t to
be laid to their charge. The very wish to be connected with the police,
indicates a morbid disposition of the mind--a desire to be familiar with
crime; for it is necessary to detect it successfully, to come in contact
frequently with the criminal. In consequence, by familiarity, crime
loses its enormity: the police officer sees how seldom the perpetrator
is detected; how often, when detected, he escapes unwhipped of justice;
he connives at some petty offence, in the hope of entrapping the
criminal in some more flagrant act, and tampers with crime, till the
little moral sensibility he had when he entered the service is
destroyed. This is obviously a true picture of human nature; but I must
proceed with the story, which suggested these remarks.

In no city of the Union has the depredations of the Band of Brothers
been more extensive than in Cincinnati, Ohio, yet there seems to be a
prevailing wish, entertained even by those who have witnessed their
ravages, to doubt the existence of any such organization. Nor am I
surprised at this incredulity--the thought that we are surrounded by
hundreds of individuals, sworn to protect and assist one another in
their ravages upon our lives and property, is no very pleasant prospect
for contemplation. Sincerely I wish it were merely a dream of the night,
but the unaccountable and sudden downfall of some of the most
respectable and talented families of that city convince that it yet
exists in all its awful realities. In confirmation of this I will
introduce the history of one family, guarding myself as much as possible
from saying any thing that might hurt the feelings of any of the
relatives yet living. It consisted of five boys--at least that number is
all that has come under my notice; the eldest, at the age of sixteen,
connected himself with bad associates, was committed to the jail on a
charge of theft, and convicted. In a short time the next brother
followed in the same course, and shared the same fate. The remaining
children were yet young, and to preserve them from the vicious habits of
the elder ones, the father kept them at hard labour every day. We are
not intimately acquainted with the character of the father, but we never
heard any thing laid to his charge but that he was a dissipated, and so
far an immoral man. He at least gave his children an example of
industry, and could not be suspected of training them in dishonest
practices. The eldest son was pardoned, or serve