MODERN SIMPLICITY

Opunake Times, 23 August 1932, Page 4

MODERN SIMPLICITY

HONEST M3N—AND CROOKS PISTOL BELOW PILLOW Undesirables must sleep somewhere, ana pernaps it is be iter that tney snould do so under proper supervision and where the police can call on them at any time they like. This was the reply given to a pressman at the London Comity Council lodging house referred to by Mr. Justice Charles at Exter Assizes, when trying a gangster. Summing up in a case in which three armed men were charged with holding up a policeman, Mr. Justice Charles said of the lodging house in London at which one was arrested: "Evidence has been given that very undesirable people sleep there. I think it is a matter into which the L.C.C. would be well advised to inquire. The man referred to was Richard Phillip Elson, a 28-year-old criminal, suspected of being an American gunman, who was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. When officers visited the lodging house they found a loaded automatic pistol under his pillow. He might just as easily have carried half a dozen automatics a pocket full of Mills bombs, or a stick of dynamite into the building. There is no» inquisitiveness at London County Council houses They are like the wild and wooly West —no awkward questions and the name is Smith. Honest Men—and Criminals Men of all races, men of all kinds, honest men and crooked men find shelter in them. Many who use them are Londoners — poor Londoners, hawkers, sandwichmen and odd jobbers. There are *also foreigners, men ircon the provinces an the docks, and men from the prisons. In the outside world they may be motor bandits, confidence ■ tricksters, card sharpers, pickpockets, blackmailers, and highwaymen, but so long as they behave they may sleep in peace in the L.C.C. lodging houses unless the police, who pay almost nightly visits want them.

The lodging house referred to is a big building in Kemble Street, V r hlich lies the Stfrand and ICing'sway, and is calldd Bruce House. It has accomodation for more than 700 people, and many of its inmates are almost unknown to its officials. "We ask the initial and the name the first time they come," the pressman was told, "and the next time just the name. Anybody who stays enjoys the same privileges as at any hotel. Foreigners are asked to fill up an alien's form, but how do we know who they are A gunman or a motor bandit is not going to give his right name, is he? We do not search anyone, and a man can easily have a gun in his pocket for all we know.

"There are some things we will not allow. Men who create disturbances are put out and kept out and if we see a man with a gun we do not waste any time in telling the police." In the casual wards of London's public assistance institutions there is no fear of armed gatherings. Every new arrival is searched and allowed to retain only a toothbrush or other articles of toilet until he departs.