The Pittsburgh Press (February 5, 1946)
MacGowan: London crime
By Wendy MacGowan
LONDON – I was going peaceably one evening after dusk along a quiet street when a stranger said to me, “Could you give me a light, miss?”
This has been a perfectly normal request since early wartime brought a shortage of matches and lighters, so I opened my pocketbook to comply.
Before I could blink an eyelid, he snatched at my purse – securely looped over my arm – and, failing to get it, hit me full on the face. Then he swiftly repeated the process, and I can only guess what would have happened next if the sound of footsteps had not come our way and the man slid off into the shadows.
I became thus one of the growing number of victims of London’s crime wave which has Scotland Yard so worried that it is reported holding almost non-stop conferences to plan counter-measures which are said to include a “ghost” detective squad, whose members will be known only to each other.
Yesterday a woman walking near her home was hailed by a driver who stuck his head out of his auto and asked for directions. As she drew near he grabbed her handbag and fled.
Get away with $50,000 worth of furs
Losing a handbag these days involves much more than monetary loss, as most of us carry around, among other things, our identity cards, food and clothing ration books and keys.
This week four men rapped at the door of a fashionable West End furrier, telling the watchman they were detectives. They stormed the door, gagged and bound the man, maltreating him so brutally he later had to be taken to a hospital. In a half-hour they got away with $50,000 worth of furs.
A housewife, answering her front door, found a smartly dressed young brunet who asked if “Mr. Jones” lived there. She followed this up with seemingly innocent questions and learned that the woman was alone in the house. She went away, but returned shortly with two men, who forced their way in, tied the woman up and ransacked the place, getting away with plenty of loot.
Daylight smash-and-grab raids on jewelry stores are bold and frequent, the gangs choosing crowded thoroughfares, and shooting their way out.
Given gangster-style funeral
London’s latest crime wave is blamed mostly on Polish army deserters, or Poles who, because of political disturbances, are not allowed to return home and have little or no money – so, anyway, it is alleged.
The hist of murders grows steadily, and most of the victims are women. Recently a man known as Russian Robert was murdered.
He was alleged to be a king of the underworld and he certainly had the first London gangster-type funeral. Capone’s henchmen would not have scorned its cortege of opulent limousines.