Horse-drawn City Black Maria

'Black Maria' was the nickname for secure police vans with separate locked cubicles, used for the transportation of prisoners. The name is said to have come from a large and powerful black lodging-house keeper named Maria Lee, who helped constables of Boston, Massachusetts in the 1830s when they needed to escort drunks to the cells. This picture was taken in the yard to rear of the Police Station, with the Fire Station to the rear of the picture, South Sherwood Street 1895