Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-14
LONDON IN A.D.,lsO2,
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ,s3


boys and girls, rushing. pushing, and 1ost-
ling one onother, as they move up and
Gown the sidewalks and roadways. AT
times they stop tho buses and the han.
som cabs must so at walk.
The faces are hard and many of them
are red with drink, and at every few
steps you meet g party OF them who are
singing and dancing and throwing their
arms around one another In their inebrt-
ste 10Y. Some have men With them, and
men and women pass along embracing as
they go.
Young girls have long peacock feathers,
With which they tickle the men indsscrfn-
.nately under the chins as they pass.
etopned and leaned against the wall to
make mental notes Of the crowd. Every
now and then some giddy Whtechapel
maiden, with her hair frizzled over her
ears and sailor hat on the side of her
head chucked me under the chin and
mi feather under my nose and told
me TO TART" Indeed 1t made me blush.
Drinking I'm London.
was surprised at the drunkenness Of
tf,e crowd, and especially at the number
Of intoxicated women. have seen every
great city Of the world, but nowhere nave
J seen women d,.nking publicly III the
saloons SIS they do here. On the peace
night ] saw drunken girls Of is, and some
who Sc cned younger, although there were
signs on the saloon window saying that
children under fourteen would not be
served.
There were scores of women with babies
In their arms dancing and shouting, their
bresJfs redolent Of whiskey and gin. Some
of the babies were not more than two
weeks old, but their mothers bundled them
,p 10 their breasts and sang and danced
with the rest
The saloons along the Strand were filed
with alf-drunken people of both sexes.
looked into saloon after saloon and did
moi find one in which there were not wo-
mon d:.nling. Many Of the women were
gray-haired. end even these were drunk.
This drinking prevails throughout Lon
don. The omen patronize the saloons
almost as rauch as the men, and you can
not drive through the poorer sections of
Saturday evening without seeing drunk
en- women dancing, shouting and quarrel
ing.
Among the pickpockcts.
The scenes made me think of Dickens
novels. and especially of Oliver Twist.
The charactcrs Of that story were every
where. and Fsgin and his pickpockets
we're abroad. There are no more expert
thieves in the world than here, and saw
q good specimen Of their work as l stood
against the wall Two men lost their
watches inside OF two minutes. The first
>A'S
t.ief rushed away the gooa woman shed
tears saying Yes, they've stolen my
husbands watch
The other was q dude in a tall hat who.
like myself, was cut to see the fun. One
thief knocked of the hat. another pushed
Tie dude. aic' third grabbed at his
watch chain and took his gold repeater
before he could turn around. buttoned
nay coat ZIP tightly and pushed my way
through 10 one OF the policemen, telling
him OF the pickpockets. He replied:
Yes, this is the pickpockets' harvest.
There will be hundreds Of watches stolen
tonight, and we cannot prevent it. You
had better keep off the side streets. There
is such n jam here that we cannot watch
the alleys which lead Off the Strand. Thu
girls will cniice men into the dark places.
when their pals viii knock them down
and rob them The work is done in
minute and the thieves get away"
In the next days paper I found the re-
p,rt Of hummer c. ronhc;.ea of this kind
one man being knocked down and killed
by The Youghs.
Fifteen Thousand Policemen.
And still Londcr has 1890 policemen
ana thes are ! believe about the best
police ia the world The city is so great
however. that they cannot take care OF
1t all, although they DO Sc very well III
ordinary tinlss
The pnlitc ere under the control Of the
home secretary. and theli. jurisdiction ex-
tends in every direction within fifteen
miles OF Charing Cross. Three hundred
of them are mounted and large part OF
their business is chasing bicycle riders
and bicycle thieves.
The police dress in tiue, with black he'll
ncts. They ere not allowed to carry pis-
tolls and their sole weapons are short
clubs.
Thcy are far more polite than our police
men, and this notwithstanding they do not
receive half the pay. The ordinary police
man gets from $3.50 to $500 a year. and
sergeant receives from s465 to s7S5. in
addition to this they are furnished with
clothing, or money in lieu thereof.
Uncle sam snoon-Fce:fs John sBu1.
Bat must not foIg the American in
vasien. Take a look at Londons mighty
paUnch ana see how it may be filled with
American eatables. There are six million
mouths il the city itself: every one OF
these has TO be filled three times day.
and already many are filled by US. Indeed.
it mas been rightly said that Engled is
almost spoonfed by the United States.
If her outside supplies were shut OF she
could not live. for more than six months.
We annually send her more than Is, coo, 600
pounds of beef. Sc. Qo0.G00 pounds OF bacon,
6S.N0.009 pounds OF cheese. more than 3d.
eo1G0o bushels of wheat and more than
lQ0140Ot0 bushels OF barley.
The city has the greatest markets Of the
world Take for instance, the Copen-
hagen Fields cattle markets near .Isling-
ton, one of the scenes OF John Gilpins
ride They cover thirty acres, and handle
about 4,00o 600 cattle a year. -Four thou
Eand beeres and 1900 sheep are, on tbs
average, sold there every market day.
end the place has accommodation for
ST. 1uchj cattle and g. 900 sheep.
Another great market for cattle is that
of Smithfeld. on the site where bloody
Queen Mary burnt the sanity John Rogers
al the stake. The place has q bloody his
tory, and II is bloody to-day. for it Is
one Of the chief meat markets OF London.
il is filed with American beef, which is
here sold as tho rare roast beef of old
England" Then there is the Leadenhail
market, where poultry ha. been sold for
900 wears, and the great markets OF
Covent Garden. which sells fruits. rese-
tables, and flowers.
The Covent Garden market is ono OF the
largest in London. 1t is within stone's
throw Of the Strand. and right in the
heart Of the city. The houses consist Of
vast buildings of iron and glass. big
enough for national expesition. They
belong TO the Duke OF Bedrcrd, who gets