Page:Sunset Magazine vol. 31.pdf/536

 to break up their game. Commandeering a scow, he installed improvised machinery upon it and sheathed its sides with iron.



With a handful of dare-devils manning rapid-fire guns, he cruised up and down the river scaring and scattering the bushwhackers until he had completely pacified the pirates of the Pasig.

Shortly after his return from the wars he was given charge of the police department of Berkeley. The city was growing rapidly, new tracts were spreading all over the map, and as a consequence the slender force of police was unable to patrol the entire territory. Vollmer mounted his men on bicycles, which enabled them to come swiftly and silently wherever they were needed. He next arranged a system of signals whereby he could communicate with his patrolmen at a moment's notice. By touching a switch, an electric current flowing through wires in various districts flashed red signals at the intersections of certain streets, and when they winked their warnings the officer on that particular beat would catch this high sign and rush to the nearest police-telephone-box, where he would receive his instructions. This installation has proven to be such a signal success that many other municipalities have since adopted its features.

Vollmer transformed his offices into a technical laboratory where he and his subordinates studied every phase of