The Wilds of Glasgow

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3005, 17 September 1888, Page 2

The Wilds of Glasgow

......__»~. _—~ o . (Weekly Mail). Between Saturday night' and Sunday morning, though tlio courtesy of the police authorities, I MS enabled to visit seperal notorious thieves' dens in the Central Districts of the city. At tho High Couifc last week the bulk of the cases consisted of assaults coupled with robberies, and tho victims in almost e\ery instance were under the influence of liquor. The sentences .passed woie so much out of proportion with tho seriousness of the crimes committed that I decided to takea run through some of the localties in which the tribe of Ishmael carry on their operations, and see them "at home," I had an escort of detectives—two big, stalwart men, whose appearance makes the thief cower like a frightened dog-and by arrangement met" them at twenty minute past eleven'at the head of King-street; ■

There is no other place ill Scotland where one can see more thieves than in this street. It is their "happy hunting ground," and even in the broad glare'of day, when the, streets are throbbing with life, they .'can be detected by the score. They sit on the pavement,' sing Bnatohes' of obscenesongs, smoke short clay pipes, roll quids of tobacco in their olieeks,! and critioise, if they have the opportunity, the passers by.. Standing here, the deteotives. point me out' every grade of the genus law-breaker,; from the cowardly sneak thief and " drunk" hunter,. up to the; accomplished and very often daring burglar and house-breaker. It will scarcely be credited, although it is a fact nevertheless, that shopkeepers in this street will not venture out with their week's drawings because of the swarm of thieves that infest the locality. They say they would be followed and robbed, and on Saturday I saw no 1 fewer than five cabs taking away the occupants of shops. to their residences.

Jail-birds are fond of nick-names, and one of the officers pointed me out a hunchback amongst his pals as " Beaconsfield." His particular "lay" in the thieving business is following drunken men and rifling their pockets. He was joined in a minute by two friends, who glory in the sobriquets of " Boots" and" Bibs," We walk down ling Street towards the Bridgegate. Amuitia-man, the worse for drink, had fallen among a gang of thieves, a few minutes before we reached the bottom of the street, and a garralous old Irishwoman and her husband came towards us and related what they had seen, The bullseye lantern revealed the militiaman had been deprived of his militia boots his cap, and cravat. They would have stripped him naked, the woman said had she not put in an appearance. A constable turned up and raised the unfortunate man''from his drunken debauoh, He looked at his feet, and felt for his collar, and seemed rather astonished at finding himself walking on the cold pavement without boots, After giving vent to a few choice expletives, he straddled away in the direction of Saltmarket, and was soon out of sight. A few minutes after this, a young girl raised the window of a house at the foot of King Street. She observed the detectives, who were at this time joined by four constables, It was at once lowored, and the blind drawn. In less than two minutes the same head again appeared at the window, and seeing that the'officers-were still j watching her movements, she again dropped it with a thud, The lights were immediately; extinguished, and the house was 'iii total darkness. The detectives, closely followed by the police, made a rush'up the staii'j and gave two loud knocks at the door. A woman's voice responded from within, " What the blazes do yez want now ?" "Open this door," shoutodone of the detectives, which was speedily done. Two girls, whose ages ranged from 17 to 18, were seated at the fire, and a fierce, vicious-looking man sat on a ohair, enveloped in clouds of tobacco reek,' The mistress of the house was a short, stout woman, with a tremendous faculty for talking.' She 'was questioned about the character of her lodgers, whom she described as honest and " respectable."

We entered one of the rooms leading off the kitchen, and from the streak of light from tho bull's eye we noticed two rough and scrofulouslooking women sleeping in a bed. They only simulated sleep, and did it remarkably well. They were two notorious thieves, slinking nightbirds, who prowl about the streets after midnight in searoh of drunk men. They were merely retiring before commencing business, because, like the owl, they'only come out under cover of darkness, and when respectable people are asleep. The mistress of this ramshaolo whispered in the ear of one of the detectives: " Look next door." The tenant next door was a convict, and the woman who resided with him had also undergone a term of .penal imprisonment. He was evidently doing some "job," for neither he nor his paramour were at home, although it was after one o'clock.

About ten minutes after' leaving here we plunged into a close in Bridgegate, running farinto a tumbledown building with about half a dozen exits. A tall, middle-aged woman, with her face seamed and scared wjtli small pox, met us. She had bean attempting to rob some person, but to prove that she wasn't requested the officers to searoh her. They refused and thrust her ignominiously into the street., Every room in this building is almost in the possession of thioves. Tho coiner and the housebreaker lives here undisturbed,] except by an occasional visit from the police. No civilian would be safe to climb the stairs leading to these houses in the broad light of day. It is avertible thieves' " rookery,"- teeming with a class of people irreformable and of the most degraded type'.' "' ' ' ; We' retraced, our. steps towards King street and visited a lodging housewhiohislargely pajtronisedby. the Ishmaelifes. The person in charge complained of the dull thnc3, and one of the officers ooulavly remarked that her wero in the country, There were three or four sleeping departments and in one room we found twenty adults. -The appearance of the olficors did not disturb them in the least. Some were smoking, others mending their clothes, and the bulk of them fast asleep," Whp.| strikes; oue in a placoof thjs kind'is its democratic chVacter','''Qnenas sie''ieaulajJdp in a fourpenny "doss 1 ' of ihe polk tical oreed embodied in the terms '■•■ ii .TliarjyjJquaKty, and; Fraternity,", The professional come as the man .from the country who has found himself reduced -to fourpencei: • They sjeep side; by side althoughtlie Mhdajmay b,o covered with ; the wwiabiqod i<oi-M : cdiiMitling;> tbbbeiry \ ,!;.: v y :i^--i%^;becbnt^