Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-08
IhE lARRIkIN oE LONDON.
Fstless, Capless and Tireless, He Gives
Chase to the ur-wheeIer.

Fstless, Capless and TIreless, He Gives
Chase to the Four-wheeIer.
The several societies and the many amateur
| philanthropistg who have made the fate of the
small boy the object of their care have nearly
cleared the great London streets of the gamin
and gaminne. They are still 10 be seen In the
slums fighting in their rags for a rotten apple
or dancing in their tatters around hurdy-
| gurdy, but they have been killed, philan-
thrupized and societied of the thoroughfares
Poor 10" is a thing of tho past, and the
places he occupied are filed by the bootblack
brigade, the newsboys and the organized
street cleaners There is one youth, however,
that neither the policeman, the philanthropist
nor the novel writer has been able TO sup
press, and that is the larrikin.
l had an experience with him when less
than two hours in London, and after that
studied the habits of the beast with much in
terest. We We're making for q quiet lodging
house in lslington, ourselves inside and our
baggage on top of "growler,' and were
about six or seven streets from the place
when / saw the slimmest Of youths dart
around q corner and give chase to the four
wheeler. Fatless, capless and tireless he kept
up run along the sidewalk, dodging his
way among the passers-by as though he were
CREASED, watching each turn Of the hack with
a keen eye and darting down whichever
street the cabby steered his rickety horse.
When the house was reached, there at the
area gate stood the skeleton youth Who
the horse was pulled up, with all four feet
stuck out like the legs OF a chair, the fleet
lad rang the bell By the time we had
alghted he had our trunks on the pavement,
and by the time our identity had been estab-
lished with the landlady he had carried our
trunks upstairs to our apartments.
Then came the explanation. He was not a
messenger attached to the lodging house as a
convenience for guests; neither was he the
hack drivers son. He was a larrikin, gaunt
hunter of hsggage-laden strangers. He had
marked us for his prey, had chased down the
quarry and his price was sixpence. After that
/ saw him often-that Is, those Of his kind.
His fsvorite hunting grounds were the great
lodging districts-Kensington Camberwell,
Brixton, Stoke Newington. Camden Town,
etc, and a four wheeler with trunks on the
roof and people looking curiously out Of the
windows was a sure sign Of fair game. His
distinctive conduct wss the precipitancy with
which he did everything No matter how
long the run might have been, he would dart
at the impedimenta and haul them off ar
though fresh from a lounge Old ladies wers
a great catch for him, and he would 30 Fly
around" and bang things about that they
would deliver up backsheesh before they
thoroughly knew what they were doing.
Sometimes they would chase down the same
prize and so bewilder the victim with sham
Quarreling that they would he paid for the
sake of peace. No attempt seems to be made
TO abolish these Bedouins Of the London dos
ert, vet they are as truly plunderers Is their
brethren Of Arabia The city Arabs, as the
gamins used to be called, were not nearly as
knayish as these fellows, for what the one
begged these extort.-London Cor San Fran
cisco Chronicle