CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I. MEMORIES AND CONTRASTS[1]
II. SOME BURGLARS I HAVE MET[33]
III. THE BLACK LIST AND INEBRIATES[45]
IV. POLICE-COURT MARRIAGES[65]
V. EXTRAORDINARY SENTENCES[74]
VI. DISCHARGED PRISONERS[92]
VII. THE LAST DREAD PENALTY[125]
VIII. HOUSING THE POOR[147]
IX. THE HOOLIGANISM OF THE POOR[166]
X. THE HEROISM OF THE SLUMS[182]
XI. A PENNYWORTH OF COAL[198]
XII. OLD BOOTS AND SHOES[212]
XIII. JONATHAN PINCHBECK, THE SLUM AUTOLYCUS[222]
XIV. PEOPLE WHO HAVE "COME DOWN"[243]

KNOWN TO THE POLICE

CHAPTER I MEMORIES AND CONTRASTS

During the summer of 1904 there were in London few men more unsettled in mind and miserable than myself. I had severed my connection with London police-courts—and well I knew it. I was not sure that I had done wisely or well, and was troubled accordingly. I missed more than words can express the miseries that had hitherto been inseparable from the routine of my life. For twenty-one years, day after day at a regular hour, I had turned my steps in one direction, and had gone from home morning by morning with my mind attuned to a certain note. It was not, then, a strange thing to find that mechanical habits had been formed, and that sometimes I found myself on the way to the police-court before I discovered my mistake. Still less was it a marvel to find that my mind refused to accept all at once the fact that I was no longer a Police-Court Missionary. I must in truth confess I felt a bit ashamed that I had given up the work. I felt that I was something of a traitor, who had deserted the poor and the outcast, many of whom had learned to love and trust me.

I am not ashamed to say that I had been somewhat proud of my name and title, for the words "Police-Court Missionary" meant much to me, and I had loved my work and had suffered for it.