The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1929-07-23

| Ch1cAg0 ponce IN an ADVISORY {
IN CONTRASTING this possibility to-,
day Chief Constable Wensley speci-
fled two conditions.
THAT heTeceive q formal invitation
from the responsive civic authority
at Chicago;
That. should such an invitation be
extended and accepted, be shall be
left severely alone to do q sob Of
work.
Give Opinions
Should he sos he would wish to
be exempt from any social or private
engagements. and Just BE- allowed
to see things and give his opinion 10
view 0f his long experiences Of Scot.
| land Yard.
He Z. poor man AZ money goes.
! But he would not do this Job from
4 monetary motive. He win do It
IL he thinks he can be Of any real
| assistance. But he win not do It
AZ 4 kind OF stunt"
The Chicago situation" M the
great detective envisages 1t, presents
fascinating problem to him. All
ira more. because. to his mind II
Il closely paralleIed by the situation
which confronted him Is years ago.
! when he was given the job of clean.
ing up the East End Of London.
was Different
Readers OF Thomas Burke's Lime
house Nights, may rightly imagine
that the East End OF London Is stiil
fearsome place. In that they are
entirely wrong. That district today
Is the home Of law abiding donles-
ITCHY. But. in the early years OF mis-
century. when Fred Wensley came
| on the scene, II was--to put II miidiy
somewhat different.
with unlimited Immigration. u
was the last refuge. Of the scum Or
Europe. 1t was also the place WIZ 81
| the sailor was snangaaied after be.
ing stupified with bad liquor, robbed
ana hacked Off to sea.
Murders were freQuent-almost IN
cessant.
There were probably half dozen
"a SEES a week where q man was
found dead In the streets and none
could discover whether death WAS
due to a drunken fall or whether
he had been savageiy murdered.
The East End was the home OF the
Apache and the outlaw. No decent
person could approach the place.
DUST Watched
10 this place came Fred Wensley
with definite instructions about
sscIeaning M" In the first few
months he did very little active
work. He Just strolled around
listened and watched. But in this
neriod he became acquainted with
the personnel pf all the gangs that
terrorized the district. He knew all
about Them and recognized their IN.
dividua1 methods.
Then came the. change. 10 their
| indignation and natural disgust,
members OF the gangs found them.
selves arrested wholesale on tbs
| most trivial offensea-sman things
| which men OF their caIiber would
never notice in the days work.
And, lipOn application Of the POI.
i lice. they were always remandad
"for further inquiries Of Fred
Wensley's favorfts phrases. Bail
was never given.
Broke Gangs
Il am going 10 break up these
gangs said Detective Inspector
Wensley.
one by one the East End gang
/ sters found themselves indicted for
serious crimes which they had al.
most forgotten and in regard to
which they had thought themselyes
/ entirely free. They thought IL vas
unfair. During their enforced So
1 journ In Jail this solemn faced de-
tective had been piecing together
evidence against then1--and one at
ter another they were sent up for
long terms.
British Judges are not given to
mercy in these cases. The prisoners
1 received no leniency.
i Crimes OF vfolence became rare
/ in the East End. It became posi-.
/ bic for women to walk along the
world famed Radcliffe Highway with
out fear of death.
After cleaning up the old gangs
/ Wensley decided not to allow any
new ones to form and he translated
] this decision into q definite deed.
| Wensley believes that conditions
| In a number of American cities are
| similar to those in the old East
/ End of London. However. his adj
yersaries did not carry guns and
could not use fast automobiles,
because they were not in use then.
But they did have cunning, death
dealing weapons and used every
1 method then available to travel
with the utmost speed.
Il Their usual method OF action was
70 take sufficient liquor to make
them Fighting drunk" or at least:
\ to give them Dutch courage" I'm.
less In this state they were practi.
cally harmless. Recovered from 1t,
they were usually cOwardly GREG.
lures. There were always men be-
hind them to do the thinking, just
as there are said to be gang lead
ers" and master minds" In the
4 United States.
Wensley never talks for publica.
ton. 1t is the strictest rule OF the
| metropolitan police that no official
Is allowed to express opinions in
the newspapers or elsewhere.
i But II anyone could dive into the
mind Of Wensley, it Is pretty Ger.
tain he would be thinking some
thing like this:
"A wave of crime In America can
be beaten down just as It has been
elsewhere. But before you can beat
I down crime you must straighten out
your police force. You must enlist
4 men OF education and integrity. You
must make them independent 81
any political or outside or tempo.
rary influences.
III RK TR ~ +,ss- w. 5saE