Produced by MWS, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) PICTURES AND PROBLEMS FROM LONDON POLICE COURTS BY THOMAS HOLMES _POPULAR EDITION_ LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 1902 _All rights reserved_ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. HOW I BECAME A POLICE-COURT MISSIONARY 1 II. IN LAMBETH POLICE COURT 15 III. A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER 23 IV. HUSBANDS AND WIVES 39 V. PARENTS AND CHILDREN 60 VI. RECORD-BREAKERS: JANE CAKEBREAD 80 VII. RECORD-BREAKERS: KATE HENESSEY 94 VIII. AMONG DIPSOMANIACS 115 IX. CRIMINALS 132 X. CRANKS 161 XI. THE ARCADIANS AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ‘GUBBINS’ 180 XII. HOW THE POOR LIVE--AND DIE 188 XIII. THE PROBLEM OF HOME WORKERS 213 PREFACE In the various chapters that make up this volume I have made no attempt to deal with the whole of the humanity that finds its way into London Police Courts: I have but selected a few individuals who strikingly illustrate human or social problems. Each of those individuals was well known to me, and many of them have cost me anxious thought and prolonged care. It is in the sincere hope that the knowledge I have slowly gained of these individuals, of their characteristics and environments, may lead more influential persons to inquiry and study that I have written of them. I am also exceedingly glad to have an opportunity of expressing publicly the debt of gratitude I owe to many; for surely no one has received greater kindness than myself. First, to the various magistrates under whom I have been privileged to work I tender my sincere and warmest thanks for the consideration and kindness which they, without exception, have shown to me. To the chief clerks and police-court officials also my thanks are due for their unvarying courtesy and kindness. To the police generally I owe many thanks for the confidence they have so liberally accorded me. To the representatives of the Press in the North London Police Court I owe much for the publicity they have freely given to the many cases in which I have been interested, and with which I should have been unable to deal without their aid.