The record-union., 1897-08-22

for four days in conSeQuence-the Ia
miliar old story of an ill-fed, overdrunk,
weakly chap of a hundred and thirty
pounds administering a severe beating
to a six-foot two -hundred-and-fif fifty
pound policeman armed with a club.
The Judge made light of the charge
of assault. but looked more seriously
upon the mans habits of drunkenness.
The prisoner had the best advocate
in the shape of a good-looking young
wife, with two or three children, much
too decent looking woman to be mar
ried to such a man, who took the stand
in his behalf and told what good hus-
band he was when he was sober, and
shed tears and wrung her hands, and,
in short reached Sir Johns heart. He
was a good husband and a good shoe
maker and he could get work whenever
he wanted it with his brother-in-l law
he was a perfect model of husband,
in fact, that dirty-looking fellow, with
the face of a sneak thief. But the
jailer, saying his say at the wrong
moment, said that the prisoner had
quarreled with his brother-in-law and
all his relations, that he was worth
less fellow, and very violent when in
drink. The Judge wished the jailer
to the deuce, as l could see by his face,
for the wffe's plea had gone home.
What can 1 do with you?" he asked
the prisoner. "If I send you to pris-
on, your wife and children may starve.
but if I let you go, you are likely to
get drunk ait any moment and commit
some act that may send you to prison
for life, or even to the gallows."
THE COURT MISSIONARY.
That was where the Court Mission
airy began to earn his salary. He was
sitting at the end of my seat, and l did
not know who he was till he got up and
made a suggestion. He saw as we'll as
anybody that the Judge only wanted
some reasonable excuse to let the man
go, on the little wife's account.
IF I might offer a suggestion, your
Honor" said he, II should like TO say
that this man signed the pledge three
months ago, and kept it until he got
into this trouble. He can go for long
periods without drinking. Would it
not be we'll to release him on his own
recognizance, for two months, the po-
lice meanwhile to keep him under OBJ
servation?"
The wife's pleading look. when this
suggestion was made, would have set
tied the mans fate in any case.
1.-TWO months under your own recog-
nizance," the Judge quickly announced;
and remember that your only safety
is in not taking a single drink: if you
take one you will take more. 1t is on
your wife's account, not your own, that
1 am so lenient with you; but if you are
brought here again 1 shall have to deal
with you severely
The prisoner had had as much eX-
preston in his face throughout as an
oyster may have after being swallowed;
and he stepped from the dock looking
as if his freedom or his imprisonment
was a matter that concerned some 9TH
er fellow entirely, and with which he
had nothing to do.
This case occupied a quarter of the
two hours during which the court was
in session; and when adjournment came
the total was the man held on his own
for commitment All the other pris-
oners We're discharged, though several
of them might easily have been held
by a dyspeptic Judge who felt the need
of employment. Every prisoner was
treated in a paternal way; and the
Judge seemed so well acquainted with
each case that l suspect he had talked
the cases over, either with the pris-
oners themselves or with the police,
before going into court.
After the adjournment we were TAX
en- over the prison, where every cell
was empty except the one occupied by
the two boys. Those precious little ras-
calls had been as meek and repentant
as possible while in court. Their faces
were pictures of innocence, and they
were ready to promise anything re-
quired. But now they We're away
from the Judges eye, and the case
was different. They were skylarking
at a great rate in their cell, and when
the boy in my party looked through the
wicket they began to chaff him at
once, and asked whether he didn't wish
he could "come in and have some fun
IN THE GAOLER'S ROOM.
In the principal keepers room, the
gaoler, as they call him here, we saw
a rare collection of pictures of police
men and detectives, including several
from New York and Brooklyn who had
come over on business and endeared
themselves to Bow street by their 'tak-
ing'' ways. And there were some pho
tographs of officers masquerading as
Spanish cavaliers and Mexican ranch
ers, costumes assumed for attending
masked balls in professional way. The
man in the Mexican dress took the
prize for the best dress at one ball, the
managers being unaware of the fact
that their prize went to a detective
who was there to watch them.
A nice chapter of horrors l could give
you about the police museum, to which
the public are not admitted. New of
ficers are taken there to become famil-
lar with the playthings of burglars, so
that they may not mistake a sectional
jimmy for a pair of sugar tongs. The
collection of halters would make a good
beginning: for halter is used for one
ceremony only, and then is hung up in
the museum, duly labeled with the
name of it's victim. Or the ghastly
death masks of some of the unfortu-
nate gentlemen who have been operat-
ed upon by the halters. Or the bun
die of blue rags and ragged edges of
shoe that once comprised the clothing
of an officer in Ireland who was blown
up with a dynamite cartridge. Or the
great assortment of knives and pistols,
of every imaginable shape, every one
with history. Or the samples of rope
ladders, safe breakers wedges, and
other tools, skeleton keys and what
not. Or even the letter written to the
police by Jack the Ripper Or the ar
ticles representing every stage in the
conversion of a pewter mug into bad
shillings. Some of the coins were so