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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 9th January 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, THE TOMAHAWK: A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATI...

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    • POLICE / JPOLTCB /
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      The Tomahawk: A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . tiYtttb fen Jlrt ^ r tfgttkttt . "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 88.] London, Januar Y 9, 1869. [Pric...

      No . 88 . ] LONDON , JANUAR Y 9 , 1869 . [ Price Twopence .

      Police / Jpoltcb /

      POLICE / JPOLTCB /

      Police ! Police ! Such Is The Instinctiv...

      Police ! Police ! Such is the instinctive cry of the Britisher when attacked either in purse or person . But we doubt very much whether , in many cases , the cry is a very wise one . It would seem that not unfrequently it would be better to suffer the gentle mercy of the garotters than of the Police . The most violence can do is to kill you ; and if lawless brutality stops short of that dread consummation , it is somewhat better than the legal cruelty and ignorance of official authority . It is all very well for those who have money in their pockets and beer in their cellars to place implicit confidence in the Police , though to do so is a proof of their generosity in more senses than one ; but for the poor , the wretched , and the helpless , the Policeman can hardly be a haven of refuge ; to these poor cranky vessels he must be much more like a sunken rock , or a dangerous quicksand . Sir Richard Mayne has passed away , after a long life of toil in the service of his country . We have been accused of harshness and cruelty towards him . That he did much for the London Police we do not deny , but that to him belongs the merit of the improvements which he organised we must dispute . Public opinion called the Police into existenceand made them — -not what they are—but what they are meant , to be . The tnan tne

      not x-once saying are oeuer much for them . om In watchmen all that relates ; very to true the , but regulation that is of traffic , and other matters which affect commercial interests the Police are not much amiss ; public opinion , even in this , apathetic for and the the prevention defence age , enforces of of the crime weak some , for and efficiency the for punishment the aid in this of the of respect the wretched guilty ; but , the know Police these are are about trivial as matters , bad compared as they can with be such . We an , posed cannot indifferentl important to ; expect discharge y object paid a large considering as to the body be all protection of the intelli men duties , like of which or the our humane Police they purses , are who . but sup We are we - may fairly demand that , ignorance and gent brutality on their ; part should not receive the negative encouragement of nearly complete defects served which impunity respect in has our called . present for We forth Sir have system in Richard the often of Police Mayne expressed cannot , and ' s , however our all alter the opinion that panegyrics well on the de- , , papers , opinion . l Our ity , and Police to make are charged them , or with their duties chief of , anything the greatest approaching responsibi to - irresponsible agents , is a most pernicious error .

      The recent case of a poor woman , who was rescued from drowning by a Policeman , only to be slowly murdered by the most brutal neglect in the cell of the station-house , has prompted these observations . It is a case which illustrates two of the most frequent blunders of our Police . Nothing can be more—ridiculous we were going to say , but the consequences are often too terrible for such an epithet—nothing can be more mischievously foolish , than to allow a Policeman to pronounce on the diagnosis of any case of insensibility . He has only one idea—the man . or woman is drunk his treatment is equally simple ; to knock the insensible person about till he or she is roused , if possible ; if not , to take the poor creature to the station-house and fling him or her into a damp unwholesome cell , and there leave him or her to recover by the aid of Providence . The most monstrous cases of what we can call nothing else than murder , have occurred through this brilliant faculty for diagnosis in our Police , and have , as far as the world knows , never been punished . In the mystic recesses of Scotland Yard , the blundering brute who caused a ' fellow creature ' s death by his cruel stupidity and callousness may have been censured , perhaps degraded in the force , by some irresponsible authority , but the effect of the punishment , such as it is , is not seen by the public , if it is felt by the Policemen themselves , which we take leave to doubt . Everybody will remember the case known as the " murder in the Green Park , " the onsi

      which exactly illustrates this monstrous abuse , irrespbility of our Police force . A respectable mechanic died of wounds inflicted on his head with a blunt instrument , on his way from the police-station to the hospital ; the authorities of St . George ' s Hospital had a rigid enquiry into the matter , the result of which was made public ; though there was very little doubt of the guilt of one of the force , the Police had no enquiry at a , ll , or if they did , kept both it and its result a profound secret . All cases in which either the incompetence or cruelty of any member of the Police has occasioned the injury or death of any human being should be rigorously investigated before a public and impartial tribunal . We believe that Sir Richard Mayne had shortly before his death yielded somewhat on this point , and that the inquisition which used to sit in Scotland Yard on offending members of the Police has been abolished . But much requires to be done by the force of public opinion before the regulations of the Police Force are compatible with humanity or justice . The recent case to which we have alluded appears to us one of undoubted manslaughter . A woman just dragged out of the water is taken on a stretcher , with nothing on but a wet chemise , through the cold night air to the police-station , and then placed

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), Jan. 9, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_09011869/page/3/