The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1889-07-12
Tnz LONDON POLICE.
Good Looking aud Polite, lIut OF so a,
count Tor Actual Service.

Good looking aud Polite. Hut OF so Ac-
count Tor Actual service.
From THE subject il Is an easy
transition ~ that OF the police They
are good-lookiny set OF mon, well
uniformed. ana, without exception, so
FAR as i know, polite and courteous,
especially 90 strangers. Aside from
this, and preventing hlockades of
vehicles. which would Inevitably oc-
cur without thom. they do not seem
inclined 10 do much, however They
do no. arrest person on suspicion or
hoarsay. Ia fact, they don't arrest
them al all, oven whom they "uccd ar
resting badly. Ii is common thing
10 seq a half-drun'Ien, or even a sober
man, abuse policeman unstintcdly.
The way the "lobbics' conduct them-
selves la emergencies is unique A
few nights ago | was on Trafalgar
square, when rough-loolin. GUS
toner came up 10 man standing near
me, and apparently without the slight
est provocution brually assaulted him.
knocking him down with "a blow I'm
tho face, from which tho blood poured
in a stream. The man yelled like
good fellow, aud crowd collected.
but his as,ailaut made no effort To got
away. An officer sauntcrcd In and
mildly inquired; What's all this
about?' The circumstances were ro
lated to him by dozen people at once,
aud hc turned TO the offender and said
in mildly, cNpostulntory tone: What
did you do that forP What did you
poke him for? You mustn't do that
sort Of thing, you know; IL makes n
crowd gather. You got no right To
poke IA man like that when he haven't
done any thing TO you. You were all
wrong sirN
Go away, you great big loaicr,'
said the rough 20 the officer; "this Is
none OF your Affair."
The bobby" moved away without
making an arrest
Another instance: a bold-lOokiug
follow, carrying a black bag, walked
up and down in front Of the American
Consulate for the greater part OF two
days, speaking to nobody and acting
rather qucerly, lIo looked In the win
dows once or twice, and | became
rather uneasy about him, recognizing
in him one 81 tho crank species.
spoke to police officer about him.
aud hc went 90 the trouble 10
u-k him what he wanted. but
his cvusiyc answer. waiting To 500
man. s'cmcd 20 be satisfactory, aud
the alleged guardian OF the peace did
not pursue the matter This morning,
willie Mr.. New happened 10 be looking
out OF The window at the stranger. the
latter took "A murdcrous-loolSing ro.
yolycr out OF the bas auH fired IL, no.
body knows at what, unless he meant
to commit either suicide or murder.
He put the weapon back In the bag
and started 10 run, while crowd
quickly collected and he was caught
He refuscl % give any explanation OF
his strange conduct, and the upshot Of
the whole matter was that he was al
lowed tr CO. although apparently no
was "a dangerous man 20 be allowed 10
run at large, aud demonstrated with
the officer. That digntary answered:
81 had no right 90 take him into Gus
tody; didn't see him do any thing"
"But he had pistol aud fired It in
crowded thoroughiarc, / persisted;
wasn't that cnoughg'
81 didn't sec 10, said the officer; II
suppose IL was in the bag, but it was
locked and / couldn't break in it,
London Cor. indianapolis Journal.