THE STREETS OF LONDON.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1787, 4 November 1862, Page 4

THE STREETS OF LONDON.

The number of offences against property and person recently committed in she streets of the metropolis has been something extraordinary. The coofueis and audacity of these offences can hardly be surpassed. A man is knocked down, robbed, and garrotted amid the blnze of lamps, with the police in call, and with cabs and foot passengers close upon him. Here is one of the latest c ises. We take it from the report from Worship-street :

Mr. A. G-. Hertwell, of Lorrimore-square, Walwoith, said— At ten o'clock last evening, while I was passing along Biahopsgate-street.in company with a lady, some person forced himself betsveen us very violently, and the next instaut I missed my watch and chain.

Miss Jane Elizibeth Palmer— l was with Mr. Hertwell, and while holding his arm was nearly separated by the prisoner's efforts to get between us. When Mr. Hertwell was about to pursue him another man made a blow at his head, but I caught his arm, and then he struck me with his fist in the chest.

ollet, 34 H— l heard the cry of " stop thief," and took the prisoner into custody. He was then running.

Abra l \am Bredan, a general dealer, said — I saw the prisoner throw something away when he was caught by the last witness, and afterwards picked up this watch and chain iv the condition they are now.

Kenwood, 194 H, an active plain clothes consi aide— l know the prisoner to be a notorious thief. On the 15th October, 1861, he was sentenced by Mr. Leigh, at this court, to one month's imprisonment for attempting to pick pockets, and on the --JOtb. of February, 1862, ho was ordered three months' imprisonment by the magistrate at the Westminster Police Court for being found iv a dwelling-house without being ablo to rind lawful excuse.

The ruffian was not sent for trial and penal servitude, but only got six months' Imprisonment. Referring to this and other recent cases of assault, the ' Times ' observes : — " These occurrences carry us b-ick to old times, though by no means to a part and characteristic of the days of yore that we are anxious to revive. We are reminded of scenss iv novels of a cen« Liry and a half ago, when gentlemen in powdered perukes were attacked in their sedan chairs by bull-headed ruffims on their way from their party at Whitehall to their lodgings in Piccadil y. The awe of the police seems to be at as low an ebb as that of the old watchmen with their cracked lanterns. This is a new phase of crime iv this day, and it strikes us as a novelty. It is evident that we have an inroad of fre>h and bold genius into this department that combines skill and violence, has got over the old fears of gaslight and frequented streets, has stripped the city of its judicial and threatening countenance, and discovered an opportunity fora vigorous onslaught on society U'><JerneUi"i ihe very j iws of i!ie police and in the very thick of city ciowds. It is pietly well known t> what source we owe (his new and insolent race of criminals; that we owe them to the tieket-of-leave system. Tt is ceitidu from the plainest statistics that outiage and violent crimes increase in propoitiou as the ticket-of-leave multiplies. The judicial statistics of last year give aninciease of 556 burglaries over the preceediug year, and the same judicial statistics »iue an increase uUo of about <i thousand lickets-uf-leuve in that year over the preceding year. Nor have we seen the last of this growth ami multiplication. The Penal Servitude Aci of 1853, which did not allow mitigation of sentence, dies out luis year and leaves lull and uninterrupted ."•Cope to the ticket-of leave system. We m«y, therefore, expect a still larger harvest of this class of crimes. It is evident that something must be done." [We observe with satisfaction that Baron Bram-vc.ll has just sentenced a couple of garotte robbers, one to 20 and the other to 10 years yenal seivitude.J