The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-06

she lives at Hammersmith. One morn
ing, somewhere in the eighties, he went
off to catch his omnibus for business in
the city, and she has never seen him
since. For years and years the poor old
woman has Travelled over the same ground
twice day in the hope of finding MIN,
but | am afraid that their next meeting
will be beyond the great divide The
last time | saw her she told me she had
not yet lost hope, but there was that in
her eye which told that the drawn out
search was affecting her brain. l cheered
her up asAbest l could, advised her to
advertise in the papers and consult the
police, but she had done these things long.
long ago. Her husband has gone, and,
as far as this world is concerned, prob
ably gone for ever.
Some of my readers have met "Old
Emma who for a long time was a
landmark in the vicinity of Charing
Cross. She. too, had lost her husband,
but she believed, poor old SOUL that If
she waited long enough by Trafalgar
square she would see him passing the
lions. Having no means she sold matches,
and occasionally, when the match
selling was killing her, and the pathetic
vigil had dimmed her sight almost to
blindness, she would grip a customer
arm and ask in an anxious way If he had
noticed the appearance of this man or
Whether she found her husband or not
1 cannot say. I believe she did, because
missed her one afternoon, and day or
two later l. learned that she was dead.
Its SO ard to find anybody in London,
isn't it?' she used to say. why the
plice can't find man, if he likes to keep
quiet Didn't you never ear" and
lowering her voice to a whisper, Old
Emma would give me another chapter of
London's secret history. z
London has cloaks enough to hide us all
If you mant to disappear all you need do
is move round the corner. Very few peo-
pie in the metropolis are speaking
terms with those who live in the next
fiat or in the next house. There have
been several cases in recent years of
policemen having resided in the same
block as men who were wanted for some
notorious crime and there is an instace
on record of a wealthy ex-convict who
vanished, assumed a disguise and another
name, became property owner, and
actually leased a house to the judge,
who some years before, had sentenced
him to penal servitude. Not very long
ago it was found on the death of GER
tain public official that he had been rum
ming two establishments for 20 years. He
had two wives" and two families, yet
neither of the women had the least sus-
,icion. 1t was because the man lived
in London.
Uns0ciable London
Tt is nexttto impossible to carry on such
duplicity in the country, but here in the
capital, where neighbors so far from
being friendly, are terribly suspicious of
one another burglar or a murderer can
live for years among respectable people
without being discovered. If London
would only, absorb a little of the neigh
borlinesss and good fellowship of the
oil OH Of "a
do you dor habit on the stairs or over
the garden fence, a little of the coun-
|'trywomen's friendly chat at the green
grocer:s cart and the fishmonger's bar
row, there would be a shorter criminal
life for the wrongdoers who at this mo-
ment are rubbing shoulders, free and
fearless with straight living folk in the
city and west end
II you want to acquaint yourself with
the tragedy of London's lost go one
morning to any of the mortuaries that
skirt the riverside. Last night para
graph appeared in the newspapers about
the body of an unknown person having
been taken from the Thames. 1t was
conveyer to mortuary Look at the
searches-rlch as we'll as poor, high as
well as low, well dressed as well as rag
ged. They have all lost someone's
parent brother, sister, son, daughter.
AS they creep into the mortuary you can
see fear tracing the letters of its name
across their countenances. They want to
find the missing one, but-not here.
Thank God!'' an elderly lady says as
she turns from the slab. Shivering in
her agitation she enters her motor car
and is driven quickly away. But she
will come tomorrow A loved one is
missing; and she knows that the Thames
has solved some of London's biggest
mysteries.
A friend of mine, a private detective. Is
making quite a little fortune In London
for no other reason than that it is a land
of mystery and suspicion. Who ever
heard of country woman becoming sus-
picious of her husband to the extent of
having him watched by a detective? But
in London this is common. Because the
capital is a. great shadow land with mil
lions of hiding places and millions of
cloaks to protect the wrongdoer from the
public eye. That young friend of yours
who is flushed with ambition and means
to come to town to make his fortune
if he should fail he need not feel ashamed
bit. If he wants to hide-well, London
will find corner for him. And any
body will never find him until he wishes
them to. London is as mysterious as she
is great.