RECOLLECTIONS OF A LONDON DE TECTIVE.-(Continued.)

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 12 March 1891, Page 4

RECOLLECTIONS OF A LONDON DE TECTIVE.-(Continued.)

merest accident relieving me ot a clUiicult lask - , . ' r v ■ ■ « Morrice stood m one of the recesses ot the Bridge for some momenlsi hoping, I suppose, that Macintosh would move away. Tht;n finding that he had coolly sealed himself lo light his pipe, lie wailed no longer, bill was up on the parapet lil<e lightning. Mackintosh was just ari smart", though "at the expense of his pipe, and had him in his clutches and pulled back, and rolling over and over in his enibractf'-oh the pavement, while the crowd, including me, gathered in a moment " Lei me go!" Morrice shouted, fighting hard lo Ihrotlle his lough assailant. " Hoots,. mon, if ye wan f io,tak' your life^, .dinna tak 1 (nine loo," coolly relumed Mafcfintosh, and in a moment he had fallen on f his opponent in an ingenious way of his so that the point of his elbow, with the whole weight of his body above It,, was propelled right into Morrice's stomach It's a trick' of mine, and has served me often when hard pressed You daren't Nil a hand to a prisoner or you'd be reported, but no ode can blame you for the way you happen lo fall onbjm in a struggle. Morrice lay (juiet, as i^Janib alter that neat .fall, and we picked : him^ up limrrand- breathless, and propped him on the stone bench till he was able lo look about him. Then we took him away to Seething Lane Station— for it was on the ' cast side of the...J3ridge ]\p had made ,the itUompt— and after he bad been^crfarged with at tempi i rig to commit suicide he noticed and recognised me in my beggar dress, and asked me in a heartbroken, listless fashion if I had delivered his note. 1 said no, and that, I would. be, glad, to \nve t a lalkwlh Jynr beforo 1 did 5;o Be «-is&nletf. ! artdjtberi,. after Idling him understand that the whole scheme was pretty well blown, I proposed that he should tell all he knew, in prder/lp* get oil easy, and above all lo help us to convict Joss He agreed without an objection; indeed, he was so depressed and helpless nnd pliant that we could have got anything > iin of him without promise or condition His statement was that he had " taken the use ol some /400 or £500 of his employers' moneyfto invest at the race meeting on " a sure lip," which was lo return him a fortune. The sure lip proved a failure, and in his despair lie was spoken lo by Joss, who had before accommodated him with loans. To, his surprise Joss offered to lei him have the full amount, to be repaid in monthly instalments ex lending over two years, the only conditions being some trifling ones regarding the manner in which the money thus furnished was to be paid away. The bank notes thus " generously <Tadv'ance& vvere'the * "stopped notes" taken tit the door of ? the Bank The moment Morrice discovered whal he had done, he sought Joss, as I have described, and reproached him, only to find that Joss not only had him in his power, but meant to use that power to force him to ; other crimes— hence his despair and atu:nypted suicide As soon as I had done with Morrice, and seen him locked up for the night, with a man to watch him, I went to a drinking shop close by Catherine Wheel Alley, and found Joss in a jpyialj fmerry mood, drinking and eating stewed tripe, lie asked me to join him, which I did, being both hungry and thirsty. Then I charged him, and he joked no longer What a look he gave me as he went ' off to the cells ! Tt was as good as a penny gaff tragedy villain could have got, up.. . . Joss was tried at the Central : Criminal Court, and got eighteen months; Morrice was taken in evidence, and got off with the week or two he had been detained He is a prosperous man in the city now. He did not marry the pretty cigar seller, who got a drunken pot boy, who beats her well and makes her work as hard as any slave for him and Ihe little ones I often buy my tobacco there just out o( pity for ihe poor xnK I xn.