Behind the Scenes; or Nine Years at the Four Courts of Saint Louis. By Mrs. Louisa Harris, Police Matron
St. Louis: A.R. Fleming & Co., 1893. 220pp. including frontispiece. Original brown publisher's cloth, stamped in gilt. Corners and spine ends lightly worn. Contemporary ownership inscriptions on front flyleaf. Some staining to several leaves in lower corner. Good plus. Item #6441
A solid copy of this unusual autobiography of a 19th-century police matron, featuring a stern frontispiece portrait of the author. Louisa Harris was the first policewoman in St. Louis, and her autobiography recounts her nine years of experience working in the legal system there. In the introduction she writes, "While I have from personal observation become familiar with so-called criminals, I have had opportunity to learn many of the causes of the committal of the crimes. The law seldom recognizes the palliating influences, but humanity should."
Price: $650.00