TERROR TO CRIMINALS

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 October 1939, Page 9

TERROR TO CRIMINALS

TRAPPED 2,000 LAW-BREAKERS. Manchester City Police Force will shortly lose one of its most popular officers. Detective-inspector Ralph Forster is retiring after 25 years’ service—the longest record for any detective in Manchester. Over 2,000 convicted prisoners have passed 'through his hands. They include terrorists, murderers, forgers, and blackmailers. His last official duty was to give evidence in the I.R.A. trial at Manchester. He has acted as right-hand man to Superintendent William Page, Chief of Manchester C.1.D., in the campaign against I.R.A. terrorism, and his latest activities recall the part he played during the Sinn Fein trouble. He was one of an armed party who raided the Erskine Street Club, Manchester, in 1921, when one of the Sinn Feiners was killed in trying to shoot his way out. One of Inspector Fortser’s cases resulted in a strange adventure in the Welsh mountains when he had to use a packhorse to recover stolen property from the retreat of a woman thief. , , , When he reached a Welsh hamlet, Inspector Forster -was greeted by the village constable, who announced that he would detain the narrow-gauge railwav train on its return journey until the inspector had secured his prisoner, and was ready to take her to Manchester under arrest. Inspector Forster, however, decided that the matter required more than a few minutes’ investigation, and the train was allowed to depart. At. the police cottage, where he found two women knitting industriously, he w;rprovided with a cup of tea by one. who was the constable’s wife. Then he announced his intention of seeking the prisoner, but he was in formed that the other woman present, still busily employed with h°r knb tiny needles, was the person he required. From statements she made- it was obvious that a visit tot her home was necessary, but Inspector Forster had never bargained for a ride on a

horse along narrow mountain paths, j which wound dizzily along ledges, withi a sheer drop of hundreds of feet. ! Inspector Forster played a prominent part in bringing to justice the man sentenced to death, but reprieved, for the murder of a woman on the East Lancashire read in 1936. He also once traced a bandit by the single clue of a chalk mark in a hat. Many men who have threatened the life of Inspector Forster for “putting them behind prison bars.” have come cut to seek his help to lead an honest life. “Except in cases of violence against children,” Inspector Forster said in an interview, “I derived no satisfac-i tion from arresting anyone, because 1 have always felt that a criminal is a| victim of circumstances. ■ “Nov.' that J am going I hope that; all those who have passed through myi hands will have the best of luck in fufurc, and will not have the misfortune f.>> fell foul of the law again. 1 Im nest!’, mean that.”