The criminal classes in London have been much excited, and
perhaps delighted, by the arrest of three well-known police inspector's, Palmer, Druscovich, and Meiklejohn, and a soli- citor named ,Froggatt, on a. charge of endeavouring to further, the escape of the five Turf swindlers convicted last April at the Old Bailey. Our readers will recollect that Madame de Goncourt, a credulous French lady, was persuaded by a clever ,band of rogues, who printed a sham newspaper called Le Sport, and drew cheques on a fictitious bank at Chariug Cross, to part with £10,000, in the hope of winning untold gains by turf Speculations Chief Inspector Druseovich, who is a clever , lin- guiet, and takes charge. of international criminals, was entrusted with the task of apprehending the gang ; and the charge against
him is that he gave information to them which enabled them to decamp, that he supplied false information to the solicitor for the prosecution, that he neglected to seize letters incriminating the band, and that he made false and misleading reports to his superiors at Scotland Yard. According to the statement made by Mr. Poland, counsel for the Treasury, at Bow Street, on Thurs- day, the conspiracy originated in Meiklejohn's acquaintance with Kerr, one of the convicted men ; and if the story of the prosecu- tion be true, Meiklejohn, who is chief police inspector of the Mid- land Railway, aided them in opening a banking account at Alloa, so as to get rid of their booty. It is but fair to state that the prisoners have not yet disclosed their defence against the charges, which rest mainly on the evidence of Kerr, one of the convicted men. Still it is uncomfortable to think of the possibility of an enter- prising "long firm" keeping two Scotland Yard detectives ; and if the ease for the prosecution were sustained, people would be tempted to say it explained many mysteries of crime.
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