Apprehending Darkness in the Shadows

These two scenes lampoon the perception that the police were incompetent. In the left scene the policeman flirts with a woman while a man’s pocket is picked. The right image shows a policeman distracted by a patent medicine hawker while a robber and his accomplice climb through a window into a building.

The Policeman. New York: H. De Marsan, [between 1840 and 1880]. (McAllister Collection)

“Police. Polizeibeamter. Bill-Carrier. Placat Träger,” from Pittoresque Scenes of American Life. Philadelphia: John Weik, ca. 1850.