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THE OLDEST ANARCHISM
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mailing thieves that ever went un whipped of justice." (8)
Only a short time before Burns made this remark the
late Magistrate Henry Steinert, according to reports in
the New York press, grew very indignant in his court
over the shooting of a young lad by these private officers.
"I think it an outrage," he declared, "that the
Police Commissioner is enabled to furnish police power
to these special officers, many of them thugs, men out
of work, some of whom would commit murder for two
dollars. Most of the arrests which have been made by
these men have been absolutely unwarranted.
In nearly
every case one of these special officers had first pushed
a gun into the prisoner's face. The shooting last night
when a boy was killed shows the result of giving power
to such men. It is a shame and a disgrace to the Police
Department of the city that such conditions are allowed
to exist." (9)
Anyone who will take the time to search through the
testimony gathered by various governmental commissions
will find an abundance of evidence indicating that
many of these special officers and private detectives are
in reality thugs and criminals. As long ago as 1892 an
inquiry
was made into the character of the men who
were sent to deal with a strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania.
A well-known witness testified: "We find that
one is
accused of wife-murder, four of burglary, two of
wife-beating, and one of arson." (10) A thoroughly
reliable and responsible detective, who had been in the
United States secret service, also gave damaging testimony.
"They were the scum of the earth. There
. . .
is not one out of ten that would not commit murder;
that you could not hire him to commit murder
or any other crime." Furthermore, he declared, "I would
not believe any detective under oath without his evidence