A POLICEMAN WHO BECAME A KNIGHT.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 33, 21 January 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

A POLICEMAN WHO BECAME A KNIGHT.

STORIES TOLD BY LIEUT. COLONEL SIR HENRY SMITH, K.C.B.

THE MYSTERY OF JACK THE RIPPER” STILL UNSOLA ED. No man knows London lietter than Sir Hcnrv Smith, who resigned his appointment a- Commi-stoner of. the City Police nine years ago. Eifty years ago he was thoroughly acquainted with the West end. and confesses in Ins interesting reminiscc-nces, entitled “From Conr<t to Oimmissifinrr ’ (Cnatto and Windn-l that he was familiar wutn evorv ‘night-house >n the Haymarket and its neighbourhood. He ha.s come into contact with the highest person-%r-es in the land, and has rublied shoulders with the vilest criminals. And the I.right, chatty manner in which his rcminisceinces are written add additional interc-t to the stoiy of lus varied experiences. His storie; of London life, after entering th? ranks of the Citv of London Polio* in 1885—and Sir Henry is. not a little proud of the fact that within six yens he had risen to tho position of Commissioner —are, perhaps, the most interesting in the book.

| 1 A NICHT Wl’ BURNS.” i fine of tho fust men Sir Henry lx* rrme a< quninted with when he joined I th - tohe- in 1885 was Captam Shaw, J ( biet of th. London Fir- Brigade. He nl-o n-ntions that the late King Ed- ! ward and the late Duke of Sutherland | aero on terms of groat friendship with 1 Shaw and often visited the headquarl ters of the brigade in Southwark ! Bridge Road. , j ’Or .-di tl.e things th.* late Duke ot I Sutherland liked was ‘A meht wl I Burns. ’ savs Sir Henry. He was a [ gr<a‘ ally of Shaw’s, was. nke him, n j first-rntc mechanic, understood hreengine- and locomotives, nnd. if all tale- are true, manv a time acted as * fireman and assisted to drive the ex- * press from Edinburgh to London. i SURPRISING THE SHAH. I “It was Shaw’s habit.” continues Sir Heiirv. “to see everv engine iit hcadi ounrt'-rs stalled licfore he went to bed _..ve'*v engine, I mean, that should have fini-hol its work and been home I again. On one occasion, about midi ri'dit an curine, long overdue, bad not .-‘reived, nnd. Shaw went to the main d- or to s c if there was any sign of t tho truant. a* hr put his hand 1 in the door-handle the bell, rang vio- ' kntlv. nnd opening the door without a sce-nd’s d-hiv he s-w the King, then Prince of Wales, and the Shah of Perna. Tlr* foreign potentate was greatly pleased with the prnmpitude displayed, and left for h : .- own dominions fully impressed with the b-lief that the Chief of th* London Fire Brigade was always to b* found twer.ty-foiir hours in tho dav, and 3C5 dvrs’in the year, standing romlv b-bind the door to open it to all comers.”

THE DUCHESS AND THE KNIGHT. It ans th-* wife of the third Duke of Sutho'lind who. together with Queen Victoria, figured ’n tin amusing episode at the G'lildbr.U shortly after Her Mnjestv came to the thron*. A splendid rec*ption was given in her honour, among the “decorations” being four stalwart offr ers of the City Police in coats of mail, supnosed to represent statue- of gallant knights of old. Passing them with her favourite lady-in-waitir.g th-' .Duchess of Sutherland — Queen Victoria suddenly became interested in the armour of - one of the knights, an officer named Tillcock. Suddenly the Diy-hrss spran" back and. pointing to him, snid, “That knight’s alive; I saw him move.” “Don’t talk nonsense ” said tho Queen. “Como awav; it’s not nons-nse.” replied the Ducl.ess. with a laugh. “Yet, my dear knight, you’re not alive after al! these years, are you?” And, rafting his cheek with her hand, she followed the Qiwn upstair.;. “T think another second would have fini-he l me.” .said Tillcck. afterwards. "I never wns so frightened in my life. I thought if I moved the Queen would take a fit. and the Duchess too.” SEARCHING FOR “JACK THE RIPPER. Three years after Sir Henrv became chief superintendent of the Citv Police Lond-n was startled with the first of the “Ripper” murders, nnd his reminiscences throw a new light on those da.stardlv crimes. “There is no man living who knows as ipnch of these Ripner’ murders ns I do,’’ he says, “and h'for.* goin-* further I must admit that, though within five minutes of the perpetrator one night, and with a very fair description of him besides, he completely beat me and every police officer in Lindon nnd I have no more idea now where he lived than I had twenty years ago.”

WHY THE MURDERER ESCAPED. Sir Henry is convinced that had his oidor S l>een properly carried out ho would have caught the murdered redhanded. He ordered tho police to account for every man and woman seen together about Houndsditch and Bishopsgate. Catherine Eddowes, the Mitre . Square victim, was in Sir Henry’s custody st Bishopsgate policestation twenty minutes before she wa; murdered “It may le,’’ he says, “that the man and woman, haring made an appointment, wont separately and met in tho ‘qiiare. That does not exonerat* the officers <,f the City Police . . Had she been followed nnd mon called to guard tin* approaches, the murdered would certainly have been taken reelhanded. Tho square, everv inch of it, was carefully examined, but not one mark or drop of bicod did we discover to indicate by what approach he had made his exit ”

Sir Henry's pluck is well illustrated by an incident which occurred three or four years after tho Mitre Square murder. He received a letter in which the writer, a tieket-of-leave man. said ho had .a iot to tell about the murders. Ho was afraid of the “tecs,” and Sir Jfonrv therefore made an appointment with him for ](? p.m.. in one of the quietest ‘quares in the West end and n«urol f 1... v.-n’t.-r of ('o letter' that not on* detective would accompany him. ‘ KEEPING ax APPOINTMENT. ."diortlv I.oioro tho hour named,’’ say* Sir Henrv. “I took up my position on th- p.avemont opposite. Punctual almost to th? minute I saw a man advnt.co from the north and halt under tin* rimi'. Cn s;ing tlm road at once I wnlkc'l qiiieklv up to irm .and looked him < ver -teadilv. Th * man confronting m.* icu'd not have been more than Eye :eo- >or thre ■ inches in height. !{• was .tottriv I'uilt. bhmk-boardeil. i>n I <■! .an .igly and forbidding coun-te-.a nee. Have von come to ?e? anyone mx i".in“ I snsd. “ ‘No. J haven't.’ he replied, i n <IV1! enough tone. ‘ M •11. 1 have.’ I ?nid. ‘and 1 rnmn, to wait .a hi* longer to see if he keeps ht< 'naointirent.*

_ “There ive sto-d. facing one another !m five or six minutes, when the man tnrrel ..»•,■] walker! leisurely awav. After rJ.i< meeting S>r Henrv ii.a<! a ro.o hum th- man. Now,' he said. ,1 o>'”r tr " st - vo ”- I'll be nt ■bo IHa Jewry as soon ns I can.” But re m n€ t Cr Ca .si e: a ! 1<1 Sir Henry grimlv lncfc a ” kS: 71,0 i{:pper ,lad aII ths