Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-04-28
TRIP THROUGH SCOTLAND YARD.
Startling Souvenirs q Bl0od-The Assal
sim. Nest-BurgiaF's Budget.

Startling souveniss q Blosd-Ihe Assas.
sin's Nest-Burgiar's Badget.
From Scotland yard ID directed the entire
mechanism of the great machine for the pro
vention, repression and discovery Of crime.
There, in q low, dinO series Of old houses,
are copyrighted the various bureaus Of the
department, the telegraph and printing Offices,
the paymaster's and surveyors Offices, the
1greer yard" where the lost property Of the
public is kept until claimed, and the ~black
museum vaere the articles found on prison.
ers are put aside for them until their release
In the -black museum" which was originally
got together by Mr.. Harris, q most courteous
and well-informed officer Of . literary turn,
are treasured some startling souvenirs Of
blood and murder, which render it more NOR
bidly attractive than Tusands Chamber Of
Horrors. A visit to it has much the same e.
feet on the sensitive temperament As the pc
rusal of Edgar Poes tales in the attic Of . sol
itary mansion in the small hours Of winters
night 1t puts the nerves out Of gear and
leaves taste in the mouth
There, in addition to miscellaneous assort-
ment Of trumpery, finery, and poor belong
ings, broomsticks, crockery, fatirons, aprons,
sacks, hammers, and fiddles, are pigeon-holed
Clotiy DuLtOi6, ulolLOllu Ilut5S
and chattels of genuine value. In an upper
room, the assassin's nest. are the ropes with
| which men were hanged, remains Of the po-
tons with which they were poisoned, or the
daggers with which the souls were brutally
dug out of their bodies side by side with ugly
flint pistols, bludgeons suggestive Of Bill
Sykes, and the evil-looking pixies welded by
Malay pirates who enjoy the grim hospitality
90, ,s,i-r "a
stones. A lady who would insist on entering
the place once was carried out in . deadly
Swoon.
markable and edit ying object Of study. They
are beautifully finished, and Of the most ex-
quisitely- tempered steel A fine trade in the
manufacture Of these excellent specimens Of
skilled handicraft must be done Somewhere.
The dark lanterns are ingeniously wrought,
the list slippers delicately embroidered, and
some of the jimmies are polished until they
resemble oxidizcd silver. There must be as
thetes of the housebreaker's art How Sir
Claude de Crespigny, the would-be hangman,
would rejoice were he let loose in this happy
hunting -groundl 1t sickened me- had to
ask for air when the curator showed me .
patch Of the charred skin Of the woman whom
Wainwright had butchered, suspended in Q
vial of spirits of wine and neatly docketed-
The coiner's apparatus exhibited a notable
progress in the march Of intellect-that is, the
intellect which is immortalized in the New
gate calendar The curator told me the
criminal classes were acquiring a dangerous
acquaintance with chemistry and dynamics,
and that facility of penmanship was on the
increase Is this the result Of school-board
training! 1t would be melancholy il such an
argument-that education is not an unmixed
blessing-were to be taken as valid against
its spread. The abuse Of gift is no reason
that its dissemination should be hampered-
Thomas S. Gill, N. p.