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HAYDEN J. RINGER : 1895 - 1900 SUPERB ORIGINAL TRIO OF HAND WRITTEN NOTEBOOKS DETAILING THE NITTY GRITTY JOB OF POLICING THE STREETS OF BOSTON IN THE LATE 19th CENTURY

16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. On offer is a rare collection of police patrol notebooks belonging to the City of Boston Police Department. Dated 1895, 1897 and 1899, they give a detailed look at life on the streets of Boston at the turn of the 19th century. There are 3 volumes. The first is embossed with "Property of the City of Boston Police Department", and covers the calendar year 1895. It measures 6 inches by 31/2 inches and contains 365 dated pages plus memoranda pages. The daily pages are 100% complete. The second book has a printed title page identifying it as the "Diary For Police Department of the City of Boston" and covers the time period July 1, 1897 to December 31, 1897. It measures 7 inches by 4 inches and has 92 dated pages plus memoranda pages and is 100% complete. The third volume spans October 24, 1898 through July 3, 1900. It measures 7 inches by 4 inches has 66 pages and is 75% complete. All are in very good condition. The first notebook carries an inscription by the officer it belonged to - Hayden J. Ringer, a Sergeant with the 21st Division. City of Boston records confirm his position with the Police Department, noting he was promoted to Sergeant in 1894. The other 2 do not have an officer or owner's name. However, a researcher could surmise for the similarities in language, grammar and writing style of these 2 volumes that they belong to Ringer as well. The notebooks detail the nitty-gritty life on the streets of Boston at the end of the 19th century. Crimes range from the petty - public drunkenness to the more serious crimes of break and enter, horse stealing, assault and murder. Stolen horse reports are common, clearly a forerunner to auto thefts today There is some unintentional humour in some of the entries: "Strayed or stolen a brown horse ... attached to a democrat wagon." [June 19, 1895]. In another incident, someone stole a horse that was blind. He notes fires being called in from Police Call Boxes that are scattered around the city. He also records special functions where he commanded a larger group of officers - for example on July 4th Independence Day celebrations where he led 30 officers to a park. Street patrolling often took him into various establishments: "Went into the Silver Grill at 10:45 PM Came out at 11:00 PM There was about 225 persons in there everything was quiet" [Mar 30, 1895]. 1897 sees thing continuing in the same vein. He notes his daily duty times and often refers to other officers, men and Divisions. A great deal of the entries refer to daily deployments: "In charge of Station from 6 PM to 1 AM 2nd Platoon [Aug 6, 1897], "On duty from 1 til 8 AM. In charge of 2nd Platoon 14 men. Lieut Brickley in charge of Stat(ion)." [Aug 27, 1897], "July 1st saw a long entry relating to a man found beaten who later died. The assailant was detained and later charged with murder." One thing that is noticeable is the drop-off in stolen horse incidents. In 1899, he appears on duty in civilian clothes often. In many ways, these volumes are reminiscent of the landmark sociology study STREET CORNER SOCIETY about life in a very poor Boston neighbourhood (Whyte, 1943). Life on Boston's streets is observed and reported on from a very specific, although certainly street level perspective. This is an outstanding collection for an urban historian or sociologist. A historian interested in policing at the turn of the 19th century. Illustr.: /. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good +

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