Vigilantes Make Work for Police.
November 16, 1907
Summary
The Police force is considering getting bloodhounds to help trace criminals after a “woman was punched and dragged into an alley.”
Transcription
Vigilantes Make Work for Police.
The organization of a corp of vigilantes, or a committee of safety, on Church Hill near the scene of the recent attack upon a young white woman has caused Chief of Police Werner and his men to prepare resignedly for hurry calls to that section.
I don’t criticize the citizens who are in the thing, said Major Werner this morning, “their intention to assist the police is a good one, though some of my men are inclined to take it as a reflection upon the force. But it will probably mean a lot of trouble. We have had our own plain clothes men, out on special service, mistaken for suspicious characters, and people seeing these vigilantes, slipping through alleys, or standing behind trees, or inspecting possible places of danger, will call upon the police to come and catch them.
“As a matter of fact the neighborhood where this unforeseeable crime was committed is one of the best guarded in Richmond. There was a street light less than 100 feet from the place, and there was a policeman only a block away. In the immediate vicinity there live over a dozen policemen.
“The police ought not to be blamed for this crime. Some people are making unkind remarks, but if there is nothing to attract attention the police are as powerless as other men. A man might stab another without a sound, in the next room and we couldn’t save him; and this poor girl was knocked senseless by a single blow and dragged into the darkness of the alley.
“In this connection I would like to say that I am heartily in favor of the police department keeping two or three genuine bloodhounds for use in tracing such criminals as the man who committed this crime. The New York department has sent an officer to Belgium to look into the work of trained dogs under the police system there. They are regularly used with great success in Europe. On a fresh trail such as this miscreant left, they would find him. The police commissioners are considering this progressive step, and I hope they will act upon it favorably.”
-Richmond, Va. News-Leader
The organization of a corp of vigilantes, or a committee of safety, on Church Hill near the scene of the recent attack upon a young white woman has caused Chief of Police Werner and his men to prepare resignedly for hurry calls to that section.
I don’t criticize the citizens who are in the thing, said Major Werner this morning, “their intention to assist the police is a good one, though some of my men are inclined to take it as a reflection upon the force. But it will probably mean a lot of trouble. We have had our own plain clothes men, out on special service, mistaken for suspicious characters, and people seeing these vigilantes, slipping through alleys, or standing behind trees, or inspecting possible places of danger, will call upon the police to come and catch them.
“As a matter of fact the neighborhood where this unforeseeable crime was committed is one of the best guarded in Richmond. There was a street light less than 100 feet from the place, and there was a policeman only a block away. In the immediate vicinity there live over a dozen policemen.
“The police ought not to be blamed for this crime. Some people are making unkind remarks, but if there is nothing to attract attention the police are as powerless as other men. A man might stab another without a sound, in the next room and we couldn’t save him; and this poor girl was knocked senseless by a single blow and dragged into the darkness of the alley.
“In this connection I would like to say that I am heartily in favor of the police department keeping two or three genuine bloodhounds for use in tracing such criminals as the man who committed this crime. The New York department has sent an officer to Belgium to look into the work of trained dogs under the police system there. They are regularly used with great success in Europe. On a fresh trail such as this miscreant left, they would find him. The police commissioners are considering this progressive step, and I hope they will act upon it favorably.”
-Richmond, Va. News-Leader
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Lower Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Benton Camper
Citation
“Vigilantes Make Work for Police.,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed October 9, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/895.