184 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



Until May 3d of last year the danger to person and 

 property had reached a height surpassing belief, both in 

 the city and in the interior, where the worst imaginable 

 conditions are said to have prevailed. It had come to the 

 point that no one dared to venture upon the street with- 

 out a pistol or dagger, even in broad daylight. In out- 

 lying parts of the city, precaution was taken after dark 

 to call for signals of recognition; and even then one per- 

 son meeting another would be ready for an emergency by 

 keeping his weapon in hand, so that at the first suspicious 

 movement on the part of the stranger, he might be able 

 to defend himself on the instant. Every issue of the daily 

 papers would contain two or three columns of sensational 

 reports of criminal assaults, highway robberies, break- 

 ing into stores, thieving in every conceivable way, etc. 

 Among these short accounts one often reads of the most 

 daring broad-day crimes, executed in crowded thorough- 

 fares with such boldness and absolute insolence as to 

 baffle all description. No wonder therefore that the local 

 authorities became practically helpless and unable to put 

 down the growing lawlessness; and the punishment of 

 guilty parties became more and more difficult; while law- 

 abiding citizens openly accused officials of accepting 

 bribes. The work hating, hoodlum classes seemed to feel 

 licensed to prey upon the public like so many human vul- 

 tures. Lawyers and even judges of police and superior 

 courts had become corrupt, and it became known that 

 large sums of money had gone into their pockets in order 

 to facilitate the escape of criminals through loopholes 

 and technicalities which the minions of the law knew so 

 well how to manipulate in behalf of their clients. The 

 natural consequence was that the indignation of all right- 

 minded people rose in proportion to the evergrowing 

 number of criminals; and it finally reached a climax at 

 the time of the May conflagration which impoverished 

 thousands of honest, hard working inhabitants, and which, 

 being the work of incendiaries, was accompanied by a 

 large number of lesser crimes. All classes of society 

 would have dissolved under similar conditions in any 



