It is true that archivists are a form of non-destructive bookworm. I prefer to think of myself more as an old pioneer panning for gold in the cold stream of time. In that spirit, I submit something I ran across recently; from an 1888 version of the booklet “Police Guide And Directory Of St Louis”. Here, on page 43, a helpful table of petty crime a stranger might wish to avoid in the Lafayette Park neighborhood.
” A stranger in a large city is apt to offend against laws of which he is ignorant. For this reason, I have made a list of the offenses which he is liable to commit unwillingly. All these are punishable by fines, and in some cases, as in that of carrying concealed weapons, the fine is very heavy.”
Offenses Against The Law
Fast driving on the street
Riding or driving an animal with bell or bells
Driving a sleigh without bells
Playing ball or indulging in any other sport on the street that may frighten horses
Driving fast over the big bridge
Representing oneself as an officer of the law
Resisting or interfering with an officer
Disturbing the peace by loud noises
Rude or indecent behavior in or near a house of worship
Loitering on street corners
Refusing to “move on” for a police officer
Turning on a false alarm of fire
Ringing a bell, or sounding an instrument to attract attention to an auction or anything else
Serenading in the street
Carrying concealed weapons, billy, slungshot, revolver, and lead or brass knuckles
Drunk on the street
Swimming in the river or any city pond
Putting advertisements on property without the owners consent
Tying horse to lamp post
Frequenting a bawdy house, or being found in a house of ill-repute
I got tripped up on the warnings about sleighs and bells. If you have a horse-drawn sleigh, would you have to put bells on the sleigh while making sure to keep bells off the horse? And if you’re taking that sleigh to an auction, are you then fined for the bells, regardless of where they are? Would disturbing the peace by drunken serenading in front of a church merit a ticketing grand slam?
Still, a helpful guide for the time traveling resident. Ignorance of the law was no excuse.
Year-specific police drawings courtesy of “Police Guide and Directory of St. Louis” April 8 and December 27, 1888 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
An elderly gentleman of the once prominent Buder family told me years ago about how when he was a young boy growing up on Park Ave. across from Lafayette Park in the early 1900’s, if the park policeman caught the boys climbing over the fence he would collar them and drag them home to their mothers with admonishments for their uncivil behavior.
Yeah, I have a hand-written remembrance from a very old woman in 1985, who remembered when children caught playing on the grass had to sit in the police substation (now Park House) for an hour.
Love your info.
That old police officer photo- amazed at all the large mustaches.
Got back into genealogy during Covid- relatives German & Irish & Polish immigrants. Like to put them in perspective of what was happening in StL at the various times.
Thanks!
Interesting too, how demilitarized they look; more like English Bobbys. Thanks for reading, Mary Beth!
Who’d have thought that impersonating an officer, resisting arrest, and raising false fire alarms are illegal? Citizens were lucky that this guide was able to inform them before they were unwittingly afoul of the law.
Do you know which bridge was referred to as “the big bridge?”
Thanks for your comment, Adam. The ‘Big Bridge’ could be confidently used when there was only one. The Eads Bridge was the only local span until the Merchants Bridge came on line in 1889.
What an excellent distraction!
Thanks, Mike.
Loved it
Renate Langer
Happy to redirect your attention, as long as you’re safely seated. Thanks for reading, Renate.