. In two of them the police showed a large
tran in the floor. IT was so buiIt "a tn he ouite