How Baltimore Invented the Modern World

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

Written by Rafael Alvarez, Ron Cassie, Lauren Cohen, Bruce Goldfarb, Ronald Hube, Ken Iglehart, Jane Marion, Jess Mayhugh, Amy Mulvihill, Gabriella Souza, Max Weiss, and Lydia Woolever

The birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution is tricky to get to. It’s not on any street map, but I can tell you how to find it. Take Lombard Street from downtown, continue past Hollins Market until you reach Monroe, and then make a left. After crossing the overpass, park at the City Farm-Carroll Park community garden. This is where it gets funky. You have to scramble down the hillside beneath the overpass, through woods and thicket—admittedly a surreal setting in West Baltimore—until you reach the clearing and train tracks.

If you go in the afternoon, follow the sun and tracks and start walking west. After a quarter of a mile, other tracks will merge into your path. You’ll pass a warehouse and a rusted steel edifice and start thinking you’ve gone too far and missed it. You haven’t. Amble on another five minutes, and suddenly what you’re looking for will pop into view on the right—a kelly-green, bellybutton-high metal box tagged with graffiti. Next to it, there’s a telephone pole tagged with graffiti, backed up by a stretch of abandoned boxcars and more graffiti, and behind that, a salvage yard.

It sounds underwhelming. The history born on this spot and marked by that green metal totem is anything but. Those tracks you’ve just walked down? Turn around. That rail line carried the first commercial passenger and freight trains in the United States. Turn back around, walk a little farther. See that? The 312-foot-long stone arch over the Gwynns Falls? That’s the Carrollton Viaduct. The first railroad bridge built in this country.

On July 4, 1828, Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, put the first shovel into the dirt here for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. That green metal box is the exact location where the first stone, now kept in the B&O Railroad Museum on Pratt Street for safekeeping, was laid. (A replica sits inside the box). Three-fourths of Baltimore’s citizens gathered to celebrate the occasion with a four-hour parade. The 90-year-old Carroll told the crowd he considered the groundbreaking among the most important acts of his life, “second only to my signing of the Declaration of Independence, if even it be second to that.”

Two years later, the first 13-mile section reached the mills of Ellicott City with wagons pulled on the rails by horses. The steam engine was on its way, however. All along, Baltimore’s founding fathers, taking a tremendous risk on the untested railroad technology being developed in England, had hopes of extending the line through rocky Western Maryland and West Virginia (then Virginia) to the Ohio River. Still, it would take 25 years of hard labor and trial-and-error engineering before the first steam locomotive whistled through the Alleghenies and arrived in Wheeling on New Year’s Day, 1853. In terms of capital—and virtually every citizen of Baltimore had made an initial B&O stock purchase—nothing in the nation’s 75-year history came close to matching the cost of the $30 million project. But the city’s gambit to open the West and build on the economic advantage afforded by its inland, deep-water port would transform Baltimore, then the second-largest U.S. city, and the country like nothing else before or since.

It was an effort so bold, imaginative, and daunting that historian Herbert Harwood Jr. called it “the moonshot” of the 19th century.

When the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first Eastern Seaboard line to reach the Midwest, it laid down the first link in a giant network that, after the Civil War, would integrate America into a single national economy. The B&O, of course, played a pivotal role in the Union victory, moving troops and delivering key intelligence, but it had also remained an innovator since its inception. The B&O made communication history when it became the first railroad to carry the U.S. mail in 1838. And then again, when it partnered with telegraph companies—the first communication technology of the Industrial Revolution—to string overhead wire next to its rail lines. (It is no coincidence that Samuel Morse’s first message in 1844—“What hath God wrought?”—sped in dots and dashes from the U.S. Capitol along the B&O’s right-of-way to Baltimore’s Mount Clare station.)

By the start of the 1860s, nearly 30,000 miles of rail and 50,000 miles of telegraph cable crisscrossed the country, obliterating previous conceptions of time and distance. In fact, it would be the railroad industry, in an attempt to standardize its schedules, which established the first U.S. time zones.

The launch of the B&0 was not the only seismic event in Baltimore in 1828, however. The formation that same year of an enormous real estate enterprise, the Canton Company—though not permanently memorialized like the B&O with a spot on the Monopoly board—would eventually remake Capt. John O’Donnell’s plantation into one of the great industrial waterfronts of the world. An Irish-born merchant seafarer and one of the richest men in the U.S. when he died, O’Donnell had amassed his 18th century fortune through trade in the Far East—including teas, silks, spices, and opium—naming his estate after the Chinese port.

The cornerstone of the B&O, now displayed at the B&O Railroad Museum, was laid July 4, 1828. Ninety-year-old Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, told the crowd he considered the groundbreaking among the most important acts of his life, “second only to my signing of the Declaration of Independence, if even it be second to that.

A brief history: The incorporation of the B&O had sparked talk of an economic boom in the pubs, parlors, and boardrooms of Baltimore. In the spring of 1828, Columbus O’Donnell, the captain’s eldest son, and William Patterson, donor of the first acres of the park that bears his name, met with Peter Cooper, a New York capitalist and inventor, to pitch their plan to buy all of the property from Fells Point to Lazaretto Point—the entrance of the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel today. Convinced of the benefits the B&O would endow to Baltimore’s port, Cooper bought a major stake (the only stake, it would later turn out) in the new Canton development corporation, which was given the right to purchase up to 10,000 acres by the state of Maryland. Think Port Covington times 40 in a city with 80,000 people. Two years later, worried his entire investment would be lost as the B&O struggled to create a viable steam engine, it was the polymath Cooper who took it upon himself to design and construct the first successful American-built locomotive—aka the Tom Thumb.

(According to lore, Cooper’s coal-burning prototype raced a horse-drawn car to prove its worth, leaving its steed-powered competitor in the dust before a belt snapped. Bottom line: Although the Tom Thumb lost the race from Ellicott City to Baltimore, Cooper’s steam engine design won the day.)

“I call 1828 the ‘big bang.’ That was the year it all came together and Peter Cooper’s the lynchpin,’’ says Raymond Bahr, a retired physician, Canton native, and local historian, who hopes to create a museum in Canton honoring the community’s industrial past. “Between the B&O and the Canton Company, which is the earliest, largest, and most successful industrial park in America, Baltimore stands at the intersection of U.S. commerce and trade, and technological advances in transportation and communication.”

With its world-renowned Clipper ships, Baltimore already led the nation in shipbuilding when the Canton Company was launched. The USS Constellation, the first U.S. Navy ship ever to set sail, had also been built in a shipyard at Canton’s Harris Creek—the shipyard and creek both long since buried beneath the Boston Street Safeway.

In 1828, new Canton Company development corporation, was given the right to purchase up to 10,000 acres by the state of Maryland, and it became the earliest, largest, and most successful industrial park in the U.S.

In the ensuing decades, the Canton Company slowly began to lease, sell, and develop its vast holdings. At its peak, it owned a swath of land that stretched from Fells Point to Patterson Park—across all of Highlandtown—to the Baltimore County line. Not long after the Canton Company was founded, nearby oyster beds and the city’s expanding rail and labor force would establish the city, and Southeast Baltimore in particular, as the canning center of the U.S. (See: the American Can Company complex.)

Shipbuilding, lumber, iron, coal, and canning companies followed on the waterfront—as well as cotton duck and steel-rolling mills, distilleries, beer makers on Brewers Hill—and the largest U.S. copper smelting plant. Some 69 manufacturing companies were in business by 1871. The Canton Company built wharves and piers and initiated two railroad ventures of its own the Union, later bought by the Northern Central, and the Canton Railroad. If you’ve ever kayaked in the harbor off the Canton Waterfront Park and wondered about the towering steel structure in the water there, it’s the remnant of a massive lift that once pulled railcars—crossing on barges from Locust Point—onto Canton trains.

Major oil refineries arrived, too. Up until 1925, Oklahoma crude was still being sent via pipeline to Baltimore for refinement in Canton.

But the Canton Company was developing more than just an industrial powerhouse. It laid out Southeast Baltimore’s familiar grid streets and its iconic—and then inexpensive—rowhouses for its blue-collar workers. (The proximity of Baltimore’s industry and marble rowhouse stoops in neighborhoods like Canton would prove a bonanza for Bon Ami cleaning powder.)

And, now long forgotten, Canton even flourished as a thriving summer destination. With music and dance halls, roller coasters, a roller rink, a shooting gallery, taverns, restaurants, and a swimming pier, it was billed as “the Coney Island of the South,” drawing 600,000 visitors a season at the turn of the 20th century.

The intertwined origin stories of the B&O and the Canton Company are crucial to understanding the history of Baltimore—and subsequently the United States—because nearly everything that happened during the city’s boom over the next century and a half is connected, one way or another, to those two landmark events. George Peabody, William Walters, and Enoch Pratt were each involved with the B&O. Johns Hopkins became one of the directors of the railroad in 1847 and bequeathed his vast B&O stock holdings to fund the city’s elite university and hospital.

The immigration pier at Locust Point—the second or third busiest in the country (depending on the year)—was built by the B&O after the Civil War, delivering thousands of Eastern and Central European workers into the port’s factories. That pier also welcomed the German-born Otto Mergenthaler, who would invent the modern typesetting machine and send U.S. literacy rates skyrocketing. It also welcomed Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s Polish Catholic grandparents and Sen. Ben Cardin’s Jewish grandparents.

When Bethlehem Steel joined the industrialization of the port in 1916, it amassed the largest steel plant in the world at Sparrows Point.

Those jobs, as well as others around the port—at General Motors, Lever Brothers, Western Electric, in the rail yards—also attracted African Americans to Baltimore. It’s no surprise that both Thurgood Marshall and his father worked for the B&O.

– Sean McCabe

It is also no surprise that Baltimore, so long on the cutting edge of modern America—from the moonshot of the B&O to the camera that captured Neil Armstrong walking on the moon—produced so many peerless innovators. It’s a list that includes geniuses as varied as Abel Wolman, who perfected purified public drinking water, and Eubie Blake, whose hands are enshrined in plaster casts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In the following pages, we list 110 ways that Baltimore helped invent modern America. The number is a nod to Baltimore ’s 110th anniversary as the oldest continually published city magazine in the country. More importantly, the list is a reminder that Baltimore was—and is—one of America’s greatest cities. We tried to put the city’s most prominent contributions up top, but the list is largely chronological. We don’t pretend to be able to discern whether the invention of the electric streetcar is more significant than the invention of the submarine, or whether Billie Holiday or the Baltimore Colts had a more profound cultural impact. What we do know is that in Baltimore, we walk in the footsteps of giants every day.

—Ron Cassie

COURTESY OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, PP262.06

THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD IS LAUNCHED
IN 1828 AND LATER OPENS THE MIDWEST

In the way that Apple was not the first computer company, the Baltimore and Ohio was not the first railroad in the United States, but it was the most innovative and transformative. On May 24, 1830, after laying 13 miles of rail connecting Baltimore to the mills of Ellicott City, the B&O changed the way people and goods traveled when it launched the first operational passenger and freight railway. With the newly completed Erie Canal linking New York to the Midwest, and canals in the works in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Baltimore’s leading merchants and bankers—afraid that the city would lose the economic advantage the Port of Baltimore afforded—gambled on the new, largely untested railroad technology being developed in England. Cutting and blasting through Western Maryland’s rocky terrain, it would be 25 years before the B&O became the first rail line from the Eastern Seaboard to reach the Ohio River and truly open the West. In the process, the B&O played a groundbreaking role in locomotive design and railroad engineering—the first U.S. railroad bridge, the 1829-built Carrollton Viaduct over the Gwynns Falls, remains a marvel—as well as in commerce, finance, mass transportation, and communication. The B&O’s other great legacy is the crucial role it played during the Civil War, when president and Baltimore native John Garrett sided with the Northern side, providing the Union Army with key intelligence and its most important supply line.

THE STAR- SPANGLED BANNER

(STAR-SPANGLED BANNER ENGRAVING) COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

As the shelling of Fort McHenry began Sept. 12, 1814, more than 4,000 British troops landed on North Point Peninsula, planning a shock and awe march toward Baltimore. Instead, Maryland's militia gave the overwhelming British forces all they could handle, delaying them long enough for the earthen buttresses in today’s Patterson Park, built by local citizens—including free blacks—to successfully protect the city. The massive 42-by-30-foot flag commissioned by Maj. George Armistead, who specifically ordered “a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance,” was sewn by widowed Baltimore seamstress Mary Pickersgill . And, of course, it held up under the ensuing 25-hour bombardment as Francis Scott Key chronicled the Battle of Baltimore in epic verse.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESCAPES TO FREEDOM

Born on an Eastern Shore plantation, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery in Baltimore on Sept. 3, 1838, and became a prophet of universal human rights like few before or since. Sent to work as a caulker on Baltimore’s docks, the 20-year-old Douglass, who had secretly taught himself to read and write, jumped a train for Philadelphia while impersonating a free black sailor. His 1845 memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, sold out its 5,000-copy first run in four months, quickly becoming one of the most important pieces of literature of the abolitionist movement. Two years later, Douglass founded The North Star, an influential Rochester, New York, newspaper with the slogan, “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren,” while agitating for abolition, women’s suffrage, desegregation, and public education. He was also the first African American to receive a nominating vote for president.

BABE RUTH SAVES BASEBALL

The self-confessed “bad kid” born on Emory Street in Pigtown, Ruth’s wayward life was saved by baseball at St. Mary’s Industrial School before he went on to save the game itself following the Black Sox scandal of 1919. With 714 home runs fueled by hot dogs, beer, a voracious sexual appetite, the torso of a bear, and the hand-eye coordination of a fighter pilot, he was Elvis times 10 on the scales of American celebrity. When the street kid grew up, he never forgot where he came from, either—bringing the St. Mary’s Industrial School band along on road trips to help it raise money after a fire at the school.

THE NATIONAL ROAD GETS AUTHORIZED

Known in many places as Route 40 today, the National Road was authorized by the Jefferson Administration and became the country’s first federally funded road. Supplementing the Western Maryland gateway to the Midwest, the state legislature linked several routes from Baltimore to Cumberland—creating the Baltimore National Pike—to connect the city’s port and economic engine to markets from West Virginia to Illinois.

THURGOOD MARSHALL OVERTURNS SEGREGATION

Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas , was brought to the Supreme Court by the father of a third-grade girl forced to ride a bus to a “colored” school rather than be allowed to walk to a closer—and better—white elementary school. It was the same saga that played out in the lives of thousands of Baltimore schoolchildren and, undoubtedly, was a familiar story to Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP’s chief counsel representing Brown before the Supreme Court. An alumnus of Frederick Douglass High School, Marshall had spent two decades winning smaller but critical civil-rights and education legal battles—including several in Maryland—that set the stage for the 1954 landmark desegregation victory. “Inherently unequal” was the phrase Earl Warren used in crafting his first major opinion as chief justice on May 17, 1954, striking down the “separate but equal” principle that had long governed American public education. Baltimore’s public school system, led by Walter Sondheim Jr., was the first district south of the Mason-Dixon line to comply. Marshall, the great-grandson of a slave, was on his way to establishing himself as a seminal figure of the civil rights movement and the American judicial system. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until 1991.

FIRST POST OFFICE SYSTEM

Experiencing censorship by the British postmaster, Baltimore printer William Goddard responded by designing a uniquely American system founded upon the principles of open communication and an exchange of ideas free from governmental interference. His plan—the Constitutional Post—was adopted in 1775, “ensuring communication between patriots and the populace during the American Revolution,” according to the National Postal Museum.

FIRST CITY STREETLIGHTS

COURTESY OF THE CONTEMPORARY, 2016

We didn’t invent gaslights (the Chinese did), but Charm City did bring them to the U.S. The credit goes to painter Rembrandt Peale, who fired up a gas-fueled chandelier in his home museum of artwork and eclectic things (think mastodon bones) in 1816, using “carburetted hydrogen gas.” Though the novelty was at first only for the wealthy—and actually pretty dangerous, since there was no way to measure gas volumes—Peale and a partner soon convinced several businessmen to found the nation’s first gas company, which became Baltimore Gas and Electric and just celebrated its 200th year. Then Peale and company talked the city into lighting Baltimore’s streets with the potentially explosive stuff. Reports of the first lamp being lit in 1817 noted “that the effect produced was highly gratifying to those who had an opportunity of witnessing it, among whom were several members of the Legislature of the State.”

MODERN PRINTING PRESS

Printing technology in the mid-1800s was still pretty much mired in the mid-1400s, which was when Johannes Gutenberg developed a novel but laborious typesetting method requiring each letter to be set manually on a plate. But that all changed thanks to Baltimore’s Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German immigrant and watchmaker who—after a few false starts and some inspiration from an absurdly complex machine envisioned by author Mark Twain—developed the first typewriter-like typesetting machine in 1884. (Thomas Edison subsequently called it “the eighth wonder of the world.”) The New York Tribune quickly demonstrated the first commercial use in 1886. According to Mergenthaler’s son, Herman, “When Tribune publisher Whitelaw Reid saw Ottmar type on the keyboard and shortly after witnessed a thin metal slug bearing several words slide down into a tray, he exclaimed, ‘Ottmar, you’ve done it! A line o’ type!’ Thus the Linotype machine was born.” One stunning effect? In the first decade of its use, American newspaper readership went from 3.6 million to more than 33 million.

CLEAN PUBLIC DRINKING WATER

Before the 20th century, tap water carried diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid. Chlorine was known to kill disease-causing microbes since the 1850s, but it is also a powerful poison for humans. Native son Abel Wolman, a Hopkins-trained engineer, devised how to chlorinate water safely in 1919, making clean drinking water possible for the world and saving millions of lives in the process.

FIRST TELEGRAPH SENT FROM D.C. TO BALTIMORE

On May 24, 1844, using the language of dots and dashes that he would become famous for, Samuel Morse sent the first successful long-distance telegram from the U.S. Capitol to the B&O’s Mount Clare Station 38 miles away in Baltimore. Among those gathered in Washington were presidential candidate Henry Clay, former first lady Dolley Madison, and Annie Ellsworth, daughter of the patent commissioner, who selected the telegraph’s first message—“What hath God wrought?”—from the Bible. After fellow inventor Alfred Vail transcribed the message in Baltimore, he and Morse discussed the weather and current events in each city. Morse’s coded message sped along cable lines strung beside the B&O’s right-of-way, foreshadowing a deep partnership: Within 10 years, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph wire crisscrossed the U.S.

ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY SYSTEM

On Jan. 5, 1886, businessman Enoch Pratt brought one of the first free public libraries to the American people—and not one just intended for the elite and Anglo intellectuals, like others at the time. Instead, Pratt offered an egalitarian vision of his city athenaeum—one “for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color.” Within three months of its Mulberry Street opening, four new branches popped up, and by fall, the library issued its first borrower’s card to an African American. More than 130 years later, across 23 locations, the library honors Enoch’s original mission—through holidays, storms, and uprisings, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Hamilton.

WORLD’S FIRST DREDGER

INVENTED In 1783, flour mill owners John and Andrew Ellicott invented what became known as the Baltimore Mud Machine—a horse-drawn barge with a scoop that removed sediment from the harbor so ships could reach their warehouse at Pratt and Light streets. In 1827, a steam engine replaced the horses, creating the first non-animal-powered dredger.

CLIPPER SHIPS SAIL TO RESCUE

Baltimore—and the once separate Fells Point —share a salty heritage, and one of their 18th-century claims to fame is the development of the Baltimore Clipper, a fast, short-keeled schooner designed to haul cargo through the Chesapeake area’s shallow tributaries and rivers. With cannons mounted on them, they excelled at harassing British shipping during both the Revolution and the War of 1812, eluding deep-draft British warships with their maneuverability. Want to see one? Our Pride of Baltimore II is a pretty accurate replica.

LARGEST CANNING CENTER IN THE U.S.

COURTESY OF THE BGE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY

Canning was discovered by an early-19th-century confectioner and brewer in France, who recognized that cooked food stored inside a seal-tight jar did not go bad. In the U.S., canning enterprises first introduced in Boston and New York were brought to Baltimore, where the industry was perfected in the mid-1800s with the region’s plentiful oysters—a boon to both Baltimoreans and their countrymen, who’d become enthralled with the flavorful staple of the Chesapeake. In the 1850s, local canner Isaac Solomon, advancing an innovation of a British chemist, introduced salt to the boiling process—raising the boiling point and speeding up the cooking time of oysters. From oysters, the canning industry exploded around the Port of Baltimore, where packers became the first in the country to can corn and tomatoes, which were culled from the fertile soil of Central Maryland and the Eastern Shore. In 1874, Andrew Shriver, ancestor of Maryland’s famous Shriver clan, invented the retort kettle—aka the pressure cooker—further cutting cooking times and costs, while also industrializing canning operations. By 1889, there were 82 canned goods packers along the waterfront, including Platt & Co. (now home to the Baltimore Museum of Industry), with the city and the mid-Atlantic area serving as “the nation’s pantry” until California’s emergence in the 1920s.

THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877

Protesting pay cuts in July 1877, B&O firemen in Baltimore, and rail workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, launched the first national strike. The uprising spread to 14 states before it was broken up by the U.S. Army. By then, more than 100 people had been killed, including 11 Baltimore citizens. The strike served as a precursor to the successful, broader labor actions of the 1880s and 1890s.

ALEX. BROWN FIRST INVESTMENT BANK

America’s oldest continuously operating investment bank sort of stopped being a local thing when Bankers Trust Corp. bought it in 1997—two years before Deutsche Bank AG swallowed up both Bankers Trust and Alex. Brown for more than $10 billion. But the history is interesting: Founded by, you guessed it, Alexander Brown, in 1800, it operated as a linen trading firm on Gay Street before morphing into an investment bank and brokerage house. It became known nationally for such feats as financing early utilities companies, Baltimore’s first water system, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In modern times, it made financial headlines for taking companies public, including Microsoft Corp. and Starbucks Coffee.

FIRST U.S. ICE CREAM FACTORY

JIMI JONES VISUALS LLC

In 1851, after a dairyman defaulted on a debt for his catering business, which sold a frosty blend of milk, eggs, and sugar, Baltimore milk dealer Jacob Fussell took over the business and soon created the nation’s first large-scale ice cream factory. Once an exotic treat, the cold stuff became wildly popular and Fussell was dubbed “the Father of the Ice Cream Industry.” Movie stars Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie were among the city’s special guests at its giant centennial ice cream celebration in 1951—10,000 free cups were handed out.

THE FIRST AMERICAN BICYCLE

SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY

After learning of a human-powered, two-wheel vehicle gaining popularity among Europe’s “dandies,” Baltimore piano-maker James Stewart built the first U.S. velocipede—a precursor to the bicycle with pedals attached directly to the front wheel—in late 1818. Capturing the country’s imagination after the Civil War, influential early innovators held public bicycle races around Druid Hill Park and by the 1880s, as the sport took off, Baltimore hosted national meets of the League of American Wheelmen. No less than H.L. Mencken described learning to bike ride in 1898 as a “great and urgent matter.”

FIRST U.S. SUGAR REFINERY

Domino Sugars might dominate the Charm City skyline today, but more than 100 years before that sweet factory was built on the Inner Harbor, America’s first sugar refinery was opened in 1796 in Baltimore by a little known German company, Garts & Leypoldt.

BANJO HISTORY

Despite its affiliation with predominantly white musical genres like country and bluegrass, the banjo traces its lineage to the “plucked lutes” brought to North America (including Chesapeake Bay plantations) by West African slaves. By the 1840s, the instrument’s popularity had exploded, crossing over to the white mainstream through minstrel acts. Soon after, in a factory on East Baltimore Street, William Boucher became the earliest known commercial banjo manufacturer, standardizing the instrument’s design in the process. Now Boucher banjos rightfully reside in collections at the Smithsonian and the Met as prized pieces of Americana.

COURTESY OF LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

FIRST ELECTRIC STREETCAR RUNS FROM
BALTIMORE CITY TO HAMPDEN

Streetcars were catalysts in the rise of the modern American city, linking urban dwellers to work, retail, and recreation destinations with unprecedented speed, convenience, and reliability. They were also pulled by horses initially, and in Baltimore, the original line from Charles and 25th streets to 40th Street and Roland Avenue in Hampden was full of such steep grades that mules pulled the cars. In 1885, the Baltimore & Hampden company contracted with a British professor and immigrant named Leo Daft, who had been experimenting with an electric rail design in New Jersey, to see if he could replace the teams of mules. Using cutting-edge technology, Daft’s system employed a charged third rail between two parallel tracks, and operated mule-free for four years until its infrastructure wore out. Although the line then returned to animal power, its development was an immediate hit, and it is considered the first successful commercial electric railway in the U.S. Of course, its “live” third rail was also dangerous, and it spurred the development of a safer and more efficient form of electrically powered street transportation—specifically, overhead wires. In 1899, two early streetcar companies merged in Baltimore, forming the United Railways and Electric Company, and the city’s mass transit system was on its way. By 1926, more than 1,300 streetcars, gliding on more than 430 miles of track, were toting an average of 710,000 people daily through the streets of Baltimore. The last two streetcar lines to operate, the No. 8 (Towson-Catonsville) and No. 15 (Overlea-Walbrook Junction), ceased operations in the early Sunday morning hours of Nov. 3, 1963.

PIONEERING WOMEN EDUCATORS

CECILIA LAWRENCE, WWW.THEOPHILIA.DEVIANTART.COM

In the late 1870s, five spirited suffragettes from prominent Baltimore families made a weekly tradition of meeting to discuss art, literature, poetry, and philosophy. Among them were M. Carey Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Garrett, founders of the Friday Evening Group, who joined forces to create equal opportunities for women in education. In addition to shaping the curriculum at Bryn Mawr College, where Thomas later became president, the duo founded The Bryn Mawr girls’ preparatory school in Roland Park in 1885. With a huge financial assist from Garrett, who became known as a sharp businesswoman after inheriting a hefty portion of her father’s estate, the ladies also helped establish The Johns Hopkins Medical School under the condition that both men and women be admitted.

FIRST MONUMENT TO EDGAR ALLAN POE

Best known for his narrative poems and macabre short stories, such as “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe is also widely considered to have invented the modern detective story with the creation of fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin, who appears in the stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Purloined Letter.” It’s believed Poe penned eight of his published poems and nine of his short stories at his residence on Amity Street—home to the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum today. Dying of mysterious causes in Baltimore after being discovered delirious and semiconscious outside a saloon on an October night in 1849, he reportedly prayed his final words, “Lord, help this poor soul,” on his death bed. Initially buried in an unmarked grave, a campaign for a memorial—“Pennies for Poe”—was started in 1865 by a local teacher, leading to his marble headstone at Westminster Hall, where it remains a tradition for visitors to place a penny atop his grave.

FIRST AMERICAN SAINT

A young widow who converted to Catholicism, Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821) fled religious prejudice in her native New York City and moved to Catholic-friendly Baltimore at age 33. She was canonized by Rome in 1975 after a miracle attributed to her—a healing bestowed upon a Baltimore girl suffering from acute leukemia (she attended a now-defunct high school named in Seton’s honor) was accepted as genuine. She also founded the first Catholic religious order for women in the U.S.—the Sisters of Charity—in Emmitsburg, which is home to her national shrine.

FIRST FLOUR MILL

Constructed in 1792, the Ellicott Flour Mill in the small Baltimore County town of Oella, on the east banks of the Patapsco River, is said to be the first merchant flour mill in the U.S. Built by brothers John, Andrew, and Joseph Ellicott, the mill complex proved successful enough to serve as the initial terminus of Baltimore’s B&O Railroad.

FIRST U.S.MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON

Our Washington Monument is nearly 400 feet shorter than that more famous one on the Potomac, but it was built more than 50 years sooner, making it the first public monument to the Father of Our Country. Designed by architect Robert Mills (who later would plan the D.C. obelisk) and built with local white marble, it inspired the city slogan “The Monumental City”—apparently coined (a bit sarcastically—what a surprise!) by a Washington newspaper editor in 1823.

FIRST MUSEUM BUILDING

On a quiet stretch of Holliday Street, America’s first building designed as a museum once housed the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Diego Velázquez, and Raphael. The Federal Period-style townhome was co-founded in 1814 by Rembrandt Peale, a prolific portrait painter and man of many firsts who would go on to found the country’s first gas company, aka BGE. His museum remained open until 1829, when it was turned into Baltimore City Hall, then the city’s first high school for African Americans, and later a longtime municipal museum, before a long span of vacancy. Relaunched as a nonprofit in 2008, the organization is now working to raise funds to restore and reopen the Peale Museum, but in the meantime, it’s innovative legacy lives on. The building continues to present modern art projects and exhibits, including last spring’s breathtaking Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See the Stars by The Contemporary and Abigail DeVille.

FIRST DENTAL COLLEGE

During the first early years of America, dentistry was relegated to untrained and self-trained practitioners, quacks, and a few doctors. In 1840, Horace H. Hayden and Chapin A. Harris founded the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery—first of its kind and soon a prototype for others across the country. More than 175 years later, the institution thrives as the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

INVENTION OF THE BOTTLE CAP

Where wouldhumanity be without an ice-cold bottle of beer after a long day? Well, thanks to Baltimorean William Painter, we’re able to seal those beers with the bottle cap, which he invented in 1891. Soon after, every beverage company in the world was looking to Painter (who also invented, naturally, bottle openers) for his brilliant caps. He opened the Crown Cork and Seal Company in 1897 on Guilford Avenue, moving it to Highlandtown in 1906, where it remained until leaving for Philadelphia in 1958.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN JOURNALISM

Baltimore-born abolitionist, poet, and writer Frances Ellen Watkins Harper penned the first published short story, “The Two Offers,” by an African-American author. Harper, who helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad, also wrote prolifically for black newspapers, becoming known as the mother of African-American journalism.

LOCUST POINT IMMIGRATION PIER
WELCOMES 1.2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS

COURTESY OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MC4733.6

Ellis Island in New York has long cast a shadow over immigration in other U.S. cities. However, from the construction of the Locust Point immigration pier in 1867 until its closing in 1914—the period between the Civil War and the start of World War I—approximately 1.2 million mostly Central and Eastern European immigrants streamed into the South Baltimore peninsula, making Baltimore the second or third busiest U.S. port of entry (depending on the year) for new arrivals. By the 1890s, an estimated 90 percent of immigrants arriving at the Locust Point Pier, which had been built by the B&O Railroad, traveled directly to a destination farther west. But the rest stayed here, many working in the port’s burgeoning canning, steel, garment, shipbuilding, railroad, and manufacturing industries. Baltimore’s Immigration Museum opened this year in an historic German boarding house in Locust Point.

FIRST BLACK TRADE UNION

In 1855, Isaac Myers, a former Baltimore shipyard supervisor, founded a maritime industry union of “colored mechanics.” In 1866, Myers and more than a dozen other African-American men formed their own enterprise, the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company. Three years later, Myers, one of nine black delegates to attend the National Labor Movement Convention, helped launch the Colored National Labor Union, of which he was elected president.

LEADING AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE BALTIMORE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

John Henry Murphy Sr., founder of one of the oldest African-American newspapers, was born into slavery in Baltimore on Christmas Day, 1840. After rising to the rank of sergeant in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War, he worked as a porter, janitor, and postal clerk before merging two church publications and a third publication into the Afro-American, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. In its pages, The Afro fought against Jim Crow laws, including pushing for the hiring of black Baltimoreans into the city’s police and fire departments. Murphy’s son, Carl, expanded the paper into 13 major cities at its peak.

LAUNCH OF WWII LIBERTY SHIPS

On Jan. 3, 1941, with the world engulfed in a second global war and America on the precipice of entering the fray, President Franklin Roosevelt announced an emergency, $350-million shipbuilding program. The S.S. Patrick Henry, the first of these ships, was launched with great fanfare on Liberty Fleet Day in September 1941. Ultimately, 384 Liberty ships and 94 leaner, faster Victory ships were built at Bethlehem Steel’s Fairfield shipyard, which made more vessels than any U.S. shipyard. By late 1943, the shipyard employed some 46,700 workers, including 6,000 African Americans, who worked around the clock, according to The Baltimore Sun. Two-hundred of the massive Liberty ships, which could carry the same amount of cargo as 300 railroad boxcars, and 500 soldiers were lost during the war, but the S.S. John Brown, also built in Baltimore, survives to this day. Usually docked in New York for educational tours, the ship occasionally sits at its birthplace, with tours scheduled here for 2017.

BOXING CHAMP JOE GANS

The now obscure Joe Gans held the World Lightweight title from 1902 to 1908 and was named by The Ring magazine as the greatest lightweight pugilist in the history of the sweet science. A gentleman known as “the Old Master,” Gans was most likely born in Baltimore a decade after emancipation and is buried at Mount Auburn cemetery near Westport. After one of his titles, he told his manager that he would trade it all “for a white boy’s chance in the world.”

FIRST PRACTICAL SUBMARINE

On Dec. 17, 1897, in the cold waters off Locust Point, Simon Lake—an inventor inspired by an underwater boat in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which he’d read as a teenager—launched the Argonaut, the first practical submarine. Thirty-six feet long and weighing 75 tons, the vessel's 30-horsepower engine was built by Baltimore’s White and Middleton Gas Engine Company, which became a pioneer in submarine technology. After initial struggles during its maiden voyage, Lake’s Argonaut eventually submerged, making its way around Fort McHenry and Curtis Bay. Among the city officials and observers on hand was a Baltimore Sun reporter, whose editor gave the following instructions: “If Lake succeeds, give him a column. If he fails, he gets an obituary.”

WWII B-26 BOMBERS

After forming an airplane-manufacturing company in 1912, aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin set up shop in Middle River, producing the MB-1 bomber in the waning days of World War I. His company later built the B-26 Marauder and “Baltimore” and “Maryland” light bombers used by not just us, but also the British Royal Air Force in World War II. The factory remains as part of Lockheed Martin, as do the bungalows first built for factory workers, on streets with names like Fuselage Avenue.

FIRST PUBLICLY FUNDED GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

In 1844, Baltimore’s Eastern High School and Western High School became the first publicly supported secondary schools for girls, setting a precedent in education equality that would take years for the entire nation to follow. At Western, located on Falls Road near Cold Spring Lane, the first class included 36 female students taught by a lone male teacher who doubled as the headmaster. Courses included grammar, rhetoric, elocution, moral philosophy, ancient history, astronomy, and botany. Eastern took an equally revolutionary, albeit less stable road, hopping from Jonestown to North Avenue before settling on 33rd Street in Waverly, where it eventually went coed, then shuttered in 1986. Western still stands, however, as the oldest public all-girls high school in the U.S.

FIRST MAJOR AMERICAN ORCHESTRA
SUPPORTED BY PUBLIC FUNDS

Ever wonder why the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is so beloved? It might have something to do with its origins. Founded in 1916, the BSO was the first major orchestra in the country fully funded by public money. The orchestra went private in 1942, but its strong bond with the city had been forged. And the BSO has built upon those forward-thinking roots, naming maestro Marin Alsop music director in 2007, making her the first woman to lead a major American symphony.

MUTUAL UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF LIBERTY

One of a handful of Americans born into slavery to document his world-view, Baltimore Rev. Harvey Johnson founded the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty—the forerunner of the Niagara Movement and the NAACP. After ejection from a B&O train for refusing to sit in a segregated compartment on his way to a Niagara meeting in Harpers Ferry in 1906, Johnson went on to fight and overturned Maryland’s separate car rules for interstate passengers—six decades before the famous Freedom Riders. Union Baptist, the historic church he led, thrives to this day on Druid Hill Avenue.

JAZZ LEGEND EUBIE BLAKE

COURTESY OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, PP301.442

Blake was born James Hubert Blake at 319 Forest St. in Baltimore, and grew up with the sounds of ragtime. A whiz on the piano, he used those syncopated rhythms as inspiration for the popular songs he wrote, particularly when he joined forces with Noble Sissle. The pair performed in vaudeville and, most notably, wrote the music and lyrics for Shuffle Along, which, when it opened in 1921 at the Sixty-Third Street Music Hall in New York, changed musical theater. It was one of the first musicals to be written by African Americans and to feature a black cast (including a young Josephine Baker), which was remarkable since African Americans were banned from performing onstage in front of whites for much of the 19th century. Shuffle Along became a huge hit and did much to further the presence of African Americans in theater. Blake lived to be 100 years old. Casts of his hands are part of the permanent collection at the newly opened National Museum of African-American History and Culture at the Smithsonian.

FIRST CATHOLIC BASILICA
BUILT IN BALTIMORE IN 1806

MIKE MORGAN

The cradle of American Catholicism, in a former colony founded by the Calvert family for religious freedom, Baltimore was home to the first Roman Catholic diocese in the United States, established in 1789. By the early 19th century, the diocese, ruled by the Jesuit Archbishop John Carroll, stretched from the Chesapeake to the edge of the Idaho territory and down to New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase. The list of Catholic “firsts” that occurred in Baltimore—particularly landmark dates in African-American history—are enough to fill a church bulletin: first Catholic seminary, St. Mary’s, established 1791 on Pennsylvania Avenue near Paca Street; first black parish, St. Francis Xavier, established 1793; first Catholic school for black children, St. Frances Academy, 1828, still in operation on East Chase Street; first order of African-American Catholic nuns, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, founded 1829 by Haitian immigrant Mother Mary Lange; first African-American ordained Catholic priest, the Rev. Charles Uncles, 1891; first Roman Catholic college for women, the College of Notre Dame, chartered in 1896 and now a university. And, of course, the first Catholic cathedral in the United States, the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, cornerstone laid July 7, 1806.

BILLIE HOLIDAY SINGS THE BLUES

Few have a more iconic voice than Lady Day. And her decision to record the song “Strange Fruit” in 1939—which called attention to the scourge of lynchings in the U.S.—contributed to the dawning of social activism in jazz music. Holiday spent part of her formative childhood in Fells Point, and worked here as an errand girl at a brothel. She moved to New York in 1928 and soon began singing in nightclubs (famously returning to Baltimore’s Royal Theatre), gaining acclaim when she became the vocalist in Artie Shaw’s band. Her recordings are still considered gold standards of the American jazz scene.

BANDLEADER CAB CALLOWAY

The legendary “Hi-De-Ho Man” and big band leader grew up in West Baltimore’s Sugar Hill neighborhood, following in the footsteps of Eubie Blake in Frederick Douglass High School’s revered music program. He later got his start in the famed clubs of nearby Pennsylvania Avenue, including the Royal and Regent theaters.

FIRST PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE

NASA

On Oct. 24, 1946, a missile with a 35-mm camera designed by Clyde Holliday of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory hurtled upward to an unprecedented height of 65 miles above Earth. When recovered, the grainy, black-and-white images revealed a cloud-swirled segment of the planet set against the inky blackness of space. We could, for the first time, see “how our Earth would look to visitors from another planet coming in on a space ship,” Holliday later wrote in National Geographic. The experiment laid the groundwork for missile surveillance and mapping, weather satellite imaging, and, of course, the space program.

FIRST DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

The first-ever Democratic National Convention took place in Baltimore from May 21-23, 1832. During the party’s confab, delegates selected Martin Van Buren as the running mate for then-incumbent president (and party founder) Andrew Jackson. The Jackson-Van Buren ticket won in a landslide, ushering in Jackson’s second term and setting the stage for Van Buren’s subsequent presidency.

FIRST SUCCESSFUL LUNCH COUNTER SIT-IN

THE BGE PHOTO COLLECTION, BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY;

Sixty-two years ago this month, Morgan State student Helena Hicks and several friends ducked inside segregated Read’s Drugstore in the Howard Street shopping district on a blustery morning. “Let’s go inside, all they are going to do is tell us to leave,” Hicks told her friends. That small act of defiance—on the heels of others by Morgan students—caught the attention of The Afro-American, sparking a change in Read’s lunch-counter policy.

THE JACKSON-MITCHELL FAMILY

ALAMY

The history of the NAACP and the civil rights movement in both Maryland and the U.S. is inseparable from the story of Baltimore’s leading civil rights family. From 1935 through the 1960s, Lillie May Carroll Jackson led the NAACP’s Baltimore chapter, which initiated precedent-setting legal challenges of segregation. Her Bolton Hill home serves as a civil rights museum today. Her daughter, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, was the NAACP’s first national youth director and later, the first black woman to practice law in the state. She succeeded her mother as president of the NAACP Baltimore branch. Her husband, Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., whom the city courthouse is named for, became known as “the 101st U.S. Senator” on Capitol Hill during his relentless campaign to win passage of the Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and Fair Housing acts.

FIRST U.S. MANNED BALLOON LAUNCH

The first manned American aircraft flight is credited to 13-year-old Edward Warren in 1784—119 years before the Wright Brothers took flight. In lieu of the balloon’s 234-pound inventor, Warren volunteered his services before a large Howard Park crowd. According to accounts, the lad “behaved with the steady fortitude of an old voyager” as he “soared aloft,” acknowledging by a “significant wave of his hat” the cheers of those gathered below.

FIRST MODERN MEDICAL SCHOOL

COURTESY OF THE ALAN MASON CHESNEY MEDICAL ARCHIVES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

After his death in 1873, Quaker merchant Johns Hopkins left a $7 million bequest to establish a university and hospital in Baltimore. Hopkins’ first president, Daniel Coit Gilman, and the school’s trustees envisioned a medical school in a European model of training, emphasizing graduate education and research. The centerpiece of the medical school was a state-of-the-art hospital that opened in 1889, with a powerhouse faculty of some of the best and brightest medical practitioners of the era. Over the decades since, Hopkins doctors developed the “blue baby” surgery, the field of neurosurgery, the use of latex gloves in surgery, implantable defibrillators, and countless other innovations.

FIRST GENERAL MEETING OF THE QUAKERS

You probably remember learning about George Fox in grade-school history. Known for his dissent of the Church of England, Fox began spreading his message of spiritual individualism in the 1640s. By the mid-seventeenth century, his teachings made their way to America, and in 1785, the first Quaker Yearly Meeting was held in Charm City. The local gathering, which led to a regional arm of the Religious Society of Friends, drew Quakers from Northern Virginia, Western Maryland, and parts of Pennsylvania. Still active today, the Baltimore chapter offers a wide range of programs for the Quaker community, including summer camps and women’s retreats.

FIRST U.S. ORDAINED RABBI

The Baltimore Hebrew Congregation first convened above a Fells Point grocery. The synagogue was revolutionized when German-born Rabbi Abraham Rice, the first ordained rabbi in the country, joined in 1840. Rice strengthened Baltimore’s knowledge of Orthodox Judaism and established the community’s first Hebrew schools.

IRENE MORGAN REBELS

In July 1944, more than a decade before Rosa Parks, Irene Morgan, a 27-year-old mother of two, was dragged from a Greyhound bus, arrested, and convicted after refusing to give up her seat to a white couple during a ride through Virginia, where she been recuperating from a miscarriage at her mother’s home. Unlike Parks, she had no civil rights training, but pled not guilty to violating the state’s segregation law. Appealing her 1944 conviction with the help of NAACP lawyers, including fellow Baltimorean Thurgood Marshall, she broke down a key constitutional interstate segregation law in her landmark Supreme Court case, Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia.

THEODORE WOODWARD CURES TYPHUS

The enemy in WWII wasn’t just global fascism, but also infectious diseases that decimated U.S. troops. The University of Maryland’s Theodore Woodward helped cure typhus, tularemia, cholera, and other diseases. Among the honors bestowed upon “one of the fathers of the subspecialty of infectious disease” was a nomination for the Nobel Prize.

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History of Police in the US

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

History of Police in the US

Before a formal police system was put in place, colonies were protected by a "Night-watch," dating back to the 1630's

Universal History Archive / Getty
Watchmen in the 1600's

The night watch was made up of men who volunteered for a night's worth of work. Sometimes people were put on the watch as a form of punishment for committing a crime. These watchmen, however, were known to sleep and drink while on duty. The first night watch was founded in Boston in the 1630's and then New York followed suit in the 1650's. During this time period, the wealthiest in the colonies also hired people for protection. Those hired for protection were mostly criminals.

The history of the police in the South differs from other parts of the country because of the prominence of slavery

Patrollers in the 1800'sTime Life Pictures / Getty

The first form of policing in the South was known as slave patrol, which began in the colonies of Carolina in 1704. The patrol was usually made up of three to six men riding horseback and carrying whips, ropes, and even guns. The group's main duties included chasing and hunting escaped slaves, releasing terror on slave communities to prevent riots, and to keep plantation owners in check, according to Ben Fountain's book, "Beautiful Country Burn Again." The slave patrols lasted until the Civil War and eventually gave way to the Ku Klux Klan.

In the north, as more immigrants moved into cities by the mid-1800's, citizens looked for a more formal way to keep order

MPI/ Getty
Riot in the colonies

Immigrants from Germany and Ireland began settling in cities like Boston and New York between 1820 and 1860. This new group of immigrants clashed with original settlers from England and The Netherlands. As the original settlers argued that the new immigrants were ruining American society, crime began to rise. The cities saw mobs, public lewdness, disorderly conduct, and prostitution. The cities were ill-equipped to keep order and the night watch was rendered useless.

In response, the first official police force was established in Boston in 1838

Bettmann / Getty
Police officer in the 1800's

Shortly after, in 1845, New York began its own force, followed by Chicago, New Orleans, and Cincinnati. By the 1880's, almost every major city in the country had a police force.

Almost all of the police forces were structured similarly, and their main duty was to prevent crime and keep order

MPI / Getty
The New York Police Department in the late 1800's

Each police department was public and bureaucratic, had full-time policemen, and reported to a governmental authority. It wasn't until the 1850'S that the cities started developing detective units whose main jobs were to investigate crimes.

In the 1800's, there were reports of corruption among some police forces

Alexander Alland, Jr. / Getty
Police officer in New York City.

At the time, America was a political machine, meaning local businesses and police forces reported to a single political leader in exchange for a reward. As Time magazine reported, this led to corrupt politicians and corrupt police officers. For example, some politicians paid off officers to ignore certain groups' illegal activities.

This led to the start of private police forces, like the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

Photo 12 / Getty
Allan Pinkerton.

Allan Pinkerton was an immigrant from Scotland who created the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which was made up of private detectives who stopped train robberies and prevented strikes.

In the early 1900's, the police forces made dramatic changes, thanks to August Vollmer

Bettmann / Getty
August Vollmer.

The early 1900's marked the beginning of a new police system. August Vollmer, "the father of modern policing," stressed the importance of sociology, social work, psychology, and management in police work. In this system, officers patrolled the neighborhoods they lived in on foot. Vollmer also made sure policemen went to college and even created a separate system for juveniles to be tried and punished instead of trying them as adults.

Federal and state police forces were born in the early 1900's

Keystone-France / Getty
Police emptying alcohol into the sewage drain.

During Prohibition, cops were tasked with stopping the sale and distribution of alcohol. At times, the police would confiscate the illegal substance and dump it into sewage drains. At the same time, organized crime began to take shape, and protests, riots, and petty crimes were also on the rise. The local police forces could not keep up. In response, the Department of Treasury created "T-Men," a group of 4,000 men who were charged with enforcing the laws of Prohibition. State governments also started creating their own police forces in the early 1900s to stop the spread of crime in cities.

In the 1920's, J. Edgar Hoover created the FBI and changed the face of police work

Three Lions / Getty
Policeman in his cruiser in the '50s.

Instead of following Vollmer's model, which concentrated on social work and psychology, Hoover made sure local forces were fighting street crimes. Under this new system, police officers were less connected to the neighborhoods they worked in as officers patrolled neighborhoods by car.

The '60s marked a turning point in policing

Hulton Archive / Getty
Race riots

During the 1960's, African Americans began to challenge the way police were treating their communities. To protest the treatment and racial profiling, riots, boycotts, and peaceful protests broke out in the US, mainly in the South. In response, the police used harsh tactics to keep order, including tear gas, high-pressure water hoses, and attack dogs. Some of these events were televised nationally.

Much like the civil rights movement, in 1969, the Stonewall riots against New York City police sparked another movement

New York Post Archives / Getty
Stonewall Inn in 1969.

Policemen at the time were also profiling the LGBTQ community in cities all over the US by raiding bars and nightclubs and arresting patrons, especially at the Stonewall Inn, according to CNN. On June 28, 1969, policemen raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City and started arresting people. In response, the patrons and neighborhood residents fought back, starting a riot that lasted six days. The fight against the police sparked the gay rights movement.

In the mid-'70's, studies found that policing was unsuccessful and departments attempted to make changes throughout the late 1900's

Steve Liss / Getty
Community policing

Studies, like in Kansas City, Missouri, found that patrolling police cars in neighborhoods did not help reduce crime, nor did it ease people's fears. In fact, it increased the community's dissatisfaction with police forces. In response to these findings, some departments attempted a return to community policing. This form of policing placed minority officers in minority neighborhoods. This model also incorporated the community in helping police the neighborhood. The police officers were meant to become close and familiar with the residents in the community. This became increasingly popular in the '90's. By the early 2000's, two-thirds of police forces across the US implemented community policing policies. In the 1990's, crime rates in the US started to decline, so that it had roughly halved by 2015. While the exact cause is not known, research cited by the Brennan Center for Justice found that hiring more police officers helped decrease crime — in fact, according to the research, up to 10 percent of the decrease in crime in the 1990's was due to hiring more police. Another theory is that technology used by police, such as their crime tracking system, improved in the 1990's, helping them recognize and address trends more effectively.

In 1999, the police's response to the Columbine school shooting changed policing forever

Ed Andrieski/AP
Police at Columbine High School during the 1999 shooting

On April 20, 1999, two students opened fire at Columbine High School, killing 13 people. At the time, police responded by setting up a perimeter before going after the suspects. The response was widely criticized because of the amount of time the police took before moving into the school. Since then, the police have listened to the critiques and transformed their response to mass shootings. Now, one to four officers rush into a mass shooting site and follow the sound of the gun to confront the shooter. This technique has been successful in a string of US school shootings over the past few years. In fact, 75% of mass shootings since Columbine have required police to confront and shoot the suspect at the scene. Some police forces have been lauded for how they've handled active shooters, such as the Capitol Police, who were celebrated for their quick response to a shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice in 2017.

In 2001, after 9/11, policing changed yet again as departments shifted their focus to counter-terrorism

Kathy Willens/ AP
NYPD counter-terrorism

On September 11, 2001, 2,000 NYPD and Port Authority police officers responded to the scene when two planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York City. First responders were called heroes for risking their lives and running towards danger. The terrorist attack also affected the future of policing. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service found that departments "have evolved to include not only counter-terrorism but also the adoption of an all-crimes approach, with the goal of striking a balance between criminal intelligence and intelligence related to terrorist threats." These forces created counter-terrorism units that worked directly with state and federal agencies. Immediately after 9/11, police work was emphasized and revered in some communities. Other communities, however, experienced racial profiling as a result of 9/11.

Throughout the 21st century, police have been called out for their unfair treatment of black people and other minorities

New York Daily News / Getty
A police officer administering a stop-and-frisk

"Since September 11, our nation has engaged in a policy of institutionalized racial and ethnic profiling," US Rep. John Conyers said in 2002. "If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today ... he would tell us we must not allow the horrific acts of terror our nation has endured to slowly and subversively destroy the foundation of our democracy." The American Civil Liberties Union agreed with Conyers in a 2009 report. "The practice of racial profiling by members of law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels remains a widespread and pervasive problem throughout the United States, impacting the lives of millions of people in African American, Asian, Latino, South Asian, Arab and Muslim communities," the ACLU wrote. Police departments also began tactics like New York City's stop-and-frisk, in which police officers stopped anyone on the street they deemed suspicious and patted the person down. But critics said the tactic was a form of racial profiling because the majority of people detained were young black and Latino men. Evidence showed that police were disproportionately targeting minorities in these cases. In 2013, the mayor announced to reform the controversial policy.

In 2014, a New York City police officer put Eric Garner in a chokehold while arresting him, leading to Garner's death

Screenshot/YouTube
Eric Garner

On July 17, 2014, New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo attempted to arrest Eric Garner on suspicion of selling illegal cigarettes. The officer put Garner in a chokehold and wrestled him to the ground. Garner said "I can't breathe" 11 times. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The entire incident was caught on camera, sparking a national outcry. People all over the country highlighted the disproportionate treatment of black people in the US by the police. It sparked protests all over the country, demanding the firing and arrest of Pantaleo. A grand jury did not indict Pantaleo, and federal authorities declined to bring civil rights charges against him.

Some departments attempted to make changes, like implementing body cameras

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A police body camera

After the death of Eric Garner and another case the same year — the shooting of Michael Brown — the public called for mandatory body cameras. The hope was that police would reduce racial profiling and could be held accountable for their actions. On the flip side, departments hoped body cams would increase transparency and help solve crimes quicker. In 2016, almost half of the police forces in the US implemented policies that required body cameras for police officers. Only Nevada and South Carolina require all officers to wear the equipment. However, studies show that wearing a body camera does not significantly change an officer's behavior, according to Pew. While body cameras have captured violent and contentious moments between police and civilians, they have also caught acts of community work carried out by officers. In March 2020, for example, a supervisor in Gwinnett County, Georgia, was auditing body cameras and found footage of two officers taking a birthday cake to a little girl after finding out her mom couldn't afford one.

In 2020, a police officer was caught on camera kneeling on George Floyd's neck in Minneapolis

Jim Mone/AP
A chain portrait of George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was arrested on the suspicion that he used a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officer Derek Chauvin said Floyd resisted arrest. Chauvin put his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes as Floyd said "I can't breathe." He was unconscious when he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Video of the incident went viral. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Protests are erupting all over the US, demanding institutional change in police work, and some people are even calling for the end of police forces

AP
Protesters in Minneapolis

The protests started in Minnesota, where Floyd was killed, but unrest broke out in cities all over the US. These rage-filled protests have led to arson, looting, and violence. Some police officers have responded with tear gas, by running cruisers through crowds, and with riot guns, while others have stood in solidarity with the protesters.

World Police History

The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health, and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.

Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies. Nevertheless, their role can be controversial, as they may be involved to varying degrees in corruption, brutality, and the enforcement of authoritarian rule.

A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, constabulary, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard, or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both the national police force and its members. The word police are the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries.

Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymologies. One of the oldest, cop, has largely lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession.

Etymology

First attested in English in the early 15th century, originally in a range of senses encompassing '(public) policy; state; public order', the word police come from Middle French police ('public order, administration, government'), in turn from Latin politia, which is the romanization of the Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeia) 'citizenship, administration, civil polity'. This is derived from πόλις (polis) 'city'.

History

See: History of criminal justice

Ancient

China

Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period. They were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by the emperor, and they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area. Some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could also be women. Local citizens could report minor judicial offenses against them such as robberies at a local prefectural office. The concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Korea and Japan.

Babylonia

In Babylonia, law enforcement tasks were initially entrusted to individuals with military backgrounds or imperial magnates during the Old Babylonian period, but eventually, law enforcement was delegated to officers known as paqūdus, who were present in both cities and rural settlements. A paqūdu was responsible for investigating petty crimes and carrying out arrests.

Egypt

In ancient Egypt evidence of law enforcement exists as far back as the Old Kingdom period. There are records of an office known as "Judge Commandant of the Police" dating to the fourth dynasty. During the fifth dynasty at the end of the Old Kingdom period, warriors armed with wooden sticks were tasked with guarding public places such as markets, temples, and parks, and apprehending criminals. They are known to have made use of trained monkeys, baboons, and dogs in guard duties and catching criminals. After the Old Kingdom collapsed, ushering in the First Intermediate Period, it is thought that the same model applied. During this period, Bedouins were hired to guard the borders and protect trade caravans. During the Middle Kingdom period, a professional police force was created with a specific focus on enforcing the law, as opposed to the previous informal arrangement of using warriors as police. The police force was further reformed during the New Kingdom period. Police officers served as interrogators, prosecutors, and court bailiffs, and were responsible for administering punishments handed down by judges. In addition, there were special units of police officers trained as priests who were responsible for guarding temples and tombs and preventing inappropriate behavior at festivals or improper observation of religious rites during services. Other police units were tasked with guarding caravans, guarding border crossings, protecting royal necropolises, guarding slaves at work or during transport, patrolling the Nile River, and guarding administrative buildings. By the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, an elite desert-ranger police force called the Medjay was used to protect valuable areas, especially areas of pharaonic interest like capital cities, royal cemeteries, and the borders of Egypt. Though they are best known for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and the surrounding areas, the Medjay were used throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. Each regional unit had its own captain. The police forces of ancient Egypt did not guard rural communities, which often took care of their own judicial problems by appealing to village elders, but many of them had a constable to enforce state laws.

Greece

In ancient Greece, publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens, the Scythian Archers (the ῥαβδοῦχοι 'rod-bearers'), a group of about 300 Scythian slaves, was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, and also assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, and making arrests. Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. Athenian police forces were supervised by the Areopagus. In Sparta, the Ephors were in charge of maintaining public order as judges, and they used Sparta's Hippeis, a 300-member Royal guard of honor, as their enforcers. There were separate authorities supervising women, children, and agricultural issues. Sparta also had a secret police force called the crypteia to watch the large population of helots, or slaves.

Rome

In the Roman Empire, the army played a major role in providing security. Roman soldiers detached from their legions and posted among civilians carried out law enforcement tasks. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Magistrates such as tresviri capitales, procurators fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus, when the capital had grown to almost one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created; the wards were protected by seven squads of 1,000 men called vigiles, who acted as night watchmen and firemen. Their duties included apprehending petty criminals, capturing runaway slaves, guarding the baths at night, and stopping disturbances of the peace. The vigiles primarily dealt with petty crime, while violent crime, sedition, and rioting was handled by the Urban Cohorts and even the Praetorian Guard if necessary, though the vigiles could act in a supporting role in these situations.

India

Law enforcement systems existed in the various kingdoms and empires of ancient India. The Apastamba Dharmasutra prescribes that kings should appoint officers and subordinates in the towns and villages to protect their subjects from crime. Various inscriptions and literature from ancient India suggest that a variety of roles existed for law enforcement officials such as those of a constable, thief catcher, watchman, and detective. In ancient India up to medieval and early modern times, kotwals were in charge of local law enforcement.

Persian Empire

The Persian Empire had well-organized police forces. A police force existed in every place of importance. In the cities, each ward was under the command of a Superintendent of Police, known as a Kuipan. Police officers also acted as prosecutors and carried out punishments imposed by the courts. They were required to know the court procedure for prosecuting cases and advancing accusations.

Israel

In ancient Israel and Judah, officials with the responsibility of making declarations to the people, guarding the king's person, supervising public works, and executing the orders of the courts existed in the urban areas. They are repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and this system lasted into the period of Roman rule. The first century Jewish historian Josephus related that every judge had two such officers under his command. Levites were preferred for this role. Cities and towns also had night watchmen. Besides officers of the town, there were officers for every tribe. The temple in Jerusalem had special temple police to guard it. The Talmud mentions various local police officials in the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel and Babylon who supervised economic activity. Their Greek-sounding titles suggest that the roles were introduced under Hellenic influence. Most of these officials received their authority from local courts and their salaries were drawn from the town treasury. The Talmud also mentions city watchmen and mounted and armed watchmen in the suburbs.

Africa

In many regions of pre-colonial Africa, particularly West and Central Africa, guild-like secret societies emerged as law enforcement. In the absence of a court system or written legal code, they carried out police-like activities, employing varying degrees of coercion to enforce conformity and deter antisocial behavior. In ancient Ethiopia, armed retainers of the nobility enforced law in the countryside according to the will of their leaders. The Songhai Empire had officials known as assara-munidios, or "enforcers", acting as police.

The Americas

Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas also had organized law enforcement. The city-states of the Maya civilization had constables known as tupils. In the Aztec Empire, judges had officers serving under them who were empowered to perform arrests, even of dignitaries. In the Inca Empire, officials called curaca enforced the law among the households they were assigned to oversee, with inspectors known as tokoyrikoq (lit. 'he who sees all') also stationed throughout the provinces to keep order.

Post-classical

The Santas Hermandades of medieval Spain were formed to protect pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago

In medieval Spain, Santas Hermandades, or 'holy brotherhoods', peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life, especially in Castile. As medieval Spanish kings often could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, and against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown.

These organizations were intended to be temporary but became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia and protect the pilgrims against robber knights.

Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were frequently formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them and were occasionally extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo, Talavera, and Villarreal.

As one of their first acts after end of the War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient Holy Brotherhood as a national police force. They adapted an existing brotherhood to the purpose of a general police acting under officials appointed by themselves and endowed with great powers of summary jurisdiction even in capital cases. The original brotherhoods continued to serve as modest local police-units until their final suppression in 1835.

The Vehmic courts of Germany provided some policing in the absence of strong state institutions. Such courts had a chairman who presided over a session and lay judges who passed judgement and carried out law enforcement tasks. Among the responsibilities that lay judges had were giving formal warnings to known troublemakers, issuing warrants, and carrying out executions.

In the medieval Islamic Caliphates, police were known as Shurta. Bodies termed Shurta existed perhaps as early as the Caliphate of Uthman. The Shurta is known to have existed in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates. Their primary roles were to act as police and internal security forces but they could also be used for other duties such as customs and tax enforcement, rubbish collection, and acting as bodyguards for governors. From the 10th century, the importance of the Shurta declined as the army assumed internal security tasks while cities became more autonomous and handled their own policing needs locally, such as by hiring watchmen. In addition, officials called muhtasibs were responsible for supervising bazaars and economic activity in general in the medieval Islamic world.

In France during the Middle Ages, there were two Great Officers of the Crown of France with police responsibilities: The Marshal of France and the Grand Constable of France. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal. The marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War, and some historians trace it back to the early 12th century. Another organisation, the Constabulary (Old French: Connétablie), was under the command of the Constable of France. The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337. Under Francis I (reigned 1515–1547), the Maréchaussée was merged with the constabulary. The resulting force was also known as the Maréchaussée, or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France.

In late medieval Italian cities, police forces were known as berovierri. Individually, their members were known as birri. Subordinate to the city's podestà, the berovierri were responsible for guarding the cities and their suburbs, patrolling, and the pursuit and arrest of criminals. They were typically hired on short-term contracts, usually six months. Detailed records from medieval Bologna show that birri had a chain of command, with constables and sergeants managing lower-ranking birri, that they wore uniforms, that they were housed together with other employees of the podestà together with a number of servants including cooks and stable-keepers, that their parentage and places of origin were meticulously recorded, and that most were not native to Bologna, with many coming from outside Italy.

The English system of maintaining public order since the Norman conquest was a private system of tithings known as the mutual pledge system. This system was introduced under Alfred the Great. Communities were divided into groups of ten families called tithings, each of which was overseen by a chief tithingman. Every household head was responsible for the good behavior of his own family and the good behavior of other members of his tithing. Every male aged 12 and over was required to participate in a tithing. Members of tithings were responsible for raising "hue and cry" upon witnessing or learning of a crime, and the men of his tithing were responsible for capturing the criminal. The person the tithing captured would then be brought before the chief tithingman, who would determine guilt or innocence and punishment. All members of the criminal's tithing would be responsible for paying the fine. A group of ten tithings was known as a "hundred" and every hundred was overseen by an official known as a reeve. Hundreds ensured that if a criminal escaped to a neighboring village, he could be captured and returned to his village. If a criminal was not apprehended, then the entire hundred could be fined. The hundreds were governed by administrative divisions known as shires, the rough equivalent of a modern county, which were overseen by an official known as a shire-reeve, from which the term sheriff evolved. The shire-reeve had the power of posse comitatus, meaning he could gather the men of his shire to pursue a criminal. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the tithing system was tightened with the frankpledge system. By the end of the 13th century, the office of constable developed. Constables had the same responsibilities as chief tithingmen and additionally as royal officers. The constable was elected by his parish every year. Eventually, constables became the first 'police' official to be tax-supported. In urban areas, watchmen were tasked with keeping order and enforcing nighttime curfew. Watchmen guarded the town gates at night, patrolled the streets, arrested those on the streets at night without good reason, and also acted as firefighters. Eventually the office of justice of the peace was established, with a justice of the peace overseeing constables. There was also a system of investigative "juries".

The Assize of Arms of 1252, which required the appointment of constables to summon men to arms, quell breaches of the peace, and to deliver offenders to the sheriff or reeve, is cited as one of the earliest antecedents of the English police. The Statute of Winchester of 1285 is also cited as the primary legislation regulating the policing of the country between the Norman Conquest and the Metropolitan Police Act 1829.

From about 1500, private watchmen were funded by private individuals and organisations to carry out police functions. They were later nicknamed 'Charlies', probably after the reigning monarch King Charles II. Thief-takers were also rewarded for catching thieves and returning the stolen property. They were private individuals usually hired by crime victims.

The earliest English use of the word police seems to have been the term Polles mentioned in the book The Second Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England published in 1642.

Early modern

The first example of a statutory police force in the world was probably the High Constables of Edinburgh, formed in 1611 to police the streets of Edinburgh, then part of the Kingdom of Scotland. The constables, of whom half were merchants and half were craftsmen, were charged with enforcing 16 regulations relating to curfews, weapons, and theft. At that time, maintenance of public order in Scotland was mainly done by clan chiefs and feudal lords. The first centrally organised and uniformed police force was created by the government of King Louis XIV in 1667 to police the city of Paris, then the largest city in Europe. The royal edict, registered by the Parlement of Paris on March 15, 1667, created the office of lieutenant général de police ("lieutenant general of police"), who was to be the head of the new Paris police force, and defined the task of the police as "ensuring the peace and quiet of the public and of private individuals, purging the city of what may cause disturbances, procuring abundance, and having each and every one live according to their station and their duties".

Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, founder of the Prefecture of Police, the first uniformed police force in the world

This office was first held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, who had 44 commissaires de police ('police commissioners') under his authority. In 1709, these commissioners were assisted by inspecteurs de police ('police inspectors'). The city of Paris was divided into 16 districts policed by the commissaires, each assigned to a particular district and assisted by a growing bureaucracy. The scheme of the Paris police force was extended to the rest of France by a royal edict of October 1699, resulting in the creation of lieutenants general of police in all large French cities and towns.

After the French Revolution, Napoléon I reorganized the police in Paris and other cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants on February 17, 1800, as the Prefecture of Police. On March 12, 1829, a government decree created the first uniformed police in France, known as sergents de ville ('city sergeants'), which the Paris Prefecture of Police's website claims were the first uniformed policemen in the world.

In feudal Japan, samurai warriors were charged with enforcing the law among commoners. Some Samurai acted as magistrates called Machi-bugyō, who acted as judges, prosecutors, and as chief of police. Beneath them were other Samurai serving as yoriki, or assistant magistrates, who conducted criminal investigations, and beneath them were Samurai serving as dōshin, who were responsible for patrolling the streets, keeping the peace, and making arrests when necessary. The yoriki were responsible for managing the dōshin. Yoriki and dōshin were typically drawn from low-ranking samurai families. Assisting the dōshin were the komono, non-Samurai chōnin who went on patrol with them and provided assistance, the okappiki, non-Samurai from the lowest outcast class, often former criminals, who worked for them as informers and spies, and gōyokiki or meakashi, chōnin, often former criminals, who were hired by local residents and merchants to work as police assistants in a particular neighborhood. This system typically did not apply to the Samurai themselves. Samurai clans were expected to resolve disputes among each other through negotiation, or when that failed through duels. Only rarely did Samurai bring their disputes to a magistrate or answer to police.

In Joseon-era Korea, the Podocheong emerged as a police force with the power to arrest and punish criminals. Established in 1469 as a temporary organization, its role solidified into a permanent one.

In Sweden, local governments were responsible for law and order by way of a royal decree issued by Magnus III in the 13th century. The cities financed and organized groups of watchmen who patrolled the streets. In the late 1500s in Stockholm, patrol duties were in large part taken over by a special corps of salaried city guards. The city guard was organized, uniformed, and armed like a military unit and was responsible for interventions against various crimes and the arrest of suspected criminals. These guards were assisted by the military, fire patrolmen, and a civilian unit that did not wear a uniform, but instead wore a small badge around the neck. The civilian unit monitored compliance with city ordinances relating to e.g. sanitation issues, traffic and taxes. In rural areas, the King's bailiffs were responsible for law and order until the establishment of counties in the 1630s.

Up to the early 18th century, the level of state involvement in law enforcement in Britain was low. Although some law enforcement officials existed in the form of constables and watchmen, there was no organized police force. A professional police force like the one already presents in France would have been ill-suited to Britain, which saw examples such as the French one as a threat to the people's liberty and balanced constitution in favor of an arbitrary and tyrannical government. Law enforcement was mostly up to the private citizens, who had the right and duty to prosecute crimes in which they were involved or in which they were not. At the cry of 'murder!' or 'stop thief!' Everyone was entitled and obliged to join the pursuit. Once the criminal had been apprehended, the parish constables and night watchmen, who were the only public figures provided by the state and who were typically part-time and local, would make the arrest. As a result, the state set a reward to encourage citizens to arrest and prosecute offenders. The first such rewards were established in 1692 of the amounts of £40 for the conviction of a highwayman and in the following years it was extended to burglars, coiners and other forms of offense. The reward was to be increased in 1720 when, after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the consequent rise of criminal offenses, the government offered £100 for the conviction of a highwayman. Although the offer of such a reward was conceived as an incentive for the victims of an offense to proceed to the prosecution and to bring criminals to justice, the efforts of the government also increased the number of private thief-takers. Thief-takers became infamously known not so much for what they were supposed to do, catching real criminals, and prosecuting them, as for "setting themselves up as intermediaries between victims and their attackers, extracting payments for the return of stolen goods and using the threat of prosecution to keep offenders in thrall". Some of them, such as Jonathan Wild, became infamous at the time for staging robberies in order to receive the reward.

In 1737, George II began paying some London and Middlesex watchmen with tax monies, beginning the shift to government control. In 1749, Judge Henry Fielding began organizing a force of quasi-professional constables known as the Bow Street Runners. The Bow Street Runners are considered to have been Britain's first dedicated police force. They represented a formalization and regularization of existing policing methods, similar to the unofficial 'thief-takers'. What made them different was their formal attachment to the Bow Street magistrates' office, and payment by the magistrate with funds from the central government. They worked out of Fielding's office and court at No. 4 Bow Street and did not patrol but served writs and arrested offenders on the authority of the magistrates, travelling nationwide to apprehend criminals. Fielding wanted to regulate and legalize law enforcement activities due to the high rate of corruption and mistaken or malicious arrests seen with the system that depended mainly on private citizens and state rewards for law enforcement. Henry Fielding's work was carried on by his brother, Justice John Fielding, who succeeded him as magistrate in the Bow Street office. Under John Fielding, the institution of the Bow Street Runners gained more and more recognition from the government, although the force was only funded intermittently in the years that followed. In 1763, the Bow Street Horse Patrol was established to combat highway robbery, funded by a government grant. The Bow Street Runners served as the guiding principle for the way that policing developed over the next 80 years. Bow Street was a manifestation of the move towards increasing professionalization and state control of street life, beginning in London.

The Macdaniel affair, a 1754 British political scandal in which a group of thief-takers was found to be falsely prosecuting innocent men in order to collect reward money from bounties, added further impetus for a publicly salaried police force that did not depend on rewards. Nonetheless, in 1828, there were privately financed police units in no fewer than 45 parishes within a 10-mile radius of London.

The word police were borrowed from French into the English language in the 18th century, but for a long time it applied only to French and continental European police forces. The word, and the concept of police itself, were "disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression". Before the 19th century, the first use of the word police recorded in government documents in the United Kingdom was the appointment of Commissioners of Police for Scotland in 1714 and the creation of the Marine Police in 1798.

Modern

Scotland and Ireland

Following early police forces established in 1779 and 1788 in Glasgow, Scotland, the Glasgow authorities successfully petitioned the government to pass the Glasgow Police Act establishing the City of Glasgow Police in 1800. Other Scottish towns soon followed suit and set up their own police forces through acts of parliament. In Ireland, the Irish Constabulary Act of 1822 marked the beginning of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The Act established a force in each barony with chief constables and inspectors general under the control of the civil administration at Dublin Castle. By 1841 this force numbered over 8,600 men.

London

Patrick Colquhoun, founder of the Thames River Police

In 1797, Patrick Colquhoun was able to persuade the West Indies merchants who operated at the Pool of London on the River Thames to establish a police force at the docks to prevent rampant theft that was causing annual estimated losses of £500,000 worth of cargo in imports alone. The idea of a police, as it then existed in France, was considered as a potentially undesirable foreign import. In building the case for the police in the face of England's firm anti-police sentiment, Colquhoun framed the political rationale on economic indicators to show that a police dedicated to crime prevention was "perfectly congenial to the principle of the British constitution". Moreover, he went so far as to praise the French system, which had reached "the greatest degree of perfection" in his estimation.

Poster against "detested" Police posted in the town of Aberystwyth, Wales, April 1850

With the initial investment of £4,200, the new force the Marine Police began with about 50 men charged with policing 33,000 workers in the river trades, of whom Colquhoun claimed 11,000 were known criminals and "on the game". The force was part funded by the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants. The force was a success after its first year, and his men had "established their worth by saving £122,000 worth of cargo and by the rescuing of several lives". Word of this success spread quickly, and the government passed the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800 on 28 July 1800, establishing a fully funded police force the Thames River Police together with new laws including police powers; now the oldest police force in the world. Colquhoun published a book on the experiment, The Commerce and Policing of the River Thames. It found receptive audiences far outside London, and inspired similar forces in other cities, notably, New York City, Dublin, and Sydney.

Colquhoun's utilitarian approach to the problem – using a cost-benefit argument to obtain support from businesses standing to benefit – allowed him to achieve what Henry and John Fielding failed for their Bow Street detectives. Unlike the stipendiary system at Bow Street, the river police were full-time, salaried officers prohibited from taking private fees. His other contribution was the concept of preventive policing; his police were to act as a highly visible deterrent to crime by their permanent presence on the Thames. Colquhoun's innovations were a critical development leading up to Robert Peel's "new" police three decades later.

Metropolitan

A Peeler of the Metropolitan Police Service in the 1850s

London was fast reaching a size unprecedented in world history, due to the onset of the Industrial Revolution. It became clear that the locally maintained system of volunteer constables and "watchmen" was ineffective, both in detecting and preventing crime. A parliamentary committee was appointed to investigate the system of policing in London. Upon Sir Robert Peel being appointed as Home Secretary in 1822, he established a second and more effective committee, and acted upon its findings.

Royal assent to the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 was given and the Metropolitan Police Service was established on September 29, 1829, in London. Peel, widely regarded as the father of modern policing, was heavily influenced by the social and legal philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, who called for a strong and centralised, but politically neutral, police force for the maintenance of social order, for the protection of people from crime and to act as a visible deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Peel decided to standardise the police force as an official paid profession, to organise it in a civilian fashion, and to make it answerable to the public.

Group portrait of policemen, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, c. 1900

Due to public fears concerning the deployment of the military in domestic matters, Peel organised the force along civilian lines, rather than paramilitary. To appear neutral, the uniform was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being armed only with a wooden truncheon and a rattle to signal the need for assistance. Along with this, police ranks did not include military titles, with the exception of Sergeant.

To distance the new police force from the initial public view of it as a new tool of government repression, Peel publicised the so-called Peelian principles, which set down basic guidelines for ethical policing:

Whether the police are effective is not measured on the number of arrests but on the deterrence of crime.

Above all else, an effective authority figure knows trust and accountability are paramount. Hence, Peel's most often quoted principle that "The police are the public and the public are the police."

Metropolitan Police officers in 2019. The custodian helmet has been called "an iconic symbol of British policing".

The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 created a modern police force by limiting the purview of the force and its powers, and envisioning it as merely an organ of the judicial system. Their job was apolitical; to maintain the peace and apprehend criminals for the courts to process according to the law. This was very different from the "continental model" of the police force that had been developed in France, where the police force worked within the parameters of the absolutist state as an extension of the authority of the monarch and functioned as part of the governing state.

In 1863, the Metropolitan Police were issued with the distinctive custodian helmet, and in 1884 they switched to the use of whistles that could be heard from much further away. The Metropolitan Police became a model for the police forces in many countries, including the United States and most of the British Empire. Bobbies can still be found in many parts of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Australia

Main article: Law enforcement in Australia

South Australia Police officers on police motorcycles with sidecars in 1938

In Australia, organized law enforcement emerged soon after British colonization began in 1788. The first law enforcement organizations were the Night Watch and Row Boat Guard, which were formed in 1789 to police Sydney. Their ranks were drawn from well-behaved convicts deported to Australia. The Night Watch was replaced by the Sydney Foot Police in 1790. In New South Wales, rural law enforcement officials were appointed by local justices of the peace during the early to mid 19th century, and were referred to as "bench police" or "benchers". A mounted police force was formed in 1825.

The first police force having centralised command as well as jurisdiction over an entire colony was the South Australia Police, formed in 1838 under Henry Inman. However, whilst the New South Wales Police Force was established in 1862, it was made up from a large number of policing and military units operating within the then Colony of New South Wales and traces its links back to the Royal Marines. The passing of the Police Regulation Act of 1862 essentially tightly regulated and centralized all of the police forces operating throughout the Colony of New South Wales.

Each Australian state and territory maintain its own police force, while the Australian Federal Police enforces laws at the federal level. The New South Wales Police Force remains the largest police force in Australia in terms of personnel and physical resources. It is also the only police force that requires its recruits to undertake university studies at the recruit level and has the recruit pay for their own education.

Brazil

Main article: Law enforcement in Brazil

A Federal Highway Police motorcycle officer in 1935

In 1566, the first police investigator of Rio de Janeiro was recruited. By the 17th century, most captaincies already had local units with law enforcement functions. On July 9, 1775, a Cavalry Regiment was created in the state of Minas Gerais for maintaining law and order. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family relocated to Brazil, because of the French invasion of Portugal. King João VI established the Intendência Geral de Polícia ('General Police Intendancy') for investigations. He also created a Royal Police Guard for Rio de Janeiro in 1809. In 1831, after independence, each province started organizing its local "military police", with order maintenance tasks. The Federal Railroad Police was created in 1852, Federal Highway Police, was established in 1928, and Federal Police in 1967.

Canada

Main article: Law enforcement in Canada

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers present at a meeting between Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, and Pierre Trudeau, 1981

During the early days of English and French colonization, municipalities hired watchmen and constables to provide security. Established in 1729, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) was the first policing service founded in Canada. The establishment of modern policing services in the Canadas occurred during the 1830s, modelling their services after the London Metropolitan Police, and adopting the ideas of the Peelian principles. The Toronto Police Service was established in 1834, whereas the Service de police de la Ville de Québec was established in 1840.

A national police service, the Dominion Police, was founded in 1868. Initially the Dominion Police provided security for parliament, but its responsibilities quickly grew. In 1870, Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory were incorporated into the country. In an effort to police its newly acquired territory, the Canadian government established the North-West Mounted Police in 1873 (renamed Royal North-West Mounted Police in 1904). In 1920, the Dominion Police, and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police were amalgamated into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The RCMP provides federal law enforcement; and law enforcement in eight provinces, and all three territories. The provinces of Ontario, and Quebec maintain their own provincial police forces, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). Policing in Newfoundland and Labrador is provided by the RCMP, and the RNC. The aforementioned services also provides municipal policing, although larger Canadian municipalities may establish their own police service.

Lebanon

In Lebanon, the current police force was established in 1861, with creation of the Gendarmerie.]

India

Greater Chennai Police officers patrolling in a police car in Chennai, India

Under the Mughal Empire, provincial governors called subahdars (or nazims), as well as officials known as faujdars and thanadars were tasked with keeping law and order. Officials called amils, whose primary duties were tax collection, occasionally dealt with rebels. In addition, kotwals were responsible for public order in urban areas. The system evolved under growing British influence that eventually culminated in the establishment of the British Raj. In 1770, the offices of faujdar and amil were abolished. They were brought back in 1774 by Warren Hastings, the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal). In 1791, the first permanent police force was established by Charles Cornwallis, the Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William.

A single police force was established after the formation of the British Raj with the Government of India Act 1858. A uniform police bureaucracy was formed under the Police Act 1861, which established the Superior Police Services. This later evolved into the Indian Imperial Police, which kept order until the Partition of India and independence in 1947. In 1948, the Indian Imperial Police was replaced by the Indian Police Service.

In modern India, the police are under the control of respective States and union territories and is known to be under State Police Services (SPS). The candidates selected for the SPS are usually posted as Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Commissioner of Police once their probationary period ends. On prescribed satisfactory service in the SPS, the officers are nominated to the Indian Police Service. The service color is usually dark blue and red, while the uniform color is Khaki.

United States

Main article: Law enforcement in the United States

A Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia officer ticketing a motorist for a traffic violation, 1973

In Colonial America, the county sheriff was the most important law enforcement official. For instance, the New York Sheriff's Office was founded in 1626, and the Albany County Sheriff's Department in the 1660s. The county sheriff, who was an elected official, was responsible for enforcing laws, collecting taxes, supervising elections, and handling the legal business of the county government. Sheriffs would investigate crimes and make arrests after citizens filed complaints or provided information about a crime but did not carry out patrols or otherwise take preventive action. Villages and cities typically hired constables and marshals, who were empowered to make arrests and serve warrants. Many municipalities also formed a night watch, a group of citizen volunteers who would patrol the streets at night looking for crime and fires. Typically, constables and marshals were the main law enforcement officials available during the day while the night watch would serve during the night. Eventually, municipalities formed day watch groups. Rioting was handled by local militias.

In the 1700s, the Province of Carolina (later North- and South Carolina) established slave patrols in order to prevent slave rebellions and enslaved people from escaping. By 1785 the Charleston Guard and Watch had "a distinct chain of command, uniforms, sole responsibility for policing, salary, authorized use of force, and a focus on preventing crime."

In 1789 the United States Marshals Service was established, followed by other federal services such as the U.S. Parks Police (1791) and U.S. Mint Police (1792). The first city police services were established in Philadelphia in 1751, Richmond, Virginia in 1807, Boston in 1838, and New York in 1845. The U.S. Secret Service was founded in 1865 and was for some time the main investigative body for the federal government.

Members of the FBI–NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force carrying evidence as part of an investigation in the early 2000s

In the American Old West, law enforcement was carried out by local sheriffs, rangers, constables, and federal marshals. There were also town marshals responsible for serving civil and criminal warrants, maintaining the jails, and carrying out arrests for petty crime.

In addition to federal, state, and local forces, some special districts have been formed to provide extra police protection in designated areas. These districts may be known as neighborhood improvement districts, crime prevention districts, or security districts.

In 2022, San Francisco supervisors approved a policy allowing municipal police (San Francisco Police Department) to use robots for various law enforcement and emergency operations, permitting their employment as a deadly force option in cases where the "risk of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD." This policy has been criticized by groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU, who have argued that "killer robots will not make San Francisco better" and "police might even bring armed robots to a protest."

Development of theory

Michel Foucault wrote that the contemporary concept of police as a paid and funded functionary of the state was developed by German and French legal scholars and practitioners in public administration and statistics in the 17th and early 18th centuries, most notably with Nicolas Delamare's Traité de la Police ("Treatise on the Police"), first published in 1705. The German Polizeiwissenschaft (Science of Police) first theorized by Philipp von Hörnigk, a 17th-century Austrian political economist and civil servant, and much more famously by Johann Heinrich Gottlob Justi, who produced an important theoretical work known as Cameral science on the formulation of police. Foucault cites Magdalene Humpert author of Bibliographie der Kameralwissenschaften (1937) in which the author makes note of a substantial bibliography was produced of over 4,000 pieces of the practice of Polizeiwissenschaft. However, this may be a mistranslation of Foucault's own work since the actual source of Magdalene Humpert states over 14,000 items were produced from the 16th century dates ranging from 1520 to 1850.

As conceptualized by the Polizeiwissenschaft, according to Foucault the police had an administrative, economic and social duty ("procuring abundance"). It was in charge of demographic concerns[vague] and needed to be incorporated within the western political philosophy system of raison d'état and therefore giving the superficial appearance of empowering the population (and unwittingly supervising the population), which, according to mercantilist theory, was to be the main strength of the state. Thus, its functions largely overreached simple law enforcement activities and included public health concerns, urban planning (which was important because of the miasma theory of disease; thus, cemeteries were moved out of town, etc.), and surveillance of prices.

Jeremy Bentham, philosopher who advocated for the establishment of preventive police forces and influenced the reforms of Sir Robert Peel.

The concept of preventive policing, or policing to deter crime from taking place, gained influence in the late 18th century. Police Magistrate John Fielding, head of the Bow Street Runners, argued that "...it is much better to prevent even one man from being a rogue than apprehending and bringing forty to justice."

The Utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, promoted the views of Italian Marquis Cesare Beccaria, and disseminated a translated version of "Essay on Crime in Punishment". Bentham espoused the guiding principle of "the greatest good for the greatest number":

It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is the chief aim of every good system of legislation, which is the art of leading men to the greatest possible happiness or to the least possible misery, according to calculation of all the goods and evils of life.

Patrick Colquhoun's influential work, A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis (1797) was heavily influenced by Benthamite thought. Colquhoun's Thames River Police was founded on these principles, and in contrast to the Bow Street Runners, acted as a deterrent by their continual presence on the riverfront, in addition to being able to intervene if they spotted a crime in progress.

Edwin Chadwick's 1829 article, "Preventive police" in the London Review, argued that prevention ought to be the primary concern of a police body, which was not the case in practice. The reason, argued Chadwick, was that "A preventive police would act more immediately by placing difficulties in obtaining the objects of temptation." In contrast to a deterrent of punishment, a preventive police force would deter criminality by making crime cost-ineffective – "crime doesn't pay". In the second draft of his 1829 Police Act, the "object" of the new Metropolitan Police, was changed by Robert Peel to the "principal object," which was the "prevention of crime." Later historians would attribute the perception of England's "appearance of orderliness and love of public order" to the preventive principle entrenched in Peel's police system.

Development of modern police forces around the world was contemporary to the formation of the state, later defined by sociologist Max Weber as achieving a "monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force" and which was primarily exercised by the police and the military. Marxist theory situates the development of the modern state as part of the rise of capitalism, in which the police are one component of the bourgeoisie's repressive apparatus for subjugating the working class. By contrast, the Peelian principles argue that "the power of the police ... is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior", a philosophy known as policing by consent.

Personnel and organization

Members of the police in every country have a uniform for identification as law-enforcement personnel and or agents. They are distinguished from the public by the uniform the police wear during overt policing activity in their community. Usually, each country has its own different police uniform. Contrast to this are the plainclothes law enforcement and undercover officers/detectives.

Police forces include both preventive (uniformed) police and detectives. Terminology varies from country to country. Police functions include protecting life and property, enforcing criminal law, criminal investigations, regulating traffic, crowd control, public safety duties, civil defense, emergency management, searching for missing persons, lost property and other duties concerned with public order. Regardless of size, police forces are generally organized as a hierarchy with multiple ranks. The exact structures and the names of rank vary considerably by country.

Uniformed police officers of the West Midlands Police

The police who wear uniforms make up the majority of a police service's personnel. Their main duty is to respond to calls for service. When not responding to these calls, they do work aimed at preventing crime, such as patrols. The uniformed police are known by varying names such as preventive police, the uniform branch/division, administrative police, order police, the patrol bureau/division, or patrol. In Australia and the United Kingdom, patrol personnel are also known as "general duties" officers. Atypically, Brazil's preventive police are known as Military Police.

As stated by the name, uniformed police wear uniforms. They perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer's legal authority and a potential need for force. Most commonly this means intervening to stop a crime in progress and securing the scene of a crime that has already happened. Besides dealing with crime, these officers may also manage and monitor traffic, carry out community policing duties, maintain order at public events or carry out searches for missing people (in 2012, the latter accounted for 14% of police time in the United Kingdom). As most of these duties must be available as a 24/7 service, uniformed police are required to do shift work.

Detectives

Oklahoma City Police Department detectives in "plainclothes" attire investigating a homicide crime scene

Police detectives are responsible for investigations and detective work. Detectives may be called Investigations Police, Judiciary/Judicial Police, or Criminal Police. In the United Kingdom, they are often referred to by the name of their department, the Criminal Investigation Department. Detectives typically make up roughly 15–25% of a police service's personnel.

Detectives, in contrast to uniformed police, typically wear business-styled attire in bureaucratic and investigative functions, where a uniformed presence would be either a distraction or intimidating but a need to establish police authority still exists. "Plainclothes" officers dress in attire consistent with that worn by the general public for purposes of blending in.

In some cases, police are assigned to work "undercover", where they conceal their police identity to investigate crimes, such as organized crime or narcotics crime, that are unsolvable by other means. In some cases, this type of policing shares aspects with espionage.

The relationship between detective and uniformed branches varies by country. In the United States, there is high variation within the country itself. Many American police departments require detectives to spend some time on temporary assignments in the patrol division. The argument is that rotating officers helps the detectives to better understand the uniformed officers' work, to promote cross-training in a wider variety of skills, and prevent "cliques" that can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior. Conversely, some countries regard detective work as being an entirely separate profession, with detectives working in separate agencies and recruited without having to serve in uniform. A common compromise in English-speaking countries is that most detectives are recruited from the uniformed branch, but once qualified they tend to spend the rest of their careers in the detective branch.

Another point of variation is whether detectives have extra status. In some forces, such as the New York Police Department and Philadelphia Police Department, a regular detective holds a higher rank than a regular police officer. In others, such as British police and Canadian police, a regular detective has equal status with regular uniformed officers. Officers still have to take exams to move to the detective branch, but the move is regarded as being a specialization, rather than a promotion.

Volunteers and auxiliary

Police services often include part-time or volunteer officers, some of whom have other jobs outside policing. These may be paid positions or entirely volunteer. These are known by a variety of names, such as reserves, auxiliary police, or special constables.

Other volunteer organizations work with the police and perform some of their duties. Groups in the U.S. including the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Community Emergency Response Team, and the Boy Scouts Police Explorers provide training, traffic and crowd control, disaster response, and other policing duties. In the U.S., the Volunteers in Police Service program assists over 200,000 volunteers in almost 2,000 programs. Volunteers may also work on the support staff. Examples of these schemes are Volunteers in Police Service in the US, Police Support Volunteers in the UK and Volunteers in Policing in New South Wales.

Specialized

Japanese prefectural police Special Assault Team members preparing to enter a building

Specialized preventive and detective groups, or Specialist Investigation Departments, exist within many law enforcement organizations either for dealing with particular types of crime, such as traffic law enforcement, K9/use of police dogs, crash investigation, homicide, or fraud; or for situations requiring specialized skills, such as underwater search, aviation, explosive disposal ("bomb squad"), and computer crime.

Most larger jurisdictions employ police tactical units, specially selected and trained paramilitary units with specialized equipment, weapons, and training, for the purposes of dealing with particularly violent situations beyond the capability of a patrol officer response, including standoffs, counterterrorism, and rescue operations.

In counterinsurgency-type campaigns, select and specially trained units of police armed and equipped as light infantry have been designated as police field forces who perform paramilitary-type patrols and ambushes whilst retaining their police powers in areas that were highly dangerous.

Because their situational mandate typically focuses on removing innocent bystanders from dangerous people and dangerous situations, not violent resolution, they are often equipped with non-lethal tactical tools like chemical agents, stun grenades, and rubber bullets. The Specialist Firearms Command (CO19) of the Metropolitan Police in London is a group of armed police used in dangerous situations including hostage taking, armed robbery/assault and terrorism.

Administrative duties

Police may have administrative duties that are not directly related to enforcing the law, such as issuing firearms licenses. The extent that police have these functions varies among countries, with police in France, Germany, and other continental European countries handling such tasks to a greater extent than British counterparts.

Military

Main article: Military police

American, Australian, and New Zealand military police with a civilian police officer in Saigon during the Vietnam War, 1965

Military police may refer to:

a section of the military solely responsible for policing the armed forces, referred to as provosts (e.g. United States Air Force Security Forces)

a section of the military responsible for policing in both the armed forces and in the civilian population (e.g. most gendarmeries, such as the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri, the Spanish Guardia Civil, and the Portuguese National Republican Guard)

a section of the military solely responsible for policing the civilian population (e.g. Romanian Gendarmerie)

the civilian preventive police of a Brazilian state (e.g. Policia Militar)

a special military law enforcement service (e.g. Russian Military Police)

Religious

Main article: Religious police

Some jurisdictions with religious laws may have dedicated religious police to enforce said laws. These religious police forces, which may operate either as a unit of a wider police force or as an independent agency, may only have jurisdiction over members of said religion, or they may have the ability to enforce religious customs nationwide regardless of individual religious beliefs.

Religious police may enforce social norms, gender roles, dress codes, and dietary laws per religious doctrine and laws, and may also prohibit practices that run contrary to said doctrine, such as atheism, proselytism, homosexuality, socialization between different genders, business operations during religious periods or events such as salah or the Sabbath, or the sale and possession of "offending material" ranging from pornography to foreign media.

Forms of religious law enforcement were relatively common in historical religious civilizations, but eventually declined in favor of religious tolerance and pluralism. One of the most common forms of religious police in the modern world are Islamic religious police, which enforce the application of Sharia (Islamic religious law). As of 2018, there are eight Islamic countries that maintain Islamic religious police: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Some forms of religious police may not enforce religious law, but rather suppress religion or religious extremism. This is often done for ideological reasons; for example, communist states such as China and Vietnam have historically suppressed and tightly-controlled religions such as Christianity.

Secret

Main article: Secret police

Secret police organizations are typically used to suppress dissidents for engaging in non-politically correct communications and activities, which are deemed counter-productive to what the state and related establishment promote. Secret police interventions to stop such activities are often illegal, and are designed to debilitate, in various ways, the people targeted in order to limit or stop outright their ability to act in a non-politically correct manner. The methods employed may involve spying, various acts of deception, intimidation, framing, false imprisonment, false incarceration under mental health legislation, and physical violence. Countries widely reported to use secret police organizations include China (The Ministry of State Security) and North Korea (The Ministry of State Security).

By country

Main article: Law enforcement by country

Hungarian, Estonian, Dutch, and Polish police cars in 2003

Police forces are usually organized and funded by some level of government. The level of government responsible for policing varies from place to place, and may be at the national, regional, or local level. Some countries have police forces that serve the same territory, with their jurisdiction depending on the type of crime or other circumstances. Other countries, such as Austria, Chile, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Sweden, have a single national police force.

In some places with multiple national police forces, one common arrangement is to have a civilian police force and a paramilitary gendarmerie, such as the Police Nationale and National Gendarmerie in France. The French policing system spread to other countries through the Napoleonic Wars and the French colonial empire. Another example is the Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil in Spain. In both France and Spain, the civilian force polices urban areas, and the paramilitary force polices rural areas. Italy has a similar arrangement with the Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri, though their jurisdictions overlap more. Some countries have separate agencies for uniformed police and detectives, such as the Military Police and Civil Police in Brazil and the Carabineros and Investigations Police in Chile.

Other countries have sub-national police forces, but for the most part their jurisdictions do not overlap. In many countries, especially federations, there may be two or more tiers of police force, each serving different levels of government and enforcing different subsets of the law. In Australia and Germany, the majority of policing is carried out by state (i.e. provincial) police forces, which are supplemented by a federal police force. Though not a federation, the United Kingdom has a similar arrangement, where policing is primarily the responsibility of a regional police force and specialist units exist at the national level. In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are the federal police, while municipalities can decide whether to run a local police service or to contract local policing duties to a larger one. Most urban areas have a local police service, while most rural areas contract it to the RCMP, or to the provincial police in Ontario and Quebec.

The United States has a highly decentralized and fragmented system of law enforcement, with over 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies. These agencies include local police, county law enforcement (often in the form of a sheriff's office, or county police), state police and federal law enforcement agencies. Federal agencies, such as the FBI, only have jurisdiction over federal crimes or those that involve more than one state. Other federal agencies have jurisdiction over a specific type of crime. Examples include the Federal Protective Service, which patrols and protects government buildings; the Postal Inspection Service, which protect United States Postal Service facilities, vehicles, and items; the Park Police, which protect national parks; and Amtrak Police, which patrol Amtrak stations and trains. There are also some government agencies and uniformed services that perform police functions in addition to other duties, such as the Coast Guard.

International

United Nations Police members in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Most countries are members of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), established to detect and fight transnational crime and provide for international co-operation and co-ordination of other police activities, such as notifying relatives of the death of foreign nationals. Interpol does not conduct investigations or arrests by itself, but only serves as a central point for information on crime, suspects, and criminals. Political crimes are excluded from its competencies.

The terms international policing, transnational policing, and/or global policing began to be used from the early 1990s onwards to describe forms of policing that transcended the boundaries of the sovereign nation-state. These terms refer in variable ways to practices and forms for policing that, in some sense, transcend national borders. This includes a variety of practices, but international police cooperation, criminal intelligence exchange between police agencies working in different nation-states, and police development-aid to weak, failed or failing states are the three types that have received the most scholarly attention.

Historical studies reveal that policing agents have undertaken a variety of cross-border police missions for many years. For example, in the 19th century a number of European policing agencies undertook cross-border surveillance because of concerns about anarchist agitators and other political radicals. A notable example of this was the occasional surveillance by Prussian police of Karl Marx during the years he remained resident in London. The interests of public police agencies in cross-border co-operation in the control of political radicalism and ordinary law crime were primarily initiated in Europe, which eventually led to the establishment of Interpol before World War II. There are also many interesting examples of cross-border policing under private auspices and by municipal police forces that date back to the 19th century. It has been established that modern policing has transgressed national boundaries from time to time almost from its inception. It is also generally agreed that in the post–Cold War era this type of practice became more significant and frequent.

Few empirical works on the practices of inter/transnational information and intelligence sharing has been undertaken. A notable exception is James Sheptycki's study of police cooperation in the English Channel region, which provides a systematic content analysis of information exchange files and a description of how these transnational information and intelligence exchanges are transformed into police case-work. The study showed that transnational police information sharing was routinized in the cross-Channel region from 1968 on the basis of agreements directly between the police agencies and without any formal agreement between the countries concerned. By 1992, with the signing of the Schengen Treaty, which formalized aspects of police information exchange across the territory of the European Union, there were worries that much, if not all, of this intelligence sharing was opaque, raising questions about the efficacy of the accountability mechanisms governing police information sharing in Europe.

Studies of this kind outside of Europe are even rarer, so it is difficult to generalize, but one small-scale study that compared transnational police information and intelligence sharing practices at specific cross-border locations in North America and Europe confirmed that the low visibility of police information and intelligence sharing was a common feature. Intelligence-led policing is now common practice in most advanced countries, and it is likely that police intelligence sharing, and information exchange has a common morphology around the world. James Sheptycki has analyzed the effects of the new information technologies on the organization of policing-intelligence and suggests that a number of "organizational pathologies" have arisen that make the functioning of security-intelligence processes in transnational policing deeply problematic. He argues that transnational police information circuits help to "compose the panic scenes of the security-control society". The paradoxical effect is that the harder policing agencies work to produce security, the greater are feelings of insecurity.

Police development-aid to weak, failed or failing states is another form of transnational policing that has garnered attention. This form of transnational policing plays an increasingly important role in United Nations peacekeeping, and this looks set to grow in the years ahead, especially as the international community seeks to develop the rule of law and reform security institutions in states recovering from conflict. With transnational police development-aid the imbalances of power between donors and recipients are stark and there are questions about the applicability and transportability of policing models between jurisdictions.

One topic of concern is making transnational policing institutions democratically accountable. According to the Global Accountability Report for 2007, Interpol had the lowest scores in its category (IGOs), coming in tenth with a score of 22% on overall accountability capabilities.

Equipment

Weapons

Police officers and U.S. Marshals deputies conducting an arrest in Salinas, California, carrying a variety of weaponry

In many jurisdictions, police officers carry firearms, primarily handguns, in the normal course of their duties. In the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), Iceland, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, and Malta, with the exception of specialist units, officers do not carry firearms as a matter of course. Norwegian police carry firearms in their vehicles, but not on their duty belts, and must obtain authorization before the weapons can be removed from the vehicle.

Police often have specialized units for handling armed offenders or dangerous situations where combat is likely, such as police tactical units or authorized firearms officers. In some jurisdictions, depending on the circumstances, police can call on the military for assistance, as military aid to the civil power is an aspect of many armed forces. Perhaps the most high-profile example of this was in 1980, when the British Army's Special Air Service was deployed to resolve the Iranian Embassy siege on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.

They can also be armed with "non-lethal" (more accurately known as "less than lethal" or "less-lethal" given that they can still be deadly) weaponry, particularly for riot control, or to inflict pain against a resistant suspect to force them to surrender without lethally wounding them. Non-lethal weapons include batons, tear gas, riot control agents, rubber bullets, riot shields, water cannons, and electroshock weapons. Police officers typically carry handcuffs to restrain suspects.

The use of firearms or deadly force is typically a last resort only to be used when necessary to save the lives of others or themselves, though some jurisdictions (such as Brazil) allow its use against fleeing felons and escaped convicts. Police officers in the United States are generally allowed to use deadly force if they believe their life is in danger, a policy that has been criticized for being vague. South African police have a "shoot-to-kill" policy, which allows officers to use deadly force against any person who poses a significant threat to them. With the country having one of the highest rates of violent crime, President Jacob Zuma stated that South Africa needs to handle crime differently from other countries.

Communications

Modern police forces make extensive use of two-way radio communications equipment, carried both on the person and installed in vehicles, to coordinate their work, share information, and get help quickly. Vehicle-installed mobile data terminals enhance the ability of police communications, enabling easier dispatching of calls, criminal background checks on persons of interest to be completed in a matter of seconds, and updating officers' daily activity log and other required reports, on a real-time basis. Other common pieces of police equipment include flashlights, whistles, police notebooks, and "ticket books" or citations. Some police departments have developed advanced computerized data display and communication systems to bring real time data to officers, one example being the NYPD's Domain Awareness System.

Vehicles

Main article: Police transport

New South Wales Police Force vehicles outside a police station in Eastwood, Sydney

Police vehicles are used for detaining, patrolling, and transporting over wide areas that an officer could not effectively cover otherwise. The average police car used for standard patrol is a four-door sedan, SUV, or CUV, often modified by the manufacturer or police force's fleet services to provide better performance. Pickup trucks, off-road vehicles, and vans are often used in utility roles, though in some jurisdictions or situations (such as those where dirt roads are common, off-roading is required, or the nature of the officer's assignment necessitates it), they may be used as standard patrol cars. Sports cars are typically not used by police due to cost and maintenance issues, though those that are used are typically only assigned to traffic enforcement or community policing, and are rarely, if ever, assigned to standard patrol or authorized to respond to dangerous calls (such as armed calls or pursuits) where the likelihood of the vehicle being damaged or destroyed is high. Police vehicles are usually marked with appropriate symbols and equipped with sirens and flashing emergency lights to make others aware of police presence or response; in most jurisdictions, police vehicles with their sirens and emergency lights on have right of way in traffic, while in other jurisdictions, emergency lights may be kept on while patrolling to ensure ease of visibility. Unmarked or undercover police vehicles are used primarily for traffic enforcement or apprehending criminals without alerting them to their presence. The use of unmarked police vehicles for traffic enforcement is controversial, with the state of New York banning this practice in 1996 on the grounds that it endangered motorists who might be pulled over by police impersonators.

Motorcycles, having historically been a mainstay in police fleets, are commonly used, particularly in locations that a car may not be able to reach, to control potential public order situations involving meetings of motorcyclists, and often in police escorts where motorcycle police officers can quickly clear a path for escorted vehicles. Bicycle patrols are used in some areas, often downtown areas, or parks, because they allow for wider and faster area coverage than officers on foot. Bicycles are also commonly used by riot police to create makeshift barricades against protesters.

Police aviation consists of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, while police watercraft tend to consist of RHIBs, motorboats, and patrol boats. SWAT vehicles are used by police tactical units, and often consist of four-wheeled armored personnel carriers used to transport tactical teams while providing armored cover, equipment storage space, or makeshift battering ram capabilities; these vehicles are typically not armed and do not patrol and are only used to transport. Mobile command posts may also be used by some police forces to establish identifiable command centers at the scene of major situations.

Police cars may contain issued long guns, ammunition for issued weapons, less-lethal weaponry, riot control equipment, traffic cones, road flares, physical barricades or barricade tape, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, or defibrillators.

Strategies

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department officers outside a kōban (small police station) in Roppongi, Tokyo. Kōban allow police to establish a permanent police presence and offer police station services across a wide area, while taking up minimal space.

The advent of the police car, two-way radio, and telephone in the early 20th century transformed policing into a reactive strategy that focused on responding to calls for service away from their beat. With this transformation, police command and control became more centralized.

In the United States, August Vollmer introduced other reforms, including education requirements for police officers. O.W. Wilson, a student of Vollmer, helped reduce corruption and introduce professionalism in Wichita, Kansas, and later in the Chicago Police Department. Strategies employed by O.W. Wilson included rotating officers from community to community to reduce their vulnerability to corruption, establishing of a non-partisan police board to help govern the police force, a strict merit system for promotions within the department, and an aggressive recruiting drive with higher police salaries to attract professionally qualified officers. During the professionalism era of policing, law enforcement agencies concentrated on dealing with felonies and other serious crime and conducting visible car patrols in between, rather than broader focus on crime prevention.

The Kansas City Preventive Patrol study in the early 1970s showed flaws in using visible car patrols for crime prevention. It found that aimless car patrols did little to deter crime and often went unnoticed by the public. Patrol officers in cars had insufficient contact and interaction with the community, leading to a social rift between the two. In the 1980s and 1990s, many law enforcement agencies began to adopt community policing strategies, and others adopted problem-oriented policing.

Broken windows' policing was another, related approach introduced in the 1980s by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, who suggested that police should pay greater attention to minor "quality of life" offenses and disorderly conduct. The concept behind this method is simple: broken windows, graffiti, and other physical destruction or degradation of property create an environment in which crime and disorder is more likely. The presence of broken windows and graffiti sends a message that authorities do not care and are not trying to correct problems in these areas. Therefore, correcting these small problems prevents more serious criminal activity. The theory was popularized in the early 1990s by police chief William J. Bratton and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It was emulated in 2010s in Kazakhstan through zero tolerance policing. Yet it failed to produce meaningful results in this country because citizens distrusted police while state leaders preferred police loyalty over police good behavior.

Building upon these earlier models, intelligence-led policing has also become an important strategy. Intelligence-led policing and problem-oriented policing are complementary strategies, both of which involve systematic use of information. Although it still lacks a universally accepted definition, the crux of intelligence-led policing is an emphasis on the collection and analysis of information to guide police operations, rather than the reverse.

A related development is evidence-based policing. In a similar vein to evidence-based policy, evidence-based policing is the use of controlled experiments to find which methods of policing are more effective. Leading advocates of evidence-based policing include the criminologist Lawrence W. Sherman and philanthropist Jerry Lee. Findings from controlled experiments include the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment, evidence that patrols deter crime if they are concentrated in crime hotspots and that restricting police powers to shoot suspects does not cause an increase in crime or violence against police officers. Use of experiments to assess the usefulness of strategies has been endorsed by many police services and institutions, including the U.S. Police Foundation and the UK College of Policing.

Power restrictions

Main article: Police misconduct

Los Angeles Police Department officers arresting suspects during a traffic stop

In many nations, criminal procedure law has been developed to regulate officers' discretion, so that they do not arbitrarily or unjustly exercise their powers of arrest, search and seizure, and use of force. In the United States, Miranda v. Arizona led to the widespread use of Miranda warnings or constitutional warnings.

In Miranda the court created safeguards against self-incriminating statements made after an arrest. The court held that "The prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way, unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination"

Police in the United States are also prohibited from holding criminal suspects for more than a reasonable amount of time (usually 24–48 hours) before arraignment, using torture, abuse or physical threats to extract confessions, using excessive force to effect an arrest, and searching suspects' bodies or their homes without a warrant obtained upon a showing of probable cause. The four exceptions to the constitutional requirement of a search warrant are:

Consent

Search incident to arrest

Motor vehicle searches

Exigent circumstances

In Terry v. Ohio (1968) the court divided seizure into two parts, the investigatory stop and arrest. The court further held that during an investigatory stop a police officer's search " [is] confined to what [is] minimally necessary to determine whether [a suspect] is armed, and the intrusion, which [is] made for the sole purpose of protecting himself and others nearby, [is] confined to ascertaining the presence of weapons" (U.S. Supreme Court). Before Terry, every police encounter constituted an arrest, giving the police officer the full range of search authority. Search authority during a Terry stop (investigatory stop) is limited to weapons only.

Using deception for confessions is permitted, but not coercion. There are exceptions or exigent circumstances such as an articulated need to disarm a suspect or searching a suspect who has already been arrested (Search Incident to an Arrest). The Posse Comitatus Act severely restricts the use of the military for police activity, giving added importance to police SWAT units.

British police officers are governed by similar rules, such as those introduced to England and Wales under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), but generally have greater powers. They may, for example, legally search any suspect who has been arrested, or their vehicles, home or business premises, without a warrant, and may seize anything they find in a search as evidence.

All police officers in the United Kingdom, whatever their actual rank, are 'constables' in terms of their legal position. This means that a newly appointed constable has the same arrest powers as a Chief Constable or Commissioner. However, certain higher ranks have additional powers to authorize certain aspects of police operations, such as a power to authorize a search of a suspect's house (section 18 PACE in England and Wales) by an officer of the rank of Inspector, or the power to authorize a suspect's detention beyond 24 hours by a Superintendent.

Conduct, accountability, and public confidence

Main articles: Police misconduct and Police accountability

Hong Kong Police Force officers aiming firearms at protestors in Wong Tai Sin District during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

Police services commonly include units for investigating crimes committed by the police themselves. These units are typically called internal affairs or inspectorate-general units. In some countries separate organizations outside the police exist for such purposes, such as the British Independent Office for Police Conduct. However, due to American laws around qualified immunity, it has become increasingly difficult to investigate and charge police misconduct and crimes.

Likewise, some state and local jurisdictions, for example, Springfield, Illinois have similar outside review organizations. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigated by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, an external agency set up as a result of the Patten report into policing the province. In the Republic of Ireland, the Garda Síochána is investigated by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, an independent commission that replaced the Garda Complaints Board in May 2007.

The Special Investigations Unit of Ontario, Canada, is one of only a few civilian agencies around the world responsible for investigating circumstances involving police and others that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault. The agency has made allegations of insufficient cooperation from various police services hindering their investigations.

In Hong Kong, any allegations of corruption within the police are investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Independent Police Complaints Council, two agencies which are independent of the police force.

In the United States, body cameras are often worn by police officers to record their interactions with the public and each other, providing audiovisual recorded evidence for review in the event an officer or agency's actions are investigated.

Use of force

A General Directorate of Security riot control officer using force on a protester during the Gezi Park protests in Turkey

Police forces also find themselves under criticism for their use of force, particularly deadly force. Specifically, tension increases when a police officer of one ethnic group harms or kills a suspect of another one. In the United States, such events occasionally spark protests and accusations of racism against police and allegations that police departments practice racial profiling. Similar incidents have also happened in other countries.

In the United States since the 1960s, concern over such issues has increasingly weighed upon law enforcement agencies, courts, and legislatures at every level of government. Incidents such as the 1965 Watts riots, the videotaped 1991 beating by LAPD officers of Rodney King, and the riot following their acquittal have been suggested by some people to be evidence that U.S. police are dangerously lacking in appropriate controls.

The fact that this trend has occurred contemporaneously with the rise of the civil rights movement, the "War on Drugs", and a precipitous rise in violent crime from the 1960s to the 1990s has made questions surrounding the role, administration, and scope of police authority increasingly complicated.

Police departments and the local governments that oversee them in some jurisdictions have attempted to mitigate some of these issues through community outreach programs and community policing to make the police more accessible to the concerns of local communities, by working to increase hiring diversity, by updating training of police in their responsibilities to the community and under the law, and by increased oversight within the department or by civilian commissions.

In cases in which such measures have been lacking or absent, civil lawsuits have been brought by the United States Department of Justice against local law enforcement agencies, authorized under the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. This has compelled local departments to make organizational changes, enter into consent decree settlements to adopt such measures, and submit to oversight by the Justice Department.

In May 2020, a global movement to increase scrutiny of police violence grew in popularity, starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the murder of George Floyd. Calls for defunding of the police and full abolition of the police gained larger support in the United States as more criticized systemic racism in policing.

Critics also argue that sometimes this abuse of force or power can extend to police officer civilian life as well. For example, critics note that women in around 40% of police officer families have experienced domestic violence and that police officers are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at a rate of more than six times higher than concealed carry weapon permit holders.

Protection of individuals

The Supreme Court of the United States has consistently ruled that law enforcement officers in the U.S. have no duty to protect any individual, only to enforce the law in general. This is despite the motto of many police departments in the U.S. being a variation of "protect and serve"; regardless, many departments generally expect their officers to protect individuals. The first case to make such a ruling was South v. State of Maryland in 1855, and the most recent was Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales in 2005.

In contrast, the police are entitled to protect private rights in some jurisdictions. To ensure that the police would not interfere in the regular competencies of the courts of law, some police acts require that the police may only interfere in such cases where protection from courts cannot be obtained in time, and where, without interference of the police, the realization of the private right would be impeded. This would, for example, allow police to establish a restaurant guest's identity and forward it to the innkeeper in a case where the guest cannot pay the bill at nighttime because his wallet had just been stolen from the restaurant table.

In addition, there are federal law enforcement agencies in the United States whose mission includes providing protection for executives such as the president and accompanying family members, visiting foreign dignitaries, and other high-ranking individuals. Such agencies include the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police.

Police abolition

In response to policing, there is an abolition movement, which sees policing as ineffective and damaging to society, and seeks to meet the needs policing is proposed to resolve through other means, often by addressing the causes of crime, like poverty.

Police abolition movements have gained little political traction. The George Floyd protests brought the idea to more prominence in the United States in 2020, though support for outright abolition has remained rare, even among advocates for defunding the police. The idea has also drawn academic criticism. According to Princeton University sociologist Patrick Sharkey, the best scientific evidence available shows that policing reduces violence, though he emphasizes a growing body of evidence that other community organizations can also play a major role

POLICE INFORMATION

Copies of: Your Baltimore Police Department Class Photo, Pictures of our Officers, Vehicles, Equipment, Newspaper Articles relating to our department and or officers, Old Departmental Newsletters, Lookouts, Wanted Posters, and or Brochures. Information on Deceased Officers and anything that may help Preserve the History and Proud Traditions of this agency. Please contact Retired Detective Kenny Driscoll.

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Anyone with information, photographs, memorabilia, or other "Baltimore City Police" items can contact Ret. Det. Kenny Driscoll at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. follow us on Twitter @BaltoPoliceHist or like us on Facebook or mail pics to 8138 Dundalk Ave. Baltimore Md. 21222

Mike Cichowicz

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

Mike Cichowicz 6

Retired Officer Mike Cichowicz

12 Aug 2020 - Retired Police Officer Mike passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 57. Many of us had the pleasure of working with Mike at the Central, and Southern districts. Others may have known him from his service with Maryland Capitol Police. He was quite the character, and what we in Baltimore call "Good Police" if you needed back-up and heard him answer up that he was responding, you knew you had genuine help on the way. He was larger than life with a sense of humor and he knew when to turn it off or when to turn it on. Cancer took him from us way too soon, he put up a valiant fight, never complaining about his condition. As you can imagine, we are all heartbroken. We hope you will think of him when you think of old school Baltimore Police that believed in his oath to protect the public, always putting his partners safety, and the public's safety before his own he was one of the 99.9% or the good police everyone wanted to arrive when they were calling for help.. May he rest in peace

Mike Cichowicz 1 Mike Cichowicz 2 Mike Cichowicz 3 Mike Cichowicz 4 Mike Cichowicz 5 Mike Cichowicz 7 Mike Cichowicz 8 Mike Cichowicz 9 Mike Cichowicz 10

POLICE INFORMATION

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Detective

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

EVER EVER EVER Motto Divder

Detective

If Baltimoreans have reason to congratulate themselves upon the possession of one of the most efficient police organizations in the world, this fact is due in great part to the remarkably good work of the detective department. In this branch of the service, it is intelligence, not numerical strength, that has brought such results to the management of the department. The Baltimore Police Department established its first detective unit in 1861. The first five appointed detectives were Thomas W. German, Christian Barnes, William Stevens, Wm. L. Tayman, and Jerome Airey. Every man on the secret service staff has been proven by long experience and delicate operations. It has been his opportunity repeatedly to distinguish himself, and it is safe to say of every one of Baltimore's detectives that he has done it. The present force of these special officers is, so far as thorough training in the special department of police work to which it is assigned is concerned, one of the best equipped of similar organizations throughout the country. This efficiency is due to at least two causes: One is that the marshal of police has the detectives' general management under his immediate supervision. The direct management of the force is in the care of a captain, who is personally responsible to the chief for the work of the subordinates. Baltimore has been fortunate recently to have two such men, Captain Cadwallader and Freburger, at the head of the detective squad. The former's services brought the detective branch of the police force to such a degree of efficiency that when he left the command to assume control of the district he now has, the detectives were all thoroughly conversant with their duties and knew what to do on almost any occasion that might arise and how to do it. This was the condition of the squad when its present commander was promoted to his present rank. While, generally speaking, the detective force of Baltimore is nearly as old as the first police organization, there have always been special policemen detailed to "work up" mysterious cases. Still, the first recognized organization of secret officers was completed in April 1867, when Mr. William C. Crone was appointed chief. Mr. Crone was a man widely known in this city, having been a deputy sheriff and a private detective for some celebrity. The squad then consisted of ten men, and Mr. Crone's official rank was Chief Detective—as the office now is known, Captain. He, after the marshal and deputy marshal, controlled the disposition of the force. Captain Cadwallader succeeded Mr. Crone in office in September 1881, when the Legislature created the office of Captain of Detectives for him.

On October 14, 1886, Captain Cadwallader was assigned to the Western police district, and Captain Solomon Freburger succeeded him. Since Captain Freburger's accession to the office, there have been several great crimes in which his detectives have taken prominent parts, ferreting out the criminals, and discovering evidence for the courts. All this work was done under his supervision, and the credit belongs to him, as the chief of his department. It was on November 5, 1847, that Captain Freburger was born. His birth-place still stands in Exeter Street, near Baltimore street, East Baltimore. His father's name was John Freburger. The lad received his rudimentary education in the public schools of the city, remaining in them until he was sixteen years old, when he made up his mind to become a machinist, and entered the Baltimore and Ohio Railway shops at Mount Clare as an apprentice. After he had learned his trade he remained for some time as a journeyman, and then went West. He worked for various periods in Chicago, Bloomington, St. Louis, and Lancaster, Pa.; and after an absence of about two years returned home again. For the second time he began work at the Mount Clare shops, and was employed there for about eighteen months, until, in 1874, he was appointed as an assistant engineer at the pump-house of the High Service Water Works at Druid Hill Park. The work in this capacity was much too confining for Mr. Freburger, so, on May 1,1875, he resigned his position and accepted that of a detective on the Baltimore police force. Since this date Mr. Freburger's career has been closely identified with the history of the department. He was the direct cause of the breaking up of a large and dangerous band of burglars, which made the house-holders of this city retire at night with the expectation of arising the following morning without a bit of jewelry or silverware in the house. So valuable were these services, that in 1884, in the Marshal's report to the Legislature appears the following: In the early part of this year (1883) quite a number of cases of housebreaking and robbery took place in the western and northwestern sections of the city, and in some instances those engaged in these offenses eluded immediate arrest, but very nearly everyone of them was eventually arrested; the majority of these have been convicted and are now serving terms in the State prison, while others are awaiting trial. The detective officers and other members of the force engaged in ferreting out these criminals and bringing them to trial deserve much credit for consummate skill and untiring industry. In 1877 Captain Freburger was on duty as a detective at the Camden Railway Station during the terrible strike riots. He was complimented by the Board of Police Commissioners and by Marshal Gray for his faithful and efficient services during those trying times. The captain is a man of fine physique and gives evidence of great strength in every movement of his body. His face is open and pleasing, and the heavy black mustache which shades his mouth makes his countenance very attractive. His appearance is such as would not reassure a criminal who was the object of his pursuit. Detective John S. Pontier is a native of this city. He was born on June 4, 1836. After receiving a rudimentary education in the public schools, and in St. Patrick's and St. Vincent's parochial schools, he learned the carpenters' trade. He did not work long at this, however, for his brother, who was the head of the firm of Pontier & Haslett, dealers in foreign fruits, etc., in Howard Street, offered him a clerkship in his store, which he promptly accepted. A few years later Sheriff Creamer appointed him to a position in the Sheriff's Office, which he continued to hold during Sheriff Dutton's term, or until about 1862. In 1866 he was appointed to the detective squad. He was well-acquainted, personally, with the officers of Adams' and other express companies, and to any case in which these corporations were interested he was usually assigned. One of his early pieces of work was the investigation of the robbery by express messenger II. Clay Potts, who stole money and papers amounting to $60,000 from the Southern Express Company, in August, 1867.

The safe of the company, containing $45,000 in money and $15,000 in signed requisitions upon the Government for the charges by the company for the transportation of troops, etc., after the war, was placed in the charge of Potts, from Mobile, Ala., to Corinth, Miss. When nearing Corinth, as the train slowed up to the station where the young man was to deliver over his safe and the keys to the next messenger, Potts opened the strong chest and taking out the valuable packages, threw them from the car into a swampy place beside the track. As soon as the train stopped and he delivered the keys to the other messenger, he ran back to where he had thrown the packages; picking them up he made his way to the other side of a branch of the Tennessee River, which was close by. There he found a hollow tree near the waters' edge into which he threw the requisitions and $40,000 of the money. He then hurried back before his crime should be discovered, and took the next north bound train. For some days he was lost sight of. Meanwhile the express company had a recent portrait of the young man engraved and thousands of circulars printed bearing the picture and a description of Potts, and offering a large reward for his capture. These were distributed among all the employee's of the company and sent to the police throughout the country About a fortnight after the robbery, one of the messengers of the Adams Express Company, Mr. Charles Ehrman, saw Potts in a railroad cart near Cumberland, in this State, where it was known that the young man had relatives living. It was afterwards learned that he intended going there, but seeing what he thought an unusual crowd about the depot, his guilty conscience made him timid and he remained on board the train. Ehrman watched the young man carefully for some time, and at last becoming convinced of his identity tapped him on the shoulder with the question: " Is your name Potts, sir ? " Taken by surprise, Potts answered in the affirmative. " Then you're under arrest," said Ehrman. This capture took place near the Relay House station, and Potts was brought at once to Baltimore and placed in the hands of the police. More than $4,000 was found on his person. Upon proper requisitions from the Governor of Alabama, Detective Pontier was detailed to take the young man back to Mobile. On the journey southward the detective succeeded in learning from Potts where he had put the money he had stolen. He stopped off at Corinth with his prisoner and the two went to one of the hotels in the place. A local constable having heard of the important prisoner who was in town, offered his services in guarding him. While they were seated in their room, the proprietor of the hotel knocked on the door and whispered that a crowd of men was in the bar-room and that they were talking about rescuing Potts, who was well-known in Corinth. Leaving his prisoner in charge of the local constable, Detective Pontier went to the bar-room, where he found a crowd of rough-looking men assembled. They all knew who he was, for they had seen him conduct the prisoner to the hotel. Realizing that bravado was his best course, the detective, who is a large muscular man, threw back his coat with a swagger, and bringing his fist down on the bar with a blow that made all the windows rattle in their sashes and threatened destruction to every near-by piece of crockery, summoned all hands to drink. The summons was obeyed without a murmur. Having thus established a speaking acquaintance, the detective carelessly seated himself on the edge of an ice-box in such a manner that his two 32 caliber Colt revolvers protruded into the gaze of the now respectful gathering, and said: " I hear that somebody around here was talking about taking my man away from me! " "Oh, no! " " That's only talk! " " We didn't mean no such thing as that," murmured one and another of the crowd deprecatingly. "Well, I just came down to say," returned the detective, " that he and I are going to sleep in the same room to-night, and I invite any and all of you to try and get in. But don't forget to bring a surgeon along with you when you come." And, tapping his weapons significantly, the officer turned on his heels and went back to his room. He was not disturbed that night. The next morning, shortly after day-break, Mr. Pontier and Potts started out to recover the hidden money and papers. To their dismay they discovered that since the day of the theft the stream had risen and overflowed its banks and had again receded. All the trees in the neighborhood were covered with yellow slimy mud, deposited during the freshet, to a height of several feet. The marks among the underbrush by which Potts expected to locate his hollow tree had been obliterated. They hunted for the tree all day long until in the evening, just as they were about to return to the hotel, they came upon it. The detective put his hand in the hollow trunk and brought forth a number of packages of paper, which, on account of the yellow mud and slime were unrecognizable as bank notes. Wrapping the packages carefully in a newspaper which he had brought for the purpose, the detective carried the precious bundle back to the hotel. Mr. Pontier then ordered a grate fire to be made, and when it was thoroughly blazing he opened the packages one at a time and hung the bills over the backs of chairs before it until they were all dried. When the moisture was evaporated the dust was easily knocked off by a snap of the finger against the bill. Then repacking the notes he placed them in a valise and started off the same night with his prisoner for Mobile, where he arrived late the following day. He turned his man over to the police, and took a receipt for the valise and its contents from the express company's officers. Potts was afterwards convicted of his crime and was sent to the Alabama State prison for fifteen years. Another express company case in which Mr. Pontier's detective skill was called into requisition was the robbery of the contents, of the money pouch of the messenger of Harnden's express in this city, in the summer of 1869. In that year three men, all of them well known burglars, Thomas Hoffman, Edward Dennis, and William Howard, the first a very clever criminal, rented an office in North Charles street, between Lexington and Fayette streets, and pretended to go into the commission business. Howard went to Washington and directed a package, purporting to contain money, to himself at their office, and then returned to this city to await its delivery. The money messenger of Harnden's express company in Baltimore at that time was an old man named Richard Patterson. He was feeble and utterly unfit for the position he occupied. When Patterson delivered the package at the thieves' office they were there Waiting for him. As he took the envelope from his pouch, however, they saw that there were very few more packages in it. He had evidently been nearly over his route. The following day Howard again went to Washington and sent another package, purporting to contain money, to himself as before. When Patterson came this time his pouch was full. As soon as he opened it the three men seized him and "bucking" and gagging him left him on the floor, decamping with the pouch, which contained $14,500 in money. In the course of an hour Patterson succeeded in freeing himself and ran to the office of the express company to inform them of the robbery. The police were immediately notified, and Detective Pontier was detailed upon the case. Circulars describing the thieves and offering §1,500 reward for their capture were scattered broadcast over the country by the company. A few days later a telegram from a constable at Swanton, a mining village up in the mountains of Maryland, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was received,, announcing that he had two men in custody, who, he thought, answered the description of the burglars. Detective Pontier hastened to Swanton, and found the men to he Howard and Dennis. He brought them to this city, where Howard was prevailed upon to confess the crime, and tell where the money was hidden. " Go to Swanton," he said to Detective Pontier, " and behind the station you will see a zigzag path. Follow this through the woods to the top of the mountains. Then take the middle straight path beyond, until you come to a large tree fallen across it. On your left you will see a pile of dead leaves. The money is underneath those leaves." Accompanied by an officer of the express company, Detective Pontier went to Swanton at once, and followed the instructions. A short distance beyond the top of the mountain they found the dead tree, and brushed up against its trunk was a pile of leaves. On pushing away the leaves they found the packages of bank notes, together with a large quantity of gold and silver coin, not confined in any receptacle, but lying loosely on the ground. They amounted altogether to more than $11,000. The money was brought back to the city and Detective Pontier continued his search for Hoffman, who was the most clever and dangerous criminal of the three. The man was caught some time later in a small place in one of the Western States, and brought hither upon a requisition. The three were indicted and were awaiting* trial when Hoffman escaped from jail by opening his cell door and making his way to the roof, and thence letting himself down to the ground by the leader. He opened the cells of two or three other prisoners also and lot them escape with him, but did not release either Howard or Dennis, against whom he was violently angered for having " Mowed." In jumping to the ground he sprained his ankle. This made it easy to trace him when Detective Pontiers again was put upon his track, this time accompanied by Detective Mitchell. The detectives followed him to the Western Maryland railway and thence to Union Bridge, the last station on the road. On entering the railroad inn there, he found Hoffman sitting in the barber's shop, talking with a boy about sixteen years old, and nursing his ankle. "Who's the boy, Tom?" was the detectives' greeting query. " He's ' Kid ' Johnson, I let him out with me. He was in for picking pockets," replied the thief in an unmoved tone. Then he added, " help me up stairs, detective, and put me to bed, my ankle's badly hurt." They took the injured man up stairs, and while the boy slept in a corner, the detective bathed Hoffman's ankle, and nursed it nearly all night. The next morning the detectives brought the two to the city, where Hoffman was afterward tried and convicted with his accomplices. Each was sentenced to ten years and six months in the Penitentiary. One night in prison Hoffman attacked Howard, whom he had never forgiven for confessing, and nearly killed him. For this he was taken out of prison, tried for assault, and had eighteen months added to his sentence. A third important express robbery, in which the company recovered its money through detective Pontier's skill, was the case of station agent J. B. Stedman, of Harper's Ferry, Va., who in May, 1871, stole $1,200 belonging to the Adams Express Company. One morning Mr. J. Q. A. Herring, the superintendent of Adams Express Company in this city, came to headquarters with a dispatch from Stedman, who slept in the station, saying that on the previous night while he was absent at a Masonic meeting, the station was broken into and robbed of $1,200. Detective Pontier and Mr. Herring went to Harper's Ferry together, and looked over the scene of the robbery. After a few moments the detective called Mr. Herring aside and said: " The station agent did this robbery ! " Mr. Herring was surprised, but when the detective showed him marks indicating positively that the windows had been pried open from the inside, he agreed with him. The detective then went into the other room where Stedman was standing, and accused him of the crime. The man looked frightened, but denied the charge with a show of indignation. The detective then showed him the marks on the window and intimated that he knew of other and more certain evidence. The station agent paled and began to tremble. Then turning to the detective he asked in a choking voice: " Are you a Mason ?" Detective Pontier was not a Mason, but Mr. Herring was. The latter was called in, and Stedman asked him to take him to the hotel, as he wished to talk to him. In the hotel the man confessed that he had stolen the $1,200 and placed it in a brass tube, secured at both ends, which he had sent to Chicago, to be kept till called for. The superintendent telegraphed to the train on which the package had been sent, and had the tube returned to Baltimore the following day. The money was found wrapped up inside of it, as Stedman had declared. The station agent was tried at Moundville, Virginia, and sentenced to five years imprisonment. On August 11, 1867, one of the most horrible murders that ever took place in Baltimore occurred at the rear entrance to Judge Campbell's mansion, on West Franklin street, between Howard street and Park avenue. One of Judge Campbell's house servants, a good-looking and respectable colored girl, had a beau named John Dixon, a bad character. Dixon called to see the girl on this evening, and asked her to marry him. She refused to do so then, saying that if he would stop drinking she would marry him later. The old colored cook, who Avas sitting in the kitchen, heard this conversation. The two went out after a little, as Dixon rose to leave. At the back gate he put his left arm around the girl's neck, as if about to kiss her good-night, and then suddenly throwing her head back, he slashed a razor across her throat, cutting her neck through to the spine. The girl put her hand to her throat and stumbled blindly across the yard into the kitchen, where she fell dead, the blood pouring from her arteries and saturating the surroundings. An alarm was raised at once, and Detective Pontier was sent to capture Dixon. He found him asleep in a house on Rock street, where a notorious negro preacher, known as "Blind Johnny," held forth. On his way to the scene of the crime, the negro, professing ignorance, asked: "What yo' arrestin' me fur, Mr. Pontier?" "How do you know me?" demanded the detective. " I used to wait on you when I belonged to Cunnel Slater," replied the negro. The detective then recognized the fellow as the former slave of a gentleman •who owned Carroll's Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, a great ducking ground, which he used to visit. He then accused the negro of the murder of the girl. The fellow denied it strenuously until brought to the house and unexpectedly confronted with the bleeding corpse. Then he fairly collapsed. Dixon was tried, but the State being unable to prove premeditation, he was convicted in the second degree only, and sentenced to eighteen years imprisonment. Detective Pontier also arrested Hollohan and Nicholson, the murderers of Mrs. Lampley, the story of which is told in the sketch of Marshal Frey. lie was in the company of the marshal, too, when, in 1873, they arrested John Thomas, the assailant of Mrs. Carlotta Sarracco. In the summer of 1876, Detective Pontier arrested a man for whom all the police in the world had been on the look-out for many months. This was Louis Diebel, who, while burgomeister of the little city of Kadowitz in Polish Prussia, Germany, embezzled about $15,000 of the funds entrusted to his care, and disappeared. The German police offered 4,000 marks, or $1,000, reward for the dishonest official's capture, and distributed portraits and descriptions of him in all languages, all over the world. One of these descriptions fell into the hands of Detective Pontier and he made inquiries among Germans of the city, in hopes that somebody might have run across the man. It happened that one of the detective's German friends did know of a man answering to the description, who was living at the old Washington House, a small hotel at Camden and Eutaw streets, opposite the Camden station. Mr. Pontier went thither and found that the man was registered under his own name. At the time, however, the embezzler was in the country bargaining for the purchase of a farm. On his return to the hotel the detective arrested him and found him to be the person he was in search of. The man was sent to Germany by the German Consul, and the reward of $1,000 was received by Mr. Pontier. According to the rules of the police board the money was handed over to the commissioners, but after some weeks it was paid him. Nearly $13,000 of the $15,000 stolen by the burgomasters was recovered, it being found on his person at the time of his arrest. Detective Joseph C. Mitchell was born in this city on July 22, 1827. He is a brother of the late Captain John Mitchell, formerly in command of the Middle district. He attended the public schools in Baltimore, and afterwards learned the trade of coach smoithing, at which he worked for about six years as a journeyman. He then went into the eating-house business, and for many years kept restaurants in various parts of the city. He was appointed a member of the detective squad on April 21, 1867. He never served the police department in any other capacity. Detective Mitchell is one of the only two officers now remaining on the squad who were appointed at the reorganization of 1867. Detective Pontier is the other. In the summer of 1875, a large number of houses in the wealthier part of the city were robbed by sneak thieves, who carried on their operations nearly every day for a month. One of the thieves was evidently an expert locksmith, for the doors of the houses which were robbed were opened with skeleton keys in a very skillful manner. Detective Mitchell was assigned to find out who the thieves were. After inspecting their work, Mr. Mitchell came to the conclusion that they were not Baltimoreans, as there were not to his knowledge any local thieves capable of doing such neat work. He was about to make a tour of the cheap hotels with a view of seeing what strangers were in town, when a negro boy whom he knew told him he had seen "Nat " Jones, alias "Davy" Peyton, and James Sanford, two New York thieves, in town, and that they were committing the robberies that had caused so many complaints. Upon further inquiry Detective Mitchell learned that the two thieves were probably at the Union Hotel, on Pratt street, near Market street. On August 13, he went to the hotel, and giving the clerk a description of the men, asked if they were in the house. "Yes, I think they're about here somewhere now," replied the clerk. Just then the detective saw his men in the reading-room, engrossed in the New York papers, sitting with their feet on the reading-room table. He went up to them, and getting in a convenient position to grasp both the men, if they should attempt to escape, said: " The Marshal wants to see you at the headquarters." The men looked blankly at each other a moment and then replying "All right," 'accompanied the detective. They were locked up and indicted upon evidence against them that was subsequently found, and upon a confession which Sanford made. Their method was to hire a wagon and drive up to the house they intended robbing. Then after ransacking the place they would put their plunder into the wagon and drive off. While awaiting trial Jones broke jail and escaped. He went to New York where he lived in a tenement house in Canal street, near the Hudson river. Detective Mitchell followed him thither and was aided in his hunt for the man by one of Inspector Byrne's detectives. They watched the house in which Jones lived for some days, but did not once see him. Then they learned that the man never came out of his room except at sunrise, when he took a short walk, bought a morning paper and returned to remain until the next day. So the following morning at peep of day the detectives placed themselves before the house. A moment after they arrived their man came out and they took him into custody. Detective Mitchell brought him back to Baltimore, where he was convicted and sentenced for ten years and six months. Sanford was sentenced for five years. Jones served his whole term, and in 1886, as soon as he was released, was taken to Boston to serve out an old sentence in a jail there from which he had escaped. He is still serving his time in Boston, under special guard. Joneshas the reputation of being one of the most successful jail breakers in the country. He escaped from seven prisons in various parts of the United States before he broke jail in this city. Now that he is in custody, his only hope of not spending the rest of his life in confinement lies in making another and final escape, for the total of unexpired sentences that he will have to serve out in one prison and another aggregates more than thirty years. In the centennial year Detective Mitchell became officially connected with a crime that acquired a world-wide notoriety, and which is still frequently spoken of in some circles. The great Kur-Saal at Baden-Baden, in Germany, at that time, still maintained its name of being one of the largest and most magnificent gambling houses in the world. It was rivalled only by the gaming palaces of Monaco and Monte Carlo. The Kur-Saal or Casino, was conducted under semi-official auspices, and it was generally understood to be the property of the Crown of the Duchy of BadenBaden. About 1876 there was much talk about closing the great gambling place on account of the growing prejudice against public gaming, which at that time showed itself throughout the German Empire. One of the assistants of the treasurer of the establishment was a young man named Ernst Goldbach. As was afterwards ascertained he had for some years been systematically robbing the "bank." He lived much beyond his income as a clerk, but as he had been known at times to have made large winnings by his occasional ventures at the tables, no suspicion of his honesty entered the mind of his superiors. On May 30,1886, having learned from what he supposed to be a trustworthy source that the games were to be stopped on June 1, he stole 40,000 thalers (about $30,000) from the safe of the "bank" and decamped. The theft was not discovered until late the following day, by which time Goldbach had crossed the French frontier with his mistress and their son, a child of six years. A few days later the German police got information which led them to believe that the young man had boarded one of the North German Lloyd steamships at Southampton, England, and was on his way to New York. They cabled to the German consul, and he caused the first incoming steamer of that line, which arrived in the port of New York, to be searched for the man. The search having proved fruitless, he telegraphed to the German consul in this city to request the Baltimore police to search another steamship of the same company which had left Southampton at the same time for Baltimore. In response to the request of the consul, Detective Mitchell was detailed upon the case. He procured permission from the United States officials to go down the bay on the revenue cutter. He met the steamer at Quarantine and boarded her. As the revenue cutter drew up alongside of the mammoth craft, all the passengers on board, numbering nearly fifteen hundred, crowded along the rail to look at her. Detective Mitchell had an accurate description of Goldbach, and as he looked up from the deck of the cutter he saw a man in the crowd who answered the description exactly, so far as features and stature were concerned. "That's my prisoner," thought the detective, and his speculation proved correct, for upon inquiry of the purser for Herr Goldbach, the officer pointed the same young man out to him. Goldbach was greatly taken aback at his arrest. He spoke but little English. The detective took him and his mistress and child into custody, and when the passengers were landed, conducted them to the police headquarters. There a gold draft on Brown Brothers & Co., the bankers, for $4,400 was found on Goldbach, besides a large amount in German paper money and English gold and silver coins. A matron on searching the man's mistress found $10,000 worth of German government and other negotiable securities sewed into her clothing, and also a large quantity of cash. The money about the persons of the pair aggregated between $17,000 and $18,000. The prisoners, at the request of the German consul, were not locked up in jail, but were given apartments in a first class hotel. The explanation of this strange proceeding was afterward discovered to be the fact that the young man's connections in Germany were noble and very wealthy. They subsequently so arranged matters that Goldbach was not required to be sent back for trial, and after a short confinement here in the hotel he was allowed to go free. He managed to get as far as New York, when after nearly starving to death he found a situation as waiter in a large German beer saloon and restaurant. At last accounts he still held this situation, his mistress, who was a remarkably beautiful girl, remaining faithful to him. Some years ago a handsome young widow lived at Barnum's Hotel. Besides her attractions of face and form, she was known to possess considerable property. Her name was Mrs. William H. Young. A young gentleman from Washington came to live in Baltimore, and stopped also at Barnum's Hotel. His name was James Ivins. He was connected with some of the best families of the National Capital. Mrs. Young and Mr. Ivins made each other's acquaintance, and they soon became great friends. Though Mr. Ivins subsequently took lodgings in the city, he visited Mrs. Young at the hotel almost daily, and frequently took her to ride in Druid Hill Park or in the suburbs. The other lady guests of the hotel were getting intensely interested in the pair, and the servants retailed romances concerning them that added fuel to the fire of curiosity that was consuming the fair fellow-guests of the beautiful widow. One afternoon Mr. Ivins called. Mrs. Young was out, and he said he would wait for her in her room, which was where the lady was accustomed to receive him. A few moments later he went out, saying he would return shortly. He did not come back, however: Mrs. Young returned, and as she took Mr. Ivin's card from the servant's salver, a smile of satisfaction passed over her countenance. About six o'clock in the evening, however, she rushed down stairs in a great flurry, and announced to the clerk that she had been robbed of all her diamond jewelry, which she had left in her bureau drawer when she went out, amounting in value to $2,500. She had just discovered her loss as she was attiring herself for supper. The police were notified at once, and Detective Mitchell was sent to look into the case. After hearing of all the circumstances, he concluded, contrary to Mrs. Young's belief that one of the servants had stolen the jewelry, that the thief was none other than the handsome Mr. Ivins. When Mrs. Young learned that that gentleman had hastily left town, and also remembered that he was the only person who knew exactly where the jewels were kept, she was forced to agree with the detective. The valuables had evidently been taken by someone who knew their exact whereabouts, for nothing else in the room, and no other drawer except the one from which they were taken was upset. Detective Mitchell, with much difficulty, traced Ivins about from place to place, until finally he located him in Chicago, whither he went and arrested him. Ivins submitted quietly to arrest. He told where he had disposed of the diamonds, and the detective recovered all but three hundred dollars' worth of them. The young man said he had never before stolen anything nor been arrested. This was probably true, for his record showed him to have never been anything worse than a wild youth. He called to see Mrs. Young with nothing further from his mind than stealing her diamonds. Finding the jewels unguarded, however, and being in financial straits at the time, an evil impulse seized him, and ho took the jewelry and fled. He was held in confinement for nearly seven months, at the end of which time, Mrs. Young refusing to prosecute him, he was released. Detective Theoderick B. Hall was born in Baltimore on August 20, 1838, and was educated in the public schools of this city. He was apprenticed to and learned the trade of a bricklayer. At the breaking out of the civil war in 18G1 Mr. Hall enlisted in the First Regiment Maryland Volunteers, U. S. Army, and was commissioned Lieutenant Co. C. lie served one year, when he was honorably discharged by reason of disability contracted in service. In January, 1863, Mr. Hall was appointed to the police force, and after serving one year he resigned to accept the position of conductor on the City Passenger Railway, tendered him by President Tyson of that company. In this capacity he served thirteen years, during which time he personally apprehended nine pickpockets on his car. He also assisted the detective of the railroad company in arresting others. Mr. Hall became an officer in the City's detective department, April 23, 1875. It was he who, in 1877, "turned up " the thieving barge captains who for years had been systematically robbing the grain merchants of this city. For a long time complaints had been made of the enormous "shrinkage" in the barge cargoes of grain shipped to consignees, but nothing could be learned to account for it. Finally, in March, 1877, Detective Hall was detailed to investigate the matter. After much trouble he found that Captain William Deffendorf and four other grain barge captains were engaged in a scheme whereby from two to three hundred bushels of grain were stolen of a night. The men had a sloop, and lying up to the barges, they would load the plunder, a quota being taken from each of the barges of grain entrusted to their care, run the stolen property to Chesapeake City, exchange it for flour, and then sell the flour. The first man against whom Detective Hall secured any evidence was Captain Deffendorf, who made a confession to the officer inculpating his comrades in the crime. In order to accomplish the arrest of all, Deffendorf was allowed to remain at liberty for the time being, of which he took advantage to advise his confederates of their danger and the whole party "skipped." Detective Hall arrested Deffendorf stowed away in a canal barge between Weehawken and Hoboken, after a most exciting chase of seventeen days, which carried him nearly all over the States of New York and New Jersey. Another of the fugitives he arrested in Philadelphia, one in New Brunswick, N. J , and another in Baltimore. The prosecution saw that no conviction could be had unless one of the guilty men was used as States' evidence, and Deffendorf had consented to tell all he knew. After the accused had remained in jail for eight months, on the very day set for the trial of the cases Deffendorf died. There being no other evidence forthcoming, the State's Attorney entered a nolle pros, and the men were discharged. One of them, years afterwards, came to Detective Hall and told him that his arrest was the most fortunate thing that had ever happened him, as a career in crime had been checked and he had since been an honest man. Detective Hall, in conjunction with Detective Gault, in July, 1877, arrested the notorious James Huff alias Porter. Huff, or Porter, had at one time been in the U. S. Secret Service under Chief Brooks and had been dismissed. For five years prior to his arrest Huff had been going about the country representing himself as a secret service officer, and by that means defrauding people under various pretenses. He had baffled Chief Brooks' men, who were constantly hearing of his fraudulent practices, but were unable to lay their hands on him. One night in the month mentioned Marshal Prey received a telegram from Union Bridge, Md., asking him to look out for Huff, as it was thought he would be in Baltimore and would call at the post-office for a letter. Detectives Hall and Gault were detailed to the case, and after considerable difficulty and four days constant vigilance they succeeded in locating their man at Lloyd's Hotel, corner Calvert and Pratt streets. It was late at night -when the officers reached the hotel and Huff had retired. They were, however, shown to the room, and Detective Hall rapped at the door. "Who's there?" was the response. "A friend," was the reply ; '"open the door." " You can't get in here," said Huff. " Open the door, or we'll break it in," threatened the detectives, and the bogus Secret Service man unlocked the door and peeked out. "How do, Huff!" was the salutation of Detective Hall. " My name's not Huff; it is Porter." " Well! Porter is just the man we want," came the reply. " Oh ! I know who you are," said Huff, " you are a couple of these fly detectives who go nosing about other people's business!" " Where did you go to guessing school ?" responded Mr. Gault. "Now you've told us who we are, tell us who you are." " I'll mighty soon show you," said Huff, with an important and threatening air, and going to his coat, produced a large bundle of papers bearing the name of "James Porter." The papers were IT. S. Government blanks connected with various departments, and while they made a brave show superficially and collectively, a closer examination revealed that they were of no importance whatever, but simply useful to impose upon the ignorant and credulous. Huff was removed to the police headquarters, where, upon being searched, it was learned by maps, charts, and other papers found on his person that he was one of the conspirators to rob the tomb of the remains of President Lincoln. He was sent to Hagerstown, and at his trial Chief Brooks and five of his men appeared to prosecute him. Huff was convicted and sentenced to five years in the Maryland Penitentiary. Chief Brooks sent a congratulatory letter to Detectives Hall and Gault for having made this important capture. On December 12, 1882, Detective Hall arrested "Tom" Bigelow, alias Ward, and Louise Bigelow, alias Jordan, alias "English Louise." They were pickpockets. Their plan of working was for the woman to watch about savings banks, and "spotting" some woman who had drawn a sum of money, would follow her, and being joined by Tom Bigelow, who would be hiking in the neighborhood, subsequently relieve the victim of the money in the street car. Detective Hall had four cases against them, but through the failure of the persons robbed to sufficiently identify the pair, they were discharged and sent out of the city. Noah M. Mitchell, the colored swindler, was arrested by Detective Hall on December 7,1885. Mitchell's plan of operations was clever and ingenious, and he showed that he was a man who had enjoyed more than an average education. He would go to a city and have a pamphlet printed, setting forth that a society had been organized whose object it was to secure a higher education for the colored people of the South. He would then go to the prominent men of that city and secure their endorsement of the purposes mentioned in the little book, but would ask no subscription from them. This he did in Washington, and secured as endorsers of the proposed object the names of the President, an ex-President, Senators, Congressmen, prominent lawyers and others. With these endorsements of the plan he came to Baltimore, and represented himself as a solicitor for subscriptions for the society, of which he was the only living exponent and sole beneficiary. Among his victims there were such men as Messrs. Bonaparte, Frank Stevens, Thomas Ruddle, and other prominent citizens. He secured between $500 and $600. He was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years and six months. William Thomas was arrested in August, 1878, by Detective Hall, for attempting to blackmail a citizen through the use of the mails. When the officer put his hand on Thomas's shoulder to arrest him Thomas sprang back and drew a pistol. Detective Hall was too quick for him, however, disarmed him and carried him to headquarters. Thomas was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Detective Hall is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and belongs to many of the societies connected with that denomination. To many unfortunates who have been arrested by him he has given good counsel and advice, and some hardened criminals have through him been reclaimed to a better Life Detective Albert Gault There is perhaps no detective in the State of Maryland about whom so much that is favorable is told and so many stories related as Albert Gault. He is a born crime-detecter and his experiences have certainly been varied and thrilling enough to create a fund for sensational story-writers that would be imperishable during the present generation. He has had all sorts of escapes, has captured all manner of criminals, has followed all sorts of clues with such attending circumstances that told in detail would make him not a simple detective, but a creature of romance. He had an opportunity to serve Baltimore when it was perhaps one of the wickedest cities on the American continent. The fact that he is still alive to tell of his deeds is sufficient to prove the man's indomitable perseverance in not allowing wounds, or nearly death itself, to interfere in the prosecution of his duty. He comes of an excellent family which through business reverses was reduced in circumstances. He was born in this city on October 13, 1837. His father was Robert Gault, then a well-to-do type-founder. Young Gault attended the public schools, but lie left them early. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to the firm of gas-fitters, Blair & Co., and learned his trade, which he followed for fifteen years. During the war Mr. Gault started business on his own account, but not finding trade sufficiently remunerative he remained but two years as a "boss." Finally he decided that he would join the police force, so he made his application to the police department and received his appointment on December 8, 1866. He was assigned to the Middle (now Central) district, under Captain John Mitchell, who held his commission from the famous Young and Valiant board of Commissioners. On April 22, 1875, while serving under Captain (now Deputy-Marshal) Lannan, in the Middle district, Mr. Gault was made a sergeant, and on June 29 of the same year he was assigned to work on the detective squad. Mr. Gault had been on the police force but a few days when he fell in with a most important piece of work. At that time the passenger trains from the north on their way to Washington and the south were drawn through the city by horses, from the President street station of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad to the Camden street station of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company. Gault's beat included the neighborhood of the Marsh Market, by which, on Pratt street, all the trains passed. Many complaints had been received at headquarters within the few weeks previous, of the depredations of sneak thieves who jumped on the trains on their way through the city and stole whatever they could find unguarded. The thieves operated generally at night while the passengers were dozing. One morning at about half past three o'clock Gault was standing secreted in a doorway on the lookout for these car thieves. The ground was covered with newly fallen snow; the night was still and clear. The only sound that could be heard by the policeman as he stood back in his hiding place was a distant tinkling of bells which denoted the approach of another train on its way to the Capital. Suddenly the snap of a whip and the voice of a driver speaking to his horses attracted Gault's attention, and he casually poked his head around the corner to see what was going on. Two hacks had just passed across the Lombard street bridge. By the bright starlight the policeman could see that the curtains in each of the carriages were drawn. The presence of two carriages with drawn curtains in that locality at that hour of the night was so unusual a thing that Gault determined to abandon his watch for the car thieves for a while and follow the strange vehicles at least until they had left his beat. The carriages plowed slowly along, turning up Concord street and finally wheeling suddenly into the narrow lane known as Hawk street, where they stopped before a small two-story house on the north side of the way. Five men instantly jumped out upon the pavement, and shouldering what appeared to be heavy sacks, carried a large number of them into the house. Then the hacks drove off, leaving the five men in the house. All this policeman Gault remarked from a position he had taken in the shadow of one of the market stalls opposite the opening of Hawk street. As soon as the carriages had passed out of sight the policeman made his way to where they had been standing. The footprints of the men were fresh in the snow and a dim light could be seen in one of the rooms on the upper floor of the little house. Convinced that some villainy was on foot Gault, immediately hunted up his sergeant and related to him what had occurred. The latter scouted at the young policeman's suspicions, intimating that new officers frequently got themselves into embarrassing positions by being over suspicious. Gault returned to his post. Though rebuffed he was not convinced, by the sergeant's assurances, and he again examined the ground in the neighborhood of Hawk street. As he passed the suspected house he heard sounds of footsteps within, and the slam of a door. More certain than ever that his suspicions of evil-doing were well-founded Gault again hunted up his sergeant. After considerable argument the latter agreed to go to Captain Mitchell's house, wake him up, and submit the matter to him. The captain lived close by and within half an hour he returned with the sergeant. Gault then led the pair to Hawk street and showed them the footprints and carriage tracks, relating all the movements he had observed on the part of the five men. Captain Mitchell agreed with Mr. Gault that the affair bore a suspicious appearance, but he hesitated to adopt the plan which the policeman urged, of making a raid upon the house at once. After some minutes' deliberation the captain determined to get a warrant before entering the house. Leaving Gault on guard he hastened to the residence of a magistrate and procured the desired paper, with which he returned in a very short time. Gault was boiling over with impatience when the captain reached him. " Have you got it ?" he whispered eagerly. Captain Mitchell drew the document from his coat pocket by way of reply. "Now break right in," said the policeman in an excited voice, " and I'll stand out here on watch." The captain hesitated as if he did not relish the idea suggested. He looked the building over and finally exclaimed : "By Jove, I've left my pistol home ! " " Here," burst forth the young patrolman, as he thrust his revolver into the captain's hands, unable to control himself any longer; "you take my pistol and stand outside here and I'll go in." Half demurring, the captain took the weapon, and Gault, scarcely waiting to give the legal knock on the door, burst through and rushed up-stairs. Two little girls were in bed in the room at the head of the stair-case. They had been awakened by the crash and were rubbing their eyes in astonishment when the policemen addressed them. It was then almost daylight. "Did you see some men come in here last night, carrying bags ? " they were asked. "Yes sir," replied the elder of the children innocently. " They said they had corn for the chickens." " Where are the men now ? " "They went out the back way," said the child. "They're coming back again. They put the bags in that room." And she pointed to the adjoining chamber. Policeman Gault entered the room indicated. The shutters were closed and the light was very dim within. Finally the officer "was able to make out all the contents of the apartment. A high old fashioned bed stood in one corner. Everything appeared to be in an orderly condition with the exception of the freshly scrubbed floor, which was stained with the prints of wet shoes. No traces of bags or packages were to be seen. The footprints led toward the bed. It struck the policeman that perhaps the stuff" Was hidden under it. He lifted the overhanging coverlet. As he did so he started back in amazement. The entire space under the bed was filled with great packages. He hauled them out one by one and found them to be large rolls of heavy cloth. Locking the door on the inside he climbed out of the window upon the roof of the portico in front of the house and called to Captain Mitchell to come up. The captain was dumb with astonishment when he reached the room and saw the bundles lying on the floor before him. There could be no doubt that it was stolen property. After waiting half an hour in the hope that the thieves would return, Captain Mitchell ordered Gault to fetch a large wagon to the house, and all the packages were removed to the Central station, where they were spread upon the floor to await an owner. About half-past eight o'clock Mr. Thompson, the proprietor of a fashionable tailoring establishment on Fayette street opposite the Mansion House, rushed into headquarters and informed the marshal that his shop had been robbed the night before of every yard of cloth in it. The thieves had fairly stripped the place bare, even taking two pairs of shears with them. On being led across to the station-house the tailor recognized his property at once. Thanks to policeman Gault's sagacity and his persistency in going ahead when he felt sure he was right, over seven thousand dollars' worth of stolen property was recovered for its owner within three hours after the robbery and before the crime was discovered by the victim himself. The same day policeman Gault and several other officers succeeded in arresting all the thieves by hunting for them among the well-known haunts of such characters, in the lower part of the city. They were identified by the landlady of the house on Hawk street as the men who had hired her second floor, and the children picked them out as the same ones who had carried in the bundles on the night of the burglary. They were afterward convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. It was on that fearful day in July, 1868, when Baltimore was swept by flood, and part of the town was fairly drowned beneath the waters which raged from the country about, that patrolman Gault discovered that he was not merely an enthusiastic policeman, but a man full of that noble desire to do good which impels one to risk his life for another's benefit. There was a great crowd of terror-stricken citizens standing in High street, near Front street, at about o o'clock in the afternoon of July 24. The yellow flood roared and writhed and twisted itself in apparent deviltry as it rushed on its path of destruction. On its breast was borne all manner of things : parts of houses, great tree trunks from which huge branches had been torn by the angry waters, chicken coops, furniture, produce—but look ! what is this floating upon the tossing waves, half hidden at times by the billows, but always rising with them, always cresting them— making them sacred even in their maddened rush for prey ? It comes nearer the great crowd; it is upon them, abreast of them, and within the cradle which rides the flood a babe looks out and smiles upon the thousand men who stand awe-stricken at the strange sight. There is no motion in the crowd ; not a hand is waved, not a tongue is loosened as the cradle with its precious burden sweeps by, the wreckage apparently making way for it. Again look! a man darts from the midst of the crowd; he wears the familiar uniform of a policeman; his head is bare, his hair streaming in the wind and tossing spray. Over he goes into the raging waters, and amid the cheers of the crowd swims towards the castaway. Tree trunks intervene; great masses of wreckage interpose themselves, but nothing daunts the brave man who struggles toward the object of his endeavors. Struck now and forced back by some heavy drift he begins all over again, and with set teeth grasps the cradle. The baby smiles at him and then gives a little crowd of delight as the rescuer's weight tilts the cradle to one side. Little it knows how near it has been to the end. The policeman landed many squares below the place where he leaped into the flood, but the crowd had followed him, and as he stepped ashore and handed the little one to a lady who was standing near, the immense crowd surged about him and made the air ring with cheers. Three hours after this Mr. Gault, still drenched from his heroic battle with the flood, again leaped into the water at Harrison and Gay streets, and in the presence of fully 500 persons rescued John Steigel, after the latter had almost choked the brave officer to death. In the summer of 1870 Detective Gault gained much praise by his clever capture of a pickpocket in this city. One of the officials at the Union depot had put his aunt, an elderly lady, and her daughter on board a train. They were going to Hartford, Connecticut. Before the train left the Union depot a well-dressed gentleman who was sitting in a seat behind them, with much politeness assisted the ladies in disposing of their baggage, etc. As soon as they were comfortably seated he left the car, telling them that he was going into the " smoker " and would return. At that time it was customary for the trains from the Union depot to stop at Bay View junction to take on the cars that had come up from the President street station. Before they reached the junction the conductor went through the train collecting the tickets. Then the old lady suddenly discovered that her pocket-book, containing the tickets for herself and her daughter and about $20 in bills was missing. She supposed she must have lost it, and returned to the Union depot much chagrined with the next train. When she told her nephew about the polite gentleman who had assisted her with her packages the young man at once suspected that the " gentleman " had stolen the pocket-book. He reported the facts to the police headquarters. Detective Gault was assigned to look into the case. When he learned that the pocket-book contained two Hartford tickets, heat once determined to watch the "scalpers'' offices, suspecting that the thief would try to sell the tickets. As the detective was loitering along Baltimore street in the neighborhood where the "scalpers' " shops are located, he noticed a man answering the description given by the ladies of the polite stranger walking along scanning the signs in front of the ticketmen's offices. Finally he walked into Mr. Spicer's, at the corner of Baltimore and St. Paul streets. After waiting; a few moments for the fellow to open negotiations the detective entered and said: " I want to buy a ticket for Hartford, Connecticut." The man turned towards him and remarked: " I have what you want. What'll you give for it ?" Then began considerable dickering over the price. Finally, the man turning to Gault, said sharply: "Well, don't you want the ticket?" "Yes, " retorted the officer, " I want the ticket and I want you, too." The man started back in amazement at first, and then laughed. " Well, what a chump I am !" he exclaimed. That's so," said Gault; "you've been netted by the police again." The two went to the Central station, where the ladies were sitting. As the officer and his prisoner entered the old lady turned to her daughter and said : " Why, Annie, there is the gentleman who was so kind and polite to us while on the train. I wonder what he can be doing here." " This is the gentleman, ladies," replied Gault, " who relieved you of your pocketbook this morning." John Elbright was about twelve years ago one of the most prominent manufacturers of rubber goods in New York. His family consisted of his wife and one daughter, whom he loved with an affection so deep that it was frequently remarked by his many friends. The daughter had some little money in her own right. Mr. Elbright was worth nearly a million of dollars. Christine, Miss Elbright's given name, was of impetuous nature, quick to take affront at the slightest occasion, and more than ready to do things for which she was quickly sorry. One morning at breakfast something did not please her and she spoke sharply to her mother, who, quite as quick-tempered as her daughter, turned in her chair and boxed the young girl's ears. Christine said nothing. An ominous frown gathered on her forehead; she bit her lips until the blood trickled from them. Then, with an impulsive movement, she arose from her seat, and leaving her mother without a word of explanation rushed upstairs. Hours passed. Christine did not appear. The night approached and with supper time came Mr. Elbright home again. "Why, where's Christine?" he inquired. His wife told him of the morning quarrel, and suggested that Christine was probably in her room pouting. Up rushed the father, and after knocking at his daughter's door and receiving no answer, threw it open. Christine was gone! But she had left woeful traces behind. Upon her dressing table rested her magnificent black hair, which she had sheared off close to her head. That was all. No letter, nothing to indicate in what direction she had gone or when she would return. She was gone without trace. A considerable sum of money which she had in her room and all her jewelry she took with her. The father fell in a swoon. Mrs. Elbright was attacked by brain fever and her life despaired of. John Elbright's life was a ruined one. Detectives were employed and sent to all parts of the country to find some trace of the missing one. Every hour of delay seemed days to the bereaved family. But it was of no use. Money could not find the object of two parents' love. All hope of ever finding her was lost. It was while in this despairing mood that Mr. Elbright visited Baltimore on business, He had promised his wife to devote all of his time to the search for Christine; that he would not return home without some tidings of her. He visited a merchant friend of his during his stay in Baltimore, and told his pitiable story. "Why, Elbright," was his friend's exclamation, "I've got the very man you want. He'll find her if she's on top of the ground." The merchant was a believer in Mr. Gault, and the young policeman was sent for. Again Mr. Elbright recited his tale, his narration broken by sobs. Mr. Gault, too, appreciated the parent's agony, but that did not deter him from questioning the sorrow-stricken father with great care. At last he discovered that in Christine's room was found, with her hair, a time-table, and that part of it having the schedule of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railway upon it was missing. This was a very small clew, but it was none the less something to begin on. Mr. Gault learned, by further questioning, that Christine had greatly fancied Baltimore, and he immediately came to the conclusion: "Here she is." But it is as hard to find one person in a city of 400,000 inhabitants as a needle in a haystack. He visited all the fashionable boarding-houses in the city, believing that Christine would seek such a home. The search was fruitless. He then turned his attention to the religious institutions. The first one at which he applied was a home under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. The sister superior at once remembered a young woman of Christine's description who had entered the institution and shortly afterward left it to become a governess in the homo of a well-known banker in a fashionable part of the city. The detective found the girl there and brought her to the marshal's office. Meanwhile Mr. Elbright remained in Baltimore. He had offered Mr. Gault $1,000 if he would find his daughter, or at least bring some tidings of her that he might take home, and so save his wife's life. Time hung on his hands, for he counted every hour that lessened the time he still had to prosecute his search. Days went by and no tidings. There seemed to be no hope that his Christine would ever be found. One afternoon he sat in his friend's office. Again and again his daughter's face came before him, smiled into his, cast laughing glances into his eyes, wept with him, teased him, pleaded with him. But, alas! all was but recollection ; the Christine that was. And now where was she ? Perhaps degraded—no, not that; not his pretty Christine—his darling girl. Dead, perhaps, but not that other! But still, where was she ? Had he left any stone unturned to find her; was there the vaguest chance which he had not tried ? He could think of none. Tears filled his eyes, his head sank upon his breast, his weary brain throbbed with the great anxiety to find his child—to save both his wife's life and his own. He had forgotten his surroundings ; he was alone with his thoughts. But hark ! there are footsteps without. His friend's voice is heard: "Hello, Gault! You've got good news, haven't you ? " Hush," Mr. Gault replied. "Where is Mr. Elbright?" "Within here; step in." There was no need to arouse the father. He had heard the conversation. There he sat with his hands stretched out upon the arms of his chair, his teeth clenched, his gaze concentrated upon the doorway through which Mr. Gault entered. " Dead 1" he whispered. "No, " replied the policeman; "she is well, and is at police headquarters. She wants to see you." " Thank God ! Thank—thank !" and the old man fell to the floor in his joy. The good news was too much for him. He had fainted. But joy seldom kills. The aged manufacturer soon recovered his senses. He went to headquarters, and in the Commissioners' private room mot his daughter. They stood gazing at each other a moment, and then, urged by the resistless waves of paternal and filial love, rushed into each other's arms. Then ensued the most pathetic scene ever remembered at police headquarters. So great was the joy of the reunited family that the father and daughter lost strength to stand. The two returned to their home, and the mother's life was saved. A short time after the finding of Christine Mr. Gault received a letter from Mr. Elbright, covering nearly twenty pages of foolscap, in which the latter sought to assure the former of the strength of his gratitude. Tolliver Harris was one of the most desperate negro criminals whoever made Baltimore his abode. He was a man of herculean strength, the most vicious instincts, and endowed with more than ordinary shrewdness and intelligence. Some years ago, while Harris was living in Saluda, Virginia, he assaulted a young woman, and only escaped lynching by being sentenced to be hanged. But bolts and bars of the ordinary kind could not restrain Tolliver. His ingenuity came into play, and one night, while the keepers were congratulating themselves that they would not have long to wait before Tolliver would be out of their keeping the negro was quietly making his way out of the prison and securing his freedom. There was great excitement in Saluda the following morning, when the citizens found that the law had been cheated of its victim. Circulars describing the ruffian were sent into every part of the country, but without any result. Tolliver's shrewdness made him disguise himself so effectually that none but persons who were familiar with his habits would have recognized him. He finally came to Baltimore and lived here for some time without being suspected of the crimes of which he was guilty. It was not less than two years after his arrest that the chief of police of Saluda wrote to the marshal of police of this city, informing him that Tolliver Harris was living here in comparative security. The negro's crime was so diabolical, and his record so notorious, that the police were aroused into most determined energy. The marshal of police gave the case to Mr. Gault, and told him to see what he could do with it. Tolliver, it was known, would fight, and would sell his life dearly if it was necessary. Mr. Gault had already established his reputation as a man who, when he went after anything, seldom returned without it, and so considerable interest was manifested in the department regarding the outcome. It was very hard work to obtain in any sense a satisfactory clue regarding Tolliver's whereabouts. It was simply known that he was in Baltimore. Finally, Mr. Gault " located" him in the " Brick Yard," a section of the city inhabited at that time by the most degraded negroes. One particularly unpleasant night in January, while the rain was falling in torrents, Mr. Gault and another officer set out on their quest. When they arrived at a place near which Tolliver lived, Mr. Gault began to make inquiries. But these questions were without much result until he found a little pickaninny, whom he asked: " Does a lady named Mrs. Harris live about here ? " Oh, yaas, sah," was the reply. " She lib right ober yender." " And is her husband's name Tolliver?" " Oh, yaas, sah, dat are hees name, sah," was the cheering reply. " Is he in, do you know ?" " No, sah; he down among de canaal hoats, sah. ' He working de coal." Here was a pleasant predicament for Mr. Gault. He was with his companion, the only white man within a radius of many squares. It is true that they were both heavily armed, but what effect would that fact have upon a thousand maddened negroes, who would assemble about them when they discovered the policemen's intentions. The officers had nothing to do, however, save to stand without in the blinding storm and wait for Tolliver's return. This they did for nearly two hours, and succeeded in getting chilled through. Finally, Mr. Gault said: " I'm going into Tolliver's house and wait for him. A tussle out here in the lot wouldn't be pleasant." Mr. Gault knocked on the door, and asked if Mr. Tolliver Harris was in. The woman who appeared said that her husband had not arrived home, but that she expected him almost every minute. What was the gentleman's business, and would he kindly come in ? Yes, Mr. Gault would come in. And then he perverted the truth in this wise : " I'm down in the Custom House, and came up this way to make a speech at a colored men's meeting near here. I've heard of Tolliver, and I called in with my brother here (indicating his companion) to get Tolliver to receive a half boat-load of coal for me at my house, and to fix a bin that I've got in my cellar." " Reckon he'll do it," said the woman. The officers remained in the ruffian's house fully half an hour before there was any evidence of Tolliver's returning. All this time Mr. Gault passed in telling of his friendship for the negro race, and rehearsing part of the speech which he said he was about to deliver. Suddenly the woman exclaimed : " There they come !" "Who ?" inquired Mr. Gault, with considerable anxiety, as it would be a serious predicament for him to be in if Tolliver should appear with a gang and discover who his visitors were. "Why, Tolliver and his brother," was the reply. And sure enough two big negroes entered the room. Either one of them was physically a match for both of the detectives. But nothing daunted, Mr. Gault arose and said, before Tolliver had a chance to think anything about the call, what he had already told Mrs. Harris, adding, however, that he wanted him (Tolliver) to come right around to his house, as the meeting would not wait for him. " Take your brother with you, Tolliver," Mr. Gault suggested. It was necessary for the officers to get the negroes away from the neighborhood of their house, because if there was any rough work to be done the noise of the struggle or the reports of the pistols would alarm the whole neighborhood, and the policemen would never leave the place alive. Tolliver seemed contented to leave the house with his brother, and so started out. The four men chatted together on their way down town, but the officers could not in any way persuade the negroes to walk in front of them. Finally the party got down nearly to Baltimore street, in the more frequented part of the city. The negroes were very close behind the officers, and Mr. Gault turned suddenly, grabbed at Tolliver, but the negro leaped aside towards the street, where he ran into a horse and knocked the animal out into the car-track. Then Tolliver ran like a deer up the street. Bang, bang, went the officers' revolvers, and Mr. Gault and his companion pursued. But it was hard to " wing" Tolliver. On, on he went, gradually increasing his distance until, as luck had it, the fugitive tumbled upon a gutter covering, and before he had regained his feet Mr. Gault was upon him using the butt of his revolver as a club. Mr. Gault hammered the negro's head until it was a mass of blood, and after a terrible struggle, in which both the prisoner and his captor were nearly exhausted, got the handcuffs on the captive. As Mr. Gault did this he turned and saw Tolliver's brother standing by looking on. "What are you doing there ? " the officer shouted, presenting his revolver and firing three shots over the darkey's head. Harris never answered, but started on a lope down the street, every now and then turning his affrighted face over his shoulder to see if Mr. Gault was following. He did not stop until he got home, and then he rushed in carrying the door with him. After several struggles with his prisoner, Mr. Gault got him to the Central station. Tolliver was sent back to Saluda, where he is now serving a term of 25 years, to which his death sentence was afterward commuted. Mr. Gault had an exceedingly exciting experience in 1876.

In August of that year the citizens of Frederick City, Md., and the farmers in the vicinity, complained to the Governor that householders and respectable persons of all classes were held in the most abject terror by a gang of ruffians which made Sugarloaf Mountain its rendezvous. These complaints multiplied daily, until one morning the entire county was aroused by a dastardly crime committed by two members of the gang, Scot Andrews and Charles Nichols. These men ravished a mountain girl of great beauty, and left her on the side of the Sugarloaf for dead. This crime was the climax. Governor Carroll called the attention of the Baltimore police to it, and Marshal Gray detailed Detective Gault to find the men and arrest them. The search was a long and dangerous one. The criminals were leaders of as desperate a gang as ever dwelt in the Maryland mountains. Eut Mr. Gault was sent to get them, and he no more turned back than a sleuth-hound does when after his quarry. He followed these men, accumulating evidence against them all the while, through Maryland and Ohio, and finally into the mountain districts of the latter State. He at last located them in a place named Black Creek. It was a mere hamlet, consisting of a few houses, one or two stores, a tavern, and a flag pole. This place Mr. Gault entered as a " drummer." He announced to the assembled villagers that he had a fine stock of Irish linens and plaids, and that he was prepared to sell them cheap. The appearance of a "drummer" had never occurred before in Black Creek, and the hamlet immediately began to assume the importance of a commercial center. But while the villagers were discs cussing the great mercantile significance of Mr. Gault's visit, the latter was closeted with the sheriff, showing him his credentials as a detective, and asking for assistance in arresting the offenders. The sheriff assigned one deputy to the duty of helping Mr. Gault. It was then the detective's duty to ascertain where the criminals were, what their surroundings were, and the probable trouble he would experience in arresting them. These bits of information he was not long in securing, and not one of them was encouraging. They all pointed to the certainty of having an extremely hard time of it. But with the deputy sheriff, an officer who had accompanied him from Baltimore, and a guide, he sallied forth. The house in which the men lived was situated on the summit of a mountain, in the center of a small clearing. The men who owned the house had the reputation of being moonshiners, among other accomplishments, and had acquired by long and uninterrupted industry the reputation of being particularly bad men. It was nearly dinner hour. Soon a woman made her appearance before the house, and presenting a great cow's horn, blew a blast that aroused all the echoes for miles around. It was the summons to dinner. In groups of two and three the mountaineers could be seen approaching the house. " Which are the strangers, Sam ?" Mr. Gault inquired of the guide. " There they be," was the reply as two stalwart young fellows came out of the forest. "Ah !" ejaculated Mr. Gault, meditatively as he felt for his revolvers. It was no use for him to try to persuade the deputy sheriff or guide to accompany him into the house to arrest the men. They said they had families and lived in that section of the country, and if they were killed in any case like this their families would starve. There was nothing left for Mr. Gault to do but to go into the den of criminals alone, and take out of it two men who were giants in stature and extremely desperate. There was no one else to do it. So he stationed his aids at the front and rear of the house, among the forest trees, and then waited himself until the men had all seated themselves at dinner. Then he walked quietly up to the house, threw the doors of the dining room open, and said loudly : " Hello, Scot, how are you! " The larger of the two men leaped to his feet and stammered: " H-h-how are—," and extended his hand toward Mr. Gault, who rushed to him .and snapped the "bracelets" on his wrists. To place another pair on the hands of his companion, Nicols, was the work of a moment, so surprised were they. Then the detective drew his formidable looking weapons, and said to the crowd: " Gentlemen, these are my prisoners, and the people of the State of Maryland want them. I'm going to take them home with me for ravishing a young girl. They are guilty, and they know it." At this a savage looking fellow arose from the head of the table, and said : " Then you ain't a revenue officer? " "No, " was Mr. Gault's reply. "I'm a Baltimore policeman, and I have followed these men all the way from Frederick City, Maryland. I want them for the crime I told you." " Then, by , you shall have them !" came the answer. The prisoners were escorted down to Black Creek, and after some legal matters concerning the extradition papers were attended to, Mr. Gault and his prisoners boarded a train for Frederick City. There they found the militia drawn up in a hollow square to receive them. Andrews and Nicols were subsequently tried, but such was the public terror of the gang to which they belonged, and because during the trial the gang threatened the jurymen with destruction of their property if their verdict was unfavorable to the prisoners, no agreement was reached. In the latter part of June, 1876, a Pole named Joseph Lewandowski robbed one of his countrywomen named Mrs. Lenka, who lived in the lower part of the city, of her life's savings, amounting to between $2,000 and $3,000. Mrs. Lenka notified the police and the marshal placed the matter in the hands of Detective Gault. After a long and persistent search the latter learned that Lewandowski had been living in Detroit, Michigan, dissipating the stolen money. The detective hurried to Detroit, but only to find that his man had changed his residence to the Canadian side of the Detroit river. By means of a decoy letter from a Polish girl whom the thief had betrayed during his stay in Michigan, Lewandowski was enticed on to United States soil and promptly arrested. With his manacled prisoner in charge the Baltimore detective started for home. Lewandowski was quiet and obedient all the first day of the journey and gave no trouble to his captor. On the second day, however, he frequently complained of cramps in the bowels. Detective Gault removed the man's handcuffs whenever he was attacked with pains and accompanied him to the men's toilet-room. He locked the irons in his hand-bag which he kept in the rack over his seat. The detective found himself obliged to do this as the passengers persisted in handling the manacles when he left them on the seat. His pistol was also in the hand-bag. A little before noon he and his prisoner returned from the toilet-room. The detective reached up for the bag to take the irons from it. When he turned again Lewandowski was half-way up the car rushing towards the open door. " Stop him! Stop him!" cried Gault, frantically, as he dashed after the fleeing criminal; but no one moved. The detective reached the platform just as the fellow stooped down and jumped from the car. They were speeding along at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. Gault called to the conductor, who was sitting at the other end of the car, to stop the train. The latter did so at once, but before they could come to a stand-still, nearly a mile had been put between the detective and his desperate prisoner. Gault started on a run down the track. It was in the midst of the wild mountain country along the border between West Virginia and Ohio. Not a human habitation was in sight. The detective finally came to the spot where the Pole had jumped from the train. The marks in the soft sand showed plainly where the man had fallen; but he had disappeared and there was no trace to indicate what direction he had taken in his flight. On all sides were tall, craggy mountains. Across a narrow marsh which bordered on the track was the mouth of a deep ravine. Believing it most likely that the man would start for this point in trying to make his escape, the detective hazarded the chance and followed in that direction. The ravine finally led up a steep mountain-side. On and on went the pursuer, fording swift-running brooks, dodging under the trunks of fallen trees and climbing over moss-covered rocks, scarcely noticing whither his way led, only scanning the woods eagerly for any trace of the object of his chase. For two long hours the detective pushed onward, and still he found no mark of the fleeing man. At last, having come nearly to the summit of the mountain, he sank worn out and disheartened upon a bank of moss. Deploring his bad luck he was about to turn back from his fruitless chase, when suddenly he noticed on the ground a little way ahead of him a fresh wad of brown tissue paper. The sight made the detective leap from his resting-pace. On the train he had handed Lewandowski a similar wad of paper and the man had put it in his coat pocket. Running on a few rods further Gault reached a small rocky plateau, the very summit of the mountain. Below there stretched out a beautiful green valley. The instant the detective glanced down over the scene his eye fell on the form of a man walking across a small clearing by the side of a brook, almost a mile away. Gault recognized Lewandowski at once. The latter saw his pursuer at the same moment, and tearing off his boots and coat ran like a deer. The detective tumbled rather than ran down the steep mountain-side. Finally he reached the spot where he had seen his prisoner. The man's coat and boots lay upon the ground where he had thrown them, but there were no signs of footprints visible. Following up the direction which he had seen the man take, the detective was just about passing by the mouth of a second ravine, when in a muddy place he spied the tracks of a man's bare feet. With renewed hope he ran on through the ravine, finally coming out upon a railroad track at the other end of it, where a gang of men were at work. They stood loaning against their picks and shovels and looking down the track as if something unusual had just attracted their attention. Gault called out to them asking if they had seen anybody running in that direction'( "Yes, a barefooted man just ran into the woods down there," replied the foreman of the gang. " What's the matter ?" " He has murdered a man, and there is a $1,000 reward for his arrest," replied the detective, breathlessly, hoping to induce some of the laborers to aid him in the chase by exciting their cupidity. But the ruse was of no avail. Gault was obliged to keep up the pursuit alone. After going about three-quarters of a mile further he came to a farm-house. The farmer stood in the yard with a hoe over his shoulder. On the porch a young woman lay screaming hysterically, while two other women were endeavoring to calm her. The farmer, in reply to inquiries, told Gault that a man had rushed through his house a few moments before, knocking down furniture and frightening his daughter into a spasm. They thought the fellow was mad. He had run through the farm-yard and up the mountain in the rear. The farmer could not be induced to join in the chase, so the detective was again obliged to continue alone. He forged his way up the side of the mountain, which was wet from recent rains. The criminal's foot-prints were plainly visible. When he had gone about a quarter of a mile the detective heard the cracking of a twig, and looking ahead of him he saw Lewandowski standing behind a large tree. The man was panting for breath. The perspiration was rolling from his body. His eyes protruded from their sockets and gave his livid countenance a frightful appearance. For several seconds the two men stood facing each other, both trying to recover breath for the terrible struggle that was about to ensue. The Pole was stout and muscular, but the detective though a much smaller man was in better condition. The silence was broken by the latter. "Come down here and surrender," he shouted, "or I'll blow your brains out!" And Gault reached around as if to draw his pistol, although he knew he had no weapon with him. The maddened criminal made some reply in his own tongue and rushed at the detective. The two men clinched. Down the hill-side they rolled together, struggling desperately all the time, into a puddle of soft mire. Finally Gault by his superior knowledge of wrestling succeeded in getting on top and forced the prisoner's face deep into the mud. Being unable to breathe, the man's struggles soon ceased, and when the detective lifted him up he was in a condition of semi-consciousness. When he could speak again he agreed to surrender and was led to the farm-house, where his captor tied his elbows together behind his back. A small flag-station of the railroad was nearby, and within an hour the detective and his prisoner were again on their way to Baltimore.

As they boarded the train the men were in a most painful condition. They were covered with blood and mire and their clothing was in shreds. Gault had left his ticket and his money in his satchel on the other train, and not being able to pay the fares, the conductor was on the point of putting the two off the train when a gentleman who knew the detective happened along and lifted him out of his dilemma. At Grafton Mr. Gault recovered his satchel, which had been left there by the conductor of the other train. The two men arrived in Baltimore the following morning. The news of Lewandowski's escape had been telegraphed on the night before and the Marshal expected to receive Gault without his prisoner. He was no less surprised than gratified, therefore, at seeing the detective enter the office in company with the Pole. Gault's own right arm was in a sling, and two of his fingers were broken. Lewandowski pleaded guilty of robbing Mrs. Lenka and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Maryland penitentiary. Mr. Gault's experiences have been so many that there is not space enough in a brief biographical notice to give any but the briefest of them. There have been very few important cases in the detective department during the last ten years in which he has not figured very prominently. As an evidence of what his superiors think of his ability, it is only necessary to say that he has at present the most important regular assignment of any man in the squad. He is detailed to guard the banks and moneyed institutions of the city. Detective George W. Seibold was born in Saratoga street, near Fremont street, on February 15, 1839. He received his early education in the public schools of this city. As a young man he was employed in various businesses until 1863, when on July 28, he received an appointment as patrolman in the Western district, the headquarters of which was then the old Greene street station. On December 8, 1864, he was made a sergeant, and the following winter, on December 13, was promoted to be lieutenant. He served in that capacity until April 23, 1867, when the force was reorganized. The new commissioners appointed him a reserve officer and acting clerk at the Western district station, under his former captain, "William II. Cassell, who was reappointed. On March 23, 1874, he received a commission as a patrol sergeant, which position he held until he joined the detective squad, on September 6, 1881, taking the place of William C. Crone, who resigned. On January 14, 1871, when a reserve officer under Captain Cassell, Mr. Seibold arrested "Dr. " Ernest Schaar, a notorious confidence man and swindler, whose victims were generally poor persons. His method was to go to some German grocer, and showing a lot of receipts and papers, say that he had a small quantity of tea, coffee, or sugar in a warehouse in the business portion of the city. It was, he would explain, the remnant of a large stock which he had just closed out. He would bargain with the grocer to sell the goods at a sacrifice, and would induce him to send his wife or a boy with a basket to get the stuff, telling the man to give them the money to pay him. He would then conduct the boy or woman to the alleged warehouse, which was always situated on the corner of two streets, so as to have a side entrance. Arriving at the place, he would tell his victim to give him the money and wait for him on the sidewalk till he brought down the goods. Then he would go into the office of the warehouse, and after asking a question or two of some clerk, slip out of the side entrance to the building and disappear. The charge upon which Schaar was arrested by Officer Seibold was preferred by John Schutte, a shopkeeper in the eastern part of the city, from whom Schaar got ten dollars in the manner described. The swindler was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment in the Maryland penitentiary. On August 24, 1872, Detective Seibold, who was then patrol sergeant at the Western Station, arrested John Connell, alias William Baldwin, a clever burglar, whose portrait adorns the rogues' galleries of many cities. He was charged with breaking into and robbing the dwellings of Messrs. George Biscoe and Lewis M. Cole, near Woodbury, Baltimore County. Connell was convicted at Towsontown and sent to the penitentiary for five years from March 10, 1873. He was again arrested on February 12, 1883, by Detectives Seibold and Droste, charged with robbing the dwelling of Mrs. Olivia Kimberly, on Calhoun street, and four other houses on Hollins street. He pleaded guilty, and was again sentenced to the Maryland penitentiary for five years. Connell always worked alone. The silverware, clothing, etc., that he stole from the houses on Hollins street he hid in the cellar of a vacant building in the same row. The detectives arrested him while he was at supper in an eating-house near the Broadway Market. In the early summer of 1874, the residences of Andrew Reid at No. 75 Mount Vernon Place, and Mrs. C. 0. Bassford, at No. 313 Park avenue, were entered, the thief carrying away large quantities of clothing, jewelry, etc. Sergeant Seibold arrested William H. Dorsoy, colored, on suspicion of being the burglar. When searched Dorsey was found to have some of the stolen articles on his person, and other stolen articles were recovered from where he had secreted them. He was convicted and sentenced to the Maryland penitentiary for five years and four months, from October, 1874. He was arrested on July 13. The long time which elapsed between his arrest and his trial was caused by the obstructions which the man's counsel put in the way of the prosecuting officers. A removal of the case to another county was demanded, and the trial took place in Baltimore county. This was not the first time Mr. Seibold arrested Dorsey. In October, 1869, the policeman, with Sergeant Cadwallader, now captain of the Western district, arrested him and another negro burglar, named Wilson, for entering the dwellings of J. R. Clark, Thomas II. Folsom, Leander Warren, Mrs. Theodore Appold, and others, and stealing more than $3,000 worth of goods. Dorsey turned State's evidence at his trial and escaped punishment. His father then sent him to Navassa Island. On his return in 1874, he again began to commit the burglaries which ended in his arrest. Sergeant Seibold, in company with officer Connery. of the Northwestern district, on November 17, 187G, arrested William Jennis, colored, alias Brooks, alias Joe Russell, a notorious burglar and sneak, who was charged with burglariously entering the dwellings of Mr. P. E. Kent, No. 85 North Carey street; Mr. Moses Kahn, No. 26G West Fayette street; H. R. Williar, North Carey street, and others, and stealing money, silverware, jewelery, clothing, etc. He was tried and convicted in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, and sentenced to the penitentiary for six years, from January 27, 1877. Jennis was arrested also on February 20, 1874, for robbing the dwelling of Mr. George W. Flack, No. 142 Mulberry street. He then gave the name of Joseph Russel. He was sent to the penitentiary for one year. This man worked alone, and invariably entered a dwelling house from the rear by climbing sheds, porches or lattice work to the second story window, while the family was below at supper. He always used the old fashioned blue head sulphur matches, which were found plentifully strewn about the floors, in the bureau drawers, etc. His work was frequently identified by these matches. About six months after his last release from prison, he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and robbed several houses there. He was caught, tried, and sent to Cherry Hill prison for twelve years. Shortly after his appointment as a detective, Mr. Seibold became officially connected with the sensational case of Harriet Dennis, alias a score of other names, the colored female Fagin whose villanies caused so much horror in this city when they were discovered, in November, 1881. Harriet Dennis was a repulsive looking negress, about forty years of age. She was in the habit of answering advertisements inserted in the newspapers for cooks. She had a little girl with her which lent her an appearance of respectability, and usually aided her in securing situations. As soon as she was installed in a place she would locate the money and valuables in the house and remain long enough to get an opportunity to steal them. She would then hastily decamp and disappear from the city, turning up some weeks afterward with a new name, and repeat her operation in some other house. The little girl she used as a spy to find out the location of the valuables, and afterward as a guard to warn her if anybody should approach while she was engaged in the stealing. This woman continued her depredations in the city and in Baltimore county for two years before she was finally captured. At last, on November 6, 1881, Mr. Samuel Rosenthal made a complaint that his house had been robbed of a watch and chain and other articles, and at the same time a new colored cook whom his wife had engaged the previous day had disappeared. Detectives Seibold and Gault were assigned to the case. They came to the conclusion that the colored cook was Harriet Dennis, notwithstanding the fact that this time she had no child with her. Being led to suspect from several circumstances that the negress would attempt to pawn the stolen articles at a certain pawnbroker's office, Detective Seibold went to the place and disguising himself as a clerk there, waited for developments. They were not long in transpiring, for on the following morning the looked-for negress appeared with the watch and chain. The detective waited on the thief, and she showed him a note purporting to come from a woman on Raborg street, asking for a loan of §20 on the property. Recognizing the watch as the one belonging to Mr. Rosenthal, Detective Seibold arrested the negress. On finding herself captured at last, she broke into loud and violent lamentations. She was conducted to the marshal's office and searched. Among; other things found on her person was a fetich bag, or " lucky bag," as she called it, a small leathern pouch filled with herbs, small pieces of bones, fragments of leaves, etc. When this was taken from her the woman burst into violent weeping again and begged piteously to have it returned to her. She admitted that she was the person who had committed so many robberies within the previous two years. When asked where the little girl was who had accompanied her on previous occasions, the woman stubbornly refused to answer. She admitted, however, that the child was not her daughter, but asserted that the little one was an orphan who had been given to her to care for. The detectives having captured the woman, were determined to complete their undertaking, and finding a clew to the place where she was in the habit of taking refuge after having committed a theft, they went thither and learned that the girl was living with a respectable family in Greene street, near Lombard street, in this city. At this dwelling the girl was discovered and taken to police headquarters, where she described in detail the actions of the woman. Among other things she said that Dennis had had her arrested on Christmas eve of the previous year on the charge of stealing a dollar, and sent to Towsontown jail, so as to prevent her from exposing the thefts, as she had threatened to. The girl had by that time become old enough to understand the criminality of the deeds, and she had refused to participate in them any longer. As it was proved that the woman had put the money on the girl for the purpose of convicting her, the prisoner was released. The girl then said that the woman was not her mother, and had stolen her from her parents and taught her to steal. The police records were searched and a clew obtained which finally led to the reuniting of the girl and her parents. It was discovered that on January 20, 1873, nearly eight years previously, Ida Reilly, aged seven years, daughter of John and Victoria Reilly, colored, had been kidnapped from her parents' house on the Philadelphia road, by, it was supposed, a colored woman who lived next door, and who had disappeared at the same time, leaving her husband behind her. The parents of the child had advertised for their missing daughter, and searched everywhere without success, though in one instance the woman came near being detected by a piece of dress pattern which she had left at her home. The parents, who had given up all hope of ever finding their child, were taken before the girl. The moment the mother, father, and daughter were brought into each other's presence a striking resemblance was noticeable. They gazed at one another, trembling in every limb, and as each point of recognition, such as a mark on the girl's throat, and her recollection of past scenes and incidents were brought out, the father and mother gave utterances to their feelings in illiterate, but pathetic exclamations, while the little one cried and shook with joy. To establish the child's identity beyond dispute, all three persons were taken before the woman Dennis, who confessed having stolen the girl, and corroborated all that she had asserted concerning her parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Reilly returned home overcome with joy, taking their daughter with them. The woman Dennis was tried and convicted of stealing Mr. Rosenthal's watch, and Judge Pinckney sentenced her to four years imprisonment in the penitentiary. On January 19, 1882, Detective Seibold captured August Schumann alias Walters, alias Miller, alias Brennan. The story of his career is exceedingly interesting. He was born in Germany in 1821, of a wealthy and respected Bavarian family living in Berlin. He studied for the priesthood. Like many other young German students, whether ecclesiastical or otherwise, his habits became dissolute. One time as a favor to one of the professors of his university, who was ill, he went with a large draft to a bank and cashed it, returning the money to its owner. Noticing how readily the bank paid the money to him, he forged another draft a few days later for a still larger amount. The bank cashed it without question, and the young man sailed for America. Here he became acquainted with a large number of priests and lived for many months upon the hospitality of the pastors of various Catholic churches, usually departing only after cleverly swindling his benefactors out of a sum of money, larger or smaller, as the opportunity offered. He traveled in this way nearly all over the United States, and accumulated a, small fortune before he was caught and sentenced to a short term in prison for a small offence in Wisconsin. Upon his release he made a long tour through South and Central America, and finally went to Australia. In Sydney, N. S. W., he was convicted of swindling and sentenced to five years imprisonment. After serving this term he returned to the United States. His second career here was not so successful as his first, for he was caught several times and suffered a number of sentences of from one to three years before he came to Baltimore, where Detective Seibold captured him. In December, 1882, he gained the confidence of Father Zeigler of Saint Alphonsus' church, and left a number of papers and bogus checks in the priest's hands. On December 23, he appeared at the priest's house and said that he was pressed for money. It being after banking hours the priest saw no harm in cashing a check for §400, and did so without any hesitation. On the following day when he presented the check for payment, the reverend gentleman was amazed to learn that it was worthless. The authorities were notified, but Schumann was no where to be found, so quiet was his actions, until the middle of January following. On the fifteenth of that month, he called upon Father Danenhower, of St. James' Catholic church, and requested him to cash several checks. The priest pursuaded Schumann to leave the papers, which he did. The former then immediately went to the banking house of Messrs. Nicholson & Sons, where his suspicions that the checks were worthless were verified. The police authorities were notified at once. Detective Seibold was detailed upon the case. After a diligent search of three days he found the man in a house in Hanover street. Schumann was convicted on the charge of obtaining $400 from Father Ziegler and sentenced to two years imprisonment. His portrait has graced Baltimore's rogues' gallery for many years. During the years 1882 and 1883 Mr. Cowman, of the drygoods firm of M. Cowman & Co., was annoyed by having his store robbed at short intervals of small sums of money. These robberies, he discovered, after they had continued for some time, always took place at night, and the money was usually abstracted from a tin box which was kept under the regular money-drawer. He suspected all of his employees in turn, until he satisfied himself of each one's innocence. The peculiar feature was that although the doors of the shop, having been locked securely at night, were always found undisturbed the next morning, the peculations continued with unbroken regularity. Sometimes not more than $3 would be taken, at other times as much as $ 10. Mr. Cowman at last called upon the police for help. Detective Seibold was detailed upon the case. For some nights he and Mr. Cowman watched the entrance to the store from a position on the opposite side of the street. No one was seen to enter, still it was found that money had been stolen. At last the detective asked to be locked up alone in the store. This was done by Mr. Cowman after all the employees had left in the evening. At half-past ten o'clock, while he was sitting in the back part of the shop without any light other than that which shone in from an electric lamp on the opposite side of the street, detective Seibold heard a noise in a rear room. A few moments afterward the transom over the door just above the officer's head was opened, and the woolly skull of a young negro appeared. An instant later his body came through the opening and the fellow let himself drop softly down upon the floor. Although it was almost quite dark in the place at the time, the negro noticed a shadow where the detective was sitting. He turned to advance that way when Mr. Seibold sprang at his throat, wrenching it so as to render him unconscious for a few moments. The " nippers" were on the burglar's wrists before he recovered his senses. Dragging his prisoner to the front of the store, Detective Seibold rapped on the glass of the front door and Mr. Cowman unlocked it for him. The negro turned out to be James Gates, who had been employed by Cowman & Co. about two years previously. He confessed that he had been getting through a small window in the rear of the establishment ever since he was discharged, by going up a small alley back of the store. Gates was convicted and sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment in the penitentiary. Detective Seibold went to New York city on May 26, 1884, and in company with Detective Thomas F. Adams, of Inspector Byrnes' staff, arrested August Lydecker alias George Kline, the confidence man and swindler, who was charged with obtaining a gold watch and chain valued at $75, by means of a worthless check passed on Mr. Charles F. Wagler, thejeweler in West Pratt street. Lydecker was brought back on a requisition. In the autumn of 1886, after being released, Lydecker remained in Baltimore until December 1, when he went to New York city, and on February 15, 1887, he went to Tiffany's jewelry store, and representing himself as a nephew of the Rev. Dr. Sayle, and upon presenting a forged letter of credit, obtained a valuable gold watch and chain, was caught almost immediately near the store by a special officer employed by the firm. He was convicted and sent to Sing Sing prison for eight years. Lydecker on one occasion went to a prominent undertaker in Broadway, New York, in great distress and said that a particular friend of his had died, and that he wanted him huried as nicely as he could afford. He selected a casket and gave the undertaker the number of the house in which the dead man was lying. Then telling the undertaker to make out the bill, which was $55, he gave him a check for $75, getting $20 change. When the undertaker went to deliver the casket, he found that there was no dead man in the house.

On February 15, 1887, Detective Seibold accomplished a very clever piece of work and made an important arrest in Ellicott City. On the Saturday night before the arrest, the dwelling of Mr. Isaac Strassburger, in Main street, Ellicott City, was entered during the absence of the family. The thief broke open a trunk containing a pocketbook in which was $200, made up of one $100 bill, four $20 bills, two $5 bills and $10 in silver. Chief of Police Vansant considered the robbery a very mysterious one. Captain of detectives Freburger, in this city, was applied to for assistance. He detailed Detective Seibold to cover the case. After consulting with the Ellicott City chief of police, the detective learned that suspicion pointed to a colored woman named Lizzie Johnston. The woman was known as a shrewd negress who, up to a month previously, had been a domestic in Mr. Strassburger's family. She lived about half a mile from the city. Detective Seibold disguised himself as a peddler, obtaining the outfit from a " fakir " who had been arrested a few days before in Ellicott City. Providing himself with a small tin trunk which contained spectacles, suspenders and a few cheap watches, Detective Seibold started out to ply his new vocation. The woman Johnston was leaning out of the window when the detective rapped at a door several houses above, and waited until he came to her door, and after long dickering bought a silver watch for $6. " Can you change a note, sir?" asked the woman, " If not too large, madam," replied the peddler. The woman went into the basement, and after remaining ten minutes returned and gave the detective a new crisp $100 bill, which she said was $10. Giving her $4 change the detective left. Being satisfied that he had found the guilty party, he reported the fact to State's Attorney Joseph Maguire and Chief of Police Vansant. A search warrant was obtained and the woman was put under arrest. In the cellar of the house about $70 of the remaining money was recovered. This included three of the $20 bills and most of the silver coins. Having completed his work Detective Seibold returned to Baltimore covered with glory. The newspapers contained detailed accounts of his adventure and he was loaded with congratulations.

Detective Seibold while an officer in the old Western district made many important arrests in connection with sergeant, now captain, Cadwallader. The district at that time included what are at present the Northwestern and the Southwestern districts. Mr. Seibold is well versed in the German language, and this fact has been of the greatest importance to him in his career as a detective.

In the midst of the fertile agricultural lands of Howard county, Maryland, lie the well cultivated acres of farmer John W. Rhine. The old white farm-house, covered with running rose-vines and trumpet creeper, is half hidden from the broad Marriettsville turnpike, near which it stands, by a row of thick boughed young maples that line the road in front of the door yard. The 26th of April, 1886, had been a bright, warm, spring day, and Mr. Rhine and his two hired men, wearied after long hours of labor in the fields, retired to bed as soon as they finished their evening chores. A feeling of well-earned satisfaction filled the breast of the thrifty farmer as he closed the doors of his trim barn and granary, and glancing through the small windows saw his eight well-fed horses contentedly munching their evening oats. The moon was just rising over the distant hills into the starlit heavens when the last light in the farm-house was extinguished. All was still save for the merry chirrup of the crickets. The big black Newfoundland watch dog had buried his nose between his paws on the front porch after having made a final tour about the yard, when a sinister visaged old man with white hair and a stubby gray moustache clambered stiffly over a stone wall on the opposite side of the road and made his way silently toward the shadow of the budding maple trees. The man had a peculiar limping gait, and his clothing, as shown in the bright moonlight, was old and patched, like that of an ordinary farm hand. As he shuffled stealthily along under the trees the big dog came out to meet him. It was evident that the animal knew the man, for he did not bark at him, but walked along wagging his bushy tail and looking up into the old man's face in a manner that might have indicated surprise or wonderment on the part of the intelligent brute. At the entrance to the farm yard, a few rods beyond the house, the man stooped and caressed the dog for a moment. Then snapping his fingers for the animal to follow, he led him to a kennel close by. Suspicious, yet obedient, the dog allowed himself to be chained there, and then lay down quietly, as the old man left him and walked toward the barn. Passing around to the rear entrance he poked a stick up through a knot-hole in one of the boards, and lifting the latch on the inside, opened the door without a noise. A moment later the sound of horses' hoofs as they sprang to their feet in their stalls was heard, and then all was quiet again until the old man reappeared leading a large heavily built bay mare out into the barn yard. He walked the animal around to the door of the granary, where he tied her to a ring in the side of the building. Then by poking a stick through a knot-hole in the door, as before, he entered the granary. The sound of horses' hoofs was again heard, and in a few minutes the old man again reappeared leading a neat limbed young colt, across the back of which a blanket was strapped with a surcingle. Fastening the colt to the same ring to which he had tied the big mare, he loosened the latter and led her into the granary, where he left her.

Then taking the docile colt by its headstall, the man made his way around the barn and down to the road, only stopping to speak a few low, pacifying words to the Newfoundland dog, which, at the sight of the colt, had begun to tug at his chain and growl. A short distance down the road the man again tied the colt and returned to the barn and granary, in each of which he remained for several minutes. When he left he did so hastily, looking cautiously about him, and then hobbling diagonally across the adjoining newly planted cornfield to the spot where he had left the colt. The animal suffered itself to be led close up to the stone wall, from which the old man clambered upon its back. They then disappeared quickly down the road. It had grown late, and some young farmers, a few minutes afterwards, were returning along the turnpike towards Carroll's Manor on their way home from a rural entertainment. They

had passed by the thrifty looking farm-yard and were speaking, perhaps somewhat enviously, of farmer Rhine's well filled barn and granary, when suddenly a bright light burst out about them. Each man wheeled in his tracks as if moved by the same instinct. The entire roof of John Rhine's great barn was a mass of red, leaping flames.

"Fire ! Fire!" shouted the young men, as they ran back in the direction of the conflagration. When they drew nearer they saw that the granary was also in flames. They were too late to save anything. The fire fiend raged in complete control of his prey. It was impossible to approach either building. Both were burning fiercely from within. Farmer Rhine and his family, suddenly awakened by the roar of the flames, stood helplessly by in scanty clothing as they saw the results of years of toil and economy wither away in the consuming fire. The hired men at first hurried to dash pails of water through the windows of the building, but it was a hopeless task, and the heat, too, grew so intense that they were driven away. Half dressed neighbors from adjoining farms began to hurry toward Mr. Rhine's house. They offered what words of consolation they could, but in the intensity of his grief he scarcely heard them. The roar of the flames increased as the roofs of the buildings began to cave in. Burning brands flew high into the air and floated away in the great column of brown smoke, till they became scarcely distinguishable from the stars. Then the floors of both the barn and the granary fell through. The heavy mowing machine, which was standing on the barn floor, was heard as it fell upon a new light buggy that had been put in the basement of the building the previous day. One of the great doors burned from its hinges at the top, fell over, and the unfortunate horses were seen still struggling in their horrible agony. In the granary there were three horses. Some boards being burned away at the top fell outward, and showed the poor animals here also kicking and writhing in mortal pain.

The holocaust was soon over, and the neighbors with parting words of sympathy dispersed to their homes. They had done nothing. They could do nothing. Leaving one of the hired men to keep watch, Mr. Rhine and the family sadly returned to their beds to get what needed sleep they could. Meanwhile the old man had ridden the colt rapidly in the direction of Baltimore. It was evident that the jolting of the

animal caused him pain, for he grasped the animal's mane tightly to steady himself, and once in a while gave vent to a low curse. When he had gone about two miles he drew his horse up on one side of the road and turned his face in the direction from which he had come. Thus far no one had passed him on the way. He had been standing scarcely a minute when the blaze of light burst out upon the sky from farmer Rhine's burning barns. Then quickly taking a firmer hold of the colt's mane with one hand, and in the other holding the halter which he had converted into a bridle by tying it tightly around the animal's under jaw, he resumed his rapid ride towards Baltimore. At the outskirts of the city the old man dismounted, and throwing away the blanket and surcingle, began to lead the animal. The sun was peeping above the tall roofs of the great city and had faded the gray dawn into daylight when the first person appeared who had crossed the old man's path since he left Mr. Rhine's farm-yard.

This man appeared to be a farmer. He was driving a two-horse truck-wagon out toward the country. The old man stopped him, and in broken English of a German accent, asked him to buy the colt. But the farmer refused and drove on. The next person the old man met was also a farmer, and to him, too, the colt was unsuccessfully offered for sale. Having been thus twice repulsed the man did not again approach anybody until he reached the Marsh Market, where he met a man named Quigley, an English gypsy, who lived in a cottage at Homestead, Baltimore county. Quigley made a business of trading horses, and he readily bought the colt when it was offered to him for $75. The gypsy's son, a bright, blackeyed boy about eleven years old was standing by when his father paid the old man the money. The latter took the roll of bills eagerly, and with trembling hand unbuttoned a curious leathern flap that covered his trousers pocket. He put the money in the pocket, and after feeling of it carefully several times to make sure it was there, laboriously buttoned the flap down again. At the time when this scene was taking place the farm-yard of Mr. Rhine in Howard county presented a rueful appearance. The black, sooty ruins of his barn and granary lay within their stone foundations, still smoking in some places. The charred remains of the horses and other livestock lay half exposed in the ashes. It was a severe blow that had fallen upon farmer Rhine, and the grief of his family was deep and poignant. But in their great sorrow the calamity which seemed to sink deepest into their hearts was the death of their beautiful colt, which they called " Billy." He was Mrs. Rhine's particular pet. Her lamentations were all for him. "My poor Billy," she cried; "burned to death. He will never come to the door to beg for sugar again !" And the griefstricken lady again burst into tears. Farmer Rhine sat silently on the broad stone door-step of the farm-house kitchen. A number of the neighbors dropped in to see the results of the conflagration, and various speculations as to the probable cause of the fire were discussed. An old maiden lady who lived in a small cottage about a quarter of a mile down the road advanced the opinion that it was the result of Divine wrath, for she had seen Mr. Rhine trimming his grape vines on the previous Sabbath. The suggestion was countenanced if not exactly upheld by the Baptist dominie who had driven up in his buggy. But the more practical neighbors were convinced that the buildings must have been deliberately set on fire. Suddenly a cry of surprise was heard from one of the farm-hands, who had been poking over the ruins in idle curiosity with the long handle of a rake which had been left standing against the barn the night before, and the teeth of which had been burned away. He had discovered that there were but four car cases lying underneath the barn where five horses had been left the night before. The big bay mare which had been in the middle stall was missing. A hasty examination of the ruins of the granary showed three car cases lying there, which was the right number. The incendiary, then, was a thief, who had stolen the old mare and had burned down the two buildings to conceal his crime ! It seemed too heartless to be true. Yet there was the big bay missing while the remains of the other animals were in their places. Desperate with grief and indignation, Mr. Rhine hastened to the nearest telephone and called up the marshal of the police in Baltimore. Marshal Frey had just arrived at his office as the telephone bell rang, and he answered it in person. He heard the farmer's brief story, and at once put the case into the hands of detectives. Captain Lewis W. Cadwallader, a most able and efficient officer, was at that time at the head of the detective bureau.

He immediately warned his men to look out for anybody trying to sell a " large round-bellied bay mare," which was the description the farmer had given of his missing animal. Mr. Rhine came to Baltimore the same afternoon and called upon the marshal. Captain Cadwallader's detectives had returned and reported that they could find no animal answering the description given among the horses offered for sale in the city. Detectives Freburger and Pontier said, however, that they had come upon a young bay gelding in the hands of a gypsy named Quigley, who lived out on the Belair road, in Baltimore county, which the gypsy had purchased that morning under suspicious circumstances, having paid only $75 for the animal, its real value being nearer $250.

"You'd better go out and see the colt," suggested the marshal to Mr. Rhine. "No ; there's no use in doing that," replied the farmer in a hopeless voice. " My horse is a big bay mare. No one could mistake her for a colt." " But why not try it ?" persisted the marshal. " This colt is the only horse sold about here this morning by a stranger, and the animal you describe is not in any stable in the city." But argument was useless. The farmer replied somewhat peevishly that he had experienced enough trouble in one twenty four hours without undertaking a wild goose chase in addition. He promised, however, to examine the car cases in the ruins when he reached home, to make certain which horse was missing. Heavy hearted, Mr. Rhine turned his face homeward. As he entered the gate of his front yard his Avife met him and cried excitedly: " It's colt 'Billy' that's been stolen, not the big mare!" — " How do you know ?" demanded the farmer in astonishment. " Why, the blacksmith was here, and he noticed that there were shoes on all the dead horses, while the colt had never been shod!" Sure enough. The bay mare had been substituted in the colt's stall before the fire. " Then the detectives were right after all," exclaimed Mr. Rhine. " If it's not too late; we will get back our ' Billy.' ' A spark of joy lighted up the gloom that had fallen upon the household, and preparations were made for the return of the family pet. The thief had evidently placed the other horse in the colt's stall, so that if the loss was discovered a wrong description would be given the police. Farmer Rhine was at police headquarters in Baltimore next morning almost before the marshal. Somewhat shamefacedly he apologized to Mr. Frey for his stubbornness on the previous day, and begged to be directed to the place where the gypsy Quigley lived. Captain Cadwallader and detective Freburger, who had found the colt the day before, went to Homestead with Mr. Rhine. As they approached the place the latter recognized the colt standing in a field, and gave a peculiar whistle. The animal raised his head, and seeing his master, ran toward him with a neigh of joy. Tears came to the farmer's eyes as the affectionate beast stretched its head over his shoulder and then sniffed at his pockets for the accustomed lump of sugar. The gypsy allowed the colt to be led away without protest when detective Seibold told him how it had been stolen, and he gave a minute description of the man from whom he had bought the animal.

* * * * * *

But the night of the conflagration was not the first appearance of the old man on Mr. Rhine's farm. The dastardly outrage committed by the aged incendiary and thief was accompanied by circumstances which made the crime doubly atrocious. It was a chilly evening some months before the events above related took place, when the same old man arrived, hungry, foot-sore and shivering at the door of Mr. Rhine's house. The man was so old and his condition so pitiable that the kind-hearted farmer, accustomed as he was to the sight of tramps, took him in and gave him food and shelter. All through the winter until late in

the following March the old man was allowed to stay there. He did light work about the place and received regular wages from Mr. Rhine. On three occasions during that time he fell sick and was nursed with motherly care by Mrs. Rhine. Toward the close of March, just as the season was at hand when he might have been of some use on the farm, the old man suddenly made up his mind to go to Baltimore. The following day he left, after bidding all a friendly adieu. What he did in Baltimore was never known. He was of an extremely economical disposition, in fact miserly, and he had in his possession the whole of the wages Mr. Rhine had paid him during the winter. He was probably living on this money up to the time he went out to his benefactor's farm on the night of April 20, and set his buildings on fire. For a long time the identity of the perpetrator of the outrage was an unfathomable mystery. The detectives were certain that he was someone who had lived on the farm, and were from the

first strongly inclined to suspect the old man, whose name was Henry Leentoe. Mr. Rhine and every member of his household were so positive, however, that "old Henry" would never be guilty of such a crime, that the police did not publicly charge that he was the guilty man. They hunted for him, nevertheless, high and low throughout Baltimore and the State, but without success. Finally Marshal Frey caused a thousand postal cards, containing the description of the old man as given by the gypsy Quigley and his little son, to be printed and sent to the police departments in every part of the country. Several replies to the card were received at the police headquarters, but none of them proved satisfactory. On one occasion two detectives were sent to Newberne, North Carolina, to look at a man who had been arrested on suspicion in that town. But he proved an alibi and was released. Finally, more than three months after the commission of the crime, on the morning of July 26, 1886, the Marshal found among the letters in his morning mail one bearing the imprint of the sheriff's office of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. The letter stated that an aged German, who exactly answered the description given of the barn-burner on the postal card received from the Baltimore police headquarters, was in custody at the Lancaster jail. The man was known in Lancaster county, having been convicted there in 1870 of a similar crime, and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. He served the whole term, less the commutation for good behavior. Detective Seibold and patrolman Frank Devon were sent at once to Lancaster.

After interviewing the prisoner they were convinced that they had run down the right man at last. In his possession were found the trousers with the leathern flaps over the pockets, which the son of the gypsy Quigley had described. The aged prisoner was evidently accustomed to his surroundings in jail. He was dogged when spoken to about barn-burning, however, neither effectually denying nor admitting it. The gypsy boy was sent for and the old man was brought before him for identification in the midst of a dozen other aged prisoners.

The boy stepped up to him at once and pointed him out, saying: " Don't you see he's got something the matter with his eye, the way I told you ?" Mr. Rhine was then shown the prisoner, and recognized him at once as "old Henry." Not until that moment was the farmer thoroughly convinced that he was the guilty man. At the sight of Mr. Rhine the aged criminal endeavored to turn away. Hardened as he was, he was unable to meet the eye of the man whose kindness he had abused so atrociously. The farmer did not speak. "With one reproachful glance at the prisoner he turned and left the room. A requisition signed by the Governor of Maryland effected the delivery of the white-haired scoundrel to the custody of Detectives Seibold and Freburger, who brought him to Baltimore. He was shortly afterward tried in Ellicott City, Howard county, on a charge of horse-stealing and convicted. The leather-patched trousers found in the prisoner's possession in Lancaster played an important part in the trial. Judges Miller and Jones sentenced him to fourteen years imprisonment from October 6, 1886. The maximum penalty for arson in the first degree, such as old Leentoe had been guilty of, is death, in the State of Maryland. His best chance to escape this punishment lay in pleading guilty when arraigned on the other indictment for barn-burning. His counsel, assigned to him by the court, advised him thus. He therefore plead guilty, and Judge Duffy, of the Baltimore Criminal Court, before whom he was brought this time, sentenced him to twelve years additional in the Maryland penitentiary, making twenty-six years in all. As the prisoner was sixty-nine years of age when sentenced, he will probably never live to see freedom.

The career of Leentoe, as developed at the trial in Ellicott City, had been a most extraordinary one. He emigrated from Germany in 1853 and lived for some years in the mountain counties of Maryland, until he was convicted of horse-stealing in 1858, and sentenced to nine years imprisonment. After serving this long term he drifted up into York and Lancaster counties, Pennsylvania, where he fell into the hands of the law several times for small offences and suffered short imprisonments. Finally, as has been stated above, he was convicted of horsestealing and barn-burning, and sent to prison for twenty years in 1870. This crime bore a remarkable resemblance to the one in Howard county. He stole a bay horse from the stable of his employer, a large farmer, one night, and then to conceal his crime set fire to the building. Seventeen horses and cows perished in the flames. He was met by two neighbors of the farmer about a mile from the burning barn with the stolen horse in his possession. He was arrested, and the horse being quickly identified, was held for trial. More than two-thirds of the man's life since he landed in America has been spent in prison. He has come to regard a cell as his natural home, and after his late trial he said he was happier in confinement than free.

THE DETECTIVE FORCE (concluded)

Among the most widely known detectives on the police force is William Henry Droste. His life has been an exceedingly eventful one, having to do with the stirring scenes of the civil war, as well as those scarcely less exciting events which occur in the life of a patrolman and detective. He is a man of large physique and of immense muscular development. His features are clean cut; his nose betokening to the student of physiognomy an incisive and inquiring intelligence. His eyes are sharp and noticeably bright. He wears a slight black moustache. His career as a policeman has- been a long one, and he has made quite as many arrests as any other member of the force. The heads of the department place the greatest confidence in his judgment and sagacity. Mr. Droste was born at No. 107 Hill street, the same house in which he now lives, on October 16, 1838. His father's name was John II. Droste; he was a German blacksmith. Young Droste, from the outset, was of adventurous disposition, and as a result he did not altogether fancy the confinements of school life, so when he was quite a boy his father apprenticed him to a firm of ship joiners, Messrs. John E. Mills & Brother. He did not remain long in their yard, but he clung to his trade and finished his apprenticeship in the employ of Skinner Brothers. Droste worked at his trade until the breaking out of the war. He was a warm Southern sympathizer, and no sooner had the first gun been fired than he went South. He was employed by the Confederate Government as a ship-joiner and was put to work upon the famous Merrimac, then building. Mr. Droste claims that he did about the last bit of work on that terror of Northern shipping. He placed the " combing" above the batteries which had so much to do with making her armor so effectual a defense against the shots of the Federal men-of-war. When the Merrimac was completed Mr. Droste went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was to do considerable work reconstructing some river steamers into gun-boats. He got there just about as the battle at Fort Donelson was being fought. On the Saturday previous to the surrender of Donelson, Mr. Droste and a number of other men were sent down the Cumberland river with orders to erect works, so that further navigation could be obstructed. On Sunday, however, work on these forts was stopped and the place abandoned, for Donelson had fallen and the Federal troops were practically masters of the entire region. Two large river steamers upon which Mr. Droste had been working were burned, partly on his suggestion, in order to save them from capture by the enemy. Nashville, after the surrender of Donelson, became rather warm for Confederates, owing to the arrival of the Northern army, and so Mr. Droste went to Richmond, where he was immediately employed in the construction of what was then known as the " Ladies' Gun-Boat," but which was afterwards given the name of " The Virginia." After this work was ended Mr. Droste enlisted in the Confederate army and served at the battles of Drury's Bluff and Seven Pines.

But even war was not adventurous enough for Mr. Droste. He wanted something that was more exciting—perhaps, too, more profitable. So he began blockade-running. His first trip was from the Potomac river to Baltimore, in an eleven-foot metal life-boat, for the purpose of getting supplies for the army. His trip was comparatively uneventful. He returned to his starting-point in a big fishing-boat, in company with four other men and with a load of valuable army and navy stores. This trip turned in a large amount of money. The profits enabled Mr. Droste to make a much more extended trip the next time; he went to New York, purchased supplies there, made the run down the coast without event and landed safe and sound on the Virginia shore. The next trip was somewhat disastrous. He had made a run from Curtis's creek, near Baltimore, to the Virginia shore in a small boat laden with valuable supplies. He entered the Potomac and made his way to the Kappahannock river, landing finally in a little stream running into the larger body of water. At about that time a regiment of Federal cavalry was raiding the North Neck, but of this Mr. Droste was not aware. He could see the morning after he came to anchor that there had been trouble on the other side of the river, and he determined to cross to ascertain the reasons. He found out with a promptness that was not immensely amusing to him, for a squad of cavalry swooped down upon him and captured both him and his goods. He was taken up to the military prison at Falmouth, and after being imprisoned there for a short time was paroled. He -immediately went " down country" again and got some goods which his friends had saved for him, amounting in value to perhaps $400; this put him on his feet again, and he made another trip to New York, which was very successful. This expedition was so profitable that he resolved to repeat it on a larger scale. He chartered a boat called the Cora Hatch, and loaded her with leather hose for the Richmond fire department and hemp packing for the water department of the same city. He purchased a big yawl and put it on the Cora Hatch, intending to use it for the landing of the goods when the Southern lines should be reached.

Mr. Droste cleared New York all right and got down the coast without event until the Virginia shore was reached. Then one very dark night the yawl was run overboard and the goods were packed into her. Mr. Droste was in the yawl helping to load when he discovered, to his alarm, that she was not water-tight.

The men on the Hatch persisted, however, in loading her down, and despite Mr. Droste's protestations, piled the valuable supplies so high that the yawl was actually top-heavy. Then the Captain cut her adrift with Mr. Droste and two other men on board. The party in the yawl thought the shore was only a short distance away but they were mistaken. The darkness of the night had deceived them. The boat was unseaworthy and the breakers were dangerous. At every lurch the boat shipped large quantities of water, soaking the supplies and threatening the men with death. They tore the crowns out of their hats and tried to bail, but the water came in faster than they could get it out, and they felt that the probabilities of their ever seeing shore again were very small. Bailing and rowing alternately they had got near the shore when a big wave struck the boat and she almost filled and was about to sink, when Mr. Droste tossed over the goods, losing within five minutes nearly $5,000. Finally only a trunk and a

keg of whisky were left. Tearing open the former, Mr. Droste seized the tray and used it with such good results that the boat was made navigable again. But all three men were exhausted from the terrible exertions they had made to save their lives. The Afhisky brought them strength again and they finally reached the shore nearly expiring from their long exposure. Mr. Droste had just sufficient strength to enable him to drag himself to a farm-house nearby. There, after telling of his companions, he fell to the floor, remaining unconscious for two days. His feet had been frozen, and had it not been for his extraordinarily strong constitution he would never have recovered from his experience.

He gathered together the remainder of his goods on board the Cora Hatch and recovered sufficient from their sale to repair his losses. Not yet disheartened he returned to New York, and on his next trip cleared about $20,000. Again he went back to the metropolis, and buying a large boat loaded it up with all sorts of supplies. Among the men whom he consented to have return with him was a young man who had been sent North by Colonel Kane, afterwards Mayor of Baltimore, for the purpose of buying clothing for the Confederate troops. He had a big hand-bag with him containing, unknown to Mr. Droste, documents important to the Confederate Government and addressed to President Jefferson Davis. The boat made its way to the Narrows in New York harbor, and had got right under the guns of the forts when she was stopped and boarded by a number of detectives. Inquiries followed and were answered apparently satisfactorily when one of the officers suggested that a search be made. The suggestion was carried out, when, to the delight of the Federal detectives and the consternation of Mr. Droste, the hand-bag was discovered. It was opened, its contents discovered and the men on the boat were immediately placed under arrest. The unfortunate owner of the bag was sent to Boston, to be tried as a spy. He would have been hanged in all probability had ho not leaped from a window of the train on the way there and so escaped. Mr. Droste was held a prisoner on his boat for about six weeks, when the war was ended and he was discharged. He immediately entered business in New York as a butcher, and remained until the autumn of 1805, when he went to New Orleans and worked at his trade as ship-joiner for six months, making considerable money and many friends. After a few months he returned to Baltimore and again worked at his trade until June 5, 1868, when he was appointed a patrolman on the police force of this city and was assigned to the Southern District, then commanded by Captain (now Marshal) Frey. Since that time Mr. Droste has been concerned in the detection and arrest of so many criminals that the mere enumeration of them would exceed the limits of this sketch. There have been few great crimes occurring in this city during the last fifteen years that he has not assisted the police department in ferreting out. His name appears frequently in the narratives in other chapters, and he is deservedly regarded as one of the shrewdest and most experienced men under Captain Freburger. His first murder case was the shooting of Samuel Barrett in 1870. The hight had been given over to political parades, the partisan feeling in that year running very high. The Democrats were marching through all the main streets, cheering for their candidates and arousing enthusiasm among the citizens of like faith. At Gay and Baltimore streets a party of men, all Republicans, were standing talking with Mr. Barrett about the chances for victory. As the Democratic procession marched along Barrett answered its cheers with one for his candidate. The Seventeenth Ward Association happened to be passing at the time and a row immediately ensued, in the midst of which a pistol-shot was fired from the ranks of the procession and Barrett fell dead. A meagre description of the murderer was given to the police, and the case was turned over to Sergeant Droste, who had obtained that rank on April 21. The Sergeant followed clew after clew, which led to a notorious character named "Dick" Willing, and finally fastened the crime upon him so conclusively that he felt himself justified in arresting him. But the court required direct evidence instead of such as Mr. Droste had secured and Willing was acquitted. It was in this year that the negro emancipation celebration was held in Baltimore, and Sergeant Droste saw what was perhaps his severest service on the force. For two days and nights he was unable to get any sleep, so necessary was it for the police to guard the public from any possible race riots. Sergeant Droste remained in the Southern District until March 18, 1875, when he was transferred to the Middle, or what is now the Central District. It was while in this District that he had the greatest number of cases, as he served both as reserve and patrol sergeant and so was continuously occupied. He made frequent raids upon gambling houses and policy-shops, and acquired an enviable distinction by always succeeding in making these raids effectual, not alone seizing the "lay-out," but capturing his men. Among his arrests during his service as sergeant, was that of Charles Spottswood, a notorious old thief, who had a record as dark as that of any criminal in the country.

He had just left the penitentiary after serving out a sentence of fourteen years, during which time he had made a desperate attempt to escape, and when captured by Mr. Droste was fresh from a daring burglary in the upper part of the city. He was sent back to the penitentiary. On November 6, 1876,

Sergeant Droste captured Edward Lillie, alias Henry A. Watson, a confidence man whose work has extended over all parts of the country. When arrested he had just swindled a Baltimorean out of $280, and was enjoying himself hugely with his ill-gotten gains. He gave Mr. Droste no trouble in the arrest, the description given of the swindler being so good that he was captured within a very short time. On December 31, 1878, the Sergeant secured the conviction of Henry Snitzer, a notorious thief, for stealing a large amount of tobacco from some downtown warehouses. Snitzer was tried on two indictments and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years and four months. Sergeant Droste was transferred from the Central District to service on the detective squad at police headquarters on April 16, 1882. Since that time he has been steadily engaged as a secret service officer, and has frequently received the thanks of the department for his work. It was on January 16, 1883, that Detective Droste captured one of the most dangerous criminals. in the country, a confidence man named Benjamin Spandauer. He pretended that he was expecting to receive a large amount of money from Germany, and on" these expectations he induced an old German living in this city to advance him §1,500. He also fastened his claws upon a divorce case at that time, and by, as the police termed it, "playing the two ends against the middle," succeeded in swindling all the parties out of a very large sum of money. The descriptions furnished of Spandauer were so accurate that Detective Droste had little difficulty in running the fellow down and getting him a sentence of three years in prison. When he was released he was promptly arrested and sent back for another crime. In April, 1883, the up-town police districts were visited and "worked" with much thoroughness by a gang of burglars from New York. These men were in the habit of visiting the houses they intended to enter, early in the evening while the families were at church or at places of amusement, and within half an hour ransack each place. The only clew that could be obtained was the fact that in one house the detectives found a piece of watch chain which had been apparently broken while the owner was endeavoring to escape. Detective Droste, shortly after this clew was found, arrested John Randall, James Howard, and George W. Boadley as suspicious characters. Their lodgings were searched and there a quantity of "stuff" was found which clearly proved that they were criminals of considerable importance. In the fire-place of one of the rooms was found the remainder of the watch chain. Upon this evidence the men were sent to the penitentiary for four years.

On September 17, 1884, Detective Droste captured another New York criminal who was reaping a harvest in this city. His name was James Lee, and he was known to have swindled persons in almost every large city in the country. His manner of working was to ring the doorbell of a house which he knew had been left in charge of servants while the family was in Europe, and inform the person who answered the summons that the family had sent a case of goods home "from the other side." "This case is now at your disposal," he would explain. " There are $9.98 still due upon it, and if you will pay that amount you may have this bill of lading which will entitle you to the goods." The $9.98 was forthcoming in almost every instance. A photograph of such a swindler was obtained from New York and was identified by one of the victims. Detective Droste followed this clew with so much celerity that within twenty-four hours he had found out where Lee lived and had arrested him. Lee got a long term in the penitentiary.

Detective Droste prides himself upon the fact that he has never yet been attacked by a prisoner or received any bodily injury in the discharge of his duty. Detective Thomas Barranger was born in this city on March 14, 1845. He was educated in the public schools, and entered the Police department when twenty-two years old, receiving the appointment as patrolman on July 20, 1867, and being assigned to duty at the Central Station. He was promoted to a Sergeancy in his district on September 9, 1874, and was transferred to the City Hall for detective duty on April 3, 1883. The first case of importance with which Detective Barranger was connected was the capture, after a most exciting chase, of an escaped negro convict named Albert Fortune, from the Richmond, Virginia, penitentiary. Fortune was a notorious horse thief and was undergoing a long term of confinement when he conceived an ingenious escape. A wall was building around the prison yard and a derrick had been erected within the inclosure. By some means Fortune secured a rope and file which he secreted in his cell. He then sawed through the bars over his window and throwing his rope over one of the derrick's guys, swung himself to the top of the wall, jumped to the ground and was at liberty. Circulars announcing his escape were sent over the country, and the police here were on the look-out for the fugitive. On the morning of April 19, 1873, Officer Barranger and Sergeant Frazier espied a negro on Baltimore street, who they thought answered the description of Fortune, and followed him. Before the man reached Liberty street he knew he was observed, and ran, with Barranger and Frazier in hot pursuit. He turned into Liberty street, and three or four citizens who tried to stop him were knocked down. He then tried to burst open the door of a house, hoping to escape through the dwelling. By the delay caused by this attempt Officer Barranger was enabled to come up with him, but while reaching out to grab his man the policeman was thrown violently to the ground. The fugitive then ran through a feed store in Liberty street, above Fayette street, up stairs through a bed room, upsetting a cradle with a baby in it on his way, jumped out of the second story window to the yard below, scaled a fence nearly twenty feet high into Park street, and then ran through several other houses and got into Lexington street, where the officers ran him to cover in a soap factory, and brought him to bay under a tank, after levelling their revolvers at him and threatening to shoot him. He offered his captors $300 to "go about their business.',' They turned him over to the Richmond authorities. Fortune was desperate, and succeeded in escaping from the Richmond officers between Washington and that city. He was recaptured, however, and returned to the penitentiary.

On July 11, 1872, Officer Barranger arrested "Dick" Moore, Frank Johnson and "Jere " Crosson, all colored, for highway robbery. They "held up " an old colored man named Edward Davis, who had just returned from Guano Island, and robbed him of $74.50. Mr. Barranger happened to be coming along the street and heard the cry of " police ! " Seeing three men running, he gave chase and captured one at Ilolliday and Fayette streets. The other two he arrested subsequently in South street. The three culprits were each sentenced to two years imprisonment. On January 13, 1871, he arrested George Dexter, alias Wilson, for burglary at Bernard's restaurant, where he stole $60 worth of cigars. Dexter was sentenced to three years imprisonment. On July 2, 1882, he "picked up " John S. Thro, a bogus check man, for passing a worthless check for $40 on Charles McCrae. On the night of Saturday, June 4, 1882, Edward H. Frames was shot and killed in the northeastern district. Late in the evening young Frames and a companion named Weldon observed two men and a woman going towards McKim's Hill, and the young men followed them. Without warning one of the men with the woman turned and fired a pistol, killing Frames. The case excited great interest and a large number of officers were engaged on it. During the' next day, Sunday, Officer Barranger and Sergeant Ryan succeeded in locating the woman who had accompanied the murderer, and she made a confession to. The officers. They accordingly proceeded to arrest Charles, alias " Polly " Hopkins, whom they found at Greenmount avenue and Eager streets. The next day Charles Digan surrendered himself at the Marshal's office, as the other man in the party. Hopkins was tried in Baltimore County for the murder of Frames and convicted, and is now serving his sentence of eighteen years. Digan was tried in Baltimore City and acquitted. Miles Jackson was arrested by Sergeant Barranger on February 23, 1883, for burglary in the store of Robert Bogue, where Jackson was employed as porter. Jackson broke into the place with a hatchet in the night-time and stole silks valued at $465. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment. On March 20, 1875, Harry Loughlin, a notorious thief, since dead, was arrested by Sergeant Barranger for stealing a gold watch worth $165 from George T. Clark. He also arrested William Emry, alias " Husky Bill," a notorious pickpocket, on September 3, 1878; George Croswell on October 9, 1878, who was convicted in six cases of obtaining goods on false pretences from different merchants, and was sentenced to two years imprisonment and to pay $50 fine; on April 12, 1879, he captured Mary Lanehart for picking the pocket of Miss Amanda Smith of $27; and on July 3, 1880, he arrested Charles Benderfield on the charge of embezzlement of $500 from Kruger Brothers. The notorious bank-sneaks, "Jim " Burns and "Tom" McCormack made Sergeant Barranger's acquaintance in his official capacity on December 1, 1876, when he arrested them here and locked them up. They were picked up before they had done any work in the city, and after being detained several days were sent out of town. Burns is now serving a term in a European prison and McCormack is in durance somewhere in the West. On the same day that he made these arrests Sergeant Barranger captured George Harris, alias " Old Boston," and James B. Norris, alias "Jimmy" Brown, also bank-sneaks, as suspicious persons and made them leave the city limits. On the night of September 14, 1883, during the "Oriole," Barringer noticed a man at Baltimore and Eutaw streets acting in a suspicious manner in the crowd and arrested him. His prisoner turned out to be John Nolan, alias McGovern, and on him were found seven pocket-books which he had stolen. Six cases were proved against him and ho was sentenced to four years in the penitentiary.

On information received from the authorities of Talbot county, Maryland, Detective Barranger was detailed to find William Harris, alias "Jim" Wilson, who was charged with stealing a team in that county. Accordingly on September 16, 1884, he arrested his man in Paca street with the stolen property in his possession. Harris was turned over to an officer of Talbot county, who after placing hand-cuifs on his prisoner's wrists started back home with him. On his way Harris jumped from the train while it was in motion and made his escape. Going to a farm-house about three miles from Upper Marlborough, he represented to the farmer that he was a commercial traveler and had been attacked by a party of tramps who hand-cuffed him and then robbed him of his goods and money. The farmer believing his story had a team hooked up and sent his son and a colored man as driver to carry Harris to Upper Marlborough, where he said he wanted to go and have the manacles cut off his wrists. Shortly after starting he knocked his two companions out of the wagon, and driving within a mile of the town turned the team loose. He then secured the services of an old negro to cut off the hand-cuffs, imposing on him with the same story he had told the farmer. Through this negro he was afterwards brought to justice. About six months' after he was arrested in Laurel, Maryland, where he had married and engaged in business. Harris was convicted and sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment. On December 29, 1883, Detective Barranger arrested John Saylor, alias "Hen" Smith, for robbery committed upon Wells, Fargo & Co. in California. Saylor had been "wanted" for five or six months, and circulars had been sent to the police throughout the country with his description. Detective Barranger and Captain Cadwallader succeeded in locating him at a well-known saloon in this city, and learned that he intended to set sail for Europe on the following day. They arrested him at Fell's Point on his way to the ship. William Lee, alias Burch, alias Layton, a bogus Custom-house officer, fell into Detective Barranger's net on February 21, 1884. Lee's plan of operations was to go to various institutions and represent that a valuable cabinet of minerals had arrived from Europe for the institution, which would be delivered on payment of the custom duties. Eight cases were proved against him and he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Another criminal in the same line of business was James Lee, alias "Joe" Hartman, alias J. E. Cottman, alias Harman Goethe, who was arrested by Detective Barranger accompanied by Detective Droste, on September 18, 1884. His victims were private citizens, Mrs. Ross Winans being among the number. He pleaded guilty to eight charges and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Lee had previously served a term in New York where he was arrested by Detective Silas Rogers. Thomas Mitchell was arrested by Detective Barranger on December 26, 1884, for burglary and sentenced to two years in the House of Correction. On June 21, 1885, he arrested John Smith, colored, for a burglary committed in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He recovered all the stolen property. Smith was returned to Martinsburg and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. One "would hardly expect to find among the ranks of desperate criminals a deaf mute, but such was John Bitzer, a horse-thief, whom Detective Barranger arrested on August 8,1885. The stolen horse was sold at a bazaar in this city and was subsequently recovered in Kent county. Barranger arrested Bitzer on a Saturday night at a little inn at Tomansville, Baltimore county. Congregated about the place were forty or fifty white and colored men who evidently sympathized with Bitzer. The latter " showed fight" when the detective undertook to arrest him.

"See here," called out the bartender, when Barranger attempted to put the hand-cuffs on his prisoner, " don't you hurt that man," and the crowd grew threatening. "I'll put these hand-cuffs on him or kill him," replied the detective as he drew his revolver. "Permit me to assist you," said the awed bartender, and the bracelets were adjusted and the prisoner removed. A pair of "bunco-steerers" were balked in their game by Detective Barranger on February 18, 1886. He observed the men first in Baltimore street and thinking they were " crooks" he watched them. Presently they approached the Rev. Dr. Gouchar of Baltimore county and inveigled him into a room on St. Paul street above Mulberry street. Barranger immediately sent word to headquarters for assistance, and Detectives Pontier and Freburger came. While Detective Freburger covered the rear of the house, Barranger and Pontier entered, arrested the men and captured their "lay-out" and "boodle." The prisoners were "Tom" O'Brien, alias Hudson and George Post, alias Potter. They gave bail and decamped.

A Washington confidence man named Robert Johnson, alias "Bob" Murphy, was arrested by Detective Barranger on May 31, 1883, for obtaining by a confidence game §200 from John W. Waters, in Washington. Johnson was returned to that city for trial. On August 15, 1883, he arrested Came Shibe, alias Trayner, for robbing Robert Comas of $200. On October 12, 1883, he captured Walter Gordon, colored, for stealing a gold watch and chain valued at §150 from Daniel Hays. Gordon was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary.

A notorious "fence" was caught by Detective Barranger on March 15, 1884, when he arrested Franklin C. Bishop. For a long time the cars of the Baltimore and Ohio, Northern Central, and Philadelphia, "Wilmington and Baltimore Railroads had been subject to the depredations of thieves, but the efforts to discover them were unavailing. Finally Detectives Barranger and Gault traced a stolen caddy of tobacco to Bishop's place, made a raid and recovered more than two wagon loads of stolen property. With Bishop they also arrested Foley Humphries, George Biley, George Billups, and " Jake " Emerine, all boys. who had been robbing the cars and carrying the plunder to Bishop. The boys were sent to the House of Correction and Bishop is now serving a term of three years under a conviction for receiving stolen goods in another case. After these arrests the depredations on the railroad cars ceased, the whole gang being broken up.

Early in the summer of 1886, a young man calling himself J. E. Adams made his appearance in Baltimore, evidently attracted by the facilities of enjoyment offered a man of means by the gay city. He immediately began a life of dissipation, and among a certain class soon became known for his lavish expenditure of money. He rented a furnished house on Raborg street above Pine street, in which he installed a woman known as Sadie Gordon. Two other women were soon after placed there under his protection. Drives, expensive suppers, and all the associations of a fast life was the daily program of young Adams and his female companions. Shortly after the arrival of the stranger, information was received at police headquarters that one Charles H. Hock, a clerk in the office of the West Shore Railroad Company at Boston, had stolen $837 of the company's money and absconded. The case was placed in Detective Barranger's hands, and an investigation disclosed that the fast young man, Adams, and the embezzling clerk, Hock, were identical, and on July 9, 1886, Detective Barranger took him into custody at the house on Raborg street. He was turned over to Inspector Watts of Boston, and taken to that city for trial. Detective Stephen J. O'Neill's connection 'with the police force of Baltimore began on June 22, 1875, when he was appointed a patrolman and assigned to duty in the Western District.

He was never connected with any other district than the Western until he received his assignment to the Detective Squad onNovember 11, 1880. Mr. O'Neill was born in Philadelphia on December 12,1848. When he was seven months old his parents moved to Baltimore. Since that time he has lived constantly in this city. As a boy he attended the St. Peters Roman Catholic school, and afterwards learned the trade of machine moulding in the Mount Clare shops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company. His apprenticeship ended in 18G9, and at once obtaining employment as a journeyman, he worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Company for six years, or until his appointment to the police force in 1875. In 1881, on September 6, he was promoted to be sergeant, and three years later, having done much meritorious service in that position, he was raised to the rank of lieutenant. His commission was dated July 17, 1884. Finally, having acquired a good deal of celebrity by his arrest of John Thomas Ross, the murderer of Emily Brown, in the notorious burking case, and a vacancy occurring in the detective squad, he received an appointment as a detective on November 11, 1880. The story of Mr. O'Neill's career on the police force is full of thrilling encounters with noted thieves, and sensational incidents in which celebrated criminals find the leading parts. He is now considered one of the ablest officers on the detective force.

In 1877, while he was a patrolman in the Western District, he arrested a notorious negro ruffian named Matamora Cole. Policeman O'Neill was patrolling his beat on Howard street, when he saw Cole, whom he knew to be a professional sneak thief, enter Hecht's pawn-shop with a large quantity of clothing on his arm. O'Neill followed the fellow into the pawn-shop and found him trying to drive a bargain with the proprietor for the sale of the articles. „ Convinced that the goods were stolen the policeman sharply questioned the negro concerning them, and not receiving satisfactory replies to his queries took him into custody. The negro carried the clothing, consisting of coats, trousers, a saddle cloth, a riding habit, etc., on his right arm, while the policeman grasped his left. Suddenly the thief turned and quick as a flash flung the things around his captor's feet, completely tying him up. He then wrenched himself loose and started to run. Finding himself unable to move Officer O'Neill drew his pistol, and firing two or three shots into the air in rapid succession called to the fellow to halt. The latter, frightened at the whizz of a bullet close by his ear, obeyed. By this time the policeman had succeeded in ridding his feet of the incumbrance about them and he recaptured his man. It was discovered on reaching the station that the articles which Cole was trying to pawn had been stolen by him the night before, November 21, from the carriage house of Dr. George Rueling, in the rear of his residence, No. 79 West Monument street. Cole was sentenced to four years confinement in the Maryland State Penitentiary at hard labor. In prison he gave his keepers no end of trouble. He refused to work, and being forced to do so spoiled large quantities of the material which was put into his hands. He was finally set to cutting leather shoe soles, with a man watching him constantly to prevent him from doing mischief. Finding himself absolutely forced to work, he one day thrust his hand into a steam cutting machine and had the tops of the fingers of his left hand cut off. This expedient was unsuccessful, for as soon as the wound healed sufficiently he was set to laboring harder than ever. He was released in 1881, and shortly afterward was convicted of another theft and recommitted to prison, where he has spent the most of his time since.

On July 12, 1881, Officer O'Neill arrested a negro named Elijah Brogdon, alias Charles Diamond, for safe-burglary. Brogdon was a notorious criminal, and though but thirty years of age had already served more that twelve years in the prisons of Maryland and Pennsylvania. After being released from the Moyamensing, Pennsylvania, prison, he came to Baltimore and got employment as a porter in the wholesale hat store of Mr. James E. Trott. While there he learned the combination of the safe-lock, and on the night of July 11, opened the safe and stole $100 in bills. The following morning Mr. Trott notified the police of tlie robbery. Officer O'Neill was put on the case. As soon as lie learned that Brogdon was employed in Mr. Trott's store he felt convinced that he was the guilty man. He arrested the fellow and brought him to the station, where the negro afterwards confessed. Brogdon was sentenced to the penitentiary for four years.

The " Oriole" of 1883 brought a great number of criminals from all parts of the country to Baltimore, and the police force of the city was put to its utmost resources to protect the property of the citizens from the depredations of the rascals. Wherever a policeman saw a professional "crook" he was ordered to arrest him as a suspicious person, to be held until the celebration was ended. Many such persons were incarcerated in the station prisons on the night of September 4, 1883, the gala night of the " Oriole." About midnight, when the people returned from witnessing the parade, several complaints of burglary, simultaneously reached the Western District station. As many as half a dozen private residences within the District had been entered during the parade and ransacked from top to bottom. Detective O'Neill, at that time a Sergeant of Police, was detailed to investigate the burglary of No. 23 South Fremont street. He learned of several facts which led him to suspect three Philadelphia thieves, two of whom were at the time locked up in the station, having been arrested by Captain of Detectives Freburger, and the third of whom was a boy of seventeen named Frank Cochran, alias Frank White, as vicious a youth as has ever been brought before the criminal bar in Baltimore. After searching all night for this youthful burglar, Sergeant O'Neill finally located him in a house of ill-fame in Raborg street, where he found him asleep and arrested him. In the station the sergeant succeeded in extorting a confession from the boy, and induced the latter to agree to show him where the plunder he had stolen was hidden. Cochran led the sergeant to an out-house in the rear of No. 29 Raborg street, where he had been captured, and there brought forth a quantity of jewelry, etc., which was returned to its owners. At the trial of the three burglars they were convicted and sentenced to five years each in the penitentiary. They are still serving their terms. One of the most violent prisoners Detective O'Neill ever arrested was Edward Capp. This man was one of the phenomena of wickedness who are happily known to few outside of the police. He was a reckless criminal from his boyhood, and for years previous to this arrest he never made any pretence of working honestly. He had served many terms in various prisons, scarcely leaving one place of confinement before he was caught at some crime that brought him into another. Strangely enough he was married to a respectable and pretty young woman, whom he treated with great brutality, and several times nearly beat to death. On the night of June 4 1884, he and a " pal" undertook to rob the house of Mr. Richard Sutton, the Baltimore street dry-goods merchant, who lived in North Calhoun street near Franklin street. The burglars entered the lower part of the house and turned the gas on to light it. They let it blow for some time before applying the match, and a considerable amount of gas thus escaped up-stairs. Mrs. Sutton happened to be awake, and smelling the gas, feared there might be something the matter in her daughter's room. She arose and was going thither when she noticed a light below. Thinking it was her son, who had a habit of getting up early at that season of the year to go gunning, she went down stairs. On seeing two strange men bending over her sideboard she screamed and raised an alarm. The men rushed out of the house, but Capp's " pal " was caught by a policeman who saw him running through an alley. Detective O'Neill when he recognized the "pal" suspected at once that the other burglar was Capp. He went to the house of the latter in Burns's court, near the Western Schuetzen Park in South Baltimore, and there found his man lying across a bed in a semi-nude condition. Capp did not move as he saw O'Neill enter, and the latter understood at once that the man was going to resist arrest. The policeman ordered him to get up and dress, but the command was ignored. Capp's wife then begged him to submit peacefully to the officer. This aroused the brute to make a violent kick at her, which had he struck her must have inflicted severe injuries. Then the policeman grappled with the fellow and a struggle began which lasted more than twenty minutes without a respite. The two rolled about the room, breaking furniture and almost shaking the rickety house down. Capp bit and scratched and struck his captor at every opportunity. Finally they reached the top of the stairs and tumbled down the steep steps in each other's embrace. The fall seemed to have hurt Capp, for after he reached the bottom he threw up his hands and said he would surrender. He asked to be allowed to go up stairs and put on his clothing. As soon as O'Neill freed him the fellow made another blow at his wife. Then another struggle ensued in which Detective O'Neill came out victorious and took his man to the station, being obliged, however, to club him every few minutes to subdue him. Capp was tried for burglary, and being convicted was sentenced to the State Penitentiary for four years. A few weeks before the expiration of his sentence he committed suicide by jumping off a high corridor in the prison. His death ended the career of one of the most desperate white criminals who have troubled Baltimore in recent years.

Detective Aquilla J. Pumphrey was born in this county on November 10, 1852. He was educated in the public schools of this city, his parents having removed him hither when he was a child, and he afterward learned the fruit-canning and preserving business. He worked at this trade until his appointment to the police force in 1875. He became a patrolman on February 12, and was detailed to the Southern precinct. His first promotion was to the position of station-house clerk in 1884. On June 16,1885, he became a squad sergeant in the Southern district, afterward being made patrol sergeant. He served in the latter position until January 10, 1887, when he was appointed to his present position on the detective squad. While he was a policeman in uniform Mr. Pumphrey made a number of important arrests, and since his connection with the detective force he has been extremely active in the pursuit of criminals.

On October 29, 1881, at the time when he was a private in the Southern station, he arrested Thomas Cooper, a noted burglar who had robbed a large number of bouses in the new portions of the city. Baltimore at that time was suffering severely from the depredations of burglars, and the police seemed unable to prevent the robberies that were of almost nightly occurrence. On policeman Pumphrey's beat was the old Three Tuns Hotel at Pratt and Paca streets. The hotel, though formerly a very respectable house, was at that time known to be a favorite stopping place for thieves. One night the policeman noticed a man on the hotel porch who he thought carried himself in rather a suspicious manner. As soon as the man saw the officer approaching he walked away. After he had done this several times Mr. Pumphrey inquired of the hotel clerk who the man was. " Oh, he's a farmer from the country," replied the clerk. "His name is Thomas Cooper."

Notwithstanding this information the policeman followed the man whenever he saw him leave the hotel. He usually walked about through the better streets, occasionally stopping to scrutinize a house, but always returned to his hotel and disappeared to his bed-room before one o'clock. One night the policeman saw him stop before the house of Mr. Alfred S. Gardner at No. 305 Lombard street, and look it over carefully. The man then returned to his hotel as usual, and the policeman assuming that he had retired for the night resumed the patrolling of his beat. A few hours later he learned from another officer that Mr. Gardner's house had been robbed. Notwithstanding the fact that he had seen the man go to his hotel apparently for the night, Policeman Pumphrey could not help connecting him with the burglary. He hurried back to the Three Tuns Hotel and inquired of the night clerk whether Mr. Cooper was in. " Yes; he came in a little while ago, with a bundle," replied the clerk.

Feeling convinced now that the thief was none other than Cooper, the policeman went to a drugstore on the opposite corner where he kept a suit of civilian's clothing. He hastily took off his uniform and dressed himself in the other suit. Then placing himself on watch before the hotel he was soon rewarded by seeing his man come out with a small package in his hand. This package was addressed and stamped for mailing. Cooper laid it on top of the letter box at Portland and Green streets, and then returned toward the hotel. As soon as he saw him enter the building, Policeman Pumphrey ran back to the letter box and looking at the package saw that it was addressed to a well-known Philadelphia "fence." He took the package and gave it to a clerk in the drug store on the corner for safe keeping, and then went back to the hotel intending to go to Cooper's room and arrest him. But just as he reached the hotel the man was coming out again with a large bundle. After letting him walk for a block or so Pumphrey arrested him. The fellow took his capture coolly enough. In his bundle was found a lot of clothing, silverware, and jewelry, which were afterward identified by Mr. Gardner as his property. The small package which was captured contained about $3,000 worth of bonds and checks which, together with a watch and $380 in money, the thief stole from Mr. William T. Shoemaker, a drover who was visiting Mr. Gardner at the time of the burglary. Mr. Shoemaker had his vest containing his valuables under his pillow. The burglar drew the garment from its place and abstracted the watch, money, and papers without awakening the sleeping man. He then went through the entire house, facetiously stopping a clock at twenty minutes past two in order to inform the family what time the robbery took place. He had entered the building from the rear by boring two holes in a window sash and then loosening the catch by putting his fingers through the openings Thanks to the skill and energy of policeman Pumphrey all the stolen property was returned to its owners the same morning on which the burglary took place, before the hour when the family usually breakfasted. Cooper promptly admitted not only that he had entered Mr. Gardner's house but that he had been the author of six other burglaries within the previous fortnight. Turning to policeman Pumphrey in the station-house, he said: " I always had a suspicion about you." "Then it was a case of mutual suspicion," returned the officer with a laugh.

Cooper pleaded guilty to one indictment and was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment. He was one of the coolest and cleverest burglars who ever visited Baltimore. Yet he was almost always caught at his crimes, and he said that out of fifty years of his life he had spent more than twenty behind the bars. A safe burglary remarkable for its effrontery rather than for its importance, was that which took place in the counting-room of Mr. C. E. Eichler's feed store at South Howard and Pratt streets on October 14, 1882. At about two o'clock in the afternoon, when large numbers of persons were passing along both streets, a young man named Edward Stephens went by the Howard street entrance to Mr. Eichler's store, and seeing the office vacant walked in. He swung back the door of the large safe, and taking a small chisel pried open several of the interior drawers till he found the one in which the cash was kept. He shielded his actions from observation from the street only by turning his back to the open window. Just as he opened the money drawer Mr. Eichler's son, a youth of nineteen, saw the fellow and ran toward

him. Stephens had time only to seize a five dollar bill and turn. A small memorandum book chanced to be between this bill and the money underneath it. Seeing himself confronted by young Mr. Eichler, the thief drew a' revolver and pointing at the young man kept him off till he escaped through the door. But policeman Pumphrey, who happened to be outside gave chase and pursued the fellow until he finally caught him in a vacant house on Eutaw street into which he had run. He was hiding in a closet when caught. Stephens was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

Another clever capture that won officer Pumphrey much praise was the arrest of Josiah Brooks, a colored thief who within a few days in December, 1881, committed burglaries upon Rouse, Hempstone & Co., Meyer, Reinhard & Co., Burgunder & Greenbaum, and Broderick & Brothers, all large mercantile houses in this city. The burglaries caused the police much perplexity, as the thief left no clew by which he could be traced. The burglary at Broderick & Brothers was discovered shortly after it occurred, and policeman Pumphrey heard of it from another officer. A few minutes later as he was patrolling Dover street near Green, it being then half-past five o'clock in the morning and dark, he saw a young negro standing in the second story window of a house smoking a cigar. He thought this a rather suspicious occurrence, and he determined to investigate the circumstance as soon as the negro left his house. It was ten o'clock before he saw the fellow go out. Then under pretence of wishing to inspect the sanitary condition of the house, officer Pumphrey got into the room in which he had seen the negro smoking that morning. There he found on the bed two blankets which had been stolen from Broderick & Brothers, and also a number of other articles, proceeds of the same burglary. Pumphrey waited until the thief returned and arrested him. His name was Josiah Brooks. He was only twenty-one years old, and the series of robberies he had just committed were the first he had been engaged in. His arrest blighted his criminal career while it was still in the bud. He pleaded guilty to one charge and was sentenced to the penitentiary for three years.

Shortly after officer Pumphrey's appointment to the detective squad the cities of Baltimore and Washington were flooded with counterfeit silver dollars. Several persons who had been imposed upon gave the police a description of the man who was passing the spurious coins, and Detective Pumphrey was detailed to hunt the counterfeiter. On March SO the detective learned that the man had been working in the vicinity of Liberty and Baltimore streets. He went thither at once and began to make a tour of the shops in the neighborhood. In O'Brien's saloon in Liberty street he found the man trying to pass one of his coins on the bartender. Recognizing the detective the counterfeiter made a break for the street and started to run. He had not gone more than a block, however, when Detective Pumphrey caught him. At the police station he gave his name as Frederick Jordan Mezza, an Italian. He had already served three terms for counterfeiting.

The case of Arthur M. Morrison, who was arrested by Detective Pumphrey on April 24, 1887, created a considerable sensation in this city and in Brockton, Massachusetts, the young man's home. Morrison is the "black sheep" of a highly respectable old New England family. His parents live in the quiet village of Brockton, his father being a wealthy farmer, cultivating a large tract of land just outside of the village. On April 5, Morrison, who is about thirty years old, arrived in Baltimore and registered at the Carrollton Hotel. He represented himself to be a detective engaged on the Rahway murder case, and hired a horse and buggy from Mr. Manly, the Carrollton Hotel livery stable proprietor. He drove the horse to York, Pennsylvania, where he placed it in a stable, and hiring another and more valuable animal drove to Pittsburgh. He was attired in black clothing of a somewhat clerical cut, and on his way to Pittsburgh he called upon several Methodist clergymen, representing himself to be a foreign missionary on his way through the country collecting money to prosecute his mission work in Africa. He preached two missionary sermons in different country churches and delivered three missionary discourses. In each church a collection was taken for the alleged missionary, and in one of them more than thirty dollars was secured. Morrison sold the horse and buggy when he arrived in Pittsburgh, and was next heard of in Brockton, Massachusetts, whither Detective Pumphrey went and arrested him at his parents' home. The young man was formerly a student at the Middletown, Connecticut, Wesleyan University, and afterward studied theology at College Hill, Massachusetts. He was tried and convicted in three days, and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the Maryland Penitentiary, where he is now learning to make shoes. Detective John E. Reilly was born in Baltimore on February 24, 1844. He was educated at public and private schools in the city and afterwards entered business as a butcher. He began his connection with the police Department as a patrolman on May 1, 1867, and was assigned to duty at the Central Station. On May 7, 1886, he was promoted to the sergeantcy, and on May 5, 1887 he was made a detective. While acting as patrolman Mr. Reilly greatly distinguished himself for coolness and bravery in connection with the explosion and fire at the Maryland Sugar Refinery at O'Donnell's wharf, in July, 1870. On the day of the occurrence he was patrolling his beat, and pausing for a moment at a street corner about two squares from the refinery, stood idly gazing in that direction. Suddenly he heard a terrific explosion and saw the air about the tall building filled with flying debris. He immediately ran to the place of disaster and found the employees running away from the refinery in every direction. He saw that the explosion had occurred in the boiler room, which was almost completely wrecked, and had been deserted by the panic-stricken men employed there. Nothing daunted, officer Reilly immediately entered and discovered that one of the large boilers had exploded, and that the furnaces under the remaining five were burning fiercely. He tried to find the safety-valve rope, so as to allow the steam to blow off, but the explosion had shattered everything so thoroughly that the ropes were missing; and then, as the only other resource to prevent other explosions, set to work singlehanded drawing the fires from the furnaces. This herculean task he accomplished safely, and thereby undoubtedly saved much valuable property and perchance human lives from destruction. The explosion had injured several of the employees. By this time the fire engines had arrived on the scene. The fire resulting from the explosion had communicated to that part of the State Tobacco Warehouse No. 5, in which cotton was stored, and Officer Reilly perceiving smoke issuing from the roof of this building, after his gallant deed at the furnaces ran to see what be could do towards saving property in that direction. He went directly to the third or top story of the warehouse and saw that the tops of the bales of cotton immediately under the roof were burning, and tried to extinguish the flames. The fire spread so rapidly that he was driven off, hut he did not give up his single-handed fight until nearly overcome by the heat. He escaped, but not without injury, and was incapacitated for duty for three weeks. Officer Reilly was highly commended by the press and public at the time for his courageous behavior, and the Board of Police voted him fifty dollars as a reward for his services. The following letter was issued by the Board in regard to the matter :

OFFICE BOABD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS.

Baltimore, August 3, 1870. JOHN T. GRAY, ESQ., Marshal of Police. SIK :—The Board of Police desire to express their high appreciation of the faithful manner in which the members of the force that were present at the scene of disaster at the recent occasion of the explosion of a boiler in the building of the Maryland Sugar refinery, performed their duty on that trying occasion, and especially commend the conduct of Sergeant Fields and patrolmen J. E. Kelly, J. T. Schaeffer, S. McElwen, Thomas Kernan, John E. Merrick, and J. H. Sappington. The Board further signify their approval of the courage and promptness* displayed by officer J. E. Reilly in reducing the fires in the remaining furnaces of the establishment, thereby probably preventing greater destruction of property and the loss of life, and have directed the treasurer to pay him the sum of $50 as a substantial recognition of his services on that occasion.[Signed] JOHN W. DAVIS, President. In the spring of 1873 many complaints were made by ladies who had had their pockets picked of various sums of money about the Central Market. The manner of the larcenies showed that the thief was an adept at the business, but for a long time the officers were unable to fasten the crimes upon any one. Finally Officer Reilly, whose beat then took in the Central Market, was informed by a Mrs. Selinger that her pocket-book containing $80 and some papers had been stolen while she had been in the market. The officer's suspicions had been directed to Mary Moore, a woman who frequented the place, and he went in search of her. He found her at No. 8 Fish Market Space, arrested her, recovering the greater part of the money. The remains of the stolen pocket-book he found in the fire-place where Mary Moore had tried to burn it. She was recognized as a well known pickpocket, and had previously served a term of imprisonment. She was convicted and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. In the autumn of 1875 Officer Reilly arrested Dr. Paul Shoupe, a bogus check man, who hailed from the northern part of New York State. The crime which got him into trouble here was the obtaining by means of a bogus check a quantity of jewelry from the store of Mrs. Rapine. He was tried, convicted, and a sentence of three years in the penitentiary imposed upon him. After his sentence he made a speech to the court with such telling effect that the judge reduced the sentence to one year in the City jail. After serving eight months of this term he was pardoned through the influence of the prison missionaries, whose sympathy he had enlisted in his behalf. He was a well-educated man and very plausible of address. The next Officer Kelly heard of him was the announcement that he had been drowned at Watertown, New York.

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Anyone with information, photographs, memorabilia, or other "Baltimore City Police" items can contact Ret. Det. Kenny Driscoll at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. follow us on Twitter @BaltoPoliceHist or like us on Facebook or mail pics to 8138 Dundalk Ave. Baltimore Md. 21222

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Baltimore's Jeep History

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

EVER EVER EVER Motto Divder

Baltimore's Jeep History

The Baltimore Sun Sun Aug 1 1943 72

After reading about Derek's Father's Day weekend 2000 pilgrimage, and that he didn't have a chance to finish the final leg (following the route taken by Karl Probst and Harold Crist in 1940 as they drove the Bantam pilot model to the Army's testing location at Camp Holabird), it inspired me to go down there myself. I have always wanted to look around where the Jeeps were tested. My girlfriend used to work at Holabird and when I told her about Derek's trek, she offered to give me the grand tour. There isn't a whole lot to see at Holabird anymore (in fact if I didn't know it was once an Army base, I would have never known it wasn't always an industrial park). The major exception is that "Tank Hill" with the 3 different grades of hills that the vehicles were tested on, still survives.

Holabird and Dundalk

The destination for this part of the trail was the Dundalk area of Baltimore, Maryland, southeast of the City of Baltimore. There are 3 roads that frame the former Camp Holabird: Broening Hwy. on the west, Holabird Ave. on the north, and Dundalk Ave. on the east. (See a map of the area, 20K GIF.)

This photo shows the intersection of Dundalk Ave. and Holabird Ave. at the northeast corner of Camp Holabird. The Bantam pilot model would have traveled through this intersection on its way to the main entrance of the base.

If you followed Dundalk Ave. further south you would run into the railroad line that used to service the base and the GM plant. In the 1940 time frame it would have been an "at-grade" crossing, but was later changed to the above-ground bridge visible in the background of the photo.

If you turn right on to Holabird Ave. and head west, you will see a sign on the left that says "Holabird Business Park". This is the old main gain of Camp

Holabird, but the guard building and gates have been torn down -- Holabird was closed down as an Army base in the 1970's.

While a few Department of Defense agencies remained there up until the mid-1990's, the bulk of the base was sold to the city of Baltimore. The city bulldozed nearly every one of the buildings to build the industrial park.

The Guilford Pharmaceuticals building (50K JPEG) is typical of of the type of building that has replaced what used to be Camp Holabird. The former site of the main HQ building (40K JPEG) is now also home to an industrial structure.

Holabird Motor Transport This is where I think the Motor Transport garages used to be, next to the rail spur. If you look at any of the old test photos such as the Bantam pilot model photos taken at Holabird, the large glass windowed garages, now torn down, will always be in the background.

The smokestacks of the Lever Brothers plant (40K JPEG) across the street on Holabird Ave can also be seen in the background of some of the Quartermaster photos taken in the 1940's. This plant is diagonal from the northwest corner of the base.

Nearby is the GM assembly plant (40K JPEG) on the other side of Broening Hwy., which dates back to the 1930's and is now making Chevrolet Astros. (The parking lot in the photo is former Army property).

Holabird Warehouse This warehouse (see a wider photo, 60K JPEG) is one of the few remaining original buildings. This building, and two parallel warehouses in pretty poor shape, are scheduled to be demolished. If you look at the door of this warehouse, it is that same exact style as you see in the Bantam pilot model photo. (The garages being 2 stories have a double door.)

Another one of the original buildings left on Holabird is the old officer's club (50K JPEG), now a VFW building.

Holabird Tank Hill The vehicle testing course at Holabird has almost been destroyed, with a recreation park (along with some of the industrial park) now in its place. But one jewel remains in a hidden state: it's what the locals call "Tank Hill" (I'm not sure if this is what the Army called it). This was a hill that had three different grades. Vehicles would be tested by driving them up these slopes. Herbert Rifkind in his book on Jeep development described these hills.

When my girlfriend told me this was "Tank Hill" I didn't believe it at first. From the outside, it just looks like a clump of trees. But when you look closely and walk into the trees you see the tracks built with concrete. The rightmost track is a fairly low grade, the middle grade is steeper, and the leftmost grade is VERY steep.

In 2007, Paul O'Sullivan sent this photo (200K JPEG) taken with the leaves off the trees so you can see the three grades. He commented, "With some detective work with Google Earth I too had to check out Tank Hill. And this time I was driving a '99 Jeep Wrangler to it! Unfortunately there was a lot of debris and some very deep water at the bottom of the hill or I too would have driven up at least the low one, and probably the middle grade one. How anyone went up the steep grade is beyond me."

Holabird Tank Hill

This is the bottom of the hill, where there is a swampy area which looks like it may be the area where the Bantam pilot model was photographed in a swamp (70K JPEG). The swampy area now completely blocks the approach to the steepest grade.

Holabird Tank Hill - Low Grade

The lowest grade hill is starting to get overgrown. Photographing is very hard since you can't get an angle where you can see most of the hill because of the trees and brush that have overgrown the track. See a photo of the top of the hill (100K JPEG), as you would be seeing it while you were driving the Bantam pilot model during its test!

Holabird Tank Hill - Medium Grade

This is a picture of the bottom of the medium grade hill, the exact hill you see the Bantam pilot model climbing in a photo in some of the reference books. See also what the people in the photo were looking at while they were climbing the hill (90K JPEG). I tried driving up this hill with my Chevrolet Monte Carlo and it is pretty steep. (Had to do it to say I actually drove on the hill!) Moss and mud causing my tires to lose traction stopped me from getting to the top.

Holabird Tank Hill - High Grade

This is the steepest hill. I couldn't take a photo of all of this hill since it was overgrown with trees at the bottom and there was a swamp in front of the trees. The hill is very steep and even walking up it is very hard.

When they poured the concrete, they left horizontal strips every few inches which were used for holding different types of material for testing (such as gravel, mud, etc.), to simulate different conditions. Even in its overgrown state it is pretty impressive to think that vehicles actually climbed this hill.

The vegetation was a bit more open when this photo, which can be enlarged (420K JPEG), was taken at the steepest hill in 2016.

(Note: I misplaced the rest of the message from this photographer, whom I would like to credit. -- Derek)

At the top of the third hill, embedded in the center of the track, is a large iron ring (40K JPEG). Based on the steepness of the hill, I'm sure this ring was used often!

On both sides at the top of each hill, there are railroad rails (80K JPEG) driven deep into the ground and embedded in concrete, with iron rings installed at the top. They were probably used to help winch up stuck vehicles. There are also concrete ruts on each side of the tracks (70K JPEG). I would imagine they were drainage ditches?

As you can see, other than the 3 graded hills, sadly, not much of Camp Holabird at the time the jeeps were being tested survives. The DOD agency I work at was originally based at Holabird, and it was great fun tracking down some of the older people at work and getting their recollections of Holabird. I am now researching and collecting more information. If anyone has any information, photos, items, etc. from Camp/Fort Holabird, I would love to hear from you.

Todd Paisley (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

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Recruitment

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

Baltimore Police Recruitment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADiH5fb4FVA

Testing Locations

By Recruitment Unit

Testing begins promptly at the below listed times. Applicants are encouraged to arrive at least fifteen minutes prior to the beginning of testing. The test is FREE and you do not need to sign up in advance unless noted.

Baltimore Police Department
Recruitment Unit
601 E. Fayette Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21202

EVERY TUESDAY
12:30 PM
&
6:00 PM

Baltimore Police Headquarters
601 E. Fayette Street
Baltimore, MD 21205

Civil Service Test

Requirements

Police Officer Trainees: Applicants must be 21 years of age.
Applicants must bring their full valid driver's license (license cannot be provisional).

Applicants must be dressed in professional attire:

Women

Solid color, conservative suit with coordinated blouse, moderate shoes, tan or light pantyhose, limited jewelry
An ensemble of a skirt, dress slacks, or dress with a jacket, blouse, hosiery and closed toe shoes
Neat, professional hairstyle, manicured nails, light make-up, little or no perfume

Men

Solid color, conservative suit, long sleeve shirt, conservative tie, dark socks, professional shoes
Neat hairstyle, trimmed nails, little or no cologne or after shave
Clean shaven or groomed

2015 EXPEDITED/SPECIAL TESTING & PROCESSING EVENTS

The Baltimore Police Department is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

BPD Recruitment History

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Baltimore Mayors

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

1	James Calhoun	1797	1804	4	None
2	Thorowgood Smith	1804	1808	2	None
3	Edward Johnson	1808	1816	4	Democratic-Republican
4	George Stiles	1816	1819	1 ¹⁄₂	Democratic-Republican	Resigned during second term, died shortly after.
(3)	Edward Johnson	1819	1820	Partial	Democratic-Republican	Elected by the 1818 electors to finish out Mayor Stiles' term.
5	John Montgomery	1820	1822	1	Democratic-Republican
(3)	Edward Johnson	1822	1824	1	Democratic-Republican
(5)	John Montgomery	1824	1826	1	Democratic-Republican
6	Jacob Small	1826	1831	2 ¹⁄₂	Democratic-Republican	Resigned from office.
7	William Steuart	1831	1832	Partial	Democratic-Republican	Elected by the 1830 electors to finish out Mayor Small's term.
8	Jesse Hunt	1832	1835	1 ¹⁄₂	Whig	Resigned from office.
9	Samuel Smith	1835	1838	1 ¹⁄₂	Democratic	First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Hunt's term, elected to a full term in 1836.
10	Sheppard C. Leakin	1838	1840	1	Whig
11	Samuel Brady	1840	1842	Partial	Whig	Resigned from office.
12	Solomon Hillen Jr.	1842	1843	Partial	Democratic	First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Brady's term, elected to a full term in 1842. Resigned from office.
13	James O. Law	1843	1844	Partial	Democratic	Elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Hillen's term.
14	Jacob G. Davies	1844	1848	2	Whig
15	Elijah Stansbury, Jr.	1848	1850	1	Democratic
16	John H.T. Jerome	1850	1852	1	Democratic
17	John S. Hollins	1852	1854	1	Whig
18	Samuel Hinks	1854	1856	1	American
19	Thomas Swann	1856	1860	2	American
20	George W. Brown	1860	1861	Partial	Constitutional Union	Arrested and removed from office by the Union Army for Confederate sympathies.
21	John C. Blackburn	1861	1862	Partial	None	President of the First Branch of the City Council and served as Mayor Ex Officio from Mayor Brown's arrest until the new First Branch organized and elected a President in January 1862.
22	John L. Chapman	1862	1867	3 ¹⁄₂	Republican	President of the First Branch of the City Council and served as Mayor Ex Officio from January to November 1862. Elected to three terms. His final term was reduced from two years to one year per the new Maryland Constitution.
23	Robert T. Banks	1867	1871	1	Democratic	The Maryland Constitution of 1867 extended the term of office from two to four years. The term was reduced back to two years in 1870.
24	Joshua Van Sant	1871	1875	2	Democratic
25	Ferdinand C. Latrobe	1875	1877	1	Democratic
26	George P. Kane	1877	1878	Partial	Democratic	Died in office.
(25)	Ferdinand C. Latrobe	1878	1881	1 ¹⁄₂	Democratic	First elected in a special election to finish out Mayor Kane's term, elected to a full term in 1879.
27	William P. Whyte	1881	1883	1	Democratic
(25)	Ferdinand C. Latrobe	1883	1885	1	Democratic
28	James Hodges	1885	1887	1	Republican
(25)	Ferdinand C. Latrobe	1887	1889	1	Democratic
29	Robert C. Davidson	1889	1891	1	Democratic
(25)	Ferdinand C. Latrobe	1891	1895	2	Democratic
30	Alcaeus Hooper	1895	1897	1	Republican
31	William T. Malster	1897	1899	1	Republican
32	Thomas G. Hayes	1899	1903	1	Democratic
33	Robert McLane	1903	1904	Partial	Democratic	Died in office.
34	E. Clay Timanus	1904	1907	Partial	Republican	President of the Second Branch. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Mayor McLane's death.
35	J. Barry Mahool	1907	1911	1	Democratic	Lost reelection.
36	James H. Preston	1911	1919	2	Democratic	Lost reelection.
37	William F. Broening	1919	1923	1	Republican	Lost reelection.
38	Howard W. Jackson	1923	1927	1	Democratic	Did not run for reelection.
(37)	William F. Broening	1927	1931	1	Republican	Did not run for reelection.
(38)	Howard W. Jackson	1931	1943	3	Democratic	Lost reelection in 1943.
39	Theodore McKeldin	1943	1947	1	Republican	Did not run for reelection.
40	Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.	1947	1959	3	Democratic	Lost reelection in 1959.
41	J. Harold Grady	1959	1962	Partial	Democratic	Resigned following appointment as a Judge to the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City (Circuit Court).
42	Philip H. Goodman	1962	1963	Partial	Democratic	City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Grady's resignation. Lost reelection to a full term.
(39)	Theodore McKeldin	1963	1967	1	Republican	Did not run for reelection.
43	Thomas D'Alesandro III	1967	1971	1	Democratic	Did not run for reelection.
44	William D. Schaefer	1971	1987	4	Democratic	Baltimore's longest-serving mayor. Resigned following his election as governor.
45	Clarence H. Burns	1987	1987	Partial	Democratic	City Council President. First African-American mayor of Baltimore. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Schaefer's resignation. Lost reelection to a full term.
46	Kurt Schmoke	1987	1999	3	Democratic	First African-American elected Mayor of Baltimore. Did not run for reelection in 1999.
47	Martin O'Malley	1999	2007	2	Democratic	Resigned following his election as governor.
48	Sheila Dixon	2007	2010	Partial	Democratic	City Council President. First female Mayor of Baltimore and first female elected Mayor of Baltimore. Succeeded to the mayoralty following O'Malley's resignation. Elected to a full term in 2007. Resigned from office in January 2010.
49	Stephanie Rawlings-Blake	2010	2016	1 ¹⁄₂	Democratic	City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Dixon's resignation. Elected to a full term in 2011. Did not run for reelection in 2016.
50	Catherine Pugh	2016	2019	Partial	Democratic	Resigned from office May 2, 2019.
51	Jack Young	2019	Incumbent	Partial	Democratic	City Council President. Succeeded to the mayoralty following Pugh's resignation.

Police Rattles & Whistles

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

Rattles and Billy Clubs

Click HERE or on the Article Above to see full size page
The Police Rattle seen in this Sun Paper article above is a Police Department Rattle from our Western District

A little easier to read, this 1969 article about the Police Rattle / Billy Club
Click the above article or HERE to see full size news clipping

Patrolman John H Hand
Click HERE to visit Patrolman Hand's Page

This is a 1925 newspaper article about Patrolman John H. Hand
The article describes this rattle, which was provided to us by his family
Click HERE to see full size article

Click HERE or Article Above

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To Read The Above Article Click HERE or Click on the Article

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Baltimore Police Rattles in use

"Officers Jamison and Huggins, one of whom sprang his rattle in advance of Corrie, which so alarmed him, that he slackened his pace and was easily captured."

Officer Robert M. Rigdon

Robert Rigdon

Name	Description
End of Watch	5 November, 1858
City, St.	468 West Baltimore street
Panel Number	24-E: 21
Cause of Death	Gunfire
District Worked	Western

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO

On this day in Baltimore Police History 5 Nov, 1858 we lost our brother Police Officer Robert M. Rigdon in an Assassination by Gunfire – From the Baltimore Sun paper - The Examination before the Mayor – Investigation and Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury – The Excitement and Incidents of the Tragedy. – the killing of Robert M. Rigdon, an officer of the Western district, who was assassinated in the bosom of his family, at 468 West Baltimore street, the night previous, out of revenge for his testimony delivered in the case of Gambrill, concluded in Criminal Court on the same afternoon for the murder of officer Benjamin Benton, a brother officer of the deceased… The assassination appears to have been one of deliberate premeditation. Officer Rigdon, after answering roll call at the station house on Green street, retired into the privacy of his home. During the evening, and while Mr. Rigdon was in the back-room of his dwelling, a man (since recognized as Peter Corrie) entered the store-room, which is in the front part of the house, and looked at some undershirts and other articles displayed. In the store he conducted himself like a drunken man, but that was evidently feigned. His actions becoming repulsive to Mrs. Rigdon and a female attendant, she called on her husband to eject him from the premises. Fearful that the thing was a ruse to draw him within the reach of his enemies, Rigdon hesitated, and said to his wife, who stood in the doorway leading to the storeroom, “I don’t attend the store – tell him to go out,” or words to that effect. At that moment, while resting with his elbow against the mantel of the fireplace, where he had laid his pistol belt, the weapon of the crouching assailant in his rear was fired through the little window, which opens into the yard from the sitting room. Rigdon, who, from the position of the mantel, must have been but three or four feet distant from the weapon, received five slugs in his back, near the left side. His only exclamation was, “My God! I’m shot!” and attempted to reach for the sofa, but sank on the floor and died after heaving an audible groan. Persons passing upon the street and the residents alarmed by the shot, hastened into the house, where they stood horrified and trembling at the deed of blood before them, for a moment transfixed and unable to act. His wife is said to have acted heroically, and neither shrieked nor fainted, but recited all with coolness and self-possession which was remarkable. Officer J. Cook being in the vicinity hastened in the direction of the shot, and fell upon Peter Corrie as he was running away from the alley of Rigdon’s house.

The officer gave chase, when another man (later identified as Mal Cropps,) followed, and ran along on the other side of the street. Cook singled out Corrie, and came up with him on the run, calling on him to stop. Corrie did not heed but ran down Baltimore to Pine and to Penn streets, the pursued and pursuer occasionally exchanging shots. At Penn street, Cook was joined by Officers Jamison and Huggins, one of whom sprang his rattle in advance of Corrie, which so alarmed him, that he slackened his pace and was easily captured. When he found himself in the hands of the officers, he begged for life, and said as “God lived” he was innocent of the murder. He then in his fear, confessed, and said “Mal Cropps did it.” He was locked up in a cell at the western district.

Officer Rigdon's murder could have the unfortunate distinction of being the first instance of an American law enforcement officer being murdered while off-duty, for his official actions as a law enforcement officer.

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Old Police Cells016 s 280x373

Wooden Ratchet Noisemaker & Police Rattle
The top noisemaker is a "Ratchet Noisemaker" the bottom is a "Policeman's Rattle"

The Rattle, was used as both a tool to communicate with other officers to call for help, but in the meantime while fighting off a violent offender, it could be turned around in the hand and used as an impact weapon to fight off danger. In the two Rattles seen in the photo above the top is more of a toy, than policeman's Rattle, this can bee seen in the shape, the police version was designed in a way that would allow the officer to more easily wrap his hand around the base between the, "Ratchet" end, and the portion that secures the "Clappers." The one on the bottom of the two in the pic above looks more like a lightbulb, whereas the other has rounded edges but wouldn't allow for an officer to get a good secure grip. When using the Police Rattle as a weapon, it would be held in the officers fist with the rounded end (the part where the clappers are secured to the Rattle coming out from the palm end of the officers fist, making what is known as a, "Hammer Punch" more effect. When I mention the Hammer Punch, I should point out, that I learned of this use, I was told it was a "Backfist" weapon, in looking up the backfist, I found it to be what is called today, a Hammer Punch, or Hammer Fist.

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Police Rattle Hammer Punch 2

This shows how it would be held, swung down hitting with the end that has the screw like a karate chop to stop an attacker, for an impact weapon, it was nice, but nothing beats the Espantoon for a multipurpose law enforcement tool.

Police Rattle Hammer Punch 3 72i

A different angle of how the Police Rattle was held to use as a weapon, in the "Back-fist" or "Hammer-fist" strike. It seems like it would be effective, but also seems carrying the thing around would be cumbersome.

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Police Rattle

Like the Rattle above, and several of those that will be pictured below, The Police Rattle has a curved shape to it that allows it to better fit the Officer's hand between the crank handle and what would become the striking end of the Rattle. Also, if we look at the crank handle we see a groove for a strap, similar to that of the thong groove found on the espantoon. Some of our Rattles still have remnants of the wrist strap that would have been used to help the officer retain the Rattle when using it either as a weapon, to signal for help, or to make hourly calls to nearby posts

Rattle BPD

Baltimore City Police Rattle
Police Officer, R. J. Brown, Badge #345

This Police Rattle once belonging to a Baltimore Police Officer, R. J. Brown, Badge #345 has a small portion of what once was a leather strap that would have been used much like that of a thong on an Espantoon was/is to retain the device either while spinning it to communicate with other officers in the area, or while swinging it as it was being used as an impact weapon to fight off an attacker, or to subdue a suspect that was resisting an arrest. The leather strap, or what is left of it, can been seen on the handle that extends from the ratchet end of this device.

Rattle BPDi

Baltimore City Police Rattle
Police Officer, R. J. Brown, Badge #345

Here we can see what appears the be the Patrolman's name and Badge number (Police Officer, R. J. Brown, Badge #345) handwritten inside this Police Rattle. We can also see the remnants of the leather strap mentioned above, as it rests on the handle. But better, we can clearly see the defining shape of the device that would have been used to help this device more comfortably fit into an officer's hand while using it as an impact weapon.

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rattle

Wooden Ratchet Noisemaker
Not to be confused with a Police Rattle

In the above picture of a Ratchet we see what at first might look like an Old Police Rattle, in fact, I have seen these advertised on eBay and other internet Auction Sites listed as Police Rattles, But those with this shape, were more than likely what is known as a "Wooden Noisemaker," "Ratchet Noisemaker," or a "Party Noisemaker" that might have been used at festivities to make noise, or perhaps to make music. A wooden "ratchet" or "noisemaker" was an instrumental musical device played by a percussionist. It worked on the principle of a ratcheting device, made from a gearwheel, and stiff board, mounted to a handle. That handle was made to rotate freely as the instrument's player swung the entire mechanism around backward and forward to the rhythm of whatever song, or music they were playing.

From the straight body, and straight handle on the above Ratchet we can tell this was not meant to be held as the Police Rattle versions shown in photos above this pic. Lacking the built-in retention methods found within the natural built in shapes of the Police version Rattles this one was obviously not used for police work. While it would have easily made the sounds needed to communicate, it would not have had the effects of an impact weapon as it lacks the burl head found in the Police Rattle at the end that retains the Clapper(s) That blunt burl head that is often depended on from a Police Rattle in missing in the straight wood Ratchet noisemakers.

This version's straight shape in both the body, and in its handle, absent a groove for the retention strap is also something to avoid when trying to obtain a Police Rattle. Personally, we would probably want one of these in our collection, just to show visitors the difference, but when shopping around, keep in mind the difference is not just in what one can do that the other cannot, but also in the monetary value. A Police Rattle would hold a higher value than a simple noisemaker or musical instrument. So if you ever go shopping for one of these, Keep in mind it take more away from just preventing it from being used as a communication device, or an impact weapon once used by our police officers, watchmen, but when we find this version which was more of a musical instrument, toy, or decorative item, it also holds a much lower value.

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Police Rattles & Whistles

The police whistle has its roots dating back to ancient China, where night watchmen would blow into the tops of acorns to alert the towns to invading Mongolians. In ancient Egypt two blades of the papyrus plant along the Nile River were held together in between the palms of alert security guards. By blowing into the palms the papyrus leaves would make a loud vibrant sound.

In England since the late nineteenth century Metropolitan Police Services constables have been issued with the "Metropolitan" whistle (bosun or boatswain's whistle). Prior to this, constables used hand rattles or nightsticks for signal purposes. All three were used to call for back-up in areas where neighborhood beats overlapped, and following their success in London, the whistle was adopted by most countries in United Kingdom, and around the world.

Victorian Police Rattle

The origin of the rattle is not clear, but what has come to be known as the "Victorian Police Rattle" came into use sometime in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century when night watchmen and/or village constables began using them to "raise the alarm". They proved to be an ideal method to summon aid, sound the fire alarm, or, just generally get folks attention. A traditional rattle was constructed of wood, usually oak, where one or two blades are held in a frame and a ratchet turned – generally by swinging – to make the blades 'snap' thus creating a very loud noise.

A typical Victorian Police Rattle can be found on display on the second floor of the Saint Paul Police headquarters building at 367 Grove Street. Not much different than the vintage ratchet style (tin w/wooden handle) Halloween noisemakers that your children use, today.

When Sir Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police was formed in 1829 the rattle was a standard piece of equipment issued to each London Bobby. Made to fit neatly into specially made pockets in the swallow tails of their coats, this rattle was one-bladed and had a folding handle. It was weighted with two lead plugs to make it swing easier and this also made it become a formidable weapon if necessary.

Rattles were used by police forces, fire brigades, and military units across the British Empire up through WW I. In 1883 the Metropolitan Police conducted tests and found that the sound from a whistle, already being used in some provincial forces, could be herd at 1000 yards – almost twice the effective distance of a rattle. Not only that, but the rattles were somewhat cumbersome, awkward to operate and prone to rot/warping. Constables were often subject to attacks from their own rattles. In 1884 whistles were issued in place of rattles and by 1887 all rattles had been withdrawn from use by the Met.

Whistles Of interesting note is the fact that the original London police whistle was the "pea whistle", and it wasn't until the early twentieth century that they switched to the air whistle, often called the "Metropolitan" or bosun's whistle.

Early Saint Paul police officers on the beat communicated with each other with the same tools of the trade.

If a sergeant had gone over an officer's beat and was unable to find him, he would then go to its center and each extremity and tap his nightstick twice. This was known as a "call rap." The officer would answer in like manner. If the visiting supervisor required the presence of the officer, he would give a single rap. In lieu of the nightstick, a whistle could be used.

If an officer on his beat required the presence of another officer on an adjoining beat, he would, in ordinary cases, give a single rap or whistle, which would be answered in like manner. Then the officer making the call would again give a single rap or whistle in answer. In case of fire, riot or other emergency, he would give three taps or whistles in quick succession and all officers hearing it would answer by a single rap or whistle and immediately come to the assistance of the officer making the call. If an officer was in pursuit of a person at night, he was, from time to time, to give a single rap or whistle to inform other officers of his route.

Please note that the Saint Paul Police Departmental Manual of 1882 includes Rule No. 74, that states in part that when a disturbance occurs… "If he is opposed in the performance of his duty, he shall blow his whistle, and the policemen who hear it shall answer the same by forthwith proceeding to his assistance."

The Acme Thunderer metal or plastic police whistle that we are most familiar with (also called a pea whistle) contain a small light ball, called the pea, which rattles around inside, creating a chaotic vibrato effect that intensifies the sound. In Saint Paul the police whistle has been a part of the uniform almost from the beginning, and is mentioned in all of our historic police manuals.

acme thunderer

Police whistles fell into disuse in many countries in the mid-1900s, when early hand-held radios were brought into service. With the rise of the motor car, the whistle was no longer usefully audible in urban areas. The whistle is still used by some police forces today, especially in traffic assignments, and engraved ceremonial versions are sometimes presented to police officers upon occasions such as their retirement.

Many of our retirees remember the days prior to the hand-held radios, when they went to their beat by streetcar or bus, and reported back to headquarters from "call boxes" on the corner, at least once an hour. Some of the call boxes had a light or bell on top that would warn the beat officer of an incoming message.

They also remember that the whistle was a mandatory piece of equipment brought to roll call, the same as their handgun, pocket knife, notebook, and dime. And if you checked their pockets, you'd probably find a streetcar guide and, of course, their call box key.

Many of them, also, had to work traffic details during rush hour in the various heavily used intersections. I can still hear the long single blast, meaning "stop" and the chirping sound of the whistle as the officer signaled traffic to "move on."

This article was written by Edward J. “Ed”Steenberg, Saint Paul Police Historical Society Click HERE.

Police Clap Alarm
Possible for stationhouse use

Oak Paddle

Oak board 3/4" thick, with an oak clapper on each side, when rotated back and forth in a circular motion, it causes the clappers to slap against the oak creating a loud report nearly as loud as a .22 caliber pistol firing.

Well constructed this came from a police/fire museum in R.I. where they had no further information on it.

POLICE INFORMATION

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Devider color with motto

NOTICE

How to Dispose of Old Police Items

Good Cop - Bad Cop

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

Good Cop Police / Bad Cop

Baltimore City Police Insight
Good Cop Bad Cop

The Baltimore Police Department has experienced some negative publicity in recent years due to several high profile, corruption, and brutality allegations, including the 2005 arrest of Officers William A. King and Antonio L. Murray by the FBI on federal drug conspiracy charges. But there are some things that should be mentioned about The Baltimore Police; the department has more than 3300 members, it is full of guys and gals that risk their lives every day to make sure those they swore to protect, are protected. All it takes is a single phone call to 911, or even 311 and they will do everything in their power to get to that call... more importantly, to get to you. If when they get there, you are being held at gunpoint, they will risk their own lives to get you out of that situation alive, and uninjured. If your home is on fire, and the Fire Department is in route, the police will often enter your home (risking their lives) to help get you, and your family out. So while there has been negative publicity, the number of officers involved in those types of incidents are small in number when compared to the number of police that leave their homes every day, ready to lay down their lives to protect yours.

Take a look at the number of “bad cops” on this page, and the number of “good police” on this page, then take a look at the number of “injured, and or the fallen” police, and ask yourself, would a bad cop, become crippled to help you, would a bad cop give his life to help you, the answer is, "Of course not!" So yes, there were a few bad cops, and due to recent news it seems there are a lot of bad cops, but compared to the number of police in the department (3300), the percentage of those that are bad, is far less than 1%. There are bad people everywhere, Teachers, Postal Workers, Politicians, even in the Clergy. But to think all Teachers, all Postal Workers, all Politicians, all Clergy, or all Police are bad, that is just a wrong way of thinking, a prejudice way of thinking, and I think the pages on this site will go a long way to show our police are not bad, and that our police are basically good hard working police that want to help our citizens. In small agencies were corruption is often found, it happens because other police in those agencies allow it, in Baltimore Police however they do not allow that kind of behavior, we are a big department, but still small enough to see what's going on, and here police still, “police each other”. But what about the “Thin Blue Line” that everyone hears so much of… Well first let’s talk about what a, "Thin Blue Line" really is, and then we’ll explain why in Baltimore, police will be quick to report other officers doing wrong. First, the Thin Blue Line, the Thin Blue Line, is a line of Police that stand between the, "innocent minded", to protect them from the, "criminal minded".

From Wikipedia

BPD Pancreatic Cancer Purple7272

Ken did this because it was false to claim that police officers were cooperating and lying to cover for one another along the thin blue line. There is a term for that; at this time, I am not sure what it is. I will find out and post it when I do. As for the Thin Blue Line, though, a "The Thin Blue Line" is the thin line of police standing between good and evil, or between right and wrong. It is protecting society from criminals that would rape, rob, and pillage the hard-working, loyal citizens of this country. To demonstrate this in the picture above, Ken named tons of crimes and evils, and then on the other side, spread out much further were things like honor, trust, law enforcement order, caring, loyalty, and other positive things in a civil society. We hope it shows that the thin blue line is a thin shield that stands between good and bad and is all we have to protect us from those evils. The thin line is our police, and they put themselves between the good and evil of our society to protect us.

The thin blue line symbolizes the crucial role that law enforcement plays in maintaining a safe and orderly society. It represents the sacrifices made by police officers who put themselves at risk to safeguard citizens from the various crimes and evils that exist. This symbol serves as a reminder of the importance of supporting and respecting our police force as they strive to uphold justice and protect our communities.

Anti-police groups try to turn it into a hate symbol because they have no true understanding of what the flag means. If anything, it serves as a reminder to good police of their loyalty, dedication, and honor, reminding them to stay true to a line so thin that without them it could break, and no one wants to be the weak link. The thin blue line flag has become a symbol of solidarity among law enforcement officers, representing the courage and sacrifice they make to maintain peace and order. It is crucial to recognize that the flag does not promote hatred or discrimination but rather acknowledges the vital role that police officers play in our society. It is unfortunate that some groups misinterpret its meaning and attempt to discredit the honorable work of our police force.

Just as hate groups don't want others to decide who they are or what their reasons are, police don't want anyone wrongly branding or misidentifying them. If a person were to use common sense, it would be easy to realize that if the police really didn't care, they would not show up at all. Why risk injury or death to try to help someone you hate? It is important to recognize that the actions of a few individuals should not overshadow the dedication and commitment of the majority of police officers; no more than the actions of a few bad people in a neighborhood should be reflected upon everyone in that neighborhood. Police, for the most part, genuinely strive to protect and serve their assigned communities. It is crucial for society to support efforts that promote transparency, accountability, and dialogue between law enforcement and the communities they serve in order to foster mutual understanding and trust.

This page will show both good police and bad cops. Something Ken has always said is that the word 'cop" is, or historically was, dorogatory. Police have taken nasty words used toward them and adopted them as jokes, like Pig, which now stands for "Pride Integrity and Guts." Over the years, some have taken Cop on as well. That said, Ken is still uncomfortable with the word cop, so here he uses cop for the bad cops and police for the good. To give us the, "Good Police - Bad Cop" play on the interogation technique, in which two interrogators will go at a suspect, one abrasive and the other more laid back and sympathetic, The suspect, wanting an ally, will build a rapport with the good police and sometimes confess to him rather than deal with the bad cop. This technique allows for a more nuanced approach to extracting information from suspects, as it recognizes that not all police officers possess the same qualities or intentions. By differentiating between "good police" and "bad cops," Ken acknowledges the complexity within law enforcement and highlights the importance of integrity and empathy in police work. This approach also emphasizes the significance of building trust and rapport with suspects to facilitate effective investigations.

For more information on Detectives Murray, and King, Click HERE to read an Article entitled
One Drug Dealer, Two Corrupt Cops and a Risky FBI Sting
Written by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee of The Guardian

The Thin Blue Line is a symbol used by law enforcement, it originated in the United Kingdom but is now more prevalent in the

United States, and Canada to commemorate fallen officers, and to symbolize the relationship of the police and the community as the protectors of the citizenry from the criminal element. It is an analogy to the term Thin Red Line. Each stripe on the emblem represents certain respective figures: the blue center line represents law enforcement, the top black stripe represents the public whilst the bottom represents the criminals. The idea behind the graphic is that law enforcement (the blue line) is all stands between the violence and victimization by criminals of the would-be victims of crime.

Now the reasons police in Baltimore are quick to report a dirty cop, first, it comes down to safety; who would want a dirty cop as a “back-up”, how much can anyone rely on, or trust a dirty cop… and when your life is on the line, on a dangerous call, a dirty cop would be the last person you would want backing you up. Like anyone when it comes police we want an honest officer as our partner, a partner we can be proud to serve alongside, a partner that while we are risking our lives to protect yours, we know is risking their lives to protect ours. Ask anyone that has ever been in battle, when bullets are coming your way, or the fight is on, you are too busy protecting your partner to be scared, and you assume, your partner is doing the same for you. If your partner is unreliable for any reason, you don't feel safe. This is why good police, hate bad cops, more than the public hates bad cops, and as such we are quick to turn them. Also, if we were to work with a dirty cop, people will think we were dirty, and no good police want to be associated with a bad cop. So taking down a dirty cop is the best case an officer can make, it protects us from a criminal within our group; from someone that may have infiltrated our family.

On this page, we will try to show both sides of a story, and we’re always ready to hear your thoughts. But as police, we work with evidence, not a rumor, or speculation. We go by truth, and not animosity toward police, or any other group. There have been cases we’ve worked where information from the street, pointed to one person, but the evidence doesn’t follow the rumor, so as much as we may have liked the suspect for the crime, the second they are cleared by the evidence, they are cleared by us; the public has to do the same with some of these police cases. to quote Johnny Cochran, "If the evidence doesn't fit, you must acquit" and that is how good police work, it is how you should work, once the evidence doesn't match up with the information coming in from the street, we have considered it impossible, and if it is impossible, then the person has to be cleared. The thing with police other than possibly interviewing, we don't arrest until we have a case, so often we don't treat anyone like a criminal, or even confront them until we have information, and can charge them, and then we arrest them on a warrant. Good police doing the job right deserve the same treatment, don't treat them as criminals/bad cops, until you know for sure they are dirty, then take your information to the department's Internal Investigations (there is little they like more than arresting bad cops).

In the old days they called it profiling, to find a car with tinted windows, fancy rims, that looked like cars often driven by drug traffickers, and to stop them based on appearance alone, it is lazy police work, and to say an officer is dirty simply because he or she is wearing a badge, no better than the lazy, dirty cops we all despise. It is lazy and non-productive… to be productive, we need to let an officer do his job, don’t bait him or her by giving them a hard time. If these were drug stings or a vice cases; it would be entrapment, what we need to do is cooperate with the officer, and see where they take it. Let them cross the line first, even then, stay calm don’t give them an excuse, to turn "nothing", into something it was not. With this method of full cooperation, we will see who the good police are, and who the bad police are. But this is something that needs cooperation between good police, and good citizens. To go up to anyone, even the best person on earth in an aggressive manner, they will be put on the defensive.

This page will try to post the stories as they come up, both good and bad. If you have a story feel free to send it to us. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Some information on this page is of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - some of this information was updated by us because we feel the only way to share the history of this department is to give the good and the bad.

Baltimore Police Officer Caught on Camera Stealing Envelope of Cash from Business

Justin Fenton

Published 9/25/2023

A Baltimore Police car and crime scene tape remains on the scene after a vehicle exploded inside a five-story parking garage in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood on 7/27/22. Two people are being treated for injuries, fire officials said Wednesday afternoon.
Baltimore Police Officer Eric Payton was charged with theft and misconduct in office last week after he was caught on camera stealing an envelope of cash from a business, according to charging documents. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Baltimore Banner)
A Baltimore Police officer charged with theft and misconduct in office last week was caught on camera stealing an envelope of cash from a business, according to charging documents.

Click HERE of picture above to visit article

Officer Eric Payton, 46, responded as backup after another officer found a business in the 4800 block of Belair Road open and unsecured in the early morning hours of Sept. 20. Later that day, the business owner called police and reported that she had surveillance videotape of an officer taking an envelope containing $111 that had been dropped off by an employee.

Police viewed the video and confirmed that Payton was seen on the video kicking the envelope, then picking it up and putting it in his pocket.

The officer investigating the theft then summoned a supervisor, who contacted evidence control to determine whether any property had been submitted in connection with the investigation of the open door. “It was determined that Officer Payton did not submit any currency or any additional property,” police wrote in court documents.

There’s no mention in the documents of whether Payton or the officer he was backing up activated their body-worn cameras while inside the business.

Police moved swiftly to charge Payton, a seven-year veteran. In a news release issued late Friday — which did not detail the allegations against Payton — they said he had been suspended without pay.

“The Department takes misconduct in office, and other illegal behaviors, very seriously. Each member takes an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and to serve the citizens of Baltimore,” Acting Commissioner Richard Worley said in a statement. “It is of the upmost importance to the Department that we continue to work to strengthen trust with the community, strengthen relationships and remain steadfast in our commitment to transparency. This type of conduct, if proven, erodes that process and hurts us all.”

Payton’s attorney, Chaz Ball, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Payton was previously a city schools police officer before joining the Baltimore Police Department. Salary records show he was paid $76,800 in fiscal year 2022, despite earning a base salary of $89,380. That year, court records show, he appealed a worker’s compensation case and lost.

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WMAR 2 News Baltimore

BPD Sergeant Arrested After Pulling Out Gun to Dispute Restaurant Bill

7 March 2023

By Rushaad Hayward,

Baltimore police sergeant Larry Worsley was arrested following a dispute over his restaurant bill. He was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, theft, and firearm violations. Charging documents reveal the incident took place at the Tequila Sunset restaurant in the 2700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Worsley consumed three shots of an alcoholic beverage before becoming "noticeably intoxicated." While inside, the sergeant was seen assaulting an unidentified woman that he came with. Worsley had to be separated from the woman and the bartender stepped outside to remind him he had an outstanding tab of $42 that needed to be paid. At this point, Worsley pulled out a black handgun and said, "I'm not paying for s***," according to the charging documents. He then walked towards a white Mercedes while dragging the unidentified woman by her hair with the gun still in his hands. She drove off without him while he continued to walk on foot. Another officer found him, and while conducting a search, they discovered a BPD identification card identifying him as a sergeant. A loaded Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol with one round in the chamber was also recovered. Police say the Public Investigation Bureau (PIB) is aware of the case and he currently has his police powers suspended.

BALTIMORE (WBFF) - In a scathing review of his time at the Baltimore City Police Department, former commissioner Anthony Batts listed a litany of problems he says he found at the department while he was leading it. The comments came during his testimony before a state commission on police reform

shamefull

"I think it was a culture of people trying to be badasses instead of a police department focusing on community policing," said Batts. "I saw that use of force was, what I thought, was too high for an organization of that size. I saw that officer-involved shootings, I believe, the level was too high. The policies were outdated."

Batts became commissioner in July 2012. He was fired in July of 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray and the riots that followed.

Response 1 - If he really thought that while he was commissioner, and this isn't just a half assed, after thought, then why didn't he address it [Between 2012 and 2015] while he was in charge. Why was it never put into writing, discussed with E&T [Education and Training]. If it was truly an issue then shame on him for not addressing it.

If I was asked what I saw as a member of the Baltimore police, I would have to say, Real police working together on a common cause to be advocates of the victims of Baltimore crime. Helping those that were forced to live in high crime areas giving them someone that they could come to when they were being victimized by high crime in a culture of not snitching on those that were bullying their hard working neighbors into looking the other way while crime was being committed all around them. Our police often worked with used or ineffective equipment, but still risked everything to make sure those that called for their help received that help.

So depending on his definition of badass, perhaps they didn't just look badass but may have been badass. After all it is hard not to look badass when you are coming to the rescue of anyone in need of your help, and you run through whatever obstacles are in the way to answer their calls. Under that definition, it is better to look like a badass, then it is to talk like a dumbass.

Response 2 - It's the mental illness of those individuals who think, thought that way in the Dept. We lived, thought, responded, handled, mourned, gave promise to those, gave condolences to those, gave support to those, locked up those and brought to justice those that chose to injure those under our charge that we swore to protect and serve. I feel no shame in that endeavor.

Batts Statement made in 2015 is a little different than his bad ass statement of 2020 - The full statement is below:

"There has been reporting recently on statements that have been made by Police Commissioner Anthony Batts regarding forced separations from this agency. When the Police Commissioner arrived in Baltimore in September of 2012 he was asked by the Mayor to assist in reforming the organization. The Baltimore Police Department was in need of change, the primary focus of change was to rebuild trust, trust in the community and to also build a stronger and better police department internally.

"The Police Commissioner has said he will back his officers who do a good job, officers who make mistakes but their hearts are in the right places. The Commissioner has further stated that he has no tolerance for officers who have malice in their hearts and wish to harm the community. In law enforcement in particular it is necessary to recognize those individuals, to take the opportunity to train and mentor them or as circumstances necessitate to terminate.

"Under the Police Commissioner's tenure there have been a total of 72 forced separations from the agency. Twenty-six of those separations are terminations. The remaining forty-six are individuals who resigned or retired in lieu of termination. These are individuals who have been internally charged with misconduct, false statements, criminal activities, neglecting their duty and other offenses. Had these individuals remained on the department and had not retired or resigned they would have been terminated. These numbers do not include the hundreds of officers who have nobly served their department, this profession and this community who resigned or retired in good standing.

"The forced separations assist in building trust both in the community and within the department. The community is able to tangibly see that their concerns and complaints have been heard and those individuals who have caused harm have been identified and are no longer law enforcement officers. The Baltimore Police Department will not tolerate misconduct and will not tolerate individuals who tarnish the relationship that thousands of dedicated officers have risked their lives to build. The Baltimore Police Department takes pride in its officers who should hold their heads high with the respect each and every one of them deserves. Police Commissioner Batts applauds those courageous and hardworking officers."

Commissioner Anthony Batts
Wednesday, June 3rd 2015

Baltimore police officer suspended with pay after viral video shows him punching, tackling the man

A Baltimore police officer was suspended with pay by the department Saturday after a viral video emerged showing him repeatedly punching a man in the face before taking him to the ground.

UPDATE: Baltimore officer from viral beating video resigns, police confirm »

Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said he was “deeply disturbed” by the video, and that the incident is under investigation.

“The officer involved has been suspended while we investigate the totality of this incident,” Tuggle said. “Part of our investigation will be reviewing body worn camera footage.”

Police said a second officer on the scene at the time of the incident was placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation.

Attorney Warren Brown, who is representing the man who was punched, identified his client as Dashawn McGrier, 26. Brown said McGrier was not being charged with a crime, but was taken to a hospital and was having X-rays taken of his jaw, nose, and ribs late Saturday for suspected fractures from the altercation.

Brown said McGrier had a previous run-in with the same police officer — whom he identified as Officer Arthur Williams — in June that resulted in McGrier being charged with assaulting the officer, disorderly conduct, obstructing and hindering, and resisting arrest. Brown said that in that incident and in the one Saturday, McGrier was targeted without justification by the officer.

“It seems like this officer had just decided that Dashawn was going to be his punching bag,” Brown said. “And this was a brutal attack that was degrading and demeaning to my client, to that community, and to the police department.”

Williams could not be reached for comment.

Tuggle did not identify the officer or the man who was punched, but the department said the officer has been on the force for just over a year.

At Williams’ graduation from the police academy last year, he received awards for top performance, including for high marks in "defense tactics, physical training, and emergency vehicle operations,” for his "academic achievement, professional attitude, appearance, ability to supervise,” and for his "tireless and unwavering dedication" and "outstanding leadership ability,” according to a video of the graduation ceremony.

The police department said the incident Saturday began after two officers stopped McGrier, let him go, then approached him again to give him a citizen contact sheet.

“When he was asked for his identification, the situation escalated when he refused,” the department said. “The police officer then struck the man several times.”

Brown said McGrier was sitting on steps when Williams passed by in his vehicle, then moments later was walking down the street when the officer, now on foot, told him to stop without giving him a reason.

“My client was saying, ‘What is this all about? You don’t even have probable cause,’ ” Brown said. That’s when Williams began shoving McGrier, Brown said.

Police and communities gather for National Night Out events across Baltimore region

Tuggle asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact the Office of Professional Responsibility at 410-396-2300.

“While I have an expectation that officers are out of their cars, on foot, and engaging citizens, I expect that it will be done professionally and constitutionally,” he said. “I have zero tolerance for behavior like I witnessed on the video today. Officers have a responsibility and duty to control their emotions in the most stressful of situations.”

The incident occurred Saturday outside Q’s Bar and Liquors in the 2600 block of E. Monument St. in East Baltimore.

The video shows the officer pushing McGrier against a wall, with his hand on McGrier’s chest, and then McGrier pushing the officer’s hand off his chest. It is then that the officer starts swinging.

The officer throws repeated punches, shoves McGrier onto rowhouse steps and continues beating him until McGrier lands on the pavement. McGrier appears to be bleeding when he gets to the ground.

McGrier appears to try to deflect some of the officer’s punches but does not punch back.

A second officer, who the department did not identify, briefly places his hand on McGrier’s arm as McGrier tries to avoid the blows but does not appear to try to stop the first officer from throwing punches.

Police pleaded with the man to drop the knife before shooting at the behavioral health clinic, body camera footage shows Shantel Allen, 28, who said she grew up with McGrier and considers him like a brother, called the escalation of the encounter by Williams shocking.

“I was speechless. I was enraged. I was hurt. I was shocked more than anything. That is really something you don’t expect,” she said. “I truly feel as though this officer needs to be dealt with in a very serious manner, so none of his fellow officers or anyone else in the criminal justice system feels like they can use this kind of force.

“This is a crime. You can’t just go around putting your hands on people,” she said.

Brown said Internal Affairs officers were at the hospital to speak with McGrier. Brown said he also had spoken with the office of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Mosby’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The police department said Mosby’s office “provided information related to this case,” but did not explain what that meant.

Several men on Monument Street at the time — who asked not to be named, for fear of reprisal from the police for discussing the matter — said the officer who threw the punches knew McGrier from prior interactions, and that they believed he was targeting him.

They said the officer is young and had previously worked foot patrol along the corridor, but recently began working out of a car.

The men said the officer stopped McGrier on Saturday without good reason, which is why McGrier was talking back to the officer before the officer started throwing punches.

“He knows his rights, and he felt as though his rights were being violated, and he took offense to that,” one man said.

That the officer responded physically was completely out of line, and must result in serious consequences, the men said.

'I'm about to send this kid to the ... hospital': Baltimore police reviewing the interaction between the cop “We want justice. We don’t want things like that to happen. We want him to be held accountable, and not no paid suspension,” one man said.

Mayor Catherine Pugh echoed Tuggle in a statement late Saturday, in which she also called the encounter between the officer and McGrier “disturbing.” She said she was in touch with Tuggle and had “demanded answers and accountability.”

“We are working day and night to bring about a new era of community-based, Constitutional policing and will not be deterred by this or any other instance that threatens our efforts to re-establish the trust of all citizens in the Baltimore Police Department,” the mayor said.

City Councilman Brandon Scott said the department did the right thing by suspending the officer. Scott said he spoke with Tuggle after seeing the video, and the commissioner assured him it would be handled appropriately. He said the officer should be fired.

“You see that video and you see what we are trying to prevent in the police department,” said Scott, who is chair of the council's public safety committee. “It goes against the consent decree and the work we’re trying to do to rebuild trust between the community and the police department.”

The city entered into a federal consent decree in 2017 after the U.S. Justice Department found officers routinely violated people’s constitutional rights.

The justice department’s investigation began soon after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray following injuries he suffered in police custody. The 2015 incident became a flashpoint in the national conversation about police brutality.

A look at recent Baltimore Police scandals, from De Sousa's resignation to Gun Trace Task Force

Despite increased oversight, the city’s police department has had numerous scandals in recent months, including allegations of police misconduct.

Police said late last month that they were reviewing a different piece of viral civilian footage depicting a tense interaction with officers. The video shows a young boy being forcefully brought to the ground and handcuffed by an officer.

Seven Baltimore police officers were arrested Wednesday on racketeering charges, accused of stealing from hapless victims who often committed no crimes and of filing bloated overtime claims that almost doubled their salaries.

The indictment comes less than a month after the Justice Department reached a sweeping reform agreement with the embattled police department. U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said Wednesday's charges involved "abuse of power" by six detectives and a sergeant on the city's Gun Trace Task Force team.

"What is particularly significant about the allegations in this indictment is that these officers were involved in stopping people who had not committed crimes," Rosenstein said. "Not only seizing their money but pocketing it."

Rosenstein said the amount of money the officers would seize, without any charges being filed, ranged from hundreds of dollars to $200,000. Some of the alleged overtime abuses included one officer who claimed overtime for a day of gambling at a casino. Another officer was paid while vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a week.

The indicted officers include Det. Momodu Bondeva Kenton "GMoney" Gondo, 34, who also was charged in a drug-dealing conspiracy; Det. Evodio Calles Hendrix, 32; Det. Daniel Thomas Hersl, 47; Sgt. Wayne Earl Jenkins, 36; Det. Jemell Lamar Rayam, 36; Det. Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, 30; and Det. Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, 36.

Jenkins was the worst overtime offender in fiscal 2016, according to the indictment. His salary was $85,406, but he received more than $83,000 in additional overtime pay. Five of the officers claimed more than $50,000 in overtime that year.

"This kind of conduct by police officers tarnishes the reputation of all police officers," Rosenstein said.

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Rosenstein said the investigation stemmed from a drug probe conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Information was passed on to the FBI. Local police also aided the effort.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said it was a difficult day for the city and a "punch in the gut" for his police force. But he said such crackdowns are part of the change and would be applauded by his officers.

"These seven police officers acted disgracefully," Davis said. "They betrayed the trust we have — and are trying to build upon — at a very sensitive time in our city’s history."

Last month the Justice Department and police department agreed on a series of changes that are awaiting a judge's approval. The overhaul stems from a scathing federal report on police operations issued after the widely publicized death of Freddie Gray in April 2015 while in police custody. Gray's death sparked days of sometimes-violent protests across the city.

The report claimed officers routinely conducted unlawful stops and used excessive force often targeting black residents in low-income, African-American neighborhoods. Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the department's "zero tolerance" strategy had little impact on crime solving while severely damaging community relations.

Six officers were charged in connection with Gray's death. Three were acquitted and charges against the others were then dropped.

The Baltimore Eight GTTF

dirty cops

Marcus Taylor and Daniel Hersl

The second week in the trial of Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor brought to light a series of shocking revelations as a growing list of witnesses testified to the depravity and devastation shown by the elite Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), which moved with reckless impunity throughout the city dealing drugs and committing robbery, extortion, theft, and over-time fraud. Six other members of the operational unit that was charged with getting guns off the street have pleaded guilty. Hersl and Taylor, who are charged with robbery, extortion, using a firearm to commit a violent crime, and fraud charges relating to overtime theft have pleaded not guilty.

Callous cops and structural inequity: On Aug. 31, 2016, two cars full of Gun Trace Task Force officers watched in the distance as two cars that had just collided sat on the sidewalk badly damaged, with the state of the passengers unknown.

Det. Jemell Rayam suggested they get out and help, but aiding the injured drivers was not an option because Sgt. Wayne Jenkins—who was described by those he commanded in the GTTF as both a “prince” in the Baltimore Police Department and as “crazy”—told them not to do anything.

He had also told them to initiate the chase that led to this moment.

So they listened to the radio, waiting for a concerned citizen to call in the crash or for other cops to come to the scene.

This is all according to Rayam, who pleaded guilty along with all of the officers except for Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, and seemed visibly shaken and sometimes confused on Jan. 30, his second day testifying in the ongoing federal corruption trial of the GTTF.

And though Taylor’s defense relied solely on presenting the witnesses as liars, what Rayam said was corroborated by audio from a bug the FBI had planted in the car of GTTF Detective Momodu Gondo.

Rayam explained it all began that day when Jenkins saw a car he wanted to stop at a gas station. The car fled and both Jenkins and Gondo, each driving an unmarked car, drove after it in pursuit. The car they were pursuing ran a red light and, in Rayam’s words, was “pretty much T-boned,” by another car.

“It was bad, real bad,” Rayam said. “Both of the cars collided with each other.”

Briefly, he couldn’t answer follow up questions—a crying Rayam wasn’t sure which crash they were asking about.

“There were so many car accidents,” he said.

Intead of checking on the victims of the accident, the members of the GTTF sat tight and waited, worrying that their role in the event may have been discovered.

“None of us stopped to render aid or to see if anyone was hurt,” Rayam said.

On the tape, Hersl suggested covering it up: “We could go stop the slips at 10:30 before that happened. ‘Hey I was in this car just driving home,’” he said, and laughed.

The trial, now in its second week, has presented a tremendous amount of evidence showing that the officers claimed overtime for hours they did not work.

Hersl laughed again on the tape and wondered what was in the car.

Jenkins and others worried that Citiwatch may have it all recorded—they hoped the rain that night would make them hard to see—and worried the pursued may be able to mention he was chased.

“That dude is unconscious. He ain’t saying shit,” Taylor said.

“These car chases. That’s what happens. It’s a crapshoot, you know?” Hersl said.

This was an extraordinary statement to hear coming from Hersl as his family sat in the courtroom. In 2013, a driver—who was being followed, but not chased, by a state trooper—killed Hersl’s brother Matthew in front of City Hall in downtown Baltimore. WBAL said that Stephen, Herl’s other brother, told them Matthew “didn’t drive because he didn’t like traffic and thought drivers were dangerous.”

This incident wherein a chase led to a car crash echoes other events in this case. In 2010, Jenkins, Officer Ryan Guinn, and Det. Sean Suiter initiated a chase that also ended in a crash—one that was fatal. According to the federal indictment, the officers had a sergeant come and bring an ounce of heroin to plant in the back of the car they were pursuing, before giving first aid to the man, who ultimately died. Umar Burley, who was driving the car they chased, was recently freed from federal prison. Det. Suiter was murdered a day before testifying in the case—and the police car bringing him to Shock Trauma crashed on the way there. Guinn was reinstated to BPD after a two-week suspension and, last week in court, another GTTF member Maurice Ward testified that Jenkins told him that Guinn had informed the squad that they were under investigation.

Hersl has admitted to stealing money, but his lawyers argue that because he had probable cause he did not rob his targets—and did not use violence to take the money. He glared at Rayam as he testified about the wreck and various thefts. Rayam has confessed to dealing drugs, stealing drugs, and strong-arm robbery. In court, he suggested that Gondo, with whom he worked closely, had discussed other serious crimes, including a possible murder. Rayam alluded on several occasions to the numerous internal affairs complaints against Hersl, but the judge shut him down—that information was not admissible in court. On another occasion, federal prosecutors asked Rayam if Hersl gave him money for selling cocaine. Hersl’s lawyer objected and the judge sustained the objection.

But the overall sense is that, for the GTTF—and especially Jenkins, who has pleaded guilty but is not expected to testify—Baltimore City was at once a killing field and playground.

It is too easy to see Jenkins and Gondo and Rayam as sociopathic exceptions who are especially depraved. More testimony later the same day showed how this behavior stems from creating a city which criminalizes—or at best contains—a large part of its population. This structural disdain for life became clear in testimony from Herbert Tate, one of the witnesses against Hersl, who was treated like a criminal by defense attorneys.

Tate said he was on Robb Street in the Midway neighborhood on Nov. 27, 2015 to see old friends. A few days earlier, he said, Hersl had stopped him on Robb Street, searched him, and given him a slip of paper—not a proper citation, just a piece of paper—called it a warning, and said, “Next time I see you, you’re going to jail.”

It was about 5 p.m., Tate said, when he was walking up the street with an alcoholic beverage—he couldn’t remember if it was beer or wine—when Hersl, Officer Kevin Fassl, and Sgt. John Burns pulled up on him. Tate says that Hersl told Fassl to grab him. Fassl searched him, including searching his waistband and putting their fingers in his mouth, and then sat him down in handcuffs. In his pockets, they found $530 in cash, some receipts, and pay stubs—but no drugs. Hersl, Tate testified, dug around in vacants and on stoops looking for drugs. He went around a corner for about 10 minutes, Tate said, and came back with “blue and whites.”

Tate testified that he did not know what “blue and whites” were at the time but later learned it was heroin. Hersl sat beside his lawyer, William Purpura, glowering as Tate testified that Fassl asked Hersl what to do with the money and Hersl said, “Keep it.”

When Tate asked them to count it, he says that Burns got angry and bragged about how much money he made. According to a 2016 spreadsheet of Baltimore City employee salary data, Burns brought in a little more than $86,000, but with overtime—one of the main issues at stake in the case—he made nearly double that, bringing in $164,403 in 2016. On Feb. 21, 2017—just over a week before the Gun Trace Task Force indictments came down, Burns took medical leave and began raising funds with a GoFundMe account that claimed he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome triggered, the fundraiser says, from “inhaling fecal matter during a search warrant.”

By the time the money made its way into evidence, the $530 had become $216. When Tate was released from jail, he was given 91 cents back. He never saw the rest of the money.

Defense lawyers made a different issue out of the money. Christopher Nieto, who is representing Marcus Taylor (who was not involved in Tate’s arrest at all), made a point of mentioning that some of the money submitted as evidence was in small bills like singles, fives, and tens.

“Dollar bills suggest drug distribution,” Nieto said.

“Everybody has dollar bills,” Tate responded.

The claim was odd in the context of a trial in which it had been repeatedly stated that large sums of cash also indicated drug dealing. Whatever amount of money African-Americans have in Baltimore City can indicate criminal activity, apparently: Tate had a 2003 charge tied to possession and distribution of narcotics, for which he took probation before judgement and admitted on the stand that when he was in high school he “did some things”—meaning small-time dealing—but had never been arrested back then.

Nieto repeatedly referred to Robb Street as “an open air drug market,” “a drug neighborhood,” and a “not a great neighborhood.” A perception encouraged, in part, because these neighborhoods are criminalized.

“That’s what y’all label it as, but that’s not what it is to me,” said Tate, who testified that he had grown up in the area and had friends and family there and coached a children’s basketball team in the area. Nieto also said that Tate had a black ski mask when he was arrested, though Tate said he had it on him because it was cold and that he was wearing it as “a winter hat.”

This attitude displayed in the questioning of Tate (that certain people are inherently criminal) is the animating force behind the GTTF criminal enterprise, but it isn’t that far from the assumptions of our criminal justice system, which, in 21st century American cities, is based on an almost Calvinist view of crime: If some people are criminal, nothing you do to them can be criminal.

Because of the 2015 arrest, Tate said, he lost his job because he was in jail for four days, then he lost his car because he couldn’t pay for it and couldn’t get another job because of the narcotics charge—and to this day, he owes a friend for the bail.

“I’m still paying them back,” Tate said.

In March of 2016, the state dismissed Hersl’s charges against Tate—a common occurrence in Baltimore. After the charges were dismissed, Tate was able to get another job as an HVAC technician, which he has to this day. He also said that after the arrest, he moved away from Baltimore to Anne Arundel County.

“I got out of the city,” he said. (Baynard Woods & Brandon Soderberg)

These guys had it all, a job that gave them prestige, an income of nearly 100K a year, and they still had to throw it all away over greed.

Seven Baltimore Cops Indicted on Federal Racketeering Charges

Seven Baltimore police officers were indicted Wednesday for federal racketeering crimes ranging from filing false overtime claims while actually at a casino to robbing a driver during a traffic stop.

One of the cops is facing a separate charge for drug distribution.

Investigators said the crimes — some of them committed by some members of the elite Gun Trace Task Force — took place last year as the Department of Justice investigated the Baltimore Police Department for use of excessive force, among other violations. The racketeering investigation was conducted in secret over the past year as part of what officials described as a sweeping reform effort across the department.

Those indicted include Det. Momodu Bondeva Kenton "GMoney" Gondo, 34; Det. Evodio Calles Hendrix, 32; Det. Daniel Thomas Hersl, 47; Sgt. Wayne Earl Jenkins, 36; Det. Jemell Lamar Rayam, 36; Det. Marcus Roosevelt Taylor, 30; and Det. Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, 36.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said the crimes were an abuse of power.

"They were involved in stopping people who had not committed crimes and not only seizing their money but pocketing it," he said. "These are really simply robberies by people who are wearing police uniforms."

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said the indictments were "a punch in the gut" for the Baltimore Police Department. "These officers are 1930s-style gangsters as far as I'm concerned," he said.

Davis said that this investigation is part of a larger effort to reform the police department.

"Reform isn't always pretty. It's messy sometimes," Davis said.

Last August, in the wake of the tumult following Freddie Gray's death, the Justice Department issued a report that said the Baltimore police department often used excessive force and conducted unlawful traffic stops in some of the city's poorest and predominantly black communities. As part of an agreement with the DOJ, the Baltimore police department agreed to a consent decree to install sweeping reforms.

"We wouldn't be under a consent decree if we didn't' have issues. We have issues," Davis said.

Posters detailing specific allegations from 2016 sat on either side of the podium during the press conference.

In one case, four of the officers are alleged to have stolen $200,000 from a safe and bags and a watch valued at $4,000. In July 2016, three officers conspired to impersonate a federal officer in order to steal $20,000 in cash.

Prosecutors said one officer helped a friend being tracked as part of a drug conspiracy remove a GPS tracking device placed by the Drug Enforcement Agency on the person's car.

In another case, the officers watched a drug home for a full day and then stole $3,000 from people who later emerged from the home.

In yet another instance, an officer charged overtime while at a casino when the sergeant in charge was on vacation, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office said. Another officer claimed overtime while vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Sometimes, the officers turned off their body cameras to avoid recording what they were up to, according to the indictment.

As first reported by the Baltimore Sun, several of the officers were also highly praised in the October 2016 Baltimore Police newsletter in an article written by Lt. Chris O'Ree, a member of the ATF taskforce.

"I am extremely proud to showcase the work of Sergeant Wayne Jenkins and the Gun Trace Task Force," O'Ree wrote. "Sergeant Jenkins and his team have 110 arrests for handgun violations and seized 132 illegal handguns." He added, "I couldn't be more proud of the strong work of this team."

Rosenstein said that the investigation involved electronic surveillance and the installation of a recording device in the cars of one of the officers. He said that the recordings demonstrate "a lack of respect for the system, particularly in discussions about overtime."

One of the accused officers reportedly said that working for the police department is "easy money."

"I can assure you that for the officers that are doing their legitimate jobs, this is not easy money by any means," Rosenstein said.

The president of the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Gene Ryan, said he was "disturbed" by the charges.

"We are very disturbed over the charges filed against our members by the U.S. Attorney today," Ryan said in a statement. "These officers are entitled to due process and a fair trial in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of our state." Shame on them all, these seven officers have tarnished the badges of their brothers and sisters, but at the same time, I hope it shows the amount of temptation the rest of us ignore, because in life there is only one and one wrong when it comes to honor, and these seven have no honor, no respect. They will end up where they belong, and federal prison is no joke. That said, God bless the rest of our Officers who through no fault of their own have been called names, ducked bricks, spit, and many other injustices because they decided they would take an oath to protect a community and as such, they will continue to fight through the injustices of prejudices thrown their way. But their pride, their integrity, and their promise to protect those that sometimes don't want protection, but crime states show protection is needed. As good police, we want nothing more than to see bad cops arrested, and good police maintain a well-deserved reward of honor.

Bail set at $1M for Officer Charged with Attempted Murder

Justin Fenton and Colin Campbell

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Contact ReportersThe Baltimore Sun

Mosby, police commissioner announce criminal charges against the city officer in the shooting.

A Baltimore police officer has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of an unarmed burglary suspect last December, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby and interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis announced Wednesday.

The officer, 13-year veteran Wesley Cagle, is accused of shooting Michael Johansen, 46, in the 3000 block of E. Monument St. after he had been shot by two other officers. Cagle was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault.

District Court Judge Halee F. Weinstein on Thursday cited the "heinous and callous nature" of the allegations in setting Cagle's bail at $1 million. Cagle's defense attorney Chaz Ball argued that Cagle is not a threat to the community or a risk to not appear in court, and instead asked for bail to be set at $150,000.

Mosby said the first two officers were justified in shooting Johansen because he refused to heed commands and made a move toward his waistband.

But Cagle "on his own initiative" came out of an alley, Mosby said, stood over Johansen, called him a "piece of [expletivehttp://www.trbimg.com/img-5798ff53/turbine/bs-md-ci-officer-charged-shooting-20150819-001" data-c-nd="473x596" />

Thirteen-year veteran officer Wesley Cagle is accused of shooting Michael Johansen, 46, in the 3000 block of E. Monument Street after he had been shot by two other officers.

Both Cagle and Johansen are white.

The charges come months after Mosby filed charges against six officers in the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died in April after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in a police van.

The officer who drove the van was charged with second-degree murder; others were charged with manslaughter or lesser charges.

Cagle, 45, is the first Baltimore police officer criminally charged in an on-duty shooting since Officer Tommy Sanders, who was charged with manslaughter in the 2008 shooting of an unarmed man who ran to evade arrest. A jury acquitted Sanders of all charges in 2010.

bs md gray police rare charges 20150516

Davis, the interim commissioner, called the charges a "punch in the gut" but said that when officers learn more about the case, they will "realize that this Police Department and state's attorney's office did the right thing."

"It doesn't make me feel very good at all," Davis said. "But what's really important here is that the integrity of our profession, the integrity of our agency, wins out."

Cagle was taken into custody Wednesday, police said.

Gene Ryan, president of the city's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, said that he "did not have all of the facts surrounding this investigation" but that "this officer will have his day in court, and I have faith that the judicial system will properly determine guilt or innocence."

Ryan said it was his responsibility as union president "to represent and support each and every one of our members until such time as the evidence suggests otherwise."

"As I have stated numerous times in the past, no one is above the law, but all citizens of our nation are entitled to due process."

The shooting occurred about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 28. Officers were called to the 3000 block of E. Monument St. in the Madison Eastend neighborhood for a report of a burglary at a corner grocery store.

Cagle and Officers Keven Leary and Isiah Smith took up positions on the side and rear of Patel's Corner 3 while Officer Dancy Debrosse went to the front, Mosby said. Leary and Smith then went to the side door while Cagle went to the alley.

Debrosse looked through the front door of the store, saw a masked man near the cash register and watched him head toward a side door, Mosby said. Leary and Smith confronted him, she said and told him to show his hands. When he didn't comply and instead reached toward his waist, she said, they fired at him.

He fell to the floor, his body partially inside of the store and his feet on the steps outside.

While Leary and Smith were covering him with their guns drawn, Mosby said, Cagle walked in and stood over him with his gun drawn. The man said to Cagle, "What did you shoot me with, a beanbag?"

According to Mosby, Cagle replied: "No, a .40-caliber, you piece of [expletive http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-alison-knezevich-20141007-staff.html#nt=byline" class="trb_ar_by_nm_au_a" style="color: rgb(54, 54, 54); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-out 0s;" itemprop="author">Alison Knezevich This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The Baltimore Sun

Officer Wesley Cagle found guilty of assault, not guilty of attempted murder in shooting of unarmed man.

A Baltimore police officer faces at least five years in prison after a jury convicted him Thursday of two charges in the shooting of an unarmed burglary suspect.

In a rare conviction in a use-of-force case against a police officer, jurors found Wesley Cagle, 46, guilty of first-degree assault and a handgun charge. Prosecutors said Cagle shot Michael Johansen in the groin as he lay in the doorway of an East Baltimore corner store after two other officers had shot the man.

"There was no need for him to take that final shot," said jury foreman Jerome Harper, 64, after he and other jurors left the courthouse.

Cagle was acquitted of the more serious charges of attempted first- and second-degree murder in the shooting.

Cagle, a 15-year veteran of the Police Department, stood silently at the defense table with his attorneys as the decision was announced. Behind him, members of his family wept as they heard the verdict.

bs md ci cagle verdict 20160803

Cagle trial: Jury returns not-guilty verdict on one charge but told to resume deliberations Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said the case demonstrates their willingness to hold police officers accountable. "Today's serious criminal charges against a Baltimore police officer happened because our internal investigations worked," Davis said in a statement. Police officials said Davis would take "immediate action" to terminate Cagle's employment. He has been suspended without pay. He earned $76,021.76 in 2015 on a base salary of $69,296. The two other officers who shot Johansen — Isiah Smith and Keven Leary — were cleared in the shooting and testified for the prosecution.

bal photos trial of officer wesley cagle 20160728

"I commend the witnesses who willingly testified against Mr. Cagle's reckless behavior as well as my prosecutors who presented such a strong case," Mosby said. "I'm glad to know that the jury looked at the facts and evidence presented in this case and ensured that justice was served."

Cagle's attorneys, Chaz Ball and Joe Murtha, left the courthouse without commenting.

Both Cagle and Johansen are white.

Johansen, who testified last week about getting shot, did not attend the court proceedings Thursday. On the stand, he described how he has long been addicted to heroin and went to the store the morning of Dec. 28, 2014, to "get some money."

In an interview Thursday, his attorney, Jerome Bivens, praised Mosby's office and the police officers who testified.

"We need more police officers to stand up," Bivens said. "We need more good cops to stand up against the bad cops. If we get that more often, our country will be in much better shape than it is now. This case is a conviction because the police policed themselves."

Cagle testified that he shot at Johansen because he saw a shiny object that could have been a weapon, but Harper said jurors did not believe him.

"That was thrown out," the jury foreman said. "We didn't believe that."

At a time when the public often sees video footage of police encounters, it could become harder for officers to defend their actions by saying they thought someone was armed, said A. Dwight Pettit, a Baltimore attorney who has represented clients in numerous lawsuits against police.

"With all the things the public is seeing, that defense is running kind of thin, especially when there's no evidence to corroborate," Pettit said. "I think juries are going to want more than just, 'I thought I saw him reaching [for a weaponhttp://schema.org/Organization" itemprop="publisher">The Baltimore Sun contact the reporter

Baltimore Officer Michael McSpadden will not face charges for incident caught on tape.

A longtime Baltimore police officer will not face criminal charges for hitting a handcuffed suspect in a downtown parking garage during a 2012 arrest — an incident partially caught on video by a security camera.

Prosecutors determined that the statute of limitations had expired for the most serious offenses, and they could not prove other potential charges against Officer Michael McSpadden, according to a statement released Tuesday. The officer, who has been suspended since October, earns about $69,000 a year.

A Baltimore Sun investigation into police misconduct revealed last fall that McSpadden, who joined the force in 1993, had been sued five times after allegedly beating suspects during arrests. Taxpayers have paid more than $624,000 to settle those lawsuits; neither the city nor McSpadden acknowledged wrongdoing in those settlements.

At the time, The Sun also found that a security camera video had recorded much of the June 17, 2012, incident involving McSpadden and Bolaji Obe of Baltimore. Police leaders suspended McSpadden minutes after The Sun asked for comment about the video, which showed a version of events that was at odds with McSpadden's official account.

Rochelle Ritchie, a spokeswoman for State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby, said Tuesday in a statement: "Despite the fact that the statute of limitations for the most serious offenses expired during the previous administration, the State's Attorney's Office conducted a thorough review of the evidence pertaining to all remaining potential criminal charges in this case and has determined that we could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt any additional criminal acts, thereby we have declined to prosecute Officer Michael McSpadden."

Bryan A. Levitt, who represented Obe in the civil lawsuit, said he never expected McSpadden to face criminal charges — even though the officer has a history of brutality allegations. Levitt said a "class difference" accounted for the way police officers treat the city's black residents.

"Suspending him with pay in light of overwhelming evidence of police brutality is fundamentally unconscionable," Levitt said. "How many people have been roughed up who haven't reported it?"

McSpadden did not respond to a request for comment.

McSpadden remains suspended from duty, said Sgt. Jarron Jackson, a police spokesman. "Our internal investigative process into this incident has begun, as is consistent with all reported allegations of misconduct made against our officers," Jackson said.

The McSpadden case highlighted criticism leveled by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts last fall against the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, which provides procedural protections for officers accused of misconduct.

Both leaders have said the city has no choice but to suspend officers with pay unless they are criminally charged.

McSpadden's suspension was connected to a lawsuit settled last July for $62,000. He arrested Obe at the Water Street parking garage.

According to that lawsuit, McSpadden held Obe and a friend at knifepoint. The officer demanded that one of them remove a shirt to wipe up urine on the floor, and punched Obe in the face when his hands were handcuffed behind his back, the documents state. McSpadden wielded "a knife with a blade approximately 4 or 5 inches in length ... all the while making stabbing motions toward them and also threatening to slash the tires" on their car, the lawsuit says.

McSpadden wrote in charging documents that he hit Obe, who had "assumed an aggressive stance, clenched his fist and postured his body like he was going to attack." The officer said Obe "fell to the ground and was handcuffed without further incident."

The security camera video, however, shows that the off-duty officer handcuffed Obe, who was sitting on a stool in the parking garage's office. McSpadden left and re-entered the office, moving to a spot outside the camera's view. Obe can then be seen falling off the stool to the ground outside the office.

With his arms still clearly handcuffed behind his back, Obe lay motionless as McSpadden wiped something off his face. The officer lifted Obe off the ground and leaned him against a wall.

Obe was later cleared of criminal charges.

Police leaders say they didn't know the video existed until The Sun presented it to them on Oct. 3. They suspended McSpadden that day.

City lawyers said they did not understand the extent of McSpadden's string of lawsuits until July — after The Sun started asking questions about the officer. The Law Department was unaware, for example, that McSpadden was battling two lawsuits at the same time, both arising from incidents in 2012.

The Sun investigation — which led to a review of the Police Department by the U.S. Department of Justice — showed that the city paid nearly $6 million since 2011 in court judgments and settlements in more than 100 lawsuits alleging police brutality and other misconduct.

The investigation also revealed that police leaders, city attorneys and other top officials were not keeping track of officers who repeatedly faced lawsuits involving allegations of brutality.

The Justice Department review was changed to a broader civil rights investigation after Freddie Gray died in April in police custody. Six officers have been charged in that incident.

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Police Seeking two Men in Retired Officer's Killing
Victim was Among 3 people Fatally Shot in City Friday
November 29, 1998 By Dan Thanh Dang

Baltimore police were searching yesterday for two unknown men in the fatal shooting of a retired city officer, who was killed in an apparent robbery outside his longtime West Baltimore home

The victim, Oliver T. Murdock, 73, was pronounced dead just before midnight Friday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, about two hours after he was shot in the 2500 block of Riggs Ave., city homicide detectives said. Apparently unrelated shootings in the city earlier Friday left two men dead and one wounded, police said. Murdock was returning home with his wife, Katherine, 73, about 9: 50 p.m. when they were confronted by two men demanding money. In a brief scuffle, one of the robbers shot Murdock, who managed to fire one round from the .38-caliber handgun he carried, police said. Katherine Murdock was not injured, and the assailants fled in a dark-colored pickup truck, police said.

The gunfire shattered the quiet of the holiday weekend and left neighbors mourning

"I was watching 'A Miracle on 34th Street' on TV and they had just decided Kriss Kringle was real when I heard the shot," said Erika McAfee, 16, a close friend and neighbor of the Murdocks. "I ran outside and he was lying there on the ground. He was still talking so I thought he was going to be OK. "He was very well-loved and will be missed," McAfee said. Murdock was born and raised in Baltimore. He moved to Riggs Avenue 46 years ago and quickly made a name for himself. He was described by longtime friends and family as a gregarious and helpful man who volunteered in the community and played the role of grandfather for many neighborhood children. Assigned to the Southern District, Murdock retired after nearly three decades in the Police Department, then worked as a security officer for the National Security Agency for more than 18 years and, later, as a master plumber. He helped neighbors with plumbing problems, drove senior citizens on daily errands, and also had volunteered at the Central Rosemont Recreation Center to create the "Sugar and Spice Beauty Pageant" for local children in recent years. "They weren't just your neighbors," said McAfee's mother, Vada McAfee, 42. "They became our family members. Pop was always helping people. It's really, really just a great loss."

Murdock's death left many concerned for their safety in the normally quiet neighborhood, which has many elderly residents.

"This entire block is mostly people who moved here when my father did," said Dorolie Murdock Sewell, 52, the retired officer's daughter. "They're left unprotected. My father would be very worried about that. He tried to look after everybody." The Fraternal Order of Police and Metro Crime Stoppers offered a combined $4,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailants. "This is a man who put in 27 years in the Police Department and survived the streets," said homicide Detective Homer Pennington, who is leading the investigation. "And then he becomes a victim of a robbery. It's a shame."

In two other shootings Friday

Two men were wounded, one fatally, in the 100 block of N. Poppleton St. about 5: 30 p.m. by a man who walked up to them and opened fire. One victim, Franswan Opi, 27, was released after hospital treatment. Police said they did not know the name of the other man, who was pronounced dead at Shock Trauma. Police found Curtis Lamont Haynes, 38, of the 4200 block of Massachusetts Ave. lying wounded about 10: 15 p.m. in the 200 block of McCurley St. in Southwest Baltimore. He had been shot several times and was pronounced dead at Shock Trauma.

Pub Date: 11/29/98

Now In know we are all innocent until proven guilty, but when the paper says the following, is there much doubt?

Feds say sting operation catches Baltimore police officer stealing

By Justin Fenton The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore police officer is accused of stealing $3,000 after investigators set up a sting in a hotel room, federal prosecutors said in a complaint that was unsealed Thursday. Officer Maurice Lamar Jeffers of Savage, a 12-year veteran who was assigned to a fugitive task force, was charged with theft of government property and "converting property of another," prosecutors said. A Baltimore police internal affairs detective who is part of an FBI corruption task force began investigating Jeffers in October after a woman said $2,200 had gone missing when members of the fugitive task force searched her boyfriend's home. Police said no cash was submitted as evidence after that search. The complaint against Jeffers includes a list of previous allegations from his internal affairs file — records that state law ordinarily allows police to shield from the public. They show Jeffers had been accused of theft three previous times. The first allegation came in 2005, the records show. The outcome of that case is listed as "unknown." In 2006 and 2011, Jeffers was accused of theft while making an arrest. Both cases are listed as "administratively closed."The most recent allegation, made by the woman in October, is listed as pending. Investigators say Jeffers was also accused in April 2010 of soliciting a prostitute while off-duty. "Although the BPD was notified, the incident was not investigated," according to the court document. "BPD records reported the incident as 'administrative tracking only.'" Attempts to reach Jeffers for comment were unsuccessful. Additionally, the state court records database shows that Jeffers was criminally charged twice. In 2006 he was charged in Prince George's County with theft, but found not guilty. And in 1998, before he was a police officer, he was charged in Baltimore with first-degree assault and a handgun violation. Those charges were dropped by prosecutors. In February, an internal affairs investigator approached a member of the task force about Jeffers. The member had not seen Jeffers commit any crimes, prosecutors said, but described his conduct as "suspicious." The member said Jeffers always bought things using cash, and cashed paychecks rather than deposit them into a bank account. Police officers and FBI agents staged a sting operation at the Executive Inn on Pulaski Highway on March 10, prosecutors said. Jeffers and members of his task force were told that a fictitious Prince George's County drug target was staying at the hotel, and they were told to secure the room so Prince George's County police could execute a search warrant. Agents equipped the hotel room with audio and video surveillance, and placed $3,500 in cash around the room. Jeffers told his partner that day to inform their sergeant that no one was in the room, prosecutors said. While the partner was away, prosecutors said, Jeffers was filmed placing money into his pockets. David Lutz, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said the Police Department selected Jeffers for the fugitive task force and continued to supervise him. "The task force wasn't aware of any allegations about him until approached by his Baltimore City supervision," Lutz said. "We participated fully in the investigation." Jeffers faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for each of the two theft counts, prosecutors said. He made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court last week and was released pending trial

I want to start this off by saying, what one officer does in one case, is not representative of what all officers do. Just as we wouldn't reward all officers for the heroic actions of a single solitary officer we should not punish, or judge all police for the wrong, or alleged wrong doings of a solitary officer. Truth be told, police officers love K9's we rely on them to help solve crime, find guns, lost people, drugs, explosives etc. Not only working dogs, but many officers have dogs as part of their families. I myself have a 17 Month old King Shepard that stands more than 30" from floor to shoulder. We all know how quickly a dog becomes part of a family, and like any family member we wouldn't want anyone bringing harm to them. So to assume all police are guilty over the alleged actions of one officer is not only wrong, but it is dangerous. We as a society need to be careful who we bring into our groups, and stop following trends to buy into whatever damaging crap is being sold through social media. Using common sense to learn facts. Recently one of the protest organizers from Ferguson took a "Shoot, Don't Shoot" course, and realized how fast these things happen, how quickly things can go wrong, and that police are the ones with their hands tied, the ones with all the rules. We need to learn the truth, and not rely on rumor... and the untrained to tell us the trained should react to those that resist. Ask yourself, about the credibility of the source before you take up a protest that in the end will have you being the one lead like sheep into slaughter.

Now in this case - Maryland's top medical examiner is prepared to testify on behalf of a Baltimore police officer facing criminal charges for slitting a dog's throat, after reviewing evidence and determining the dog was already dead when the cutting occurred. In this case, most of us do not have any of the "Facts" yes, "Facts" of the case, we have the story, a basic account of the events that took place, but do we have "Facts" and I would say, "No!", I should also say, aside from our K9 unit, a group of police that obviously love their K9 family; many officers have dogs as their family pets. Parts of their families that they have come to love, and care for. I turn 50 last April, and until June of 2014 I had not had a pet dog, in June my wife and I rescued an 11 month German Shepard, that we later learned was a King Shepard. His name is, "Turk" named after the first K9 dog in Baltimore. And our Dog is part of our family, we all love him, and he appears to care for us too. And if you go to Baltimore Police Twitter account you'll see many officers enjoying their dogs, with their family. So let's not think for a second this is something normal for police. Now let’s also not fall into the trap of judging without facts... this is why we have courts, to preset all facts, not rumor or hearsay. Let's take a look at it this way, assuming the second officer thought the dog was in pain, he working off information from the first officer, may have felt he was doing good by putting the officer out of misery. There were rumors the dog had bitten several people, coupled with more info that the dog was either ill or injured.

Officer Jeffrey Bolger's case is scheduled for trial Thursday after he pleaded not guilty to two counts of animal mutilation, one of animal cruelty and one of misconduct in office. He is accused of killing the dog, a Shar-Pei named Nala, in June even though the animal had been brought under control with a dog pole.

Lawyers for officer accused of killing dog ask Bernstein to reconsider case

Attorneys for Bolger have filed a motion to dismiss the case, citing the determination from David R. Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner. The attorneys also contend that evidence has been lost and that prosecutors did not follow procedure when filing the charges. Bolger's attorneys argued in September that officers on the scene did not have proper equipment to sedate the dogor place it into an animal carrier, and are authorized to euthanize a dog.

"He used his knife in a fashion intended to cause the dog the least amount of pain and place the public in the least amount of danger," they said. But in their latest motion, the lawyers say they have two non-police witnesses who say the dog was "lifeless for approximately five minutes while on the dog pole" and that two police witnesses will testify that the dog "appeared to have strangulated itself prior to the dog pole being removed."

This is Sarah Gossard,
owner of 7-year-old Shar-Pei Nala.
(Baltimore Sun)

"Agent Bolger could not be certain whether the dog had died or was dying and unconscious after it was removed from the dog pole," attorneys Steven H. Levin and Charles N. Curlett Jr. wrote. "Consequently, in the event that it was still alive, Agent Bolger wanted to end its suffering." The attorneys say Fowler will testify for the defense that the lack of blood where the cutting occurred shows that the dog's heart had already stopped beating.

"In other words, Agent Bolger did not kill the stray dog," the attorneys wrote.

Fowler's conclusion contrasts with the findings of a necropsy performed by a doctor working for the city's animal control. She determined that a cut to an artery caused the dog's death. Bolger's attorneys say her conclusion is "impossible to draw" because the dog's head was removed before the evaluation. Fowler confirmed that he had consulted with the defense. The medical examiner's office performs autopsies and other forensic investigations, and Fowler said it has occasionally done work involving animals. Bolger's attorneys also say the dog pole used in the case was not preserved by police, and the dog's collar and tag are missing. Nala got loose from her home in Canton after slipping through a gate her owner, Sarah Gossard, did not realize had been left open. The dog wandered into Brewers Hill, where police said a woman tried to stop the dog and find its home. Police say the dog bit the woman, though she described it as a minor "nip." A witness reported hearing Bolger say, "I'm going to [expletivehttps://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=lbroadwater%40baltsun.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mistrial declared as Shanahan jury splits

Mar 22, 1984

Karen E Warmkessel
The Sun (1837-1989); Mar 22, 1984; pg. A1
Mistrial declared as jury splits
A mistrial was declared yesterday in the case of a 29-year-old city police
Officer charged with the death of a motorcyclist last summer, after the
Jury announced it could not reach a unanimous verdict.
The Baltimore Circuit Court jury was split 8 to 4 in favor of acquitting
Officer Shanahan of the manslaughter charge was split 6-6 on whether he was. guilty of using a handgun in a crime of violence, the jury forewoman said last night. "I felt there was more that a reasonable doubt. The State did not prove [its case) beyond a reasonable .doubt," said Ray Grollman, the forewoman, who voted for acquittal "We tried." She said the jurors were "hung up from the beginning. A few jurors felt that be was guilty from the beginning.

They did not waver

This is another case of showing how the system works... who do you think turned him in, investigated and arrested him, other police. This is not the norm for police. Police pride themselves on doing a job and doing it well, we work to protect each other and to protect the public, and when we see something like this we are as sickened as the public. A brother officer will quickly turn in a fellow officer if they suspect him or her as being dishonest. Think of it this way, the public replies on police to be honest, other police rely on each other for our safety. So when an Officer suspects another officer of dishonesty, or other violations, they turn them in, it could mean the difference of going home alive, or being killed to have a crook as a side partner, if I am relying on someone to back me up and they are not there, I could be killed, so if I suspect a side partner of criminal activity, or dishonesty, I turn them in, in a heartbeat, as would any good police.

Police were ordered off pursuit before fatal crash, union says! Lawyer for officers says they obeyed orders

By Justin George and Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

9:05 PM EDT, September 27, 2013

Baltimore police are conducting a criminal investigation into whether officers followed orders to end their pursuit of a sedan before it was involved in a fatal crash this week, a police union attorney said Friday. Michael Davey, the lawyer representing the officers who were in a unmarked car that was attempting to stop the sedan, said they acted appropriately and obeyed orders as soon as they received them. Three people died in the fiery accident early Tuesday at Northern Parkway and York Road, and another was critically injured. "When they were notified to break it off, they did," he said. "We've also heard information coming from the department that the officers were told to break it off. We're sure that will be investigated, and ... we believe the officers were acting within policy, based on the information they had in hand." Police confirmed that a criminal investigation into the conduct of two officers is underway. Lt. Eric Kowalczyk, a police spokesman, declined to discuss whether any orders were given to the officers. He said police do not want to "taint" the inquiry, in which city prosecutors are also involved. The Baltimore Police Department's policy prohibits officers from chasing suspects in vehicles except under "exigent circumstances," such as when officers believe that failing to pursue could lead to injury or death. Before police can engage in a high-speed pursuit, agency policy says, officials must consider whether the hazards to pedestrians and other drivers are outweighed by the importance of catching the suspect. Officers are supposed to communicate with supervisors before they begin a pursuit, remain in contact and use their lights and siren. Police are looking into whether the officers followed those protocols, Davey said. Angel Chiwengo, 46 of Resisterstown was one of three people killed in the crash when the sedan slammed into a Jeep she was riding in. Relatives say she was on her way to see her pregnant daughter, who gave birth later that day. Her brother-in-law, Nathan Franklin, declined to comment on the new details, saying he would reserve opinions until he had more information. City Councilman Brandon Scott, who represents the Northeastern police district where officers first encountered the vehicle, said police must "make sure that everybody is following their orders." "Just the fact that we had people die in this incident, for me, makes it a high priority," Scott said. "Every rock needs to be turned over to make sure that every process was followed to ensure the safety of not just the victims who unfortunately passed away, but of everyone else on the road that night." Just past midnight on Tuesday, plainclothes officers from the Northeastern District were in a rental car when they observed what police described as "suspicious activity that was criminal in nature" near Harford Road and East 25th Street. Police said they tried to stop a Honda carrying two men. The car fled, and the officers "followed," police said. The agency has declined to say whether the officers were in what police would describe as either a pursuit or chase. The Honda collided with the white Jeep about four miles north, at York Road and Northern Parkway. The crash also killed both passengers in the Honda: Devell Johns, 26, and Terrell Young, 28. The Jeep's driver, 54-year-old Andrew Baker Jr., was critically injured. The fiery crash closed the busy intersection for 10 hours while police launched an intensive probe that included repeated landings by a police helicopter carrying crash investigators. Police say the officers involved were Adam Storie, a two-year veteran, and Warren Banks II, a five-year veteran. Christopher Henard, a three-year veteran, was also involved, but Kowalczyk said "he is not part of the review that we asked the state's attorney to conduct." Kowalczyk did not return an email asking what role Henard played in the pursuit or why prosecutors weren't asked to criminally investigate him. Davey said supervisors did ask the officers to halt their pursuit — and that the officers complied. "That is what we've been told," he said, "and that is what our officers did." Davey said he is aware police are investigating the crash to see whether officers committed any crimes, whether they should face administrative sanctions and whether the department or officers could face any lawsuits. He has advised his clients not to speak to investigators until he knows more about the police probe. He said one of the officers has been asked to speak to internal investigators but declined, and the two others have not been asked. Davey called all three good officers and said the Fraternal Order of Police stood firmly behind them. "It's a horrendous incident," Davey said. "None of them ever wanted to be in a position like this. Whether it's them or some other police officer, they have to make decisions in a split second that other citizens don't have to make." Kowalczyk said tapes of radio chatter prior to the crash, which are usually public record and could shed light on what took place before the crash, are being withheld pending the investigation based on a request from the Baltimore City state's attorney's office. "We're going to be as careful and as meticulous and as diligent in this investigation as we have to be to make sure we protect the integrity of it," he said. The early-morning crash brought a huge response to the scene. Among others, Maryland State Police confirmed that Baltimore police requested about 2:45 a.m. that the state police's crash team respond to the accident. Two state police crash team members arrived at the scene about 4 a.m. "When they arrived, they were told by BPD their assistance was not needed, so they left," said Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman, in an email. "MSP was given no information about the incident." Davey said a prosecutor from the state's attorney's office was also at the crash site as part of the investigation. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

While we have a pursuit policy - let's face it, police have to follow/chase to a degree, or what kind of city will we live in, I mean it is bad enough as it is, but if police can't follow on foot, or in a car. All criminals will ever have to do is, refuse to stop, and then what? The good people in society lose. This isn't a police officer’s fault, this is and always will be the criminals fault, and if we blame the police for what the criminals are doing... while excusing the criminals because of a rough childhood. We might as well give up... Let the criminals do what they want. We won't try to have our kids grow up to be law abiding, just let them do what they want to fend for themselves... of course that sounds ridiculous. So instead let's start pointing fingers where they need. Let's direct people back to the root of the crime, and let's let our police do their job, and capture criminals... From the start of time in Baltimore, the goal of its police department has been to reduce crime by, 1) Prevention, 2) Detection and 3) Apprehension. What we really need now are citizens to start putting the blame where it belongs... On the criminals... or to come up with a better plan. Is the public not upset with high crime rates, to want to let their police do their job, follow the rules and do their jobs? Would the average citizen go after any of these criminals on their own… We need public support, or crime will only get worse – These types of accidents are in no way, shape, or form, the fault of the police, and to take the crime off the backs of the criminal and toss it onto the backs of our police is risky, it is a slippery slope that will have more and more of the faults of criminals placed on others.

Sanity Rules in Case of Cop who Married Gang Leader
Court of Special Appeals upholds Baltimore Officer's dismissal

Of the many words from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in the matter of Meredith Cross v. Baltimore City Police Department, I like these best: "Costs to be paid by appellant." That's double-good news for city taxpayers: We're on the hook for neither the back salary of a police officer who married a convicted murderer nor for the costs of bringing an audacious appeal of her firing to court. What we have here is formal affirmation that a woman has a right to marry anyone she wishes, including a gangster, but not a right to be a Baltimore City Cop (if she choices to marry a gang member/leader). That was pretty much the court's conclusion Tuesday in the Cross case, echoing Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. from late-19th-century Massachusetts. In 1892, a New Bedford cop who had been canned for political activity sued the city for reinstatement, arguing that his rights of free expression had been infringed. But the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, of which Holmes was a member, found that the cop had violated an explicit prohibition against officers soliciting political donations. In the majority opinion, Holmes wrote that "there is nothing in the constitution to prevent the city from attaching obedience to this rule as a condition to the office of policeman," and famously: "The petitioner may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman." The cop lost the case; he did not return to his beat. (Maybe he went into whale blubber rendering, I dunno.) Holmes went on to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the rest is legal history. Which is why I scratch my head about the case of Cross, a Baltimore police officer who believed her rights were violated when superiors discovered that she had married a bad guy and kicked her off the force. Call me old-fashioned, but if a cop in 1892 couldn't get his job back because he solicited campaign contributions, a cop in 2013 certainly shouldn't expect to return to duty after marrying the reputed "supreme commander" of Dead Man Inc. We only know the details of this case because of the recent ruling by the Court of Special Appeals. And the Court of Special Appeals only knows about it because Cross appealed there after losing her suit against the city in Baltimore Circuit Court. People sue all the time over all kinds of dubious injustices. But sometimes I'm awed by the audacity. Cross, who was a police officer from 2004 to 2010, argued that her superiors had no business dismissing her because of the guy she married. Here's some of the back story, according to last week's court ruling: In 2002, when Cross was a financial adviser for American Express in New York, a friend convinced her to start writing letters to one Carlito Cabana, a member of the Dead Man Inc. prison gang (formerly of a gang called Natural Born Killers). He was incarcerated in Maryland for second-degree murder. His gang was once a subsidiary of the infamous Black Guerrilla Family. (Irresistible side note: BGF, of course, is the gang to which Tavon "Bulldog" White belongs, according to federal prosecutors. Tavon is that busy fellow who allegedly impregnated four Maryland corrections officers — one of them twice — at the Baltimore City Detention Center. White has since pleaded guilty to racketeering and attempted murder, and has been shipped to an institution that will undoubtedly end his libertine ways.) A "serious relationship" blossomed between Cross and Cabana, and she moved to Baltimore to be closer to him. In 2004, she applied to be a city cop. When she was asked if she knew anyone in prison, she described Cabana as a "friend." But it wasn't long before Cross and Cabana were married in a "spiritual ceremony" in Patuxent Institution in Jessup. She visited him numerous times, identifying herself as his wife, telephoned him frequently and sent him money orders. In 2009, she and Cabana were officially married. That same spring, officials at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland alerted Baltimore police that Cross had been making frequent visits to see a confirmed gang leader there. That's what triggered the investigation that led to Cross' dismissal. She was found to have violated department rules by associating with a known gang member — a person of "questionable character" — and by not disclosing the full nature of their relationship. Cross had the audacity to appeal, arguing that her constitutional rights to free and intimate association had been violated. Oh, puh-leez, officer! Thankfully, sanity reigned. Two courts have now ruled against her, saying that the Police Department needs to maintain trust in the community and safety and discipline within its ranks. Neither the department's rules nor Cross' dismissal offend the Constitution. Her superiors did not prohibit Cross from marrying Cabana nor require that she divorce him. So she has every right to be the wife of a gangster; she just can't be a police officer at the same time. Please see the clerk to pay court costs on your way out. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Dan Rodricks ' column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. He is the host of "Midday" on WYPR-FM.

This shouldn't even need commentary, we all know it is not typical for police to marry gang leaders, drug dealers etc. in fact it is policy that police officers don't associate or fraternizewith people that are part of a criminal element – so this is not common.

Good Police sometimes had to be charged just so the public could hear all the facts of a case and judge for themselves, rather then listen to and depend on rumors made up by people wanting to push and agenda that was either pro or anit-police. Click HERE on on the above article to read full size article

Criticism

During the past generation, the Baltimore Police Department has faced criticism from local media, elected officials, and citizen advocacy groups. The criticism has pertained to the high crime rate in the city of Baltimore, which in some years has been ranked among the highest in the nation. Accusations include numerous arrests of innocent minority citizens for seemingly minor offenses, and the failure to sufficiently assist minority victims of crime.

Arrests for Minor Offenses

In the mid-2000s, Maryland State Delegate, the Honorable Jill P. Carter daughter of the late civil rights champion, Walter P. Carter, exposed numerous cases of the Baltimore City Police arresting people for seemingly minor offenses, detaining them at Central Booking for several hours. Many were released without charges. Some were reportedly detained at Central Booking for several days before seeing a court commissioner. All arrestees in Maryland are required to have an initial appearance before a court commissioner within 24 hours of their arrest. It should also be noted that correctional officers at Central Booking were rumored to be on a work slowdown during this time. Corrections personnel are prohibited from striking. The exposure of these cases led to judicial and legislative action. In 2005, the Maryland Court of Appeals ordered all arrestees not charged within 24 hours to be released. On May 16, 2006, a Baltimore city police officer, Natalie Preston, arrested a Virginian couple for asking for directions to a major highway. The couple, released after seven hours in city jail, were not charged with any crime. They were initially taken into custody for trespassing on a public street. Their vehicle was impounded at the city lot, with windows down and doors unlocked, resulting in theft of several personal items. In 2007, the state of Maryland passed a law requiring the automatic expungement the record of one who is arrested, but then released without being charged, thereby eliminating the dilemma many such victims faced that would prevent them from passing a criminal background check if the record remained, but would not allow for a wrongful arrest lawsuit if the record were expunged. On June 23, 2010, a $870,000 comprehensive settlement was reached which culminated more than a year of negotiations between the City and Plaintiffs. The settlement provides for far-reaching reforms of the BPD's arrest and monitoring practices. The suit, which was filed in 2006, and amended in 2007, was brought on behalf of thirteen individual plaintiffs and the Maryland State Conference and Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP.

When this story was heard they couldn't not help but SMILE, and maybe do a tail shake or two! :) Then they got to thinking more about it. How awesome is this story! Not only does it have a happy ending to it, but there are also some major applause points: Instead of assuming the dog to be vicious and shoot it dead, (as we see so many times before) he analyzes the situation, and sees a nervous dog that needs help. Instead of letting animal control pick up the dog, and let it disappear, or be put down, he personally takes it to a shelter, IN HIS POLICE CRUISER!!! Finally, he offers the pup a new home forever! So the fine folks at "Mk9" sayThank You! Officer Dan, thank you for taking the time to be patient and give a dog a chance. for stepping outside the stereo type box and seeing this for what it is. A loose dog who was nervous, and needed someone to help him. Not someone to yell at him and assume him to be dangerous.

Here is "Bo" with his new family. A perfect picture of a perfect ending or an amazing new beginning for a dog in Baltimore City

We at www.BaltimoreCityPoliceHistory.com also thank you for helping us show you as part of the 99.9% of good police that do the right thing.

Baltimore police officer charged with pimping wife

By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

5:29 PM EDT, May 10, 2013

A 31-year-old Baltimore Police officer was charged Friday with pimping out his wife after officers from a human trafficking task force found him outside a hotel room where the woman had agreed to have sex for cash with an undercover officer. The child recovery task force was working a proactive investigation into human trafficking when they came across a "young-looking female" advertised as an escort on a website, police said. Officers arranged to meet the female at a hotel near BWI airport, court records show. Inside the hotel room, a woman identified by police as Marissa Braun-Manneh told an undercover officer that she would have sex for $100, and she was placed under arrest, charging documents show. She said that her husband, Lamin Manneh, was waiting outside in a car, and that she gives him her money and he drives her from "date-to-date," according to court records. She also said that he posts the online ads using his credit card. Police said Manneh acknowledged his role in an interview with detectives, records show. Elena Russo, a state police spokeswoman, said both husband and wife were charged because they appeared to be "working as a team."

Manneh, of the 2400 block of Marbourne Ave. in Baltimore, is an officer assigned to the Baltimore Police Department's Eastern District. State police said he was suspended without pay and that the city police internal affairs would investigate. "This allegation is a disgrace and embarrassment to every member -- both current and retired -- who serve with the Baltimore Police Department," Baltimore's Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said in a statement. "We expect every member of this department to hold themselves to the highest professional standards. Our colleagues and our community deserve nothing less."

Manneh was charged in Anne Arundel County District Court with one count each of human trafficking and prostitution, and was released on his own recognizance by a District Court commissioner, records show. Braun was charged with one count of prostitution and also released on her own recognizance. Attempts to reach the couple were unsuccessful. Copyright © 2013, The Baltimore Sun

This officer doesn't respect his wife, how can we possibly expect him to have respect for his police family, the community he serves or himself. All I hope is we'll realize, it was police that took him down, and just as with other cases of "Bad Cops" it doesn't matter which agency took him down. He wasn't on the side of our department, or the quality of life we strive to bring to others.

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New Baltimore Department March 1862

Baltimore Police Historical Society Uncategorised 17 April 2025

New Department March 1862

There are many things in history that no one today can change, but that have over the years seen changes and many improvements for the better. It is true that at one time Baltimore police officers, or Patrolman to be more precise were given orders to chase and arrest slaves, this was long before today’s Baltimore Police Department, and in fact today’s Baltimore Police Department is not the same Baltimore Police Department in more ways than the obvious. If we were to shut down todays department and start a new department tomorrow in this city for obvious reasons it would be called Baltimore City Police Department. Truth of the matter is, todays Baltimore City Police Department has never made an arrest for slaves, the Baltimore Police Department that made slave arrests ended on 27 June, 1861 when new police commissioners were appointed by the U.S. Military authorities under direction of then president Abraham Lincoln as the former BOC (Board Of Commissioners) was replaced with Columbus O'Donnell, Archibald Sterling Jr., Thomas Kelso, John R Kelso, John W Randolph, Peter Sauerwein, John B Seidenstricker, Joseph Roberts, and Michael Warner. All police prior to 27 June 1861 were dismissed from the police force and had to reapply with only the best of the former police being rehired and many left for good. One might also be interested in knowing at the time Baltimore was not as big as it is today, and the city had less than 300 police officers closer to 220 maybe 250. During the next year between June of 1861 and March 1862, the streets were protected by military police. On 3 April 1862 our newly sworn police officers stepped in, wearing a new uniform, a new badge with a new police authority, new rules, under new laws, and new leadership, While Slavery in this country was not abolished until 1864, slave arrest in Baltimore were no longer being made by our police officers. The time between 27 June 1861 and 3 April 1862 the replacement temporary fill in law enforcement wore plain clothes, and were only recognized by a simple, "Pink Ribbon" worn on their left lapel, along with an, "Espantoon" carried for the safety of the public and, the officer's protection. Other than those two identifiers, a uniform for the newly built Baltimore Police Department had not yet been selected, and so until it was, they dressed in civilian attire.

Note: Many of these provost officers were hired on fulltime as the new Baltimore Police, to take the place of the abolished officers.

The reason for the change was largely due to not just Marshal Kane, and the BOC at the time, but also because of Mayor Brown and City Hall. Many believe after the 18 April 1861 riots on Howard Street where Baltimore civilians attacked U.S. Military on its way to Washington DC in preparation of the war between the states, Mayor Brown and Marshal Kane may have hatched a plan for a second attack to take place a day later, on 19 April 1861 at Pratt and President Streets. There are said to have been telegraphs sent from Kane to his confederate army allies telling them where and when to begin their attack on the 6th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, a volunteer militia, who passed from the President Street Station a little over 1 mile west, at Camden Station (now Camden Yards). The 6th Massachusetts Infantry were in route to Washington D.C. as were the troops just one day earlier when attacked on Howard Street. It is awfully odd that a day after that Howard Street attacks, Marshal Kane would have some of his men across town, and others stationed at the end of the soldiers’ route and not at the beginning where they knew the soldiers would be departing the trains coming in from the north before transferring to another set of trains to take them into Washington DC. But the fact is, Marshal George Proctor Kane was arrested, he was found to have been funneling police ammo, weapons, and equipment to the Confederate Army. Kane was first taken to Fort McHenry, but at the request of the fort’s commander, Kane was moved to Ft Warren, Massachusetts. His position as Marshal of Police, and his southern sympathies were well known, and a large part as to why the department with several likeminded officers was disbanded during that June of 1861 and rebuilt into a new department, that started having meeting and firming in March of the following year but didn’t actually hit the streets until the 3^rd of April 1862. There we have it, it was officially on that 3^rd day of April 1862 when Baltimore City’s new Police Department with its new uniforms, new men, under new leadership hit the streets, and as that new agency it has never made slavery arrests. Note: until 1864 there were still Slave agents working in a private sector for slave owners, they would seeks warrants, and collect bounties for so called runaway slaves, when arrested by those bounty hunters they would bring them local jails, one such incident occurred on 31 May, 1862, when Isaac Brown, was picked up by bounty hunters and charged with being a runaway slave charges fled with the courts by Hamilton Stump who lived at the corner of Paca & Lombard Street. Mr. Brown was held in one of our lockups pending a hearing. It should also be known that in the nearly 160 years since that 27^th day of June 1861, other than those picked up by bounty hunters on warrants in which case our turnkeys would have been ordered by the courts by court documents, to take them in. From what we can find in documents, and newspaper reports the new Baltimore Police Department's themselves didn't actively seek, or search for, and arrest slaves. Just as with any family, there have been changes, many changes, many times over until it is nowhere near the agency it was even 20 years ago, much less the agency it was more than 150 years ago since it was newly formed in 1862 or nearly 300 years ago in 1729 when the city first began it's quest for the preservation of the peace, protection of property and to arrest offenders became a goal of Baltimore residents on 8 August, 1729 when the Legislature created Baltimore Town. This town went through some ugly times trying to form a better police force as is also evident of this article - 172 Years of Policing in Baltimore HERE and Baltimore's Roistering Past HERE unlike today where have between 2500 and 3000 police in Baltimore, in 1862 we had a much smaller city and just 232 police for the entire city. Like today the larger part of the majority of our police are activist for the victims of crime, but at the same time we have compassion for the criminals we are forced to arrest by their own actions.

We hope this page helps our visitors to learn more about our police past and present, if you have questions, or further information feel free to send to us via the following email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On 13 May, 1861, the Union army entered Baltimore, occupied the city, and declared martial law. Mayor Brown was arrested on 12 September, 1861 at his home. He was imprisoned at Fort McHenry for one night. He was transported to Fort Monroe in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and held for two weeks. Next, he was moved to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and held for fourteen months. He was released on 27 November, 1862. He returned to Baltimore and resumed his law practice. Francis Key Howard, the grandson of Francis Scott Key was also made a prisoner.

History tells of Mayor George William Brown playing an important role in controlling the Pratt Street Riot, where on 19 April, 1861 the first loss of life through bloodshed of the Civil War occurred. During the riot, Brown was said to have accompanied a column of the 6th Massachusetts regiment through the streets. When the column he was leading was assailed by the mob, "the mayor's patience was soon exhausted, and he seized a musket from the hands of one of the men and killed a man therewith." Immediately following the Riot, Baltimore saw much lawlessness, as citizens destroyed the offices of pro-Union German newspapers and looted shops in search of guns and other weapons. Mayor Brown and Maryland businessmen were said to have visited the White House to urge President Abraham Lincoln to reroute Union troops around Baltimore city to Annapolis to avoid further confrontations that they felt would result from additional troops passing through the city.

Others believe, and history would suggest, Brown wasn't trying to bring aid to Massachusetts' 6th regiment, moreover that he and Marshal Kane hatched the plan that helped lead to the deaths of four of those soldiers and serious injuries to 35 more, as well as the costing the lives of eleven Baltimore citizens during riots that could have, and should have been prevented. If we would consider the events that took place just one day earlier on Howard Street as the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, and Washington Artillery militia companies of US Artillery, and militia arrived from Harrisburg to Baltimore's Bolton Station. A large crowd assembled at the station, subjecting the militia to verbal abuse and threats. According to the mayor at the time, “An attack would certainly have been made but for the vigilance and determination of Baltimore's police, under the command of Marshal Kane.” However, records show it was a little more than peaceful protests, with some harsh name calling as several members of those troops received serous injuries, from the rocks, bottles and bricks that were hurled into the troops as they marched down Howard Street. There were injuries, however there was no life loss on that day. In John David Hoptak's book, Dear Ma - Curtis Clay Pollock wrote home in letters to his mother of the events of 18 April 1861 - On 17 April of that fateful year, just five days after the war's opening at Ft Sumter and in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s call to arms, an 18-year-old boy by the name of Curtis Pollock marched off to war. He was made a Private in the Washington Artillery, a militia company recruited from the young volunteer’s hometown of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Curtis Clay Pollock was one of among the more than two million soldiers who donned a Union blue and fought in defense of the United States during the American Civil War. And, by war’s end, he would be counted among the many hundreds of thousands of those soldiers who died to help ensure that this nation might live. He was among the very first to respond to his countries call, volunteering his service immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities in the spring of 1861. The very next evening, the Washington Artillery, along with four other companies of Pennsylvania volunteers, arrived in the distressed Nation’s Capital. As it turned out, these men, Pollock included, would be the very first Northern Volunteers to arrive in Washington following the commencement of the war and would go down in history as part of the famed "First Defenders." As earlier that same day (18 April 1861) as the volunteer soldiers of these companies they made their way through the streets of Baltimore on their journey south to Washington, they were assaulted by a vehement mob of Pro-Confederate sympathizers who hurled not only insults, but also bricks, bottles, and stones. Pollock wrote home to his mother. Pollock escaped injury, but some of the Pennsylvanians were not so lucky as they had become part of the troops that were struck down and seriously injured during the melee, thereby shedding some of the very first blood in what would prove to be America’s bloodiest war. This book serves as more written documentation of the first day of fighting in Baltimore's two days of rioting in our streets. The first day, 18 April 1861 led to the first bloodshed of the civil war, the next day on the 19th the country would have it's first deaths of the War Between the States.

The following are articles written in 1862 referencing those early changes as they occurred.

Sun Paper Article 2 April 1862
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Sun Paper Article 3 April 1862
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Sun Paper Article 4 April 1862
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Sun Paper Article 22 March 1862
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Sun Paper Article 24 March 1862
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Sun Paper Article 26 March 1862
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Sun Paper Article 28 March 1862
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Sun Paper Article 29 March 1862
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Sun Paper Article 31 March 1862
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD IS LAUNCHEDIN 1828 AND LATER OPENS THE MIDWEST

THE STAR- SPANGLED BANNER

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESCAPES TO FREEDOM

BABE RUTH SAVES BASEBALL

THE NATIONAL ROAD GETS AUTHORIZED

THURGOOD MARSHALL OVERTURNS SEGREGATION

FIRST POST OFFICE SYSTEM

FIRST CITY STREETLIGHTS

MODERN PRINTING PRESS

CLEAN PUBLIC DRINKING WATER

FIRST TELEGRAPH SENT FROM D.C. TO BALTIMORE

ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY SYSTEM

WORLD’S FIRST DREDGER

CLIPPER SHIPS SAIL TO RESCUE

LARGEST CANNING CENTER IN THE U.S.

THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE OF 1877

ALEX. BROWN FIRST INVESTMENT BANK

FIRST U.S. ICE CREAM FACTORY

THE FIRST AMERICAN BICYCLE

FIRST U.S. SUGAR REFINERY

BANJO HISTORY

FIRST ELECTRIC STREETCAR RUNS FROMBALTIMORE CITY TO HAMPDEN

PIONEERING WOMEN EDUCATORS

FIRST MONUMENT TO EDGAR ALLAN POE

FIRST AMERICAN SAINT

FIRST FLOUR MILL

FIRST U.S.MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON

FIRST MUSEUM BUILDING

FIRST DENTAL COLLEGE

INVENTION OF THE BOTTLE CAP

AFRICAN-AMERICAN JOURNALISM

LOCUST POINT IMMIGRATION PIERWELCOMES 1.2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS

FIRST BLACK TRADE UNION

LEADING AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER

LAUNCH OF WWII LIBERTY SHIPS

BOXING CHAMP JOE GANS

FIRST PRACTICAL SUBMARINE

WWII B-26 BOMBERS

FIRST PUBLICLY FUNDED GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

FIRST MAJOR AMERICAN ORCHESTRASUPPORTED BY PUBLIC FUNDS

MUTUAL UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF LIBERTY

JAZZ LEGEND EUBIE BLAKE

FIRST CATHOLIC BASILICABUILT IN BALTIMORE IN 1806

BILLIE HOLIDAY SINGS THE BLUES

BANDLEADER CAB CALLOWAY

FIRST PHOTO OF EARTH FROM SPACE

FIRST DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

FIRST SUCCESSFUL LUNCH COUNTER SIT-IN

THE JACKSON-MITCHELL FAMILY

FIRST U.S. MANNED BALLOON LAUNCH

FIRST MODERN MEDICAL SCHOOL

FIRST GENERAL MEETING OF THE QUAKERS

FIRST U.S. ORDAINED RABBI

IRENE MORGAN REBELS

THEODORE WOODWARD CURES TYPHUS

History of Police in the US

World Police History

Baltimore Police Recruitment

These guys had it all, a job that gave them prestige, an income of nearly 100K a year, and they still had to throw it all away over greed.

Seven Baltimore Cops Indicted on Federal Racketeering Charges

Bail set at $1M for Officer Charged with Attempted Murder

Now In know we are all innocent until proven guilty, but when the paper says the following, is there much doubt?

Feds say sting operation catches Baltimore police officer stealing

Baltimore police officer charged with pimping wife

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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD IS LAUNCHED
IN 1828 AND LATER OPENS THE MIDWEST

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FIRST MAJOR AMERICAN ORCHESTRA
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FIRST CATHOLIC BASILICA
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