The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-03-06
LONDON MOBS.

Luke Sharp, ia Detroit Free Press.
 "Lond don, whose smile Is fortune, and whose frown is death" do not recol- lect at the moment who was the writer of that terse and truthful sentence. won't be sure even that the quotation is liter al. Perhaps 1t vas said of Chatterton. 1 Perhaps It was written by Chatfertou him. self But oi the London mob 1t may be said th 4t deA'h lntxs in either Its smiles or its fro~rs A London mob Is like & man eating tiser. 1t IS dangerous whe- ther in play or in earnest.
 | A London mob, when it is known that it will gather for peaceful and legitimate purposes on a certain day, is always a source of anxiety and preparation with any occasion where the queen appears in the metropolis, or when big meeting Is called for in Hyde park, large mum Der of special policeman ara sworn in. Sometimes as many as 30 900 arc added to the already large force. remember being impressed with the completeness of the arrangements 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 bustliMg Strand to the comparative quietness of the Thames embankmens, stood double rows of stalwart, silent po- licemen in readiness for any call. Mounted policemen were stationed aleng Fleet street and the Strand every few feet on the crowded psvcmcnts were offi. cers on foot, and the toadWay was kept clear by the line ot uniformed men on each side of the way standing almost shoulder to shoulder. A msb of this kind is always a good natured one. ltis full of horseplay and likes to worry and bullyrag the patent policeman, whose lot at these times, as the peppery Gilbert remarks, is not happy one" When portion of the mob becomes too ob- stIeperous the policemen make a charge at 1t and epdeavor to scatter its compo- nent parts among the more peaceable sections of the multitude. The tactics of the police are always to scatter or divide the mob into sections They do not en- deavor to make an arrest unless all other methods of pacifing the boisterous indi- vidual idiot who is the nucleus of that particular rowdy part of the crowd fail But once the talons of the policeman fss- ten on an unruly man he is gone. The officer generally makes a sudden spring at him, grasps him firmly by the arms or by the coat collar, gives him one tre- mendous jerk toward htm that liftS him of his feet, then he turns him around shoves him on to the next policeman and thus the captive is whirled around and around and passed from policeman to policeman with celenty that utterly bewilders him and the first thing he knows he IS down one of the silent streets with haudcuffs on him, and he Is marched of to the station to await the inevitable intervew with the msgis- trate in the morning All this Is done so quickly that the man is gone before his companions have tune to collect their scattered senses When they do raiiy they generally make a wild. ungoverned surge at the poilcc, who open ranks be- fore them, close in behind them, charge in turn upon them, scatter them through the crowd, catch two or three of the ring leaders and pass them into the incstst- ible eddy that whirls them of to the prison cells, and then the police reform la line again. Ail,his IS done with per. sistent patience that is admirable to be- hold. l never saw a man dubbed in London. but thea perhaps the police mans boAe-breaking tactics are even wore for the vicum thaa a good sound whack with a ciab. When e man is utterly untamabie, two policemen each grab an arm, and bend them suddenly back till the elbows touch. Every bone in the wre,ch'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 clam. It is a curious thing that the London mob em- ploys the same tactics with the police as the policemen use with the people They try in every way to divide the solid phaianx of the off ey, who endcavog to resist by linking arms with each other, and ia that condition stand an enormous strain. However, when the mob suc- ceeds the indiudu d member of the force is roughly handled. They whih linn round and round, crack his bones, and if he once loses his feet and goes down it means several months in the hospital. or all eternity io has coffin. In front of the Free PYsss office, ia the Strand, once saw . mountcd 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 thing the mob cas- never abide. He tr,ed so charge them back with his horse The mob literally rose as him and swept his horse and him. self for about twenty yards, the horse stag. gering along sideways, piusgfng and rearing In the dense crowd. Then strik- ing the pavement the terrified animal weat down side~sys and the next ia- stant the surging mob seemed to have | 8AxNAd 0vnv hov~e and man
 Betweea getting into fsenzied Lon- doa mob or taking swim tn the vhirI- pool rapids below Niagara, think there is very little choice. The wise man vii give prefeiesce, if anything, to the whiri- pool.
 Dont Raad Thia