Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-18
SOME ROGUES RELICS.
A TRIP THROUGH THE BLACK Mu-
Scum OF SCOTLAND YARD.

Scum OF SCOTLAND YARD.
Mementoes of Several Notorious Criminals.
The Great Ingenuity That Has Been
SIisapplied--Ghastly Relies That MAKE
the Observers Blood Run Cold.
An intensely gloomy sky, a few heavy
drops OF rain, flashes Of lightning, and loud
thunder crashing over the great city-thess
were the very appropriate accompanirnents
of my descent into that weird chamber,
yclept the Black museum, in Scotland YARD,
wherein are collected the memorials and REL
les OF great criminals and their hapless vic
Tins CHASTITY as are his surroundings, yet [
fancy that that which most strikes tbs
thoughtful visitor is the terrible misuse OF
great ability which is here so remarkably
evidenced by what is shown.
GREAT INGENUITY MIsAPPLIED.
The police officer will show the ladder in
vented and used by Mr.. Charles Peace, whet
bound upon his little night expeditions O.
depreciation and burgling. To invent sucl
an exceedingly clever mechanical contriy.
ance argued the possession on his part of end
less engineering, carpentering and architect
ural capacity; to have been able to use it, a,
he used It, proves him 10 have been capabl.
OF an acrobatic agility which would. i'm a
very literal sense, have placed him at the
very head of a performing troupe of aero
bats, but which talent, employed as he EN-
ployed IL, landed him only at last upon the
bad eminence," wherein stood the gallows
upon which he met his hideous fate And
that Lefroys talents were OF no mean ma
ture, despicable and brutal rs was his crime,
Is distinctly evidenced by the letter he wrote
70 friend, wherein, in well set phrases, and
in clear, bold, and not in the least in a vul-
gar handwriting, he congratulates him upon
the admirable manner in which he had acted
the part OF Mother Hubbard in pantomime
which the poor wretch had written and pro-
1uced in some hall in the suburbs Of London.
Brutal as was his crime, contemplate as was
his cowardice which he evinced when brought
face TO face with his terrible but well merit
ID fate, yet, as | read the letter, written in
brighter and happier days, | could but say to
myself:
"Oh, the pity OF i'll Oh, the pity Of it!'
And then take that little dark lantern into
your hand and study carefully the extremely
able and delicate manner In which it has
been constructed, and you will say that the
man who could so cleverly convert an ordi-
nary Bryant and MAY match box into such
IN admirable bulls eve lantern was surely
capable of higher and better walk in life
than that pursued by the mere common or
garden burglar. Half the ingenuity, half
the energy, half the trouble and worse than
wasted time would have made that man "A
wealthy and respectable member of society,
and yet the path illumined by the light from
that cleverly contrived little lantern has only
sufficed 70 lead him to prison wherein for
years he must labor at the most degrading
and Improbable work that it is possible to
conceive
CHASTITY RELICS
Very CHASTITY and very horrible, but Atill
with fearful interest all their own, are some
Of the relics that lie scattered about in rich
confusion. Lipskis coat and the petticoat OF
his victim, both saturated and burned with
that terrible fluid which he poured down her
throat are there. as also is the very bottle OF
death itself, ugh how one shudders as one
looks And there is a murderer diary, writ
ten In prison, and which contains advice TO
those about to marry, similar 20 but even
more forcibly expressed than in Punch's cele-
brated dictum, DON'T For IL was wo-
man who had brought him 10 his horrid end,
at least so he SAYS.
On the shelf beside it is the cast Of a muir
derer's head; and whose head think youl
Why, no less a person than the public hang
man himself! Grinning, CHASTITY, horrible as
IL is, 1t recalls forcibly TO the mind that hang
man in Dickens novel, "Barnaby Rudge,r
and the craven fear he exhibited when he
the callous brute who had SO cheerfully out
80 many TO death, was himself led out at last
TO face the grisly foe. And then the guide
puts into your hand the pistol with which
ODonnell shot Carey, the Irish informer,
and there is also the very bullet which was
~ H. les
Look at this piece OF skin, sir,n said my
kind and courteous guide, putting into nv
hand a small but very substantial piece of
black leather; that is part of Bellingham's
skin, the man who shot Mr.. Percival in the
lobby Of the house of commons" A very
pretty japanese dagger greatly fascinated
met was so dainty, SO beautifully de-
signed, so entirely suited for the adOrnment
OF an aesthetic West End drawing room. But
its history is a sad one, for with it IA sailor
had stabbed to the heart a girl who loved
and trusted him. And oh how touching are
the relics OF these poor female victims, many
Of them OF terribly low and degraded class.
In at least three instances saw well thumbed
hymn books and pre- yer books in which were
scrubbed all over the names OF the poor dead
and gone creatures, and in one instance even
the name Of the wretch who had taken her
sunless, wretched life away In that CHASTITY
album of photographs | saw much that was
of deepest interest, when one took into &C
count the dreadful notOristy which was
attached 10 each celebrated picture
Tichborne's portrait, taken three years ago.
depicted very thin, pale faced bearded man, |
with not a single particle Of likeness to the |
jovial and corpulent ''noblemann who disap- |
peared from public ken some fifteen wears /
ago. As was gazing, with -! .kled Ioath-
ing and disgust, at ts.-.-- -,ickening memorials
-. At q bygonee a very wicked past, some
.nnis t"HSn,lr my face, and, looking up, saw
.1N a snuaa that a noo-sd rope ,,-.- -.~s..s
policeman, with grim smile on his face,
that has done some work In its time"
Come l said TO my friend, LET us get out
of this" and, with gasp OF relief, We sprang
out Of the gloomy chamber of SIN and death,
and out into the sweet wind swept streets,
wherein the rain had ceased to fall and upon
which Gods sun was shining once again, and
all was life and hope and joy, and the Black
museum but dream-a very real and CHASTITY
one, but still, to me at all events, IA dream Of
the guilty, sin laden, deathly past London
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