The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1891-08-04
THE LONDON POLICE.
An Estimate of the Thieves Profits in the
Year of 1883.

AMONG THE LONDON POLICE.
An Estimate of the Thieves Profits in the
Year of 1883.
An interesting story of crime In a
great metropolis is to be found in the
last annual report THAT for 1881 OF the
commissioner of police for London The
metropolitan area guarded by the force
was 700 square miles. and for the pro-
lection of person and property $1,000
men were on the rolls Of the men,
however owing to reasons not detailed,
several thousand were continually I'M
available.
At the head of the list of crimes COM
mitted in spite of the public guardians
stand seventeen hOmicides. the most OF
which were plainly deliberate murder,
but not single capital conviction Is re-
corded against the names of the criml-
mails. In four cases the criminals could
not be found, one of the four being
Jack the Ripper" of WhitechapeL In
other cases the assailant was insane,
some committed suicide. and in few
cases conviction for manslaughter was
obtained. On the whole it was fairly
safe to kill a man in London: quite as
safe as in Kentucky or any of the Amer
lean states where a feeling that the
criminal done had To" commonly in
huences the jury to acqnit. 1t Is likely
that no state shows SD serious failure
of Justice as this report shows for
London.
In the report on crimes against prop
erty it is told plainly that stealing does
not pay. Even leaving ont of consider
alton the awards of punishment meted
out to the thieves, they would scarce
have been the wages of honest labor.
Thus, there were but 499 burglaries and
5000 pounds worth of property gathered
in-about pounds a job ON the
average But of this a great part was
recovered, while in l2i cases not a
farthing was obtained by the burglar.
Moreover. these figures represent the
loss to the owners. not the gain to the
thief No statement of the actual cash
receipts of the thieves can be made, but
when one considers the prices at which
the thieves must sell their plumber to
the fences. it is reasonable to suppose
that had they all got off scot free of i'm
prisonment, suffering only from the loss
of the property which was recovered
from them. they would not have made
s. a job on the average. perhaps not q.
There were about fifteen hundred
cases of housekeeping, and here the
same story is told. The thieves got
property of an estimated value of e1l,-
900 1.-THE owners always estimating their
losses as high as possible). but much
was recaptured. Even on the basis OF
the estimated loss, in over half the cases
the value was less than -. while in
.nly thirty-two eases out of the 500
did the value exceed $50.
The cases of shop-breaking numbered
5l., or seventy-three less than in lsss
The number of burglaries, too. was les
than in lSSs. and so, too. were the
house breal<ings and pocket-piclSings-
Sir Edward Bradford. who writes tho
report, says the decrease would be still
greater were it not for the lcniency WIT!
which habitual and weli-known Grimm
ais are treated by judges
On an average. however. crime
against property were l5per cent les
numerous in 1889 than in ISIS.
The portion of the report referring t
the health of the force shows that 81
members were invalidei. of whom IS
obtained pensions and the others re
ceivcd gratuities only. The latter ha
been in the service less than fiftee
wears. OF those put on pension sixty
three had rheumatism and forty wer
retir, because of age. long scrvic
and debility" There were ninetce
cases of phthisis and diseases of til
lungs. eighteen were affected wit
bronchitis and twenty had injuries tha
rendered them unfit for dutv.
The roll OF honor gives 1000 names {
men specially commended by magl
tratcs and others for mcritorious COZ
duct in the discharge of duty In II
of these cases the men had been hur
of the eases commended 200 were Il
stopping runaway horses forty of Il
200 having been injured in doing So
The story told IN the lost propert
department i perhaps the most int
esting in the report For instance. IL
purses were deposited in this depai
ment. besides 800 deposits of coli
found in public carriages. Twelve d
posits were of bank notes. one depo:
alone amounting to ea9O, while Z
number of watches. valuable piec
of jewelry. etc, left there were IN
1t is true that rewards amounting
e. a3S were paid I, those who broug
in the articles. but it is very go
showing for British honesty.
In the department of accidents 1t
pears that 140 people were run over a
killed by various kinds of vehicl
while the number of manned and
iured was $3.50 Curiously enough.
of these eases were due to velocipe
riders. The british driver appears
be even more reckless Of the safety
pedestrians than the drivers of NJ
York;. y. sun