The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1886-05-15

the already large 1orc6.
IN READINxss FOR AnY CALL.
lremember being impresd with the COM
pleteness Of the arra1 ernente during the last
Lord Mayors day was IN London. Down
Norfolk street and Savoy street and others Of
the small streets that lead from the busting
Strand to the comparative quietness Of the
Thames embankment, stood double rows Of
stalwart, silent policemen in readiness for any
call. Mounted policemen were stationed
along Fleet street and the Strand; every few
feet on the crowded pavements were officers
ON foot, and the roadway was kept clear by
the line of uniformed men ON each side Of the
way standing almost shoulder to shoulder. A
mob Of this kind is always good-natured
one. It is full Of horseplay and likes to worry
and bullyrag the patient policemen, whose lot
at these times, a. the peppery Gilbert re-
marks, @is not happy one."
When = portion OF the mob becomes too
obstreperous the policemen make charge at
it and endeavor. to scatter ito component parts
among the more peaceable sections Of the
multitude. The tactics Of the police are al
ways to scatter or divide the mob into sec
tons They do not endeavor 10 make an ar
rest unless all other methods II pacifying the
boisterous individual IDIOT who is the nucleus
Of thet particular rowdy part of the crowd
fail. But once the talons Of the policeman
fasten on an unruly man he is gone. The
officer generally makes sudden spring at
him, grasps him firmly by the arms or by the
coat collar, gives him one tremendous jerk
toward him that lifts him of his feet, then he
turns him around, shoves him ON to the next
policeman and thus the captive II whirled
around and around and passed from po1ice-
man TO policeman with celebrity that utterly
bewilders him, and the first thing he knows
he is down one Of the silent streets with hand
cuffs on him, and is marched of to the sta
ton to await the inevitable interview with
the magistrate in the morning.
A WILD, UNCOVERED SURGE.
Z AL this is done 80 quickly that the man Is
gone before his companions hare titne to col
lect their scattered senses ben they do
rally they generally M
surge at the police, who open ranks before
them, close in behind them, charge in turn
upon them, scatter them through the crowd,
catch two or three Of the ringleaders and pass
them into the irresistible eddy that whirls
them of to the prison cells and then the police
reform in line again. All this is done with a
persistent patience that is admirable to be-
hold. never saw a man clubbed In London,
but then perhaps the policeman's bone-crack-
ing tactics are even worse for the victim than
would be good sound whack with club.
When man is utterably untamable, two
policemen grab an arm, and bend them sud-
denly back till the elbows touch. Every bone
in the wretch's body seems to crack. It Is
like an interview with the rack Of olden
Times. The instant this is done he is as limp
and nerveless as a Clam.
It is curious thing that the London mob
employs the same tactics with the police rs
policemen use with the people. They try in
every way to divide the solid phalanx of the
officers who endeavor to resist by linking
arms with each other, and il. that condition
stand an enormous strain. However, when
the mob succeeds the individual member Of
the force is roughly handled. They whirl
him round and round crack his bones, and il
he once loses his feet and goes down, it means
several months in the hospital or all eternity
in his coffin. In the Strand, once saw q
mounted policeman swallowed up, horse and
all, by the mob He didn't lose his feet, but
he lost his head. He got angry, which is q
thing the mob can never abide. He tried to
charge them back with his horse. The mob
literally rose at him and swept his horse and
himself for about twenty yards, the horse
staggering along sideways, plunging and rear
ing in the dense crowd. Then striking the
pavement the terrified animal went down
sideways, and the next instant the surging
mob seemed to have flowed over horse and
man.
Between getting into Q fren1ed London
mob or taking swim in the whirlpool rapids
below Niagara I think there is very little
choice. The wise man will give preference,
If anything, to the whirlpool. Luke Sharp in
Detroit Free Prees