The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-07-08
THE SEVEN DIALS."
VISIT TO THE RENDEZVOUS OF LON
DON'S OESPERADOS.
The Toughest of the Tough as Seen In thu
English Capital-A Brute's Face
Swine of Tenement
House.
london Cor. ceurier-JournaI. {

GLondon Cor Ccurier-Journal
Dickens has made the Seven DialSs
famous 1t is the roost and rendezvous Of
the Forty Thieves" and scores OF the most
/ abandoned and de perate daredevil, to be
found IN the precincts of the wicked lnetrop-
Oils Strange 10 say, 1t is in the heart of the
city, and within few squares OF some OF the
principal streets. 1t is near cut to many
important places, If you don't get your
throat cut on the way. As l stated before
seven streets radiate from its hub, and you
/ drift into it from almost any direction 1t
/ gets Its name from the fact that formerly
/ each Of the seven buildings that face upon
/ the square had clock on its front-hence
! TIE Seven Dials."
walk of few minutes brought us To the
center OF the Seven Dials." We were now
about to enter i'll medals res sure enough
1he inspector stepped up to the policeman on
duty, and gently exhibiting his card and
some other sort OF insignia, exchanged a few
words soto voce. The shrill whistle of the
policeman sounded and another uniformed
knight bodied up serenely as though from
the bowels of the earth.
We formed u procession eight strong and
set out clown one of the dreariest streets fol-
lowed by viliainous crowd, who were GER
tam that an arreS5 was going TO be made. a
snort distance and we stopped in front of a
diiapidated old building. One of the police
men went to the head of tho column and the
other broush up the rear, while we moved
on the enemy. We CROPPED our way, Indian
Tile, through dark Railways down a narrow
stairca, 20 into a dimly-lghted celIar-room
nlled with ferocious and crestfallen charac-
tiers. There they were of all ages from the
10 year old boy to the hoary head. They
were taking their sorry supperss and our
visit was a surprise party.
1t was a sight l shall never forget They
were the toughest of the tough, and their
photographs would make our American
rogues' gallery blush 1t was study to sea
the various expressions of the hard hellish.
criIne-stamped faces. Some affected an air
OF Indifference to cur presence and went on
munchinS their meals without looking up;
others gazed at US with an assumed eye OF
innocence, which seemed TO say, "You are
shocklngiy rude to even suspicion me;" a
few did not disguise their displeasure at our |
unannounced call, and corrugated their /
brows and snarled and showed their teeth /
ike dogs. The youngest, boy of not over |
10, a soon as he got over his scare, "guyed" |
us, and offered to treat to the stale beer in
his pewter tankard His bravado sat sadly |
on such young shoulders. A man stood in
front of the fireplace who had evidently seen
better days His eyes were fixed the floor,
and he never once lifted them His cloth
ing was seedy, but trife neater than those
hat raised him several degrees above his sur
roundngS. His features were deepIy-fur-
rowed by vice, but through the hard lines
you could read few traces of former re-
spectabiIity. An old man, whose sharp, sly,
neaking face seems to have inherited sin as
birth-l4Z,ight, and feeding himself from a
Ocketful of hspcooked vegetables, which he
ad no doubt stolen rr esssSsl some green grocer,
market stand.
The most individual character :, as q a. L
lther young stout built man in whose face
lere was scarcely an Indication of human
eing. There was fearful fascination in
is features that held you with a snakelike
harm. His features were square, bold and
ritish. His nose lay fiat on his face aud his
lrge. yellowish-gray eyes had the wide-open
I'll AMI eagerness of panther His ex- F
ression seemed to say, Il could lap blood
nd deem it a dainty dish" He sat bold,
prlght, with cap on his head, and glared
Ill upon US. nave never seen just such b
ICE, AMI am at a loss how to describe it. 1t
ppeared to be nature but bit above the
rute, and unconscious of its degradation.
was a scene worthy of Dickens pen or a
reat painters brush. If it wss not a hot
Ouse of Hades l am no Judge.
When we had fully surveyed the scene tina
spector asked us, as matter of form, if
g recognized any one," and upon our re-
lme in the police parading with presented
atoms. A few jeers and guys" were fired
US we departed. The inspector always
;ked Us in these dens if I'VE recognized any
le," as he was supposed TO be in search of a
Ilprit Had the thieves thought otherwise,
ere would have been row at once, as they
re not fond of visitors chaperoned by blue
pats.
We were told that the proprietor of the
retched den we had visited was wealthy,
ulled the reins a pair, and lived in
lmptTOus style. He never sees the place,
ut collects through agent. His father,
seems, gave his personal supervision to
milar rancho until he got seven years for
ceiving stolen goods, and his rookery was
lzed to the ground by order of the city
OunciL Our route took us to a tenement
ructure down an alley where 800 of these =
retches. male and female, are sheltered IL
I'd fed many swine. The policeman
! duty said the guests were nearly all out
that hour, and that many of them did not
It in until after midnight. We boarded
e underground railway and had look
trough east London, notorious in criminal 4
mails Hundreds of abandoned people herI Il
gether in that district, where they are
d and housed by wholesale at a small
CURE. A woman superintendent
rs charge, and sees that their meals, such
they are, are served up satisfactorily
he inspector told US that he had made
any of his most noted arrests in this dis
let
In nearly all these places we could hear
le word wanted" softly passed as soon es
e crossed the threshold. That meant a
aITant out they thought and it
lowed they were accustomed to the APP oi
aarance of such documents. Almost in
ariably those we saw braced themselves
18th a rigid would-be expression of ino-
snce, which was painfully artificial from
e suddenness with which 1t had been
asqued A