Notwithstanding this he gave the would-be assassin chase, and coming up with him again, closed with the robber, but was too much exhausted to succeed in his commendable efforts to effect a capture.
The man accordingly escaped, and no doubt congratulated himself upon the success which so far attended him in his attempts to follow in the footsteps of the prince of scoundrels whose nefarious career he had endeavoured to shadow forth.
Doubtless many of our readears will remember the case to which we refer, since it was reported in all the London and provincial newspapers.
We sincerely trust that the loathsome memory of Charles Peace will not breed a contagion of burglary.
That crime, however, is infectious was shown by the garotte epidemic from which London suffered some few years ago.
The best preventive against the prevalence of a possible plague of housebreakers is undoubtedly to be sought for in efficient police surveillance.
A stronger force of mounted patrols is wanted in the suburban districts.
That a policeman should be left to encounter an armed burglar single-handed on Hampstead-heath in the dead of the night shows that this particular part of the metropolis at any rate is not properly protected.
In such a place the police should go in pairs, or, if one man is deemed sufficient to guard it, he should be provided with some better protection than a bâton against the chances of losing his life through being assaulted by wretches of Peace’s calibre.
It appears to us that the police on night duty are distributed very unfairly. In many streets, for instance, where persons are constantly passing all through the night more police than are necessary are to be found, but in some suburban retreats the midnight quietude is seldom disturbed by the constable’s measured tread.