Police sergeant

“ Artingale stopped short, guarding the foot of the steps, and the sergeant tried the door, to find it fast, but as the handle rattled a man’s voice exclaimed, “Who’s there?”
“Police! Open quickly.”
There was a scuffling noise, then the striking of a match, and a light shone out from three panes of glass above the door. The hurried sound of some one putting on some clothes, and then a peculiar monitory click-click!
“Mind what you’re at with that pistol,” said the sergeant gruffly. “I tell you it’s the police. Open the door.”
“How do I know it’s the police?” said the butler firmly. ”

“ Sergeant: It’s a whole troop of police they ought to put here to stop a man like that.
Man: But if you’d like me to stop with you, I could be looking down this side. I could be sitting up here on this barrel.
Sergeant: And you know him well, too?
Man: I’d know him a mile off, sergeant.
Sergeant: But you wouldn’t want to share the reward?
Man: Is it a poor man like me, that has to be going the roads and singing in fairs, to have the name on him that he took a reward? But you don’t want me. I’ll be safer in the town.
Sergeant: Well, you can stop.
Man: (Getting up on barrel.) All right, sergeant. ”

“ As they returned to the outer room of the po [Pg 21] lice station, the sergeant looked at them questioningly.
"That boy had nothing to do with the swindle," announced one of the men who had been examining Bob.
"That's what," confirmed the other. "If there ever was an honest boy in New York, that poor little chap back in the cell is one. If you take my advice, sergeant, you will let him go, and you will change the entry on your police book from 'Arrested and Held for Complicity,' to 'Held for Examination'." ”

“ You have done your duty finely as a sergeant of the Royal North-west Mounted Police, and, for us who know what it means, I don't know that the ablest man in the country can hope to earn higher praise than that. ”

“ I never struck a blow, sir, that I didn’t, for I were behind the toll-house, lookin’ on, and I says to myself——”
“That’ll do,” said the captain shortly. “Now then, sergeant, up with him again; you can leave his clothes as they are, for the police will want to see all that. Pick up that thing on the ground.”
The sergeant picked up the sun-bonnet with another grin, and then hoisted Turnbull into the saddle.
“You can pull the reins over the horse’s head and lead him,” said the officer, “he is not likely to try and escape. He hasn’t [Pg 54] got courage enough even for that. ”

“ It was twenty minutes later that a sturdy young man in worn working clothes and with a face whose hard seriousness imperfectly masked a certain trepidation, made his way to the desk of the sergeant on duty at the police station. ”

“ Only human nature for him to side with me against the Police. As you know, Sergeant, you can get more definite results from that class of man by a drink bribe than by all the threats and promises in the world. ”

“ The elder woman’s response was partially inaudible to the Sergeant, but a fragment of it—“Only a policeman!” smote his ears unpleasantly with its pitiful snobbishness.
As they moved away, though, he was repaid for that lady’s uncharitable remark, as the girl, taking advantage of “Auntie’s” ample back being turned, faced round and bowed to him with a kindly smile, an unspoken “Good-by” manifested in the gesture which he at once returned with a courtly grace, saluting gravely. ”

“ The patrol-boats beat to and fro, each with two men and a sergeant, in all weathers, amid blinding sleet and snow in the winter, fog in November, and more pleasantly on summer nights. Eyes are strained through the darkness at the long tiers of barges, ears are alert to catch the click of oars in rowlocks. They know who has lawful occasion to be abroad at such times.
Occasionally the sergeant hails some boat. He can usually identify the voice of the man who replies, but should he fail to do so, the police-boat slips nearer. ”

“ Police Ah, when constabulary duty's to be done, to be done, A policeman's lot is not a happy one, happy one. Sergeant When the enterprising burglar's not a-burgling — Police Not a-burgling. Sergeant When the cut-throat isn't occupied in crime — Police 'Pied in crime, Sergeant He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling — Police Brook a-gurgling, Sergeant And listen to the merry village chime — Police Village chime. Sergeant When the coster's finished jumping on his mother — Police On his mother, Sergeant He loves to lie a-basking in the sun — Police In the sun. ”

“ An Adjudant could give a Sergeant eight days of Salle de Police, or fifteen days' C.B., and a Sergeant-major could give the Sergeants four days' Salle de Police and eight days' C.B. Sergeants could even be sent to prison by the Adjudants. There existed a Salle de Police separate from the one allotted to the men, to which Sergeants and Corporals were sent together, the only difference being that Sergeants were allowed a straw mattress and blanket, while the Corporals were only allowed one blanket and slept on boards. ”

“ He had sent to the wood camp a sergeant with a dozen picked men—one or two from each of his infantry companies. Now he sent a lieutenant and thirty of the rank and file, selected at random, to the aid of the agent. Of this thirty a sergeant, two corporals and twelve men were taken from the squadron, for it might be necessary to send out mounted men to make arrests, said the agent, and the agency police were sullen over recent happenings. Sandy was notified by a call from the post adjutant about 11:30, just as he was softly locking up for the night. ”

“ He went over to the police barrack and explained the situation to Sergeant Rahilly. The sergeant readily promised to do all he could to make Dunailin pleasant for the new doctor, and to keep him from getting into mischief or trouble. Only in the matter of Lovaway’s taste for Irish folk-lore and poetry the sergeant refused to promise any help. He was quite firm about this.
“It wouldn’t do for the police to be mixed up in that kind of work,” he said. “Politics are what a sergeant of police is bound to keep out of.” ”

“ And it was the baby's letter to Santa Claus and the baa sheep that did it all, with the able assistance of the Captain and the Sergeant. Don't let us forget the Sergeant.
LOST CHILDREN (p. 053)
I am not thinking now of theological dogmas or moral distinctions. I am considering the matter from the plain every-day standpoint of the police office. It is not my fault that the one thing that is lost more persistently than any other in a large city is the very thing you would imagine to be safest of all in the keeping of its owner. ”

“ At the time to which I refer, recruiting was very rife in Dublin, and it was not uncommon for us to attest one hundred persons in a week. The utmost vigilance was exercised to prevent or detect desertion, and in the apprehension of deserters, a police sergeant named Barnes had particularly exerted himself, and had consequently received rewards to a considerable amount. This was the reason why his name was introduced into the narrative which I happened to overhear, and which I inscribed on a blank leaf of an interleaved statute. ”

“ They demurred, but the sergeant was firm; finally the arms were stacked and the chiefs went inside to discuss matters with the police.
Outside the little stockade it was play-day in Bedlam. The young bucks rode, and whooped, and fired their guns; they disturbed the harmony of the afternoon tea, as the sergeant explained to Sitting Bull. "Send your men away," he told him. ”

“ Below the ground floor there are open pillared halls with asphalted floors where the men assemble for parade, and, before they are marched off under the command of their section-sergeants, have orders and information read to them. There is a drying-room through which a current of hot air continually passes, where an officer may place his sodden clothes after a wet day or night in the street, and a room where the instruction of young constables is continued under the supervision of a sergeant after they have been drafted from Peel House. ”

“ Ten shillings, or perhaps more, having been joyously spent, Roger was informed that he was to accompany the sergeant, and any others who had joined, and receive accommodation in the barrack, from whence he would be brought next day to the police-court for attestation. Promptly acceding to this direction, and raising his fine manly figure, he left the table, and enabled the disgusted sergeant to perceive that his recruit was clubfooted, and totally incapable of ever being put in marching order. ”

“ Having entered the service, his conduct was such as gained the approbation of his superiors, and he soon attained the rank of sergeant. In active service he evinced patience, promptitude, and courage, and the adjutancy having become vacant he was appointed to it, with a concomitant commission. Being thus entitled to be received in society as an officer and a gentleman, he gained respect and esteem in his new position, and also succeeded in marrying a lady possessed of a very ample fortune, by which he was enabled to expedite promotion whenever it could be acquired by purchase. ”

“ He is almost invariably an old soldier, a sergeant who has left the army with a first-class character, honesty and sobriety being indispensable qualifications. Our own Metropolitan Police is not thus recruited: the Scotland Yard authorities rather dislike men with military antecedents, believing that army training, with its stiff and unyielding discipline, does not develop that spirit of good-humoured conciliation so noticeable in our police when dealing with the public. ”

“ The Sergeant reached out for, and began leisurely to open up his mail. Most of it bore the regimental stamp of L Division. Returned crime reports, with caustic, blue-pencilled marginal comments in the O.C.’s caligraphy, requesting certain omitted particulars therein. Circulars respecting stolen stock, descriptions of persons “wanted” for various crimes, drastic orders emanating, primarily, from Headquarters at Regina, regarding new innovations to be observed in certain phases of detachment duty, etc., the monthly “General Orders,” and so on. ”

“ I’m a-goin’ to hold yu’ on a charge of vagrancy till this mix-up’s all squared out.”
Slowly the other complied with the Sergeant’s order and, leading the horses into the stable, endeavored to unharness them; but the weight of the heavy, brass-mounted hames seemed too much for his strength to raise and hang on the stable-pegs. He staggered and almost fell, the Sergeant coming to his assistance, and giving him a hand.
“An’ yu’ figured on takin’ up a homestead, Dad?” he said incredulously. “Why, with yore age, an th’ shape yu’re in, it’d kill yu’. Yu’ ain’t fit for nothin’ like that. ”

“ Poor old Sam’s pretty nearly played out for a drink and a feed—an’—an’ so am I,” she continued frankly. “I’ve walked an awful long way to ease him, for I’m not exactly what you’d call a feather-weight.”
Her humor was irresistible and infectious. “All right,” he said gaily. “You’ll find this a pretty rough roadhouse, I’m afraid, though. It’s the Mounted Police detachment, and I’m the Sergeant in charge. But—we’ll do what we can. You go on in, please, and make yourself at home. I’ll fix up your horse now, and get you some supper afterwards.” ”

“ You and Yorke whom I've known all this time—good fellows"—the deep, imploring tones faltered slightly—"do not push me to it, man! You and your men go away and leave me in peace this night. Christ knows! I don't want to do it but—if you persist in forcing an entrance in here without a warrant—why! I'll pull on your crowd till there's not a man left."
"Gully!" the sergeant's voice shook with passion at the other's threat, "ye bloody murdherin' dog! Ye dhirty back-av-th'-head gun-artist! Thryin' for tu come th' 'good-feller' over us av th' Mounted! There's on'y wan answer tu that, an' ye know ut. ”

“ Jim, who had been ahead of them all in his bitter vilification of the new policeman and, avowedly, the latter’s worst enemy on the range. Only the two of them there at the muskeg ... evening, at that ... not another soul within sight or hearing. All the Sergeant needed to have done—if he had liked—was to sit in his saddle and just—watch.
Of what earthly use were all the many opportunities to rustle that showed up so invitingly at times while such a ruthlessly clever anomaly as he was stationed in the district? A man who seemed to possess endless disguises and hiding places and never to sleep ”

“ Every topic calculated to excite martial feelings would be adverted to by the enthusiastic Roger. Such expressions would naturally lead the sergeant to conclude that he might calculate on one recruit accompanying him back to barracks, and his request or suggestion of immediate enlistment met with a ready acquiescence. The magic shilling having been paid, the new recruit would spend it in an additional libation, and address an earnest exhortation to any young fellows then present to follow his example. ”

“ They rode side by side in silence awhile.
“Yu’ heeled?” inquired the Sergeant quietly. And, as the other nodded, and tapped his hip significantly: “Mind, though, I ain’t anxious to have any shootin’ on this business, unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want no cursed chasin’ in th’ dark, either, with th’ chances o’ th’ hawsses comin’ down wallop, in every doggoned badger-hole around. I ain’t just figured how I’m a-goin’ to get ’em yet! Can’t tell, this stage o’ th’ game. It’ll most likely have to be somethin’ almighty sudden, yu’ can take yore oath o’ that!” ”