The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-04-24
IN SCOTLAND YARD.
An Account Of the Great London
Police Institution.

EOllC0 xu~6tAtAtAOAA
A great English institution has latel,
been on trial-the police system itself
The commission, headed by "our owl
general which has been sitting upol
{the conduct of the civil authorities il
hthe matter of the recent riots, has de
+ cided that the measures for the pres
|ervation of the peace in London ar,
really very good, but might be mucl
better, yon know. As a consequence
the chief commissioner, Sir Edmund
Henderson, has resigned, and the Gov
eminent is looking out for an eligible
man to take his place. The position
is girt with much power and response
|bility. He has command Of over eleven
thousand men. and has an area Of
nearly seven hundred square miles IN.
der his control. His yearly salary is
ten thousand five hundred dollars.
IN London there are two distinct
bodies of ~police-that Of the city prop.
er, in the pay and under the manage
ment of the municipality, and that Of
the metropolis, which is at the disposal
OF the Crown. The former is about
nine hundred strong, and has no juris-
diction outside the Lord MAYORS terri
tory, an area of about one square mile,
the wealthiest in the world.
The gentleman overtaken in his cups
in the city is affably conveyed to a
heated room and detained until he
sobers. then he is dismissed with an
admonition and acup of coffee; in the
metropolis he is hauled off to the lock-
up, flung into a cell for the night and
brought before a justice in the morn
ing to be fined or imprisoned. The
explanation of this is that the Lord
Mayor and his merry men on the one
hand wish their domain to present a
clean record, while on the other hand
the constables in the metropolis are
promoted according to their zeal. Zeal
means the arrest Of offenders.
There are two blots on the police or
ganization Of London, although Albert
Wolff, of the Paris Figaro, pronounced
it the most perfect existing. Promo
ton goes by seniority and by favor.
That is one. There are not enough
mounted men. That is the other.
Where there are squadrons in CONT
mental cities, there are twos and threes
here. Nothing is equal to the quiet,
persistent influence of massive chargers
in ~appeasing mob tumult. Apart from
this frank public army of constables,
who pace to and fro in German spiked
helmets, and are all Of a pattern, there
IRE the detectives or plain clothes Off
GERS.
They can boast Of having the mean
est set of officers Of any branch of her
Majesty's servants. On this site was
that public house where the tired boy
Dickens entered long age and loftily
asked the landlady to draw him a
glass OF her very best ale. She stopped
and kissed the sick lad, to his intense
humiliation, and called out her hus-
band from the parlor to look at him.
There are taverns here still, one inside
the yarl which the dynamiters re-
hgiously tried to blow up, and one at
the side of the entrance gate, which is
much frequented by constables off duty
beer and bread and cheese, and by
tn, amateur detectives, the grasping,
sordid-looking satellites Of the private
agencies, on the lookout for
stray jobs.
From Scotland Yard is directed the
mechanism of the great machine
Tor the prevention, repression and dis
.overy Of crime. There in allow, dingy
Of old houses are congregated
various bureaus Of the depart
.ent, the telegraph and printing Off
ces, the dressing-rooms, where the Sc
cret Investigators disguise themselves,
inc consulting-rooms, the paymaster's
and surveyors offices, the .green
yard" where the lost property Of the
public Is kept till claimed, and the
BLACK museum" where the articles
|ound on prisoners are put aside for
hem until their release. This latter
. 70 the curious stranger the most IN
Ieresting place In the congeries Of :
edifces, but admission there :
8 not easily obtained. Previous to
1863 the property Of the felon was for .
to the Exchequer, but since that .
ear 1t has been held over for him :
Turing penal servitude, and is restored . .
t his liberation II be can prove that it :
his lawfully and not the proceeds Of
poll. (,
IN the ..black museum are treas A
red some startling souvenirs Of blood b
nd murder. A visit to IL has much d
he ssme effect ~ the sensitive tenn q
eranent rs tho perusal Of Edgar Pos's y
Mes 70 the attic Of a solitary mansion 4
J the small hours Of . winters night. 4
puts The nerves ont ot gear, There, >