Clever Arrests.

Western Star, Issue 1055, 12 June 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

Clever Arrests.

. As nine out of every ten detectives will .admit, the work of tracking out criminals and persons suspected of crime ig.no easy matter. The community of rogues indeed are decidedly ihbre astute and long-headed than the army' of detectives, for the simple reason that their, ingenuity is part arid parcel of a crafty'nature, while with .the detective his cleverness is acquired by practice, and is consequently a mere acquisition. And so perfect is the police system of this country—let pessimists say what they will—that 'the 1 rogue finds'it essential to be clever if he hopes to carry on,his wrong spings with success. There is a.secrecy and an espionage over the footsteps of i;he criminal's natural enemy, which the latter finds as annoying as it is perplexing;; a circumvention of police plans which poiDts to the fact'of such pjaris .being known to. the offender against the public peace; and an; advantage over the detective, through; , the agency of fire arms. All these: .make, an arrest a work of difficulty and. -danger, not unattended,' as we have' recently had; ari opportunity of'dis'cpyering/(jve refer, to the policeman who was shot by burglars at Carlisle a .fewdaysago,), with fajal results. ~: :-i A.',singularly iclever arrest or "number ' of !! arrests—-was that of the 'Molly Maguires,' by a detective who jbi'ned 'their .Bociety... individual •Wori^eid.hirqseif into the ; confidencds of the various ofßcials, and. one evening ,when,a,full meeting had been formed, ibetrayed and arrested nearly the whole of them. 'Whether he acted rightly of 'wrongly we hesitate to 'gay, but it 'nipsi pe borne in that the Molly we're,, a of .murderers and anarchists only deserving of the -punishment,they .received-changing. . The i Emperor Napoleon owed his •life'two or three times to the vigilance .and | loyalty' 'of 'the French police'. Towards, the latter, part of his career ■as Emperor the .Government and the Eepublicans were continually at variance, with the consequence that the friends of Eepublican< fancies were in high demand among Monarchial ad'jriirers. ~ " ''.;'."!''',".,■'' !!,-!.,!

";'.!A.,startling story was .that arising ,out of a plot to murder Bonaparte in the midst of his popularity, and when he was being worshipped as a gdd.' A Woman sent notica to'inform him that an I, attempt was to 'be made, upon his life, and that, poison would, be, the .means employed. The,messenger was arrested, and under escort of a budy bf gendarmes conducted to the house of thei woman' who had given information. Arriving at tbe house L tjxej found her lying dead upon the floor, stabbed in several parts, of the.body. It was night, and nobody was about evidently, so the police advised that no talk 1 be made of the murder, rightly judging .that if the, inatter was kept quiet-the guilty , parties would be furious to know whether the body had beenjfound; Men in plain clothes were then posted in the houses opposite; before the expiration ..,o.f twenty four Hours the chief murderer was captured.

It.,has bpen . proved beyond doubt that Orsini's attempt on Napoleon 111. was frustrated by the police 5 and the murder plot of 1858 was unearthed by spies, hounded on by the devotion of maifes and prefects, who knew that one successful bomb* one well-directed pistol, might give France a government in whose eyes fervent Bonapartism would be an unpardonable crime.' In 1860 Mr Matthew .Maguire, a celebrated officer in\ the Liverpool detective force, effected a' remarkable double capture. He had his suspicions that the second mate of a Valparaiso trader was not as' straightforward, as ho might be, The vessel had entered the dock, and was unloading when Maguire's suspicious were first aroused; so he conceived the idea of dressing as a labourer and" helping in the discharge of the cargo, ; For a day or two he discovered nothing, although he had managed to completely overhaul the vessel. Late'on the taird day he had,better luck,, and saw enough of the mate's actions to justify him in continuing his investigations. But the better to effect his purpose, he left jus work suddenly, and in an hour returned, .passing himself off a journalist. ,He accosted the mate, mentioned that he was getting up material for a newspaper article on the sailor's life, and that he was willing' to pay reasonably for any information that might be given.. The mate sug"gssted they should adjourn to a publichouse in Back Goree, and tai£ the matter over. .. This, however, was not what Maguire Wished,' and he ultimately prevailed upon the mate that they should go to the latter's lodgings. While, there, »and. Maguire to all appearance, taking • notes, a knock came to the street door, and presently a number of boxes were deposited on the landing. The mate went to look after them, Maguire wishing him goodnight, ' biit only to return a few minutes later with a couple of policemen, and take the two sailors into custody on a charge of robbery, for the boxes contained all the valuables; they had been able to lay their hands upon.

„ A London detective made an equally clever capture some time before the closing of the Thamea Tunnel. He had tracked a notorious flat-catcher down to the water at the Greenwich side, and then was mortified to see him take a boat and row across the jiver. only for a second was the

detective nonplussed. He ran down to the tuunel and through as fast as his legs would carry him, and so had an opportunity of watching his quarry row nearly half-way across. He found the flit-catcher was making direct for a certain coal-barge. lato this he crept, and as the thief wa's walking along the side, suddenly shot up, grabbed him by the leg, and. had him in the bottpniof the barge, handcuffed, before he had time to recover from his astonishment. The burglar who left the office door open will know, fetter next .time. A policeman going on his round of inspection noticed an .office door only on the close, a very. unusual .occurrence for twelve o'clock midnight. ; The burglar/ "engaged in his employment," and having successfully opened a safe, considered that the, best thing under the,circumstances would be.to bundle himself and his tools inside, and shut the safe 1 door after him. But the gentleman of enterprise had forgotten that there handle on one side: of the .safe only, the result, being that that door was on the close also. However, the policeman who entered the next moment made goo i the omission, and,a few day's later the cracksman was holding is, post as a Government employe. ; ■ ■■■' i ••"'