Call for “CAM”
| Date | 01 July 1993 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X9306600321 |
| Author | Peter Pitt |
| Published date | 01 July 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PETER PITT
CALL FOR "CAM"
The bomb outrages that this country has experienced over the past few
years have added greatly to the work
of
the police. The explosions in
Manchester, at the end of 1992, must have stretched the resources
of
its
police force.
If
only it had been possible to call upon the help
of
Manchester's great detective
of
Victorian times, Jerome Caminada,
perhaps more perpetrators
of
these evil deeds could be found, not only in
Manchester but throughout the country.
Jerome Caminada was born within the sound of "old church bells" in
Manchester in 1844. His mother was Irish and his father Italian, and asa
child he attended St
Mary's
School in Mulberry Street. After leaving
school he obtained employment in an ironworks, but at the age
of
24 he
joinedManchesterCity Police Force as a constable. He proved to be very
successful in discovering the culprits of the crimes he investigated, and
three years later he was promotedto sergeant. He was also transferred to
the Detective Department
of
the Force, which had only recently been
formed.
In the following years the cases he worked on ranged from juvenile
pickpocketing to murder. In a case known as"The Hansom Cab Murder"
he solved the crime in 21 days, when he arrested a youth by the name of
Parton. In London there was a murder in the Old Kent Road. The police
had a suspect and issued a description
of
the man they wished to
apprehend. Caminada found this man, a John Roberts, in Leeds and
arrestedhim. For his efforts, Caminada received a letter
of
commendation
fromtheCommissioneroftheMetropolitanPolice,SirEdmundHenderson.
He also received areward
of
money from his own chief, Captain Palin.
Money rewards were not uncommon in those days, and on six occasions
he was given one hundred pounds by banks for finding and apprehending
forgers
of
banknotes.
Caminada would occasionally don a disguise in his efforts to track
down a criminal. He once posed as a patient when investigating alleged
"quackdoctors". He also once hid in a piano in Manchester's Free Trade
Hall to catch a thief.
By 1897 he had risen to the rank ofDetective Superintendent, at a salary
of
£325 per annum. He was quite a travelled man, as in the course
of
his
work he visited America, Ireland, Germany and France.
He retired from the force at the age of 55 in 1899. During his career he
had been responsible for the imprisonment of over
1,.125
people. Known
to his friends as "Cam", his prized possession was an "illuminated
address" presented to him by the Sergeants of the City Force, in 1896, in
appreciation of his service in obtaining abetter scale of pay for them.
He wrote a book, "Twenty-five Years
of
Detective Life"; He had a
racehorse named after him, and in 1907 was elected as an independent
candidate on Manchester City Council. Jerome Caminada died at his
home in Moss Side in 1914, at the age
of70.
334 The Police Journal July 1993
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