A DETECTIVE'S NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9217, 21 November 1888, Page 3

A DETECTIVE'S NOTES.

BY inspector MEIKLEJOHN. [All Kiguts Reserved.) GARROTTNG. Although my readers must, during the last two or three weeks, have had a surfeit of descriptions of assault and battery, and of savage and brutal men, as cruel in their instincts and as reckless of life as wild beasts, I cannot close the subject of " garroting" without some reference to its aspect at the present day. It is generally believed that the application of the "cat" in cases of this nature has acted as a deterrent, and that the spread of education has " mollified" the " ferocity" of the modern thief, but I am inclined to think, from the number of robberies with violence lately recorded in the newspapers, that this creed is erroneous, and not) justified by the facts. It may bo the general dulness of the times that has driven those who live as best they can to deeds of desperation in the streets, the numerous avenues for swindling and thieving in a quiet and gentlemanly manner, usually open when trade is brisk and money plentiful, being now closed. At any rate, whatever may be the cause, a very acute and general epidemic of " garroting" seems to have set in, and it. can do no harm to give greater publicity to tho short notices of this most unpleasant type of robbery which are, from day to day, appearing in the police reports, or ill short paragraphs in the public prints. I will select the Morning Advertiser and the Daily Telegraph of Monday, the loth inst., as all will admit that I am very well qualified to hold a decided opinion in reference to the police report appearing in the former journal. On the other hand, tho position of the victim referred to in the latter newspaper should be able to command an inquiry into the subject of violent assaults in quiet public streets for purposes of robbery, which I humbly submit is most urgently needed, the existing police surveillance and protection not being adequate or readily available. ATTACKING; MR. MEIKLKJOHN'. The police report in the Morning Advertiser is to the following effect :— Wands worth.— Ex-Detective Mei.klejohn as a Prosecutor. — William Middleton, 33, hawker, was charged with assaulting the prosecutor, and, in company with two men not in custody, stealing from him a watch and a chain valued at £35. The prosecutor, who appeared to have been very badly treated and wore a shade over the right, eye, stated that he was a private inquiry agent, residing in Heaver-street, Batter<?ea. On Friday night, the 12th of June, about 11 o'clock, when standing opposite a fish stall in Falcon Road, lookat some .salmon. Middletou pushed against him. He told him to get away and leave him alone, and he passed on. Prosecutor was in company with a friend, and was parting with him before turning down a bye street to go to his own home, when prisoner came up again and wanted to fight him. and squared up. He, prosecutor, struck him on the chest and knocked him over, and he got up and went away, and prosecutor saw no more of him till just as he was going in at his own door, when tho prisoner suddenly faced him and struck him a violent blow in r.he eye. As prosecutor attempted to seize him, two other men hustled him from behind, and stole his watch and chain. He caught hold of the prisoner, who struggled most desperately, and they both fell to the ground. While rolling over with him, someone kicked him twice on the head and again on the shoulder and back. The other two men ran away, but he detained the prisoner until a constable arrived and took him to the station. The prisoner said that he was innocent, and that the prosecutor was drunk. The prosecutor replied that if such was the case he could not have held him, and Endicott, P.C., said that the prosecutor was perfectly sober. The prisoner was remanded for a week. Now, I am not at this stage ol the inquiry going to comment on this case, any further than to ask " If these things are done in the green tree what may be done in the dry ?"or how a small, weakly man, walking alone in an out-of-the-way street at night, is likely to fare, when one, certainly of more than ordinary robust physique and strength, and accustomed all his life to tackling the most desperate character?, can thus be successfully operated upon at his own door? I now see that it is impossible to guard against any such attack. It comes as unexpectedly as a flash of lightning, and identification is almost impossible, for, after a severe blow in the eye, as most people are aware, for half a minute or so one can see nothing but " fireworks." I have no idea what the two who got. away were like, but I will do the prisoner the credit to say that, though a much smaller man than myself, of all the demons and tartars I ever tried to detain, I think he offered the most stubborn resistance. 1 am confident that, powerful man as I am, if I had been ignorant of certain tactics know to the police, I could not havo succeeded in retaining my hold of him. The fishmonger informed me that he observed him eyeing my chain when he pushed against me at the stall. It would be worth £1 4 after a waggon wheel had passed over it, «o, no doubt., it excited his cupidity ! £4 10s in cold in the same pocket as my watch they did not succeed in getting. the CASE OF sir. K. Roberts. I will now conclude by quoting a paragraph which I find in the Daily Telegraph of the loth inst.. to show that a member of the " upper ten' is as liable to suffer from the garrofciiig pest as an ex-policeman :— "On Saturday morning, at three o'clock, Sir Randal Robert? was gnrroted by two men in Chapel Place, Oxford-street, adjoining the Vore-street Post Ofiice, and robbed of everything he had about him. The usual system of sudden attack from behind was employed, one scoundrel throttling the victim while the other rifled his pockets. The unfortunate gentleman had only parted a few minutes previously with Mr. Harrington O'Reilly with whom he had been walking. Neither gentlemen had any suspicion that they were being watched or followed. Although Sir Randal called lustily for help, no policeman was forthcoming to render assistance." Any comment on my part is unnecessary, but I oujrht to state that, though a crowd gathered round me while struggling with my prisoner, no ono rendered me any assistance, and that it was fully twenty minutes from the time I was attacked before a policeman appeared npon the scene ! COIN BOBBERY AT THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION". Few of the general public are awnre of the existence, in Whitehall, of a museum containing not only a collection of very valuable ancient coins and curios and art treasures highly interesting to numismatists and students of antiquity, but also relics connected with the Army and Navy, an well as many glorious mementos of battle and victory, and of the prowess of our brave soldiers and sailors in bygone years. The right to access to view or study its contents is limited to officers in the naval or military services, any civilian who wishes to pay it a visit having to make a preliminary application for an order to the proper authorities. An oliicer on producing his card or proper credentials, is entrusted with the keys of the cabinets ho wishes to inspect', and allowed to take any notes or drawings of the contents he may require. It is needles to say that very few have occasion to make any such minute examination, and that the cases and cabinets sometimes remain locked and uninspected for weeks together. In short, with the exception of a few casual visitors, the museum department of the institution is, as a rule, unfrequented. Th 9 council and committee comprise the names of many eminent officers and savants, and, as the Prince of Wales is the president and the Duke of Cambridge the vice-president of the institution, the prefix "royal" 13 no empty or unmeaning designation. GUARDING ROYALTY. During the earlier part of the year 186S I was brought into most intimate connection with royalty, and consequently had a more thorough appreciation of the significance and import of the title than I ever had before, or am ever likely to have again, for, owing to the Fenian scare, I was deputed, along with three other sergeants, to attend upon and t /el with Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen wherever she went. * The Proprietors of theNRW Zkai.AND HERALD have purchased llio sole right to publish these fto'es A" .North New /.tianlaU,

The responsibility of my position was no doubt great, but great was the enjoyment, for, of course, with the exception of keeping my eyes and wits about me, I had nothing to do except walk about liko a gentleman and amuse myself. Twice I went to the Isle of Wight, when I and one sergeant were stationed at West Cowes, one at Yarmouth, and one at Ryde. Our nominal duties were to see all boats arrive and to foLlow any suspected persons, but happily our suspicions were never seriously aroused, and no cause for alarm marred the even tenor of our life. All vessel* from America that arrived in Southampton water, and were going to Havre, had to be boarded by m«, and the passengers closely scrutinised for suspected Fenians, but I never had grounds for detaining anyone. HAPPY DAYS IN , SCOTLAND. Towards the end of May—l know we were there at the time of the Derby of 1868 —we accompanied Her Majesty to Scotland, and the memories of the happy days I spent between Ballater, Balmoral, and Braemar will never be effaced from my mind. To say nothing about the grand scenery and clear bracing climate, the mere fact of my foot being again on my native heather was enough to till me with enthusiasm, and vividly to recall the happy days of boyhood. Our" duties here were to scour the country prior to Hot , Majesty taking her drives and visiting, as -she constantly did, not only the splendid demesne of Colonel Farquharson, of Invercauld, but even the humblest cottiers' and shepherds' abodes. At other times I used to be in attendance on Prince Arthur, now Duke of Connaught, when ho came to fish in tho glorious reaches and pools of the Dee, betweon Ballater and Balmoral. Many a lordly salmon did I see brought struggling to grass in that paradise of the angler ! Many a pleasant evening did I spend in the company of gamekeepers, gillies, and trusted servants, among whom I must not omit to mention tho lato Mr. John Brown, and to testify that he was not only the prince of good fellows, but a humourist and practical joker of very high order, and by no means an "austere" man, as many, from his associations and surroundings, might suppose him to have been. However, those happy days—and I think I must add nights, for there was no very distiuct line of demarcation, nt least so far as bed was concerned, drawn between them—were destined to come to a close, and the Queen returning to .London in the autumn, preparatory to her visit to Germany, I had to return to my duties at Scotland Yard. THE ROBBERY OF COINS. A robbery of coins from the institution 1 have mentioned had just been reported there, and the inquiry was placed in my hands. This robbery had been discovered in a somewhat remarkable manner. A member of the committee of the institution, and a celebrated numismatist, was passing down St. Martin's Lane, and happened to look in at the shop window of a certain Polish Jew, a jeweller and dealer in ancient coins and curios, when hi* attention was arrested and concentrated upon an old silver coin exposed for sale with a piece out of the side. He felt convinced that he had been, somehow or other, familiar with it, and that he had onco taken an impression of it, and, on returning home, he referred to a list, and found that identical coin had been in a cabinet at the museum of the institution. Thither at once he repaired and found that the coin in question had gone. The loss of it was reported to Scotland Yard. 1 had just returned from my travels north, and was instructed to investigate the matter. I at once wont to the shop in St. Martin's Lane, and asked the proprietor how this coin came into his hands. Ho said he had bought it together with several others, which he showed me and which he had not disposed of, from a gentleman, apparently of good position, who was a stranger to him. I directed him to put these coins on one side while I made some further inquiries. Shortly after leaving him I fell in with an old thief and informant, and asked him if he knew anything about the matter. He replied that he was aware of a ''young swell" having sold a quantity of old coins at a certain eminent dealer's— a man who, from his position, would be thoroughly conversant with their value—and that he was inclined to think that there was somethins: "crooked" about theso transactions, as the vendor appeared to have readily taken whatever price, was offered him, and to have been himself perfectly ignorant of the real value of what he was offering. i ; at onco repaired to th« p'nop indicated, and was there shown a large quantity of gold and silver coin?, which had been purchased ; from a person answering the description of ' the man referred to by the old " lag," and by the Polish Jew of St. Martin's Lane. This denier, who was undoubtedly at the head of his trade, and cognisant of all that went on in it, gave me the names of several others who had recently made purchases from the same man. Directing him, therefore, to put the coins shown to me on one i side, I paid a visit to these other tradesmen, and was shown what they had purchased from the same individual, getting, of course, at each stage a minute description of his personal appearance and method of doing business, which in every instance harmonised pretty accurately with what I had gathered from my convict informant. KiT.ruyi; Hl* MIS MEMORY. The same afternoon the trays were examined at, the institution, and a large quantity of coins found to be missing. I think about -100 were eventually recovered, but many had been sold whilst in the dealers' hands, and were nevermore beard of. To give some idea of the profit on transactions of this class, I came to the conclusion that, a coin for which the purchaser had, perhaps, given ss, would be retailed at £">; but then, I suppose, the demand for Mich wares is very limited, or the risk of total loss, which the sequel will show was sustained in this case, very great. There is no association or fund in existence to compensate coin dealers who havo been the victim? of fraud by innocently purchasing or advancing upon stolen goods as there is for pawnbrokers and bankers. It was now clear that a robbery of considerable magnitude, and of articles of priceless value, in so far that it was impossible to replace them, had been committed, and back I wont to the eminent dealer into whose hands tho bulk of the lost coins had passed, to see what further clue to the thief could be obtained. In the interim he had somewhat recovered from the consternation which, on my first visit, had overwhelmed him, and had rubbed up his memory in two very important particulars, which afforded the clue by which the culprit was ultimately discovered. TRACINtt A OHKQTJE. From the outset it was almost a matter of certainty that the thief was an officer in the army or navy, as no civilian or casual visitor would have been entrusted with the kevs of the coin • cabinets, except under strict surveillance and supervision, whereas to those who, in consideration of their rank, had access to the treasures of the museum as a matter of right, they would be handed without demur or inquiry. In the first instance, then, the dealer recollected that, upon the vendor's last visithe had called upon him several limes—he had discharged the amount of his purchase by a cheque for £19 odd, made out in his name, and payable to his order, and this cheque had come into the banker's and been paid. The name in favour of which tho cheque had been drawn was that of a young army officer of good family, whose mother, a lady of wealth, resided in London. Still, it was quite possible that some clever swindler had personated this young man, both at the institution and at the dealers', and that he might be perfectly innocent. Handwriting, at anyrate, does not lie, and, being payable to order and not to bearer, there was an endorsement upon the cheque, so off I went to Scotland Yard and exhibited it to the authorities. As chance would have it, a gentleman in high position there was related to, and intimately acquainted with, the officer named upon it, and, without a moment's hesitation, he identified the handwriting of the ondorsomeut as being genuine. " Real jam" at last, thought I, tin I hurried back to the dealer to acquaint him with the fact of the signature having been verified, and to get him to accompany me to the mother's house and to seek an interview with her son. IDENTIFICATION OK A CANE. We jumped into a hansom cab, and as we cfrove along, the dealer observed that there was another point to which he had paid f particular attention upon his customer's ast visit, which was that h3 carried a very curious stick, or cane, with a silver dog's head as a handle, of unique and uncommon : workmanship. Upon arrival at the house i we were informed that the gentleman -we j wished to see was out of town, but we re mained in the hall while the servant went upstair* to the drawing-room to make some

inquiries from his mistress as to the probable date of his return, and-, while he was gone, we saw in the umbrella stand, and the dealer identified, the cane that had attracted his attention. ■ - -■ There could no longer be any possibl doubt as to the identity of the thief, but as we were informed that he would be in town shortly, and as it was not nt all likely that he would run away for good and all, it was decided that we should await his arrival upon the scene of his trading, and keep, meantime, a strict observation upon the house for his return. This we did for about eight days, but he never put in an appearance, nor could, we get any trace of him, for he was absent from his regiment upon leave. API-LYING FOB ASSISTANT SECRETARYSHIP. About this time the post of assistantsecretary to a military institution was vacant, and an application was made to the chairman of the society, who was also a member of the committee of the Royal United Service Institution, by the mother of the oliicer in question, for full particulars as to tho qualification.-: necessary, and the mode of application for, the appointment. As the candidate was presumably her son, though he was not named in the letter, which was submitted to me, the chairman, under my advice, at once answered it, suggesting the propriety and advisability of any applicant for the appointment calling upon him personally at the R. U.S. Institution, when full information would be given, and the best method of proceeding indicated. The "salmon" rose greedily to the "fly" thus skilfully cast to him, and in a day or two, sure enough, the "party wanted" presented himself at the appointed trysting-place to obtain the promised information. I was at once sent for, and found him conversing gaily with the member of the committee who hud invited his attendance, and who was a personal friend of his mother's, in the very room of the museum where the coins were kept. "an officer AND a GENTLEMAN." Without making any bones about the matter, or preliminary beating about the bush, I told him that he might consider himself in my custody for stealing a large number of gold and silver coins, the property of the institution, from that very room in which he was standing. He indignantly denied the charge, and protested his innocence, saying " that ho was an officer and a gentleman, and quite incapable of such an net." I now sent to the dealer to come clown and bring all the coins I had directed him to put on one side with him. This he did, and at once identified my captive as the man who had sold them to him, while the committee officer identified the coins produced as having been stolen from the institution. The prisoner was at once taken to King-street Police Station and charged, and the. following morning brought before the magistrate at Bow-street. From this court, after having been remanded three times to the House of Detention, in order that every possible inquiry might be instituted with a view to tracing and recovering , the lost coins, he was committeed to take his trial at the ensuing Clerkenwell sessions. Bail, of course, to anv amount would have been forthcoming, as his friends and family were rich and influential, but in a case of this nature it could not be accepted, and any defence or avoidance of the penal consequences of his outrageous folly would to the general public have appeared as impracticable as an escape from gaol. [Necessity, however, is the mother of invention, and in their dire distress a very ingenious, and at that time, as I believe, entirely novel expedient, by which their protei/e might yet be saved, occurred to his friends and defenders, lie was confined in the House of Detention, and while there awaiting his trial he was visited by an '•eminent physician," who certified that he was insane, and gave a certificate to that effect ! In speaking of this defence as a novel expedient, I mean, of course, in reference to cases of theft, and not of murder or attempted suicide; and it was, as I believe, the first serious and deliberatelyplanned scheme to reduce thieving propensities, when developed in the higher classes of society, to a scientific tost, and remit them to the category of disease and not of i crime. KLEPTOMANIA. It was about this time, and for several j years* afterwards, that we heard a great, j deal of the malady known as " kleptomania," but thanks to the good sense of our judges and magistrates and the comparative rarity to the counterpartof the com- j mon " prig" among the aristocracy, the plea j of natural inability to distinguish between , mcum and Iciuun never made much headway, i or commended itself to the legal mind as j anything beyond the "forlorn hope" of defence. Feigning madness, or what is familiarly known as " shamming Abraham," in an awkward concatenation of circumstances is, of course, as old as the hills ; j and prisoners have been known, under the advice of their lawyers, as a last, resource, to laugh idiotically when called upon to plead, arid to put out their tongues and make faces at the judge, but 1 never heard of such tactics proving successful. Nevertheless, looking at the recent revelations of the unsatisfactory state of our lunacy laws and the questionable practices and morality of those who are now — thanks to Mrs. VVeldon— popularly known as "mad doctors," I think it is quite within the bounds of possibility that we may witness fresh phases and developments of an | alliance between crime and madness. j What, for instance, is to prevent the frau- j dulent banker or merchant, the embezzling stockbroker or solicitor, from withdrawing himself temporarily from.the ken of an anxious world, by a friendly arrangement with the keeper of a private asylum, until tho hue and cry has : n some measure subsided, and thus, at his leisure, maturing and arranging a final retreat to Spain or America? It is. the hurried flight which most frequently spoils the whole business of fraud and embezzlement, and leads to detection and capture. Intimation of what had occurred, and of the state of tho prisoner's mind, was now sent to tho solicitors for the prosecution, and they communicated with me. 1 at once saw the doctor of tho prison upon tho subject, and he as quickly placed this certified lunatic under special observation. It would be quite impossible for anyone in reality sane to act the role of a madman consistently whilst a prisoner, as facilities exist for keeping a watch on the suspected " shammer" when he least expects it. In a few days, as I had anticipated would be the caso, the prison doctor wrote me a letter saying that there was not the slightest symptom of insanity about the man, and authorising me to call him as a witness at the trial to testify to that effect. I at once gave this letter and the necessary instructions to the solicitors for the prosecution, but I presume the prisoner's friends became aware of what was going on, for the very day before the trial the "eminent physician" withdrew the certificate of lunacy he had previously given ! TAKINC THE WIND OUT OF HIS SAILS. Tho brief for the defence had, however, been delivered, and the counsel retained had been instructed to plead insanity, and came into court quite unaware of any change in the programme. To his utter astonishment the counsel for the prosecution handed him the letter from the prison doctor and informed him that the certificate of insanity had been withdrawn. As may readily be imagined, this intimation took the wind out of the barrister's Hails, and left him no wings to fly with, or defence of any possible kind, and no scope for his oratory but. to enter a plea of guilty, and appeal to the judge in mitigation of punishment. This ho did in the most earnest manner, depicting in heartrending terms the frantic grief of the widowed mother and the lost social position of her peccant son. The usual offers of monetary restitution to any amount, and undertakings that the prisoner should be sent to the colonies and never more heard of, could his offence be overlooked, were paraded, but all to no purpose. The presiding judge was matter of fact, and, if not hard-hearted, at anyrate sensibla, for, remarking that the social position and education of the convict aggravated rather than extenuated his crime, he refused to make any exception in his favour, and sentenced him to five years' penal servitude. RESTORATION OF THE COINS. The whole of the coins found were ordered to bo restored to the institution, free of any expense or compensation for loss, the unquestioning simplicity and freedom from suspicion of the purchasers being somewhat severely handled in the judge's concluding remarks, while 1 was complimented upon : my fact in dealing with them and the case | generally. The recognition of my services i by the institution is recorded in the follow- ! ing letter, of which I append u copy :— I " Whitehall Yard, '23rd November, 1868. j The Secretary to the Royal United Service '

Institution presents his compliments to Sergeant John Meiklejohn, of the detective foree, and begs to inform him that he has been directed by the Council, with the permission of the Commissioner of Police, to forward him a cheque for ten guineas, as a gratuity from them, and in acknowledgment of the zeal and acuteness which he has displayed in tracing and recovering the stolen property of the institution." [To be continued. ]