TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AT SCOTLAND YARD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 64, 10 April 1909, Page 3

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AT SCOTLAND YARD.

BEING TIIE TRUE RECORD OF A LIFETIME IX THE DETECTIVE SERVICE. ('By John Sweeney, late Detective-In-spector, Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard.) I. Joi.\'L\G THE FORCE. I was torn in December, 1857, at Staigue, County Kerry, Ireland. My father was a small farmer. At his marriage my mother brought him the usual dowry, which in her case consisted of ! twenty-eight cows in calf. 1 had three j brothers anil three sisters. When 1 was only two years old my father was unfortunate enough to be evicted, and it is a curious coincidence , that the agent who was responsible for •' the eviction afterwards fell on bad ] times, and 1 saw his children in a workhouse of wliich an uncle of mine was j master.

THE CALL OF TIIE IU.C. 1 lived in Ireland until 1 had turned sixteen. My boyhood was quiet and uneventful. 1 was always of strong athletic tastes, and thus constantly practised boxing, running, and wrestling. The strength and activity which I thus acquired stood me in excellent stead when I became one of the Force. I ofteii had to give chase to someone who was "wanted," and I invariably rail down my quarry; I wont through many sharp encounters with roughs, but I never received really severe punishment. What first drew me towards the work I which subsequently became the avocation of my life was the appearance of the men of tlie Royal Irish Constabulary. I admired their smart turnout. I thought that they must have particularly pleasant duties to perform. When, in 1875, my family vent to London, and I accompanied tliem, 1 was full of this notion. But I began doing the work of a gardener; my- father was foreman in some market gardens near Earl's Court, and when I was nearly eighteen I started work under him.

After a few months, however, I gave it up and became a policeman. I was still eager to join the Royal Irish Constabulary; but. though, at fifteen I was as strong as I have ever lieen since, at eighteen I was not up to the standard of height required for that corps. So 1 joined the Metropolitan Police, meaning to stay r with them until I was taller, andi then return to Ireland. EAULY PROMOTION.

Almost from the very beginning I was put to clerical work in the office, attending to the telegraph, making out returns, and so forth. Thus I had very little oi that work of patrolling the streets 'which falb to the lot of most constables; judeed, if my memory is to be trusted, *1 can hardly have put in as much as a twelvemonth at it.

I took a strong fancy to my work at once, and went at it heart and soul. The local inspector formed a good opinion of me, and took to selecting me when a man was wanted for any special work. 1 suppose 1 must have been very, lucky, as everything I tackled turned out "well; 1 met with 110 failures or mischances. So 1 liked the work well, and it seemed, to like me; and, though in course of time I grew quite tall enough, I gave up the idea of joining tho Royal Irish Constabulary.

Such was my good fortune that before I was out of my teens I found myself in positions _ 01' responsibility. Several times [ had to act as sergeant for a longer or shorter period, and at such times constables old' enough to be my father, perhaps grown grey in the service, had to lake orders from me, fresh from the wihls of Kerry.

1 have explained that during tho first .two years 01 my time I had mainly to apply myself to ollice work; but something more lively occasionally came my way. One evening—l had been 111 the Force about eighteen months then—l was passing along King-stivet, Hammersmith, 011 my way to duty at the oflice, when I saw a sweep take a pair of boots which were hanging up outside a shop, and place them under his arm, where lie was carrying a dirty sack. lie then hurried rounil a corner; 1 followed him, and saw liini go into a house. I entered it, and, after enquiring of the landlady, went up into a bedroom, where I found my man. He had jumped into bed with all his clothes 011, and was pretending to be asleep. "Where are those boots?" 6«id I. "What boots?" "Those you stole from Dixcy's, ill King-street!" The sweep pretended not to understand what I meant, so I seized him and dragged' liini out of bed. There lay the boots. I took the thiei along with me to the station, and in due course he was sentenced to six months' hard labor. TROUBLES OF THE CHASE. ■Shortly after this little incident I was in the Hammersmith High Street one Saturday night; there were a great many people about. Among them I noticed, as it happened, a man of the name of Hedley. I knew him to be "wanted," as he was one of a notorious gang of housebreakers; also, I had often seen him at North End, when', like myself, he used to train for various races, being a good runner, lie recognised me at once, and bolted. 1 shouted "Stop thief!" and gave chase. Yet the people Iliad-:' an avenue for him, and, for some reason or other, several constables in uniform who were standing about let him pass; 1 could not keep 011 shouting "Stop thief!" as 1 wanted all my breath lor running.

I did not expect, a long chase, as I knew that lu> was good; at short sprints, and I was a long-distance runner. Sure enough, after about half a mile lie began to get. blown, and "duelled" down suddenly, hoping that I should fall right over him, and he would be able to creep away. A SLIPPERY THIEF. Certainly I came a tremendous cropper over him, but in the tumble 1 got hold Of his eoat, and pulled it right over his head, thereby "bonneting" him for the moment, while the impetus 0 f the fall made me drag him along several yards. But he managed t;o slip out of his coat, audi started to run off; however, I got hold of liini again. He stood his trial, and got a long 1 term of penal servitude; I got a commrndaton for my capture. Some rather more exciting work came into my hands over a series of burglaries. These took place during the last few months of the year 187!) in the Twickenham and Bedfont neighborhoods. It was clear that they were the work or one individual, or of several individuals acting together, as they were all done in the same way. Though I was, of course, still very young in the service, my superiors had enough conlidcnce in me to select me, with two other officers, to patrol the district and watch the movements of anyone we might suspect. Un tile third night of our watch I was r-tanding near the High StrcH, Twickenham, when I saw a man walking very steadily in Hint, direction. I between hill) anil (lie lligji Street, so that lie had to pass me in order to get at it. From til ■ way in which he was walking, I at once suspected him, so [ went into a garden and lay low till he had passed, Uicn came out and followed him. lie walked on till he reached a bakery, then stopped and looked up and down the street for some little time. ] kept in shadow, so that he did not see lue. Then lie raised the grating in front of 1 tlie liak.'iy ami dropped down. I thought he might possibly ,he one of the employees at. (lie place, but as I hail my doubts of him. I kept a close watch till one of my colleagues joined me. I should say tiiat we were doing duty in. plain clothes. We got down inside, and fiiund the man lying comfortably on some straw, with the bakery Ire keeping him warm. "TVliat are yon doing here?" T asked. "I'm just, having a rest," he said.

''Oh, you're having a rest, are you? And wliat have you got about you'/" "That's no business of yours," said be. "Who are you!-" "Wo are police oflievrs." T answered, "and if you enn't tell us what we want to know, we must find out for ourselves.

tfOIIX .TONUS, WIiLL KXOWX TO EVERYBODY. At that be tried to mak-.> a bolt 'for it, but we collared and searched him, and were not surprised to find n joramy, somo

; I,'silent matches and' a dark lantern. I 'then' arrested- hi'iu. Of course, • j'wc took htm to the station. It ; transpired that liis nanm was John Jones; he was known to the polite, ills ' lodging.; Were searched, and the stolen ■property was found there that had gone from the houses which were "burgled." He was tried at the Old Bailey on the charge of being concerned in these burglaries, whiuh had been taking -place for months past, found guilty, and sentenced to a long term of penal servitude. During the latter part of 1871) and the beginning of 1880 the Ha rsmitli district was much plagued by numerous gangs of roughs who used to infest it on Sunday evenings. Nowadays we should call theui hooligans. They indulged in a large amount of petty larceny, anii amused themselves by having faction-lights in the striets, wrenching oil' door-knockers, breaking windows, shutters, and fascia*, pushing people about, audi assaulting them if they remonstrated. Several houses were broken into while the occupants were at Divine service. MY BAG: EIGHT. This sort oi thing began to be a liuis'.ance, so the head of our local detective department delegated the junior detective oilicer and myself to watch these gangs, and to charge as many men as possible.

On our first Sunday evening we made twelve arrests, of which eight were to my credit. The prisoners were all convicted, and fined from twenty to forty shillings each, witlr the option of a "month's hard." Next Sunday we arrested eight more, who were similarly dealt with; on the next Sunday we caught four, and so on, until the gangs were finally broken up. This good riddance delighted everybody in the neighborhood; long letters were written to the papers praising our work up to the skies; and, till the whole affair was forgotten, the Hammersmith police were popular heroes. | OFF TO THE YARD. As a member of the T Division, I put in about seven years' service in all. It was, as things go in police work, a quiet seven years' service. Of course, my time was not entirely taken up with work. As there were about two hundred of us at headquarters, we could keep going a flourishing games club. I always took a hand, and helped to manage it. I have still several athletic prizes which I won in those days, over twenty years ago. It was just as well that I availed myself of these chances while I had them, for I became more occupied with work when, in 1884, I went from Hammersmith to Scotland Yard'.—"Answers."