Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1889-10-12
SOME ROGUE'S RELICS.
A TRIP THROUGH THE BLACK Mu-
scum OF SCOTLAND YARD.

NTementoes OF Several Notorious Criminals.
The Great Ingenuity That Has Been
HHisapplied-- 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-these
were the very appropriate accomplishments
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 the
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, when
bound upon his little night exkRiitions of
depreciation and burgling To.shvent such
an exceedingly clever mechanical contriv-
ance argued the possession on his part of end
less engineering, carpentering and architect
ural capacity; to have been able to use it, as
he used it, proves him to have been capable
Of an acrobatic agility which would, in q
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 it, landed him only at last upon the
"bad eminence, - wherein stood the gallows
upon which he met his hideous fate. And
that Lefroy's talents were of no mean ma
ture, despicable and brutal as was his crime,
Is distinctly evidenced by the letter he wrote
to friend, wherein, In well set phrases, and
In clear, bold. and not in the least in vul-
gar handwriting, he congratulates him upon
the admirable manner in which he had acted
the part of Mother Hubbard in a pantomime
which the poor wretch had written and pro-
duced 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
ed fate, yet, as I read the letter, written in
brighter and happier days, could but say to
myself:
"Oh, the pity OF i'll Oh, the pity. of itr'
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 win say that the
man who could SO cleverly convert an ordi
nary Bryant and May match box into such
an admirable bulls eye lantern was surely
capable Of a 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 to lead him to a 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 lstill
with fearful interest all their own, are some
of the relics that lie scattered about in rich
confusion. Lipski's 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's diary, writ
ten in prison, and which contains advice to
those about to marry, similar to but even
more forcibly expressed than in Punch's cele-
brated dictum, Don't" For it was a wo-
man who had brought him to his horrid end,
at least so he says.
On the shelf beside 1t 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
it is, it recalls forcibly to the mind that hang
man in Dickens novel, "Barnaby Rudge,"
and the craven fear he exhibited when he,
the callous brute who had so cheerfully put
30 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
O'Donnell shot Carey, the Irish informer,
and there is also the very bullet which was
extracted from the latter's body after death.
"Look at this piece Of skin, sir, said my
kind and courteous guide, putting into my
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
melt was SO dainty, SO beautifully de-
signed, so entirely suited for the adornment
of an aesthetic West End drawing room. But
its history is q sad one, for with it a sailor
had stabbed to the heart a girl who loved
and trusted him. And obi how touching are
the relics of these poor female victims, many
Of them of n terribly low and degraded class.
In at least three instances saw well thumbed
hymn books and prsyer books in which were
scrubbed all over the names Of the poor dead
ana gone creatures, ana 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 ac-
count the dreadful notoriety which was
attached to each celebrated picture
Tichborne's portrait taken three years ago,
depicted a very thin, pale faced bearded man,
with not single particle Of likeness to the
jovial and corpulent ''noblemann who disap-
peared from public ken some fifteen years
ago. As was gazing, with mingled loath-
ing and disgust at these sickening memorials
of bygone and a very wicked past, some
thing touched my face, and, looking up, saw
with shudder that a noosed rope was swing
ing above my head. "Ah, sir" said the
policeman, with a grim smile on his face,
''that has done some work in its time. "
"Come, said to my friend, "let us get out