OLD BOW STREET POLICE-COURT.* THE building of a new police-court
in Bow Street apparently gave occasion for the compilation of these two volumes. The subject is attractive, for there is an abiding fascination in the authentic records of crime, and Bow Street is so great a name that doubtless a really good book, a piece of genuine litera- ture, might have been produced upon that text. If so, it should be an original composition, not a compilation con- taining long extracts, some of questionable taste, few of any merit, and stuffed out with more or less imperfect repetitions of stories familiar to the readers of criminal annals. A well- written biography of the old Court would have been instructive and entertaining; and we can only now regret that a fair oppor- tunity of writing a readable, perhaps enduring book, has been missed. The reader must take it for what it is, and, if he can,. or thinks it worth while, make out a history of Bow Street for himself, the task which Mr. Fitzgerald, of course unin- tentionally, has imposed upon him.
From the Bow Street Office the modern police system may be said to have sprung. The "Runner," supplemented by the " Patrole," succeeded the thief-taker, and the "Peeler," after a long interval, was happily substituted for the "Runner." In like manner was the Magistrate also evolved, and the old school of Justices, including the species satirised by Fielding in Mr. Justice Thrasher, made way for the able and pains- taking lawyers who have sat in the police-courts for so many years. The parish constable and the watchman had become quite unable to keep the peace, much less detect crime, before the two Fielding's began ta initiate reforms in Bow Street ; but it was long ere the Governments of the day set themselves systematically to the task of guarding the streets by night as well as by day, and providing really efficient tribunals to dispose of trivial, and to transmit to higher Courts the more serious cases. In fact, there is not much ground for believing that the Governments of the last century eared for anything except the punishment of offences, and a host of duties the perform- ance of which is now jealously watched, were left undone or were carelessly got through. The mere fact that there could be a Jonathan Wild, at a later period a Bolland, and that the gaols of all kinds were rank abominations, is enough of itself to condemn the Governments, so far as the fulfilment of their duties to the community were concerned. It was only when gang robberies and murders were committed in the streets, and the highways became unusually insecure, when some person of position was stopped and pillaged, or when a Countess lost her jewels, that the Executive gave a moment from political intrigues to look after the safety of roads, streets, and dwellings. Riots were frequent, the soldiers were used as police, and it was not until Lord George Gordon demonstrated how easy it was to set a-going a revolution, that anything like adequate measures were, not taken, but thought of in odd moments. If Henry Fielding did not actually begin the change, very faintly no doubt, he was not far from being its originator; and the notions he had were carried further• by his blind half-brother, the famous Sir John. Still, there was nothing systematic, no permanent basis, no strong organisa- tion.. Sir John set on foot a small force, which he called a "patrole," to watch the roads out of London ; and in 1805,
another Chief Magistrate at Bow Street, Sir Richard Ford, established a horse-patrole, which, of course, was much more effective, and later a foot-patrole, which Worked through the streets. Such may be said to have been the origin of the large force which now guards the Metropolis ; the detective branch more properly descends from the scarlet-vested Runner. To this cause, and the fact that the presiding Police Magistrate is the first in rank, and always has been, must be attributed the hold which Bow Street has obtained over the popular imagination. One of the Westminster Magistrates was Johnson's friend Welch, and it is interesting to note that, either at Bow Street or in Titchfield Street, as Boswell relates, the Doctor attended his Court for "a whole winter," being eager to know human life in all its variety, and found "an almost uniform tenour of misfortune, wretchedness, and profligacy." So that he did not get a deeper insight, probably,
• Chr011iCieS of Bow Street Poise-Office: with an Account of the Magistrates, "Runners," and Police, and a Selection of the :nest Interesting Cases. By Percy Fitzgerald. 2 vols. London : Chapman and Ball. into human infirmities inside the police-court than, from his own extraorilinary experiences, he had obtained outside.
The old "Bow Street officer," it seems, got five-and-twenty shillings a week, and the rest of his income was dependent on
the generosity of those who employed him,—generally a guinea a day and travelling expenses. He also sold Tyburn tickets," the name given to exemptions from the duty of serving the parish as constables. Sums were also allowed on convictions for felony, and in other odd and irregular ways the Runner received his remuneration. The most famous of them told the Committee of the House of Commons in 1828 that it would be a far better plan to leave the whole matter of payments, over and above wages, in the hands of the Court ; and the reasons he gave testify to his shrewdness and reveal a dreadful source of iniquity
" I have," he said, "with every attention that man could bestow, watched the conduct of various persons who have given evidence against their fellow-creatures for life or death, not only at the Old Bailey but on circuits, and I have always been perfectly convinced that would be the best mode that possibly could be adopted to pay officers, particularly because they are dangerous creatures ; they have it frequently in "their power—no question about it—to tarn that scale, when the beam is level, on the other side,—I mean against the wretched man at the bar. . . . . . I told Sir Charles Bunbuzy my opinion upon that subject thirty years ago, when he wanted to get rid of rewards, that it should be in the breast of the Judges on the circuit if they see the officer has done his duty towards the public, they should have a discriminating power to pay that officer according to the nature of the case. Then the officer does not stand up and look at this unfortunate creature, and swear to this or that thing, or the other thing, for what ?—for the lucre."
He gave some instances known to himself, and mentions bribes which he refused, but took no merit to himself. "I
have been lucky enough to have situations where I have been liberally paid," otherwise, he added, "I might have been as liable to temptation as any one in London." This state of things, which existed so long, can hardly now be conceived, and it not only led to the punishment and oppression of the innocent, but the escape of the guilty who could pay enough. The practice of compromising felonies was quite common, and robberies were designed and got up for the express purpose of securing booty by means of a compromise. There was some- thing like an organisation to carry out plans in which none save the thieves ran any risk, and then only when the bank or firm despoiled refused to negotiate with the go-betweens, who bought back the plunder cheap from the robbers, and sold it dear to the owners. The Committee already referred to thus describes the "putters up '• and "fences" who traded with the thieves :—
"Some of these persons ostensibly carry on a trade ; one, who had been tried formerly for robbing a coach, afterwards carried on business as a Smithfield drover, and died worth, it is believed, £15,000. One was lately the farmer of one of the greatest Turn- pike Trusts in the Metropolis. He was formerly tried for reeeiying the contents of a stolen letter, and as a receiver of tolls employed by him was also tried for receiving that very letter, it is not too much to infer that the possession of these turnpikes is not un- serviceable for purposes of depredation. Another has, it is said, been a surgeon in the Army. The two others have no trade, but live like men of property, and one of these, who appears to be the chief of the whole set, is well known on the turf, and is stated, on good grounds, to be worth 230,000."
Such was the picture of the system drawn sixty years since, and, as the thieves of our day, when we are so much more virtuous, have little difficulty in disposing of their plunder, it is reasonable to infer, either that the law is still defective, or
that the shameful offence is beyond the reach of any lair. There certainly are "fences," but how rarely is a receiver prosecuted ! Apart from the chapters relating especially to the old Bow Street system, the contents of the volumes resemble the Newgate Calendar, and the matter really belongs more to the history of the Old Bailey than to that of the famous police-court before it moved into the edifice across the street.
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