The fear that most people have of the criminal law has its origin in their ignorance of it.

They are, luckily, most of them unfamiliar with bailiffs and constables, except at a distance.

The gruff voice of authority has echoed but dimly for them.

They have heard of the "third degree," "the cooler," "the sweat-box," and "the bracelets," yet they have never seen the inside of a station-house; and their knowledge of jails, if they have any at all, is derived from reading in their childhood of the miraculous escapes of Baron Trenck or the Fall of the Bastille.

They picture officers of the law as human bulldogs, with undershot, foam-dripping jaws and bloodshot eyes.