The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-31

and cries for money. They, too, were
thieves and beggars, and the detective said
the worst of the lot. We made a quick
turn round a corner, doubled on our
course, and entered one of the thousands
of lodging houses of the White Chapel
district There sat the same women with
somebody's babies, disappearing and
drinking spirits, with the bullet-headed
infants hanging over their shoulders like
bundles of rags.
Others were singing ribald songs in
hoarse, drunken voices, while the men
laughed and Joined them in the nights
carousal. There is a little spot in New
York called the Five Points, and few
streets leading away from it inhabited by
Italians and Cinnamon. 1t is said that
those Sixth-ward tenement houses are in
habited at the rate IF 10000 to the square
mile. But this White Chapel district is
a vast city of vice and poverty compared
with that small plague spot. London.
with its three million inhabitants and
its colonies of criminals, representing
the most vicious classes OF Europe, is
monstrous problem for any govern
ment to solve. As / walked down those
gloomy lanes and crawled through the
dark underground passageways among
the depots of stolen goods, where fortunes
disappear in moment, where mems
lives 60 out like a candle, exclaimed
aloud: mo wonder it requires fifteen
thousand policemen in London"
The government official said: we
have only half enough police. We ought
to have twenty-five or thirty thousand"
In the presence of all the intricacies of
the White Chapel slums, the thousands
of winding passage-ways. the tiers of bed
rooms no larger than cells in prison. the
scene gave one an idea why the White
Chapel assassins have not been discovered.
One might as well look along the docks of
London for the rat that stole his cheese as
to hunt for a criminal in this place.
Turning out OF a lane through a dark
passage-way into a little area. and stand
ing beside small addition built back of
the other houses, and pointing to the
boarded windows the detective said, "In
there is where murder number seven was
committed" This is Millers court. While
we were looking at the place and wonder
ing which way the assassin ran after he
had killed the poor woman, little yellow
haired children came dancing into the
court and listened with a curious bold
ness, as if we were about to open a box OF
valuables and there would be chance for
them to steal.
In Osborne-st., where the first of all the
murders was committed, and the victim
unknown, the White Chapel, which stands
in the very middle of the White Chapel
road, is almost in sight. A walk of a few
steps from the horrible place leads me to
the open thoroughfare, where the jingling
bells of the horse-cars are heard and the
chimes of White Chapel ring out on the
night air as they do in Christian lands
where thieves and murderers are not so
near civilization.
At Georges yard, Commercials mot
Commercial road, the buildings are thick
and heavy walled. entirely fireproof, with
arched floors and iron joists. Yet they
are but tenements for the lowest of hui
manity, and let as lodgings for men and
women indiscriminately, it is said. In
all these places there is no attempt to sep
aTate the children from the full grown
thieves and abandoned women.
As l stood in Georges yard, looking up
at the balcony where the poor woman was
found with strips of her remains tied
about her neck, l turned and saw lights
cleaning in large building separated
from the court by high fence. On in
quirv l found it was large hall where
much talked about black and white art
exhibition was being held. 1t seemed in
credible that an institution rejecting the
light and genius of the nineteenth centu-
~ could actually exist and be filed with
cultivated men and women with its win
dows looking down into the very purlieus
of London.
We next came to the celebrated Frying
Pan tavern, which is the rendezvous of
dissolute characters of the lowest type.
We entered the little room where only
"frst-class" customers are served. In
spite of the detectives efforts a couple of
young thieves got into the room and pro-
ceeded to order ''bitter" for two, appar-
emily as an excuse to be on hand should
there be a chance to steal watch or cut
throat. A sign on the wall ran to this
effect:
Crs4on,ers ara pes1actfn1Iv Tnforuned