Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895. Excerpt: ... A BEGINNER IN UNIFORM--MEETING A TARTAR. ONE night whilst on duty, in uniform, in John Dalton Street, Deansgate, in the year 1868, I was called to by some person, and on turning round to answer my usual "Yes sir," I was asked by some individual, in terms none too polite, "Have I to pay rates and taxes to keep such lazy fellows as you walking about the streets 1" Without further ceremony or warning he gave me a blow on my nose, which made me reel; but when I turned upon him he took to his heels and ran into a beerhouse in Ridgefield. I was certainly a little nonplussed. To get a violent blow on the nose at 10-30 p.m., on a cold March night, was not a very pleasant experience for a beginner, especially as the air was keen, and frpzeu snow was lying on the ground. I walked away from the beerhouse door, to return to my patrol in John Dalton Street, and just as I reached the corner of Ridgefield, and was turning into John Dalton Street, without the slightest warning I received a violent blow on the ear, whilst a voice exclaimed, "Take that How do you like it?" I didn't like it at all, and turning round saw that the person who had delivered the blow was the man who had given me the one on the nose a few minutes before. On my making for him, he pursued the same tactics as before and rushed into the Ijeerhouse with me at his heels. Opposite the front door of the house there was a flight of stairs leading to a club-room of the very Loyal Order of. Up these stairs my assailant rushed, but I managed to clutch him round the legs, and to drag him to the bottom. In the scuffle he managed to get my hand into his mouth, and began to bite away in right good fashion. Fortunately, he had no teeth, but he worked away so vigorously with his gums that I could feel the pain fo...