FAMOUS DETECTIVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 24 October 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

FAMOUS DETECTIVE.

NTERESTING LIGHT ON BATTLE AGAINST CRIMINALS.

Many stirring episodes of the past quarter '•< of a century are, bound up in the career of i Detective-Inspector Sweeney, who has just ' retired from Scotland Yard, after 27 years' ' service in the force. He was summoned J for special service to the "headquarters of ' criminal investigation in the earlj eighties, ] when the Fenians were asserting them- 1 selves. He attributes not a little of his sue- '< cess at- that time, and in later Irish matters, i to his knowledge of the Celtic language. i It helped him greatly in his investigations, * as he was able to mix and converse with the \ people who were in close touch with the - Clan.-na-Gael movement. Through Mr. < Sweeney's instrumentality the identity and < the fate* of the men who attempted to blow 1 up London Bridge were established to the ] satisfaction of the authorities. Long after the outrage Captain Lomasney and John 1 Fleming were reported to have been seen ! in various parts of the world, and there are l those who still believe that the men escaped death and justice. But there is a report ] in the dovecots of Scotland Yard which ' proves beyond reasonable doubt that the J scoundrels met the fate they deserved. Some ' time after the occurrence a man who knew ' Fleming well said he had seen the latter : in London, and his offer to search all the - conspirator's former haunts in company - with detectives was accepted by Scotland ! Yard. The matter was placed in the hands ; of Mr. Sweeney and another officer. For ' weeks the search was vigorously prosecuted. ' Ultimately, information privately conveyed \ to him led Mr. Sweeney to suspect the veracity of the informant", who was drawing money regularly from the authorities. On being' taxed with deceiving the officers the man confessed that he had not seen Fleming since the outrage. He had based his story on the fact that while on a visit to Fleming's sister in Bermondsey he saw a coat which the Fenian usually wore, hanging up behind a door. Mr. Sweeney followed up this clue. To disarm ail suspicion the officer made a casual call at the sister's house in the guise of a friend of Fleming, showing one of ihc hitter's cards. What he saw and heard con- | vinced him that Fleming had never been ! seen alive since the day of the attempt to blow up London Bridge, and subsequent calls made by other officers from Scotland Yard left little or no doubt in the minds of all at the Yard that Lomasney and Fleming perished in the execution of their diabolical plan. ARRESTED FOUR JI.P.'S. Inspector Sweeney has the unique record of having arrested lour members of Parliamtnt. One of them was the late Dr. Tanner. The doctor's inflammatory speeches had brought him within the pale of tUe law. He eluded arrest for many weeks after the warrant had been issued. One of his dodges was to address a meeting from a boat on an Irish lake, and at the close row to the opposite side, leaving the detectives who had gone to arrest him helpless on the bank. On the night on which he fell the hands of Detective Sweened there was an important Irish division, and Parnell had summoned him to Westminster. His visit was to have been kept a profound secret, but the precautions taken did not leave Scotland Yard in ignorance of the plan, and Mr. Sweeney was at the House when Dr. Tanner drove up. When it leaked out amongst the members of Parliament that the police were on the watch, a hurried meeting was held to discuss how the doctor could be got away. A titled lady who was a sympathiser was in the precincts of the house, and she offered to place her wardrobe and her carriage at Dr. Tanner's disposal. The majority present at the meeting favoured this method of escape, and strongly urged its adoption up-' on the doctor. But the latter listened to the wisdom of the minority, who pointed out that he would be arrested sooner or later. The argument, however, that most appealed to him was that a lasting stigma would attach to a secret departure of the character suggested, and that ho would run the risk of being dubbed "the petticoat politician." The probability of his arrest had got noised abroad, and when he left the House about one o'clock in the morning he had an escort, of all the members of the Irish party and many of the Liberal members. The procession, with Conservatives who had assembled out of curiosity, numbered some 250. " Mahon," who was one of the party, struck up "The Men of Harlech," and to this vocal accompaniment the procession marched to the Westminster Palace Hotel. Mr. Sweeney did not interrupt the proceedings, allowing the doctor and some of his frieuda to get comfortably seated in the smoke-room of the hotel before he disclosed his presence. He assured the doctor, in answer to a question, that he was in no particular hurry, and the conversation was resumed. In the company there were no fewer than five members of Parliament who had gone through the experiences awaiting Dr. Tanner — one of them had been released the previous day and they primed the novice, as the doctor then was, on prison routine. ! It is a testimony to the officer's tact and courtesy in an unpleasant position. that Dr. Tanner frequently called upon Mr. Sweeney at Scotland Yard when he was in London. THE TERROR OF ANARCHISTS. No man was more feared by the Anarchists than Inspector Sweeney. He not only knew personally every Anarchist in this country, but he shared all their secrets, aud i was able to put his hand upon any of them at an hour's notice. The Italians, Mr. Swee- . ney says, are the most dangerous of the ' " red-hand gang." There are very few Eng- ' lish-born Anarchists, and fewer who could , have the courage to practice what they ', preach. They are loafers for the most part, '. who join the Anarchists club for the purpose of sharing in the secret money disbursed . amongst the members. Soho and Clerkeu- [ well are the chief Anarchist plague-spots. A number of the persuasion are also to be ' found in. Whitechapel. Mr. Sweeney first t came into close touch with the fraternity in the early nineties during the Walsall - scares, lie arrested one of the principals . in Little Tichfield-street, London. It was L a smart capture, upon which Mr. Sweeney I was warmly complimented. It was found . as the result of the investigations then made - that the Anarchists had established quite a i factors at Walsall, and were manufacturing i bombs wholesale and sending them to Rus- . sia. Another case in which Mr. Sweeney . figured prominently was that of Polti and , Farnara. These Anarchists had arranged } to throw a bomb into the Slock Exchange - at mid-day, with the object of killing as - many as possible of the money kings who 1 generally assemble in large numbers there . at that hour. Mr. Sweeney knew of the , plot some weeks before it was to be carried - out, watched every movement of Polti, who manufactured the bomb, and rode with him l on the 'bus to the Stock Exchange. The bomb is in the museum at- Scotland Yard, j and it is still by far the largest that has - come into the possession of the police.