Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
THE morning was rainy, cold, and lowering.
Markham awoke unrefreshed by his sleep, which had been
haunted by the ghost of the young officer who had committed suicide at the
Hell. He shivered and felt nervous; as if under the impulse of some impending
danger whose nature he could net altogether define. By the good offices of
Crisp he obtained the means of washing himself and arranging his toilette
previous to an appearance at the police-court; and the same intervention
procured him a good breakfast. As he, however, could not eat a morsel, Mr.
Crisp very kindly and considerately devoured it all for him.
At about half-past nine o'clock the various constables connected
with the charges entered in the police-sheet, arrived at the station-house for
the purpose of conducting their prisoners to the Police-court. All those
persons who were charged with felony were handcuffed; but of this class the
most knowing contrived to bring their hands beneath their garments in some way
or other, and thus conceal the symbol of ignominy as they passed through the
streets.
Richard was astonished at the number of women who were
charged with intoxication and disorderly conduct; and the chivalrous admiration
of the whole sex which he felt, and which is so natural to youth, was
considerably diminished by the hardened appearance and revolting language of
these females.
Markham and the constable who had arrested him proceeded in
a cab together to the police-office in Marlborough Street. Upon reaching that
establishment, the officer said, "The Magistrate will hear the
drunk
and
assault
charges first; so it may be an hour or more before your business
will come on. I ought by rights to lock you up; but if you like, we can stay
together in the public-house there; and one of my partners will let us know
when the case is coming on."
This arrangement was very acceptable to Richard; and to the
nearest public-house did he and the constable accordingly adjourn. For this
handsome accommodation all that he had to pay was half-a-guinea to the officer,
besides liquidating the score for as much liquor as the said officer and every
one of his "partners" who happened to drop in, could consume.
For the present we must request the reader to accompany us
to the interior of the police-office.
In a small, low, badly-lighted room, sate an elderly
gentleman at a desk. This was the Magistrate. Near him was the clerk, whom the
worthy functionary consulted so often that it almost seemed as if this clerk
were a peripatetic law-manual or text-book. In front of the desk were the bar
and the dock; and the space between them and the door was filled with policemen
and the friends of those "who had got into trouble."
The first charge was called. A man dressed in the garb of a
common labourer was accused of being drunk and incapable of taking care of
himself. The Magistrate put on a most awfully severe and frowning countenance,
and said in a gruff tone, "Well, my man, what do you say to this
charge?"
"Please your worship," observed the prisoner
scratching his head, "I am out of work, and my wife has pawned all our
little bits of things for food for the children, and yesterday morning I was
forced to go out to look for work without any breakfast. There was but a little
bread left, and that I would not touch for all the world. Well, your worship, I
was fortunate enough to get the promise of some work for Monday; and meeting a
friend, he asked me to have a glass. Now beer upon an empty stomach, your
worship —"
The Magistrate, who bad been reading a newspaper during this
defence, now lifted up his head, and exclaimed, "Well, you do'nt deny the
charge: you are fined five shillings. Call the next case."
"But your worship —"
"Call the next case."
The poor fellow was dragged away from the bay by two huge
policemen; and an elegantly dressed person of about twenty-six years of age was
introduced to the notice of the magistrate.
"What is your name?" enquired the clerk.
"Name! Oh - John Jenkins," was the reply delivered
in a flippant and free-and-easy manner.
The Clerk and the Magistrate whispered together. A constable
then stood forward, and stated the charge. The prisoner at the bar had turned
out of a flash tavern in the Haymarket at one in the morning, and commenced
crowing like a cock, and ringing at front-door bells, and playing all
imaginable kinds of antics. When the constable interfered, the gentleman
knocked him down; and had not another policeman come up to the spot at the
moment, the said gentleman never would have been taken into custody.
The Magistrate cross-questioned the policeman
who gave evidence in this case,
with great severity; and then, turning with a bland smile to the prisoner, who
was surveying the clerk through his eye glass in as independent a manner as if
he were lounging over the front of his box at the opera, the worthy fuctionary
said in a tone of gentle entreaty, "Now really we have reason to suspect
that John Jenkins is not your name. In fact, my lord, we know you."
"Well, then," exclaimed the prisoner, turning his
eye-glass from the clerk upon the magistrate, "chalk me up as Lord
Plymouth, since you are down upon me in this way."
"My lord - my lord," said the Magistrate, with
parental urbanity of manner, "these little freaks of yours are really not
creditable: upon my honour they are not. I sit here to administer justice to
the rich as well as to the poor —"
"Oh! you do, do you?" cried the nobleman.
"Now I tell you what it is - if you dare talk any of your nonsense about
prisons and houses of correction to me. I'll not stand it. You know as well as
I do that whenever a barrister is to be appointed magistrate, the Home
Secretary sends for him and tells him to mind his P's and Q's towards the
aristocracy. So none of your nonsense; but be quick and let me off with the
usual fine."
"My lord," ejaculated the Magistrate, glancing
with consternation from the prisoner to the clerk, and from the clerk to the
prisoner; "did I not say that I sate here to administer equal justice to
the rich and the poor? The fine for drunkenness is five shillings, my lord -
and in that sum I fine you. As for the assault upon the policeman, I give you
leave to speak to him outside."
The nobleman demanded change for a ten pound note, and threw
the five shillings in a contemptuous and insolent manner towards the Clerk, who
thanked his lordship as if he had just received an especial favour. The assault
was easily settled
outside;
and the nobleman drove away in an
elegant cab, just as the wife of the poor labourer departed in tears from her
husband's cell for the purpose of pledging every remaining article of clothing
that could possibly be dispensed with, to raise the five shillings wherewith to
procure his liberation.
Several other cases of intoxication, disorderly conduct, and
"obstruction of the police in the exercise of their duty" - which
last embraced the veriest trifles as well as the most daring attempts at rescue
- were then disposed of. In all instances the constables endeavoured to
exaggerate the conduct of the accused, and never once attempted to palliate it;
and as the Magistrate seemed to place implicit confidence in every word the
police uttered (although one or two cases of gross perjury were proved against
them), convictions were much more frequent than acquittals.
The cases of the poor starving emaciated beggar, the
apple-cart man, and the affectionate mother, who had all three so powerfully
excited Markham's attention at the station-house, were called on one after
another consecutively. Fortunately the inspector was not present at the time to
use his influence against the two first, and the master of the workhouse did
not appear to press the charge against the last. They were all three
accordingly discharged, with a severe admonition - the first against begging
and being houseless - the second against earning an honest livelihood by
selling fruit in the streets - and the third against clamouring in a workhouse
for the mere trifle of being separated from her children.
As these three individuals emerged from the police-office,
they were accosted by Mr. Crisp, who informed them that they were
"wanted" by a gentleman at a public-house in the neighbourhood.
Thither did the trio of unfortunates, accompanied by the poor woman's children,
proceed; and great was their surprise when Mr. Crisp officiously introduced
them into a private room which Markham had engaged.
Richard and the police-officer in whose charge he remained,
were there; and the moment the poor creatures were shown in, they were accosted
by that young man whose ingenuous countenance inspired them with confidence and
hope.
"My good friends," said he, "I was in the
station-house last night when you arrived; and your sad tales touched me to the
quick. Now, with regard to you, my poor lad," he continued, addressing
himself to the
rogue and vagabond,
"what prospect have you before you? In what way could a
friend aid you?"
"My brother, sir, is well off, and would assist
me," replied the poor creature, "if I could but get to him. He lives
in Edinburgh, and is well to do as a wheelwright."
"Here are two guineas for you, my friend," said
Richard. "They will take you home; and thee may your reception be as
favourable as you seem to think. There - I do not want you to thank me: go -
and commence your journey at once."
The poor fellow pressed Markham's hand with the most
enthusiastic gratitude, and took his departure with tears in his eyes and
gladness in his heart.
"And now, my good man," said Richard to the owner
of the apple-cart, "what do you propose to do?"
"To speak the truth, sir, I don't know. The police seem
determined that I shan't earn an honest livelihood: and as I am equally
resolved not to see
my children starve before me, I
have nothing left to do but to become a thief. I shan't be the first whom the
police have driven to that last resource in this city."
"You speak bitterly," said Markham.
"Yes - because I tell the truth, air. My cart is to be
returned to me; but of what use is it, or the stock that is in it, since I
don't dare go about to sell fruit?"
"Could you not open a little shop?"
"Ah! sir - that requires money!"
"How much ?"
"A matter of four or five pounds, sir," replied
the man; "and where could a poor devil like me —"
"I will give you five pounds for the purpose;"
interrupted Markham; and taking from his pocketbook a bank note, he handed it
to the poor man.
We will not attempt to depict his gratitude: words would
completely fail to convey an idea of the exuberant joy which filled the heart
of that good and affectionate father, who would rather have become a thief than
seen his children starve!
"And now, my good woman, what can I do for you?"
said Markham, turning to the third object of his charity. "How in the name
of heaven, came you reduced, with three children, to such a state of want and
destitution?"
"My husband, sir, is in prison," answered the poor
creature, bursting into tears, while her children clung the more closely around
her.
"In prison! and for what crime?"
"Oh! crime, sir - it is only a crime in the eye of the
law, but not in the eye of either man or heaven."
"My good woman, this is absurd. Is there any
offence of which the law alone
takes cognizance, and which is not reprehensible in the eye of God?"
"On the contrary, sir - God has given us for our
general use and benefit the very thing which the law has forbidden us to
take."
"This is trifling!" exclaimed Richard impatiently.
"Can you, whom I behold so affectionate to your children, be hardened in
guilt?"
"Do not think so, sir! My husband was a hard working
man - never spent an hour at the public-house - never deprived his family of a farthing
of his wages. He was a pattern to all married men - and his
pride was to see his children well-dressed and happy. Alas, sir -
we were too happy not to meet with some sad reverse! My husband in an evil hour
went out shooting one afternoon, when there was a holiday at the factory where
he worked; and he killed a hare upon a nobleman's grounds near Richmond. He was
taken up and tried for poaching, and was sentenced to a year's imprisonment
with hard labour! This term expires in six weeks; but in the meantime - O God!
what have we not suffered!"
"Ah!
forgive we," ejaculated Markham, deeply touched by this
recital: "I spoke harshly to you, because I did not remember that the law
could be guilty of a deed of such inhuman atrocity. And yet I have heard of
many - many such cases ere now! Merciful heavens! is it possible that the law,
which with the right hand protects the privileges of the aristocracy, can with
the left plunge whole families into despair!"
"Alas! it is too true!" responded the poor woman,
pointing towards her pale and shivering offspring.
"Well - cheer up - your husband will be restored to you
in six weeks," said Markham. "In the meantime here is wherewith to
provide for your family."
Another five-pound note was taken from the pocket-book, and
transferred to the hand of the poor but tender-hearted mother. The children
clung to Richard's knees, and poured forth their gratitude in tears: their
parent loaded him with blessings which came from the very bottom of her heart,
and called him the saviour of herself and famished little ones. Never until
that day had Richard so entirely appreciated the luxury of possessing wealth!
Scarcely was this last matter disposed of, when information
arrived that Markham's case would be heard in about ten minutes. To the
police-court did he and the constable who had charge of him, proceed
accordingly; and in due time the young man found himself standing at the bar in
the presence of a magistrate.
The usual questions were put relative to name, age, and
residence, to all of which Richard answered in a candid and respectful manner.
The constable then stated the nature at the charge, with which the reader is
already acquainted. Evidence was also gone into to show that the officer, whose
death had led to the irruption into the gambling-house on the part of the
police, had died by his own hand, and not in consequence of any violence. This
point was sufficiently proved by a medical man.
Markham, in his defence, stated he had accompanied some
friends, whose name he declined mentioning, to the gaming-house on the
preceding evening; that he had not played himself, nor had he intended to play;
and that he bad been led into the establishment without previously being
acquainted with the exact nature of the place he was about to visit.
The Magistrate remonstrated with him upon the impropriety of
being seen in such houses, and inflicted a fine of five pounds, which was of
course immediately paid.
As he was leaving the police-court, Markham was informed by
a beadle who accosted him, that his presence would be required at the
gambling-house that same afternoon, at four o'clock, to give evidence at the
coroner's inquest concerning the means by which the deceased officer came by
his death.