SIR ROBERT ANDERSON
Secret Service
Theologian
CHAPTER IV
SCOTLAND YARD
The period 1860 to 1900 proved to be one during which there was almost
continuous decrease in crime. . . . By signal successes in sensational cases,
and by steady achievement in the less advertised everyday business of dealing
with rogues in general, the C.I.D. built up in the nineties a world-wide
reputation for efficiency in crime detection.
"Scotland yard and the
Metropolitan Police", by Sir John MOYLAN.
SIR HARRY FURNISS, the famous artist, devotes a chapter of
his book Some Victorian Men to the London Police, in which he says One of
the hardest-working and most brilliant heads of the Criminal Investigation
Department for many years was that eminent Victorian, Sir Robert Anderson,
K.G.B.
The Jack the Ripper scare, resulting from the
Whitechapel murders of the year 1888, synchronised with my fathers
appointment as Assistant Commissioner of Metropolitan Police and Chief of the
C.I.D. For reasons of health he was ordered two months complete rest
before entering upon his duties, and after a week at the Yard he left for the
Continent. The second of the murders was committed the night before he took
office and the third occurred during the night of the day on which he left
London. The newspapers soon began to comment on his absence, and when two more
victims had fallen to the knife of the murderer-fiend, an urgent appeal from
the Home Secretary brought the new Chief back to duty. "We hold you responsible
for finding the murderer" were the words which greeted him.
Thus he entered
upon an office which was far from being a bed of roses. Apart from the state of
alarm produced by the murders, there had been a good deal to make conditions in
the Police Force difficult at that period. Two years previously the Chief
Commissioner, Sir Edmund Henderson, had resigned when called to account over a
West End riot. There were constant bickerings between his successor, Sir
Charles Warren, and Mr. James Monro, then in charge of the detective
department. Further, the rank and file objected to the military discipline
introduced by Sir Charles, who was a distinguished soldier. His popularity was
established however by his defence of the Force against what were considered
unjust strictures by the Home Office on the occasion of further riots.
Anderson had been warned that he would "never get on with Warren." But he found
the Commissioner frank and open; he was treated as a colleague and left quite
unfettered in the control of his department. It was therefore a matter of
regret to him when Sir Charles became so annoyed by the ways of the Home Office
that he in turn threw up his appointment. To my fathers great
satisfaction, however, the new Chief Commissioner was Mr. Monro, the former
Head of the C.I.D., a personal friend. All seemed set fair for a time of happy
and fruitful co-operation between them; but once again friction between the
Home Office and the Commissioner led to the latters resignation.
His
successor was Colonel Sir Edward Bradford of the Indian Army. Shortly after his
appointment he wrote:
"19th August, 1890.
"My DEAR ANDER50N, - It was
a pleasure to have your kind letter. . . . I had a most delightful morning with
your people in the C.I.D., and look forward to many more of a similar nature
after your return. Nothing I like so much as men who are enthusiastic in regard
to their work; and I am delighted to find you are so about C.I.D. matters.
"Yours very sincerely,
"E. R. C. Bradford."
Going back to the time
when my father entered upon his new duties, he found that the officers of the
C.I.D. had become demoralised by the treatment accorded to Mr. Monro - a strong
esprit de corps always existing in the department. They believed too that they
were regarded with jealousy in the Force. The feeling of discouragement had
affected their work, the Commissioners report for 1888 recording that
crime had shown a decided tendency to increase. So strong was the feeling about
Mr. Monro that the new Chief had some difficulty in persuading
Chief-Superintendent Williamson not to resign. My father only learned
afterwards that he himself had been protected by Sir Charles Warren when the
Home Office wanted to call him to account because there was not an immediate
change for the better.
Warren had not only to suffer the nagging ways of
the Home Office, but to face considerable public criticism on account of
failure to find "Jack the Ripper." A cartoon of the period in the Pall Mall
Budget shows an East End deputation in the Commissioners office. Upon
walls and desk and lying on the floor are regulations and instructions about
drill. A police officer stands stiffly at attention. The deputation protests:
"Another murder, Sir Charles, the fourth in . . ." The Commissioner in uniform
with sword and medals replies: "Why bother me over such a trifle? Still, if
something must be done, what do you say, Inspector, to another hours
battalion drill?" The Home Secretary, Mr. Matthews, was also attacked in the
Press. Innumerable letters with theories and suggestions were sent to the
police and the papers. One theory propounded was that the murderer was a Malay
serving in a ship, who committed the crimes during brief shore leave.
The
facts were that the locality in which the crimes occurred was full of narrow
streets with small shops over almost every one of which was a foreign name. The
victims belonged to a small class of degraded women frequenting the East End at
night. However the fact be accounted for, no further murder in the series took
place after a warning had been given that the police would not protect them if
found on the prowl after midnight. The criminal was a sexual maniac of a
virulent kind living in the immediate vicinity. The police reached the
conclusion that he and his people were aliens of a certain low type, that the
latter knew of the crimes but would not give him up. Two clues which might have
led to an arrest were destroyed before the C.I.D. had a chance of seeing them,
one a clay pipe, the other some writing with chalk on a wall. Scotland Yard,
however, had no doubt that the criminal was eventually found. The only person
who ever had a good view of the murderer identified the suspect without
hesitation the instant he was confronted with him; but he refused to give
evidence. Sir Robert stated as a fact that the man was an alien from Eastern
Europe, and believed that he died in an asylum.
Probably few people know
how the name Scotland Yard originated. From the time of the Norman Conquest
there had been a place in Whitehall known as "Scotland," where Scottish kings
and queens stayed when on visits to the English court. In Stuart days the
Palace of Whitehall included a court or yard named Scotland Yard because it was
part of the original "Scotland" or adjacent to it. The detective department of
the police used to have its office there, and when the new headquarters on the
Thames Embankment were built they were given the name of New Scotland Yard.
The Metropolitan Police district extended over a radius of fifteen miles
from Charing Cross, covering an area of 700 square miles, with a population in
1900 of over seven and a half millions. The problem which daily faced the
C.I.D. was to find criminals hidden in such a crowd. Like a spider in the midst
of a monster web, the Chief was in touch with inspectors attached to each of
the twenty-one divisions into which Greater London was subdivided.
"When I
took charge," wrote my father, "I was no novice in matters relating to
criminals and crime. I was not a little surprised therefore to find occasion
for suspecting that one of my principal subordinates was trying to impose on me
as though I were an ignoramus. For when any important crime of a certain kind
occurred, and I set myself to investigate it in Sherlock Holmes fashion, he
used to listen to me in the way so many people listen to sermons in church; and
when I was done he would stolidly announce that the crime was the work of A, B,
C, or naming one of his stock heroes. It was Old Carr, or Wirth, or Sausage, or
Shrimps, or Quiet Joe, or Red Bob, etc., etc., one name or another being put
forward according to the nature of the crime."
However, on putting the
subordinates statements to the test, it appeared that he was generally
right, for "great crimes are the work of great criminals, and great criminals
are very few," that is, skilled and resourceful criminals capable of certain
types of crime. The problem, then, is not to find the offender in a population
of many millions, but to pick him out from a few definitely known
"specialists."
In his reminiscences my father mentions a few cases in
illustration. One was a "ladder larceny" at a country house in Cheshire. The
Chief Constable of the county called next day to invoke the aid of the C.I.D.
He gave a vague description of two strangers who had been seen near the house
the day before the burglary. He was shown three photographs, and at once
identified two of them as the men in question. One was "Quiet Joe," and the
other his special pal. Arrest and conviction followed.
A man named Benson
was the son of an English clergyman. He was a man of real ability, of rare
charm of manner and an accomplished linguist. Upon the occasion of one of
Madame Pattis visits to America, he ingratiated himself with the customs
officers at New York, and thus got on board the liner before the arrival of the
reception committee. He was a stranger to the great singer, but she was charmed
by his bearing and appearance and the perfection of his Italian, and had no
reason to doubt that he had been commissioned for the part he was playing. And
when the members of the Committee arrived they assumed that he was a friend of
hers, with the result that she took his arm when disembarking. All this was
done with a view to the carrying out of a huge fraud, the detection of which
brought him to ruin. The man was capable of filling any position; but the life
of adventure and ease provided by a criminal career had a fascination for him.
Another great criminal was Raymond, who like Benson had a respectable
parentage. His schemes were Napoleonic. His most famous coup was a great
diamond robbery. His cupidity was excited by the accounts of the Kimberley
mines, and he sailed for South Africa to investigate. He found that the arrival
of the diamonds at the coast was timed to catch the mail steamer for England,
but if accidentally delayed on the way they had to lie in the post office till
the next mail left. He had no difficulty in obtaining wax impressions of the
postmasters keys; in fact, the postmaster was one of a group of admiring
friends whom he entertained at dinner the evening before he sailed.
Some
months later he returned to South Africa under an assumed name and cleverly
disguised. The diamond convoys had to cross a river ferry on their way to the
coast. Making his way up-country to the place, he unshipped the chain of the
ferry and let the boat drift down stream, and the next convoy missed the mail.
£90,000 worth of diamonds had to be deposited in the post office
strong-room. They reached England in Raymonds possession, and he
afterwards boasted that he sold them to their rightful owners in Hatton Garden!
Raymond loved his "work" for its own sake; and though he lived in luxury
and style, he kept at it to the last, organising and financing many an
important crime. It was he who stole the famous Gainsbprough picture for which
the record price of £10,000 had recently been paid.
A doctor friend
told my father of having an extraordinary patient. The man was wealthy and
lived sumptuously, but was extremely hypochondriacal. Every now and then an
urgent summons would bring the doctor to the house to find the patient in bed
with nothing whatever the matter. He always insisted on having a prescription
however, which was promptly sent to the chemist. The last summons had been
exceptionally urgent; and when the doctor entered the room with unusual
abruptness, the patient sprang up in bed and covered him with a revolver!
Raymond (for it was he) knew that his movements were of interest to the police;
and if he had reason to fear that he had been seen in dangerous company, he
bolted home and sent for the doctor, whose evidence, confirmed by the
chemists books, would prove that he was ill in bed until after the hour
at which the police supposed they had seen him miles away.
My father put
Dr. Max Nordaus "type" theory to a test when the latter called on him at
Scotland Yard. Dr. Nordau was shown two photos covered so that only the faces
could be seen, and told that the one was an eminent public man, the other a
notorious criminal. He was challenged to say which was the criminal "type." He
shirked the challenge; for as a matter of fact the criminals face looked
more benevolent than the other and certainly as "strong." "The one was Raymond
alias Wirth - the most eminent of the criminal fraternity of my time - and the
other was Archbishop Temple. Need I add that my story is intended to discredit,
not his Grace of Canterbury, but the Lombroso type theory?"
At
the time of Queen Victorias Jubilee in 1887 there was a hellish plan to
bring about a dynamite explosion in Westminster Abbey during the ceremony. The
Irish Fenians in America had issued a circular announcing the early renewal of
active operations, "a pyrotechnic display in honour of the Jubilee" being
specially indicated. The scheme was discovered and thwarted by Mr. James Monro,
then Chief of the C.I.D., with whom my father was in close touch in connection
with his Secret Service work. Ten years later there occurred the last in the
series of these plots. A gang of dynamiters crossed from America in August
1896. The leader, a man called Ivory alias Bell, landed at Antwerp and made his
way to Glasgow, where he was arrested. His chief confederate, Tynan by name,
the "No. 1 " of the Phoenix Park murders - was arrested by the local police at
Boulogne, the others at Rotterdam. Ivory was put on trial, but the Law Officers
of the Crown on learning that one of the gang had given information decided to
withdraw from the prosecution. Just before this occurred, Ivorys counsel
had told my father in strict confidence that he would withdraw his plea of not
guilty if he would promise to get him a light sentence. The C.I.D. Chief said
he was confident he could obtain an early remission if Ivory would openly
express regret for his share in the conspiracy. Ivory was just about to make
such a statement when the Solicitor-General interposed to announce the decision
at which the Law Officers had arrived.
"Such are our ways with
dynamiters," wrote my father:
"these men were aliens who came in time of
peace to perpetrate outrages which if committed by soldiers in war-time would
ensure them short shrift after trial by drumhead court-martial. . . . And yet
these miscreants were treated with a quixotic leniency that would not be
extended to ordinary criminals. For the measures adopted to detect quasi
political crime in no way differ from these by which every competent police
force deals with organised crime of any kind."
In this case the information
was given, not by one who could possibly be accused of being an agent
provocateur, but by one who had gone as far as he safely could in checking the
schemes of his confederates. When the case was first reported to the Home
Secretary he took the view which was finally adopted by the Law Officers, that
there should be no prosecution. He decided, however, to put the matter before
the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury. So my father went with Sir Matthew Ridley,
afterwards Viscount Ridley, to Walmer Castle. The Home Secretary after stating
his own view said: "Anderson differs from me entirely." When the Premier had
heard both sides and asked a number of questions, he gave his decision
unreservedly in favour of the latter.
Incidentally, I remember my father
coming home and telling us how much he had enjoyed his visit to Walmer, where
Lord Salisbury was in residence as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; this
included a very simple and informal luncheon at which he found himself seated
between his host and hostess. During lunch and afterwards on the terrace many
matters were discussed, amongst them the Channel Tunnel scheme and of course
Ireland and the Irish. On the return journey Sir Matthew Ridley generously
expressed his gratification at the Prime Ministers having been satisfied
that the Ivory case might be allowed to proceed, and he afterwards noted his
full approval of the police action. But, as already stated, the Law Officers
decided to throw their hand in. An additional point however must be mentioned.
It appeared from the evidence that Bell had left the Antwerp house before the
arrival there of the explosives; and, although his conduct gave cause for the
gravest suspicion, the Solicitor-General felt unable to press for a conviction,
the accuseds counsel paying a tribute to Sir Robert Finlays
judicial fairness in the matter. The case received a good deal of publicity,
the police being complimented on the almost simultaneous arrest of the suspects
in Glasgow, Boulogne and Rotterdam. There was on the other hand - the usual
attack by Irish members in the House, who asserted that the whole prosecution
originated in a fraud concocted by the police and carried out by agents
provocateurs, a charge which was indignantly repudiated by the Home Secretary.
In the course of a leading article on the case, The Times said:
"It is
greatly to be regretted that no official notice was taken of the gross attacks
upon Mr. Robert Anderson, the able and energetic Assistant-Commissioner who has
the control of the Criminal Investigation Department, and to whose vigilance
and activity it is undoubtedly due that so many detestable terrorist
conspiracies have been nipped in the bud. . . . There can be no shadow of doubt
that a great crime was being prepared in the bomb factory at Antwerp and that
its execution was defeated by measures adopted by the C.I.D."
In The Lighter
Side of My Official Life Sir Robert wrote: "When Mr. Joseph Chamberlain visited
America in 1896 there was a formidable plot to assassinate him at the home
where he was sojourning. Facts which came to light convinced the local police
of the truth of the information received, and the American authorities deemed
it necessary to take very special measures for his protection." The following
letter from Mr. Chamberlain refers to that time
"HIGHBURY,
"BIRMINGHAM.
"Oct. 11th, 1896.
"DEAR MR. ANDERSON, - . . . I feel that
I ought to write at once to thank you for your activity on my behalf while I
was in the United States. It is not pleasant to be accompanied everywhere by
policemen, but I have undergone the experience before, and have no doubt that
in the present case it prevented very disagreeable consequences. I was living
in an isolated house in the country to which access was perfectly easy and
open, so that any ill-intentioned person would have had no difficulty in
reaching me, but for the guards placed there by the U.S. Government.
"There
is one paragraph in your letter which I do not understand. You say the
gentleman entrusted with the duty of despatching me was sent to the
West. But I was all the time in the East, at a small village in
Massachussets. I do not know how they found out that I was guarded, for we
managed to keep the matter very quiet and there was no notice of it in any of
the papers till after I had sailed. . .
"Please accept my renewed thanks. I
am only sorry to have been the cause of so much trouble.
"I hope you will
get Tynan! Yours very truly,
"J. CHAMBERLAIN."
The South Western
Railway murder case in 1897 was of special interest for two reasons. First, it
was a striking example of the difference between French and British methods of
dealing with such crimes. A young woman was found dead in one of the coaches of
a train arriving at the London terminus. It was obviously a case of murder. The
French police would have closed the station, and no one would have been allowed
to leave until they had finished their investigations. But at Waterloo, not
only were all the passengers permitted to go their ways, but the body was
removed and the carriage cleaned so that any possible clue was lost before the
C.I.D. were informed.
The case was of particular interest also because in
spite of this handicap an elaborate chain of circumstantial evidence closed
round a certain person. The only apparent flaw in it was that a principal
witness wavered in his identification of the suspected man. The ground of
hesitation was that this man was clean-shaven, whereas the murderer had worn a
moustache. The witness did not know, however, that an hour before the crime was
committed the man whom he had singled out of a dozen paraded for inspection had
purchased a false moustache at a barbers shop!
That fact seemed to
render a case which was already strong both complete and irresistible. But it
was inseparably bound up with another fact. The distance between the
barbers shop and the station at which the murderer joined his victim on
the train was adequate proof of an alibi which shattered the whole case against
the accused. That one fact possibly saved him from the gallows.
This story
was used by my father in his book Pseudo-Criticism to illustrate the fallacious
arguments of some critics of the Bible, who thought that a seemingly complete
case against the genuineness of a book was sufficient evidence to decide the
issue as one of their "assured results."
Another story which he reckoned
an instance of truth being stranger than fiction was that of a great City house
which was victimised by a plausible swindler who had a recipe for multiplying
gold! The firm actually advanced the man £20,000 in sovereigns; a house
was hired in Whitechapel and a laboratory fitted up. The experiments ended in
the complete disappearance of the scientist and of the £20,000. He had
insisted on being searched every time he left the laboratory; so how the feat
had been accomplished was a mystery until, in sheer bravado, he told his
victims that on every occasion his hollow walking-stick had been packed with
sovereigns! He was confident that the firm would not prosecute for fear of the
ridicule which would be incurred; and he judged rightly.
Much ordinary
police work has always been concerned with the prevention of crime rather than
with its detection, and is of necessity performed behind the scenes. The duty
of protecting royal personages visiting Britain fell to Scotland Yard, and
Chief-Inspector Melville was frequently entrusted with this task. In a private
letter to my father from Windsor in November 1899, he mentioned that when out
shooting the previous day the Prince of Wales [afterwards Edward VII] and the
Duke of York had cordially shaken hands with him, and the Prince had said the
Queen was very pleased at his being sent down. He continued:
"I thanked
H.R.H. and told him that every precaution was being taken, but in as quiet a
manner as possible. Subsequently the Duke had several conversations with me as
to the relative merits of the Continental police. I was surprised later on when
the Emperor [Kaiser Wilhelm of the 1914 - I 8 war] came away from the Royal
party and shook hands with me very heartily; he said: You have a
wonderful police force in England. Our detective force in Germany is very bad;
there is always a lot of fuss, but nothing done. His Majesty spoke in
this strain for several minutes, and I thanked him for his appreciation of the
English police." For some time Mr. Melville was the officer personally
responsible for the safety of Queen Victoria.
In his Memoirs of a Royal
Detective, ex-Detective-Inspector H. T. Fitch writes : "It is certain that one
of the Kaisers attendants for a long period was an English ex-detective
of the name of Bell." He tells also of the last Emperor of Russia saying to
him: "I wish you were in my police service, Mr. Fitch. My police are much
harsher than yours in England, yet how much do they achieve? Yet you seem to
have the measure of these revolutionaries." The detectives deputed to guard
foreign royalties received many personal gifts. Occasionally their Chief was
also remembered in this way, twice by the ill-fated Nicholas II of Russia, the
first time when he was Czarevitch, the gift being a Russian salt-cellar. The
second present was a diamond ring of such dimensions that it might fit a
super-size thumb. The diamonds with the Imperial monogram made a fine brooch
for my mother. The gold ring, reduced to normal size, with the Russian N, II
and crown reproduced, I am wearing to-day.
As illustrating the slight
measure of precaution considered necessary in the case of our own Royal Family,
my father told of an experience which greatly impressed him. It was in 1894
when the Duke and Duchess of York were away on one of their tours and the Duke
and Duchess of Teck were abroad. On returning from a holiday my father received
a private letter telling him of things being said in anarchist clubs about
"Prince Eddy," now the Duke of Windsor, who was then at the White Lodge in
Richmond Park. Riding out there next morning he found that the nurse might be
seen any day walking unattended in the Park with the baby in her arms. "What a
delightful picture of the peace and security of life in this favoured land!"
The lady in charge at the lodge gave cordial consent to certain police measures
which seemed desirable, and my fathers visits passed as friendly calls.
When the Duchess of Teck returned she expressed her gratitude, and a friendly
discussion took place as to what might be done when the Duke and Duchess of
York came back to St. Jamess Palace. Appeals were made to my father to
withdraw his objection to the child being taken to the Green Park for his daily
outing. But the presence in London of foreign anarchists had to be taken into
account. "Was there another capital in all Europe," he asks, "in which the
suggestion would be entertained of an infant Prince in the direct line of
succession to the throne being taken daily by his nurse to a public park?"
Some readers may be interested in knowing the impression made upon Press
interviewers by the C.I.D. Chief. One of them said: "Dr. Robert Anderson is
essentially a reticent and retiring man. Pressmen usually despair of getting
any interesting information out of him, and he is one of the most difficult men
in the public service to interview. He undoubtedly knows more about the
criminal classes than any other man in this country." A representative of the
Evening News had "A Chat with the Prince of Detectives," mainly about the
finger-print system of indentification which was about to be adopted. "People
who have not seen him," said the interviewer, "probably expect to hear that he
possesses the keen grey eyes with which writers of fiction have
always endowed their criminal investigators. Mr. Andersons are like any
other pair of pleasant eyes . . . He looks - this quiet gentleman who has had
his finger unceasingly on the pulse of crime for so many years, and who has
seen through the network of the Irish physical-force partys conspiracies
- a simple unobtrusive citizen, and such in private life he undoubtedly is." An
article in Black and White on "The Detectives who Frustrated the Dynamite Plot"
(in 1896) said : "In Dr. Andersons appearance there is more of the man of
peace than of the, terror of conspirators. Yet it is certain that he has been a
conspicuous success in his high office, thanks to his analytical mind, his keen
reasoning powers, and his 'scent for the right trail. He is frigid and
reserved when on duty at least, and his trifling hardness of hearing becomes
practical stone-deafness when embarassing questions are asked. . . .
Chief-Inspector Melville, the head of the Special Division of Scotland Yard, or
the Dynamite Brigade as they are called, is a man of another type as far at
least as personal appearance goes, though he is a great admirer of Dr.
Anderson, whose patience, caution and discernment inspire the utmost confidence
in all associated with him." Another impression, given two years later, was:
"Dr. Anderson has been described and fitly as the ideal detective of real life,
yet he bears but little resemblance to those of the novelists creation. .
. His power of close and rapid reasoning from facts and his marvellous
quickness in seizing on the essential points in difficult cases are at once the
wonder and admiration of the men under his control. Naturally he is a discreet,
silent and reserved man; his training has made him even more so, but no officer
who has yet presided over the affairs of the C.I.D. can boast of being more
popular or more genuinely respected by his subordinates."
In a report of a
lecture on Professional Criminals before the Leeds Philosophical and Literary
Society in 1903, the Yorkshire Weekly Post said "After many years service
in the responsible position of spider in the centre of a web which reaches
almost to the end of the earth, he is now a gray, elderly man, somewhat stern
and searching, cool and calculating, as befits an official of Scotland Yard;
but in truth warm-hearted and jocular, ever ready with a quip and a joke, and
on the whole impressing one as a sane and delightful man of the world."
"John 0 London," in his Unposted Letters, writing of some remarks
concerning Sherlock Holmes by Sir Basil Thomson, then Chief of the C.I.D., goes
on to say: "This brought back to me an interesting experience. Nearly twenty
years ago, when the Sherlock Holmes stories were being read and talked about
every-where, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to obtain Scotland
Yards opinion of Conan Doyles hero. Accordingly I wrote to Sir
Robert Anderson, who two years earlier had retired from his post as Head of the
C.I.D. Hardly hoping for results, I was gratified when his card was handed to
me, and was followed by the expert himself. He sat down and at once began to
talk. I saw a keen and kindly old gentleman who looked like a super-detective
by not looking like one at all. He was indeed better known to me as a
distinguished theologian and scholar. Still, there was that in his eye which
one could connect with the penetralia of the Yard. The result of our talk was
that he undertook to write an article. It was entitled Sherlock Holmes as
seen by Scotland Yard, and it is as interesting to-day as when it was
written." Referring to the article, John 0 London says:
"The real
relation of a Sherlock Holmes to a first-class Scotland Yard detective was put
to me by Sir Robert very simply: the inventor of a detective story makes both
the lock and the key, whereas Scotland Yard is limited to finding the key to
the lock.... In a detective story we are interested from first to last in the
solution of the mystery; that solution is the detectives triumph.
But
in real life the elucidation of the mystery is only the first chapter; if there
is no second there is no story and no triumph."
My fathers private
diaries contain a few brief references to his official work. In April 1893
there is this note: "Saw Bradford. By his desire I saw Mr. Asquith on
Townsends case. (Attempt to shoot Mr. Gladstone.) Later to see Sir
Algernon West about protecting Mr. G." In October 1893: "4 oc to
Trafalgar Square with Macnaghten to see an Anarchist meeting." In June of the
same year: "The Australian cricketers came to see the Museum. Had chats with
Bannerman, Giffen, Blackham, Lyons, etc." (The "Black Museum" at Scotland
Yard was full of gruesome records of crime and criminals; I have a vivid
recollection of it.) A week later he went with Sir Evelyn RugglesBrice to
Paris: "Called on M. Lepine, who received us with great cordiality. To
Bertillons Bureau. Saw Cochefort of the Sureté and Guillot, head
of the uniform police. To a reception by the President and Madame Faure at the
Elysee. Saw Marie Antoinettes cell in the Conciergerie."
On 18th
October 1898 : "Col. Dawson, Military Attaché of our Embassy in Paris,
called with an introduction from the Foreign Office to ask my help in finding
agents to keep our government informed of movements of the French army and navy
in the event of war, which he deemed probable." There are many notes of visits
by parents whose sons or daughters were missing or in trouble, and by society
people concerned about lost possessions. One entry is of a very different kind:
"Lady W. called by appointment, and I had an hours talk with her. Found
her tender and eager to hear the Gospel. I had sent her The Silence
of God."
The last incident suggests a reference to the many meetings
addressed in connection with the Christian Police Association;
Miss
Catherine Gurney, its founder, wrote after my fathers death: "I shall
always remember the very many kindnesses and encouraging words and all the kind
help he gave us in the early part of our work." At a convention of the
Association in Bolton the diary notes that he spoke on police duty being in the
line of Gods government of the world (Romans xiii). There are several
mentions of "Maud Colleys Police Class; about 100 young P.C.s." Meetings
on behalf of the Police Court Mission are also referred to, one of them in the
Mansion House, London. Many others are mentioned in connection with Police
Institutes and Orphanages in Birmingham, Leeds, Harrogate, Glasgow and other
cities. At a Police Institute meeting in Grosvenor House, London, the
Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Robert were the speakers.
There are
frequent references to lectures and addresses on crime and its problems, one to
the Whitefriars Club, another to a large audience in the Cory Hall,
Cardiff. On the lighter side was a dinner of the County Chief-Constables
Club, at which Lord Desart and my father were the chief guests. Many of these
activities were of course after his resignation.
Returning now to his
service at "the Yard": Sir John Moylan in his Scotland lard and the
Metropolitan Police states that "the period 1890 to 1900 proved to be one
during which there was an almost continuous decrease in crime." He continues:
"By signal successes in sensational murder cases such as that of Neil Cream the
poisoner, and Milsom and Fowler the Muswell Hill murderers, and by steady
achievement in the less advertised everyday business of dealing with rogues in
general, the C.I.D. built up in the "nineties a world-wide reputation for
efficiency in crime detection . . . Crime reached a low watermark in 1899." The
period of my fathers service as Chief of the C.I .D. was 1888 to 1901.
In Criminals and Crime he himself wrote : "It is to the habit of dealing
with criminals instead of with crime that the phenomenal success of the C.I.D.
is largely due. I have no reserve in praising a department of which I was
recently the Chief, and for the excellent reason that no one knows better than
I do to whom the praise for that success is due. With a chief who did not enjoy
the fullest confidence and respect of his subordinates success would be
impossible. But the best of chiefs can do little more than stand behind the
working staff - a body of officers that as a body when judged by the double
test of efficiency and character are unequalled in the world. Character
I include with emphasis because it is often overlooked when judging the
relative merits of different Forces."
Amongst those who supported him so
loyally and effectively at Scotland Yard, Sir Melville Macnaghten,
Superintendent Frederick Williamson and Chief-Inspector William Melville have
already been mentioned. Others whose names frequently appear in the records of
causes célebres were Inspector (later Sir Patrick) Quinn, who went after
Pigott the forger when the latter fled to Spain, and Chief Inspector Frank
Froest, who brought Jabez Balfour back from the Argentine and who was concerned
also in the Adolph Beck case.
In the words of George Dilnot in his
interesting Story of Scotland Yard, "Sir Robert Anderson after honourable and
distinguished service for many years retired from the Criminal Investigation
Department in 1901." His friend Major-General J. C. Russell, C.V.0., Equerry to
King Edward VII, wrote : - "I dont know whether to congratulate you or to
condole with the State. . . . As a wretched item in the Commonwealth I feel
that my person and goods are no longer so safe as they were."
The New Year
honours in 1896 had included the Companionship of the Order of the Bath, the
decoration being bestowed by Queen Victoria at Windsor. He found the lack of
ceremony there somewhat embarrassing, Her Majesty being seated in an armchair
in the middle of the drawing-room. His loyalty and veneration betrayed him into
giving her hand a real kiss instead of the correct purely ceremonial touch, and
he noticed an amused smile on her face as he bowed himself out. To his reief
however, Sir Fleetwood Edwards, who was in attendance, followed him to say that
the Queen wanted to know more about him. After relinquishing office, the rank
of K.C.B. (Knight Commander) was conferred on him by King Edward VII in 1901.
Dr. Adler, the Chief Rabbi, wrote: "The honour must be greatly enhanced by the
consciousness that it has been earned by diligent labour. Seest thou a
man diligent in his business? He shall stand before Kings."
Amongst
other letters of congratulation which gave him special pleasure was one from
Inspector Kirchner quoting Brownings lines, "The best is yet to be, The
last of life for which the first was made," and one from Superintendent Donald
Swanson who wrote: "It was with real pleasure that I read this morning that my
old master was the recipient of honour from H.M. the King. Everybody I have
spoken to here is pleased." Every Christmas thereafter brought greetings from
Mr. Swanson; in 1917 he wrote:
"My best wishes to Lady Agnes and you my
dear former master. I often think of you and your kindnesses to me which are
remembered with pleasure and are impossible to forget."
The reply said:
"I was greatly gratified by your remembrance of me. My very pleasant memories
of my service at the Yard are mainly associated with the Staff of
the department, and very specially with my senior officers. I dont
believe there was one of you who had an unkind thought about me. . . . Very
heartily do I wish you all good during the year about to begin. Tis a sad
and a solemn time we are living in. As for me, its sadness would overwhelm me
were it not for the Faith and the Hope which become more real and more
gladdening as the days go by." In a letter to myself after my fathers
death Mr. Swanson said:
"Yes, certainly you have my willing permission to
publish any letter to me from my dear respected master, if it will help you to
portray his character as I found him during the many years I was under him. . .
. He was able, just, firm, good and kind. We never knew an unpleasantness,
though we differed sometimes, but very seldom and then over very trivial
matters. I am conscious that I owe him very much and shall always feel
grateful. Under him were spent the happiest of my thirty-five years
service."
Another chapter will tell of Sir Roberts long campaign,
waged both before and after his retirement, for drastic reforms in the methods
of dealing with criminals and crime.
Chapter Five
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