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The Lighter Side of My Official Life

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The Lighter Side of My Official Life THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MY OFFICIAL LIFE SIR ROBERT ANDERSON G-B LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Class THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MY OFFICIAL LIFE THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MY OFFICIAL LIFE BY SIR ROBERT ANDERSON K.C.B., LL.D. HODDER AND STOUGHTON NEW YORK AND LONDON PREFACE A BOOK of this kind needs no preface, save to express the author's acknowledgments to Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons for sanctioning the republication of articles which recently appeared in Blackwood"s Magazine. If, notwithstanding the author's estimate of these articles, as indicated in his opening sen- tences, he now reissues them in book form, he does so in response to appeals from many quarters. It has been pressed upon him, more- over, that they must be of exceptional interest, seeing that they were made the subject of "a " full-dress debate in Parliament ; and that, too, at a time when opportunity could not be found for any adequate discussion of great questions of national importance and gravity. 225374 CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Scheme of the book Some personal details French versions of nursery rhymes Life in Trinity College, Dublin "The Irish Question ": Lord Morris's definition of it The College Historical Society A mock criminal trial The Irish Bench and Bar, reminiscences and incidents The Fenian trials in Ireland and in England contrasted . 1-16 CHAPTER II Entrance into Government work The "Fenian " Rising" and the "Clerkenwell explosion of 1867 Panic caused in London: illustrative incidents Interview with a clairvoyant informant of Lord Derby's The Birdcage Walk mystery of January, 1868: panic in London .... 17-30 CHAPTER III From the Irish Office to the Home Office Reminiscences of the House of Commons Hearing H.M.'s speech on the opening of Parlia- vii Contents PAGE ment in 1861 Captain Gosset's friendship in 1868 " " Gosset's Room : House of Commons stories The House of Lords gallery The personnel and ways of the Home Office forty years ago The old Home Office and the new Red tape at the Foreign Office and the War Office A tribute to Sir Adolphus Liddell 3 I ~54 CHAPTER IV The change of Government in 1868 Mr. Henry Bruce as Secretary of State Revival of Fenian activity Michael Davitt's life-story Activity in re- " " volutionary circles in 1870 Informant Maxwell Count d'Orsay's death "The Waterloo Bridge mystery" of 1857 Life in lodgings: with Charles Reade and Mrs. Seymour Reade's literary work A buttered egg supper J. A. Froude and his view of the Irish Question 55-^9 CHAPTER V The Royal Commission on Railway Accidents Treasury ways The Royal Observatory of Edin- burgh Commission Mr. Chamberlain's Commission on Loss of Life at Sea The importance of a good luncheon H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh's friend- ship Appointed to the Prison Commission and became a Civil servant Relations with the chair- man, Sir E. F. du Cane The personnel of the Commission Admiral Wyndham Hornby and a Stock Exchange story A tribute to Sir E. du Cane " " Prison Reforms : the humanitarians and the Prevention of Crimes Bill More about Treasury viii Contents PAGE meanness A Secret Service Fund salary in violation of the statute Application to Sir H. Ibbetson as to pension 70-90 CHAPTER VI Drawn back into Secret Service work by Sir W. " " Harcourt 1880 an epoch in Ireland Boycotting " " inaugurated Mr. Forster's Suspects Act " " Nature of and necessity for Coercion Acts " " Meaning of Secret Service Angling for infor- mants : mode in which two were secured Preventing crimes Gladstone's Leeds speech of October, 1881 Parnell's contemptuous reply and Gladstone's rejoinder The "Kilmainham Treaty" The Premier and Mrs. O'Shea The Phoenix Park mur- ders Gladstone's finance and "Free Trade" . 91-106 CHAPTER VII Government action after the Phoenix Park murders Col. Brackenbury's appointment at Dublin Castle Gladstone's Coercion Act The Explosive Sub- stances Act, 1883 The Dublin prosecutions Policy of scare and panic : Mrs. Roundell's diary A Sunday morning's experiences Sir W. Harcourt's " " dynamite moods Some typical incidents Snubbing his colleagues The Queen's Jubilee dynamite plot Mr. Monro's action . 107-120 CHAPTER VIII Sir A. Liddell's friendship and his death Dis- honourable treatment Appeal to Sir W. Harcourt : his generosity and kindness The Criminal Investi- ix Contents PAGE gation Department created in 1878 under Howard Vincent Succeeded by Mr. Monro under Sir C. Warren Bickerings with the Home Office Personal notes The Police Pension Act . .121-132 CHAPTER IX " First days at Scotland Yard The Whitechapel " murders The criminal a Polish Jew Demoralisa- tion of the C.I.D. in 1888 Statistics of crime in " " London Undiscovered murders The working of the Police machine Area and population of the Metropolitan Police District Sir Robert Peel's scheme Powers of constables Status of the Commissioners ...... 133-151 CHAPTER X Major Henri Le Caron's life-story Sir C. Russell's denunciation and Sir H. James's defence of him A tribute to his high character and his services to the State Incidents illustrating his work . 152-166 CHAPTER XI The dynamiters and their work Patrick Ford's "Skirmishing Fund" The Irish National League Convention, 1881 The Convention of 1886 The Queen's Jubilee plot The dynamite plot of 1896; the case of Ivory alias Bell Home Office consulta- tions An interview with Lord Salisbury Luncheon at Walmer Quixotic action of the Law Officers Changed relations between Great Britain and the United States Amnesty of Fenian convicts in 1869 Rescue plots Plot to murder Mr. Chamberlain Contents PAGE The Transvaal Raid Proceedings at Bow Street against Dr. Jameson, &c. Criticism of our methods of taking evidence 167-185 CHAPTER XII Work at Scotland Yard The exacting demands of police duty Antiquated methods Red tape Home Office ways : Liddell and Lushington contrasted An incident of 1 893 The Liberals and Home Rule Sir John Gray on Irish grievances An Irish story Arrest of two Irish M.P.'s in 1891, and a night at Scotland Yard The new journalism, and Press " " - - interviews Jabez Balfour's case A Strand explosion ....... 186-202 CHAPTER XIII Some Scotland Yard stories Lord Justice A. L. Smith and a girl's fictions The escapades of a girl in boy's clothes A chance incident gives a clue to a murder case An Indian and his landlady's daughter A trafficking case at Holloway Prison The Colonial Office and a Boer informant A strange divorce case Finding a criminal wanted by the Paris police Finding a fugitive husband People who think they are watched by the police People tortured by electric currents Lunatics and Royalty Mr. Gladstone's escape in 1893 . 203-225 CHAPTER XIV C.I.D. officers at Channel Ports The theft of the Gainsborough picture The Channel gang of thieves, xi Contents PACK and their fate Home Office schemes on behalf of " " such criminals, thwarted by the humanitarians Criminals and how to protect ourselves against them A Ross-shire story Various hints The dropped trinket fraud The painted bird fraud Photograph enlargements Cheap jewellery A Father Healy story The "O. U. Duck" brooch . 226-243 CHAPTER XV A ^20,000 fraud Count Schouvaloff's sham in- formant A bogus plot to destroy warships The " " " confidence trick" The Spanish prisoner fraud " " The American gold brick swindle Gambling clubs in London Raid upon a club in St. James's Improper literature : action of the Post Office and the Home Office 244-263 CHAPTER XVI Our British Police System, and its success The Police are "the servants of the public": this is peculiar to Great Britain Reforms in Criminology u " Fitting the punishment to the crime The "humanitarians" The amity between all classes in this country The contrast between London and Paris in this respect White Lodge and "Prince Eddy" The influence of the Bible on national life and character Queen Victoria's first visit to Ireland Appointment to C.B. and an investiture at Windsor Appointment to K.C.B. Reasons for retiring from the public service . 264-282 APPENDIX ... ... 283-295 xii CHAPTER I Scheme of the book Some personal details French versions of nursery rhymes Life in Trinity College, Dublin "The Irish Question": Lord Morris's definition of it The College Historical Society A mock criminal trial The Irish Bench and Bar, reminiscences and incidents The Fenian trials in Ireland and in England contrasted. EVEN in the case of people of distinction an auto- biography is too often a blunder. In the case of commonplace folk it is generally an impertinence. And I am not so foolish as to suppose that the public would care to know anything about me save in relation to matters of public interest. Here, however, I am in a difficulty. Having regard to the position I held for so long at Whitehall, and in more recent times at Scotland Yard, I cannot even now write about the Secret Service, or police work in London, save with much reserve and under definite restraints. But it is constantly urged upon me that even the lighter side of official life in these spheres has a fascination for many people, and that I might say not a little My Official Life, B 1 Official Life which would interest and amuse the and public ; it is with this modest aim therefore that, post- " " poning graver reminiscences to a future date, I now take up my pen. By way of introduction I may describe myself as an Anglicanised Irishman of Scotch extraction. " " My forebears were among the Scotch colonists who made Ulster what it is.
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