The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-26

ENGLAND's CHIEF DETECTIVE.
 The most famous living detective, su- lperintendent William Melville, of Scot land Yard, who has recently bean charged with the personal care of the king on his foreign journeys, retired yesterday.
 Destroyer of anarchist clubs, protec- ] tor of kings, he has worked hard for thirty-one years in the detection of crime, and has lived 10 complete his service and earn his leisure in spite of the explosive bomb, the chloroformed bag, the dagger and the revolver. all of which at one time or another have been carefully prepared for his own personal destruction.
 The vile Melville" was the nut tered phrase of hatred often heard in the anarchistic haunts of Soho in the days when Superintendent Melville was breaking them down-and he was often there to hear it said.
 ] Although at the head of staff of de- ttectives, he did not merely remain at l his office in Scotland Yard and give or ders. Taking his life in his hand, he l provided Soho by night: he made friends of Italans and Frenchmen, members of i the plotting clubs; disguised as an an- archist" himself he obtained invitations to their meetings: he went to their feasts and dances, and their masked balls were regarded by Mir. Melville as 80 many delightful bits of luck. 1 At these picturesque night revels eve " one present was supposed to be eith- i CT an active anarchist or friend and supporter of ""the great cause" and Su- perintendent Melville was able while masked himself 10 see the anarchist i leaders uumasked and surrounded by their supporters.
 He chatted volubly with them in French or Italian, he studied their fea- lures, learned their aspirations, discov- cred their programmes of murder, and i in some cases was able to quietly ar- rest red-handed and in the possession of deadly bombs the very men with whose wives and friends he had been dancing.
 ! The way in which he imprisoned an anarchist in wine cellar is typical of
 his methods. The man was a German. and he had made arrangements to as- sassinate the then Kaiser on his visit to one of the exhibitions in London. Hav- ing got his man to the wine cellar steps by ruse, and having no specific charge or warrant upon which to arrest him, MT Melville took the law into his own hands. pushed the man into the cellar, locked the door, and kept him safely l bottled up' until the Kaiser had de- parted.
 One of his Soho vigils unearthed the Walsall scheme.
 Following up shadowy clues inch by inch, and maintaining his fine system of surveillance by corps of detectives, he traced the Italian bomb expert Bat tola to Walsall. There the anarchist leaders not only preached the doctrines of anarchism, but taught their disciples how to carry them out. Tn secret eel lar Battola held bomb class, and had ! all the paraphernalia for making bombs. He instructed pupils in the mysteries of various explosives, gave them lessons about time fuses, with the intention of sending them forth q host of men to de- stroy the royal palaces of Europe. These calm studies were rudely stopped by Superintendent Melville and his fearless men, and four conspirators were sent to penal servitude for ten years and one for five years.
 1 Superintendent Melville discovered that this plot was arranged at the most formidable of all the anarchist rendez- vous in London, the Autonomie club, in Windmill street. Tottenhanl Court Road. The smashing of this gang by MT. Melville was the heaviest blow ever dealt at anarchisln in England.
 When Bourdain was literally "hoist with his own netard," being killed by the bomb which he had prepared for the destruction of the Royal Observatory, there was found on him card of mem bership of the Autonomie club. This sent MT. Melville down to Windmill street. He sat at the receipt Of custom, placed his men at various points, and arrested each man as he sauntered into the club keeping this going for four hours, until he had secured a cellarful of anarchists.
 ! The chloroform scheme was one of the most important of the anarchist sys- tems discovered by Mir. Melville. The detective met one member of the Wal
 -4----------------