Pictures and Problems from London Police Courts — John Shaqi
Pictures and Problems from London Police CourtsHolmes, Thomas
History
Pictures and Problems from London Police Courts
Holmes, Thomas
Crime -- England -- London; Poor -- England -- London
Their homes are clean, nay, often refined, and comfortable; the women
do not go out to work, and, unless absolutely in fear of their lives,
they do not charge their husbands. But those husbands get charged for
other offences, and I have made the acquaintance of numbers whose homes
I have visited, and have found the lowest hell of misery, fear, and
despair. I now refer to men who have to live by their brains and not
by their muscles, but about whose brain there is something wrong--but
what, no living man can tell. They can do severe mental work at great
pressure; they are valuable servants, and keep their positions for
years; but let them have one dose of alcohol, and their brain is
completely unhinged; they become transformed into ‘wolf or tiger, hog
or bearded goat,’ and all the devilish passions that can inhabit man
are roused into active fury. Smash goes the furniture, sewing-machines
and everything; away go the little ones to hide themselves. Woe be to
the wife if she interferes! and, if she does not, horrible language,
filthy accusations, and murderous threats are heard for hours. I have
gone into many houses of this description, and have had to pick my
way through the ruins of the home. I have seen the wives--educated
women--crouching in a corner, and little ones have crept from their
hiding-places and sought shelter behind me. I have stood in front of
these men, and have been horribly afraid for my own safety, for with a
poker or hatchet in his hand, a man of this kind needs wary dealing.
I know these men are mad, but I know that no doctor will certify them
as such. I know their madness takes one form--jealousy of the innocent
wife. So again and again, when I have been called into such homes,
have I had to play the hypocrite and humour his delusion; to have done
otherwise would have been madness.
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