Anarchists, Aliens and Detectives
Judy Greenway recalls a colourful trial involving an Italian anarchist and a policeman in the year of the Aliens Act.
In late October 1905, with revolution underway in Russia, British newspaper warnings about ‘anarchy’ abroad vied with headlines about ‘Anarchists in London’, diverting readers with the story of an ‘extraordinary’ libel suit in the High Court.
The case was sparked by the memoirs of retired detective inspector John Sweeney, a former specialist in anarchist surveillance. In his book At Scotland Yard (1904), he alleged that Luigi Parmeggiani, a supposedly respectable London antiques dealer, was in fact a dangerous Italian anarchist selling dubious goods. Parmeggiani sued.
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