Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-09-02
GANGS RULE LONDON.
MANY SECTIONS OF THE GREAT
CITY INFESTED WITH OUTLAWS.
VICTIMS FRIGHTENED INTO SILENCE
Threatened With the Knife, shop-
Keepers and Residents Submit to
the Ru1ians and Make No Conn
PLAINTIFF Check the EVIL.
(For the Dispatch.)

|
LONDON, August 1S.-The British mo
tropols is in the throes Of a reign of terro
from the lawlessness Of gangs who def
the police and murder and rob with i'm
punity.
One afternoon last week. in broad day
light and in street which is largely fire..
quented almost at all hours, a man was
fatally stabbed and the person said 10
be his assailant is now in custody
charged upon the coroner's inquisition
with the crime Of wilful murder. The
| place in which the tragedy occurred is
somewhat narrow but to all seeming
purposes respectable artery connecting
Waterloo road with Westminster BRIDGE
road. Almost without exception. the
houses on either side Of it are mean
and shabby I'm appearance and of the
two-storyed, smoke-begrimed type so
familiar in the poorer regions of the
metropolis. For the most part the
ground floors are let out as shops. and
CASTOR clothing establishments are
very numerous. 1t must be distinctly UNI
derstood that not a word can be spoken
TO the detriment Of the people who mostly
inhabit this thoroughfare. They earn
their living honestly and reputabIy, and
IL Is their misfortune that they dwell I'm
the heart of neighborhOod in which an
era of terrorism, violence, and blacbmail
has been suffered to spring up.
DARE NOT GIVE INFORMATION.
Now. what is it that these people, wholly
Respectable, as 1 have said, and hard
working and industrious, agree in telling
you? Not without a considerable amount
OF cajoling, not until you have given
them your solemn promise that their
names shall not be divulged. because-be
it understOod-they go in hourly peril of
their lives from the evil-doers who infest
the district, they tell you that for years
and years they have suffered cruelty from
the cowardly menacos Of these roughs.
that not a day passes but witnesse.
some outrage perpetrated in their midst.
that they dare not give information
against the offenders for fear Of being
pulled and maltreated by their confed-
crates. that il is a common thing 10 see
unsuspecting pedestrians-even in the day
time-waylaid and robbed. and as often
as not, physically assaulted; that no man
or woman is safe when out after dark
and that the police, so they put ii. are
powerless' to cope with the evil.
WHAT THE POLICE SAY.
That is one side Of the picture. and one
which am bound TO state, was bore out |
in every direction in which | sought ia |
formation, with a single exception The |
conversation, in the course of which / |
encountered that exception. was so in |
teresting and so highly instructive that / /
leel constrained TO reproduce IL i'm detail. |
III was the inspector at lambeth Police |
station, who, in answer 10 my inquiries |
seemed surprised and hurt that any sus-
pisions should be entertained as to the
respectbility of the neighborhood In
question. do you know anything of these
gangs"' he was asked. "Oh, dear. no.
nothing at all" was the reassuring reply
Anything about the neighborhoOd of |
Oakley streetY' Oakley street! Oh.
that's all right came the answer. But"
ventured TO observe, "a murder was
there only a day or two ago.
out in the street. and i'm full daylight"
Il believe So" the inspector laconicallv
'eplied. And this particular district is
lniet and orderly, and nothing out OF the
way occurs about there?" / went ON 10
suggest. Not that | know" he an
swered. and added: IT'S Just like anv
'ther part Of London. just the same 3"
And that was all the information he had
o give me in the matter. although
,resaed for more.
THE VARIOUS GANGS.
From other sources / learned that there