mentioning," says Roosevelt, "that he kept on saving life after
he was given his sergeantcy."

The other case was that of a patrolman who seemed to have fallen
into the habit of catching burglars. Roosevelt noticed that he
caught two in successive weeks, the second time under unusual
conditions. The policeman saw the burglar emerging from a house
soon after midnight and gave chase. The fugitive ran toward Park
Avenue. The New York Central Railroad runs under that avenue, and
there is a succession of openings in the top of the tunnel. The
burglar took a desperate chance by dropping through one of the
openings, at the imminent risk of breaking his neck. "Now the
burglar," says Roosevelt, "was running for his liberty, and it
was the part of wisdom for him to imperil life and limb; but the
policeman was merely doing his duty, and nobody could have blamed
him for not taking the jump. However, he jumped; and in this
particular case the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the
unrighteous. The burglar had the breath knocked out of him, and
the 'cop' didn't. When his victim could walk, the officer trotted
him around to the station house." When Roosevelt had discovered
that the patrolman's record showed him to be sober, trustworthy,
and strictly attentive to duty, he secured his promotion at once.

So the Police Commission, during those two years, under the
driving force of Roosevelt's example and spirit, went about the
regeneration of the force whose former proud title of "The
Finest" had been besmirched by those who should have been its
champions and defenders. Politics, favoritism, and corruption
were knocked out of the department with all the thoroughness that
the absurd bipartisan scheme of administration would permit.