improper conduct of parochial Watchmen, a body of honest, able, and
active Officers, in the character of Police Patroles, were attached to
each Public Office, or to a General Police System with a sufficient
fund to defray the expences, to follow up informations for the
detection of negligent servants of the Public, and liberally to reward
those who were active and useful in apprehending delinquents, and in
making discoveries, tending either to the recovery of property stolen,
or to the detection of the offenders, little doubt need be
entertained, under the guidance of a Central Board and vigilant
Police, aided by zealous and active Magistrates, that such a System
would soon be established, as would go very far towards the prevention
of many atrocious crimes.
Among the various advantages which may thus be expected to result to
the Community from the arrangements recommended in this work, would be
_the suppression of Highway Robberies_. A desideratum impracticable in
the present state of the Police, although easy and certain under a
Police Board; having a general superintendance competent to look at
every point of danger, and with pecuniary resources equal to an object
so interesting to the inhabitants of this Metropolis.[28] Upon the
adoption of this important measure, therefore, (a measure so strongly
recommended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance[29]) depends in a great degree, that security to travellers on
the highways in the vicinity of the Metropolis; the want of which, and
of many other valuable regulations, for the prevention of crimes, has
long been a reproach to the Criminal Jurisprudence, as well as the
Police, of the Country.
[Footnote 28: Hints have been submitted to the Author for establishing
a plan of _Travelling Police_, to extend 20 miles round the
Metropolis; by means of Patroles well armed and mounted, who should be
on the road at all hours; the expence to be defrayed by the produce of
a toll to be raised for the purpose. This scheme might in all
probability be much improved under the sanction of a General Police
Board, without the additional expence of the proposed toll.]
[Footnote 29: See the 28th Report of that Committee.]
CHAP. V.
_Reasons assigned why forgeries and frauds must prevail in a
certain degree, wherever the interchange of property is
extensive.--A considerable check already given to the higher
class of Forgeries, by shutting out all hopes of Royal
Mercy:--Petty Forgeries have however increased:--The Reason
assigned.--The qualifications of a Cheat, Swindler, and
Gambler explained.--This mischievous class of men extremely
numerous in the Metropolis.--The Common and Statute Law
applicable to offences of this nature explained.--The
different classes of Cheats and Swindlers, and the various
tricks and devices they pursue, to enable them to live in
idleness, by their wits.--Sharpers, Cheats, and Swindlers,
divided into eighteen different Classes--1st. Sharpers who
become Pawnbrokers.--2d. Sharpers who obtain Licence as
Hawkers and Pedlars.--3d. Swindlers who open shops as
Auctioneers.--4th. Swindlers who pretend to discount
Bills.--5th. Itinerate Jews.--6th. Cheats who sell by false
Weights and Measures.--7th. Swindlers who defraud Tradesmen
of Goods.--8th. Cheats who take Genteel Lodgings with false
Names, &c.--9th. Cheats who personate former Masters to
defraud their Tradesmen.--10th. Cheats who personate
Footmen, and order Goods from Tradesmen.--11th. Cheats and
Sharpers who deceive Persons from the Country.--12th. Cheats
and Sharpers who trick Shopmen and Boys out of
Parcels.--13th. Sharpers who attend Inns to pick up Parcels
by various tricks and devices.--14th. Cheats who go from
door to door, begging on false Pretences.--15th. Sharpers
selling smuggled Goods; known by the name of Duffers.--16th.
Female Sharpers, who attend Court and Public Places.--17th.
Female Bankers who lend money to Barrow-Women at 6d. a day
for Five Shillings.--18th. Cheats who pretend to tell
Fortunes.--Various Remedies suggested._
In a great Metropolis, like London, where trade and commerce have
arrived at such an astonishing height, and where from the extensive
transactions in the Funds, and the opulence of the People, the
interchange of property is so expanded, it ceases to be a matter of
wonder that Forgeries and Frauds should prevail, in a certain
degree:--the question of difficulty is, _why the Laws and the means of
prevention, have not kept pace with the progressive advancement of the
Country; so as to check and keep within bounds those nefarious
practices_?
Forgeries of the higher class, so dangerous in a commercial country,
have by the wise policy of the Executive Government, in shutting out
all hopes of the extension of the Royal Mercy to the guilty, received
a most severe check: beneficial in the highest degree to the country,
and clearly manifested by the records of the Old Bailey, where trial
for offences of this nature certainly do not increase in number.
But it is to be lamented, that, with regard to petty forgeries and
frauds, this is by no means the case, for they seem to multiply and
advance with the opulence and luxury of the country; and to branch out
into innumerable different shades, varying as the fashions of the
year, and as the resources for the perpetration of this species of
fraud change their aspect.
When those depraved people who (to use a vulgar phrase) _live entirely
by their wits_--find that any tricks which they have practised for a
certain length of time become stale, (such as _pricking the belt for a
wager_, or _dropping the ring_) they abandon these; and have recourse
to other devices more novel, and more likely to be effectual in
cheating and defrauding the unwary.
One of the most prevailing and successful of these, is the fraud
practised upon shop-keepers, tradesmen, publicans, and others, by the
circulation of forged copper-plate notes and bills for small sums, of
L5. and L10. the latter purporting to be drawn, by bankers in the
manufacturing and sea-port towns, on different banking-houses in
London.
This species of forgery has been carried to a considerable extent
suggested no doubt by the confidence which is established from the
extensive circulation of country bankers' notes and bills, now made
payable in London; by which the deception is, in some degree,
covered, and detection rendered more difficult.
The great qualifications, or leading and indispensable attributes of a
_Sharper_, a _Cheat_, a _Swindler_, or a _Gambler_, are, to possess a
genteel exterior, a demeanor apparently artless, and a good address.
Like the more violent depredators upon the public, this class (who are
extremely numerous) generally proceed upon a regular system, and study
as a _trade_ all those infamous tricks and devices by which the
thoughtless, the ignorant, and the honest are defrauded of their
property.
The common law has defined the offence of cheating--to be _a deceitful
practice in defrauding, or endeavouring to defraud, another of his own
right, by means of some artful device, contrary to the plain rules of
common honesty_.
The Statute of the 33d of Henry the Eighth, _cap._ 1. entered into a
more specific explanation of what might constitute such an offence,
and fixed the mode of punishment; by declaring, "_that if any persons
shall falsely or deceitfully obtain, or get into his hands or
possession, any money, goods, &c. of any other person_, by colour or
means of any false privy token, or counterfeit letter, _&c.--he shall,
on conviction, be punished by imprisonment, the pillory, or
whipping--saving to the party aggrieved the same power of recovering
the property as he might have had at Common Law, &c._"
From this remote period, until the 30th of George the Second, the
Legislature does not appear to have seen the necessity of enacting any
new Law, applicable to this species of offence.
In the progress however of Society and Commerce, joined to the
consequent influx of riches, producing luxury and extravagance, a
larger field opened for cheats and sharpers of every description;
insomuch, that the evil became so great, and the existing Laws were
found so insufficient, as to render it necessary to provide a
legislative remedy.
In applying this remedy, it seems that the great increase of a new
species of cheating, practised by persons known in modern times by the
name of _Swindlers_, had suggested the propriety of defining the
offence, in a more applicable and specific manner, and of rendering
the punishment more severe. By the act of 30 Geo. II. _cap._ 24. it is
declared, "_that all persons obtaining money, goods, wares, or
merchandise_, by false pretences, _shall be deemed offenders against
the Law and the public peace; and the Court, before whom any such
offender shall be tried, shall on conviction, order them to be put in
the pillory, or publicly whipped, or transported for seven years_."
Thus stand the Laws at present with regard to Swindlers.[30] They
ought certainly to embrace a wider field, so as to reach those
artifices by which sharpers and persons of depraved minds, obtain
money from the ignorant and unwary, by assuming false characters,
taking genteel lodgings, and cheating innocent tradesmen, who lose
large sums annually by such depredations.
[Footnote 30: There appears to be a deficiency in the Act of 30th
George the Second, cap. 24. in omitting to add _Bank Notes_ after the
word _Money_, and also _Horses, Cattle, Sheep, or other Animals_,
after goods, wares, and merchandise; since, (as has already been
noticed, ante page 9,) it has been held that Bank Notes are not Money,
nor are horses, cattle, &c. considered as goods, wares, or
merchandise, according to the legal construction of any existing
Statute.--An amendment of the Law with regard to these and other
objects is the more necessary, as _Bank Notes_ and _Horses_ are,
perhaps, more the objects of swindling, than other species of
property.]
We shall next proceed to particularize the various classes of Sharpers
who thus prey upon the public: reserving all that relates to those
more immediately connected with _Gaming Houses_ and _Lottery
Insurances_ to the subsequent chapter.
I. _Sharpers who obtain Licences to become Pawnbrokers_,[31] and bring
disgrace upon the reputable part of the trade, by every species of
fraud which can add to the distresses of those who are compelled to
raise money in this way; for which purpose there are abundance of
opportunities.--Swindling Pawnbrokers, of this Class, are uniformly
receivers of stolen goods; and under the cover of their licence do
much mischief to the Public. The evil arising from them might, in a
great measure, be prevented by placing the power of granting licences
in a general Board of Police; and rendering it necessary for all
persons to produce a Certificate of character, before they can obtain
such licence; and also to enter into recognizance for good
behaviour.[32]
[Footnote 31:
Number of Pawnbrokers within the Bills of } Persons L.
Mortality, paying a licence of L10. a year. } 213 2130
In the Country, paying L5. a year. 432 2160
--- ----
Total 644 4290
--- ----]
[Footnote 32: A regulation of this kind is of great importance; as the
property of the poorest and most distressed part of the community, to
the amount of nearly one million sterling, is constantly in the hands
of Pawnbrokers in the Metropolis alone! and although it is of the
utmost consequence that they, above all others, should be _honest,
correct_ and even _humane_ characters, (and it is to be hoped many of
them are of that description,) yet certain it is that any person, even
the most notorious rogue or vagabond, who can raise ten pounds to pay
for a licence, may at present set up the trade of Pawnbroker; and it
is even said that some have got licences who have actually been on
board the Hulks!--a thing unavoidable under the present
circumstances.]
II. _Sharpers and Swindlers who obtain Licences to be Hawkers and
Pedlars_; under the cover of which every species of villainy is
practised upon the country people, as well as upon the unwary in the
Metropolis, and all the great towns in the kingdom.--The artifices by
which they succeed, are various, as for example;--By fraudulent
raffles, where plated goods are exhibited as silver, and where the
chances are exceedingly against the adventurers;--By selling and
uttering base money, and frequently forged Bank Notes, which make one
of the most profitable branches of their trade;--By dealing in
smuggled goods, thereby promoting the sale of articles injurious to
the Revenue, besides cheating the ignorant with regard to the
value;--By receiving stolen goods to be disposed of in the country, by
which discoveries are prevented, and assistance afforded to common
thieves and stationary receivers;--By purchasing stolen horses in one
part of the country, and disposing of them in another, in the course
of their journies; in accomplishing which, so as to elude detection,
they have great opportunities;--By gambling with EO Tables at Fairs
and Horse-races.
A number of other devices might be pointed out, which render this
class of men great nuisances in Society; and shew the necessity of
either suppressing them totally, (for in fact they are of little use
to the Public;) or of limiting the licences only to men of good
character; to be granted by a general Board of Police under whose
controul they should be placed, while they enter at the same time into
a recognizance in a certain sum, with one surety for good behaviour;
by which the honest part would be retained, to the exclusion of the
fraudulent.
III. _Swindlers who take out Licences as Auctioneers_, and open shops
in different parts of the Metropolis, with persons at the doors,
usually denominated _Barkers_, inviting strangers to walk in. In these
places, various articles of silver plate and household goods are
exposed to sale, made up on a slight principle, and of little
intrinsic value; associates, generally denominated _Puffers_, are in
waiting to bid up the article to a sum greatly beyond its value,
when, upon the first bidding of the stranger, it is knocked down to
him, and the money instantly demanded; the goods, however, on being
carried home and examined, are generally found to be very different in
reality, from what their appearance exhibited, and upon a close
examination the fraud is discovered.
Neither the common Law, nor the Act of the 30th George II. cap. 24,
seem to be sufficiently _broad_ and explanatory to include this
species of offence; and hence it is, that this mode of selling goods
continues with impunity, and seems to increase. It is not, however,
meant here to insinuate that all petty auctions are fraudulent.--It is
to be hoped there may be some exceptions, although probably, they are
not numerous. A licence from a general Board of Police, and to be
subject to certain restrictions only burdensome to the dishonest, and
obliging the parties to find security, would, in a great measure,
regulate this kind of business, in a proper manner.
IV. _Swindlers who raise money, by pretending to be Discounters of
Bills, and Money Brokers_; These chiefly prey upon young men of
property, who have lost their money at play, or spent it in expensive
amusements, and are obliged to raise more upon any terms, until their
rents or incomes become payable; or who have fortunes in prospect, as
being heirs apparent to estates, but who require assistance in the
mean time.
Availing themselves of the credit, or the ultimate responsibility, of
such thoughtless and giddy young men, in the eager pursuit of
criminal pleasures, and under the influence of those allurements which
the Faro Tables, and other places of fashionable resort hold
out--these Swindlers seldom fail to obtain from them securities and
obligations for large sums; upon the credit of which they are enabled,
perhaps, at usurious interest, to borrow money, or discount bills; and
thus supply their unfortunate customers upon the most extravagant
terms.
Another class, having some capital, advance money upon bonds,
title-deeds, and other specialities, or upon the bond of the parties
having estates in reversion: by these and other devices too tedious to
detail, large sums of money are, most unwarrantably and illegally,
wrested from the dissipated and thoughtless: and misery and distress
are thus entailed upon them, as long as they live; or they are driven,
by utter ruin, to acts of desperation or to crimes.
A Law seems absolutely necessary to be pointed at this particular
mischief, which is certainly an increasing evil.--Humanity pleads for
it; and _Policy_ points out the necessity of some effectual guard
against those miseries which it generates; and which could not exist
in so great a degree, were it not for the opportunities held out by
these blood-suckers, in affording money to the young and
inexperienced, to be expended in scenes of gambling and debauchery.
V. _A Class of Cheats of the Society of Jews, who are to be found in
every street, lane and alley in and near the Metropolis, under the
pretence of purchasing old clothes, and metals of different sorts_;
Their chief business really is to prowl about the houses and stables
of men of rank and fortune, for the purpose of holding out temptations
to the servants to pilfer and steal small articles, not likely to be
missed, which these Jews purchase at about one third of the real
value.--It is supposed that upwards of fifteen hundred of these
depraved people are employed in diurnal journies of this kind; by
which, through the medium of bad money, and other fraudulent dealings,
many of them acquire property, and then set up shops and become
Receivers of stolen Goods.
It is estimated that there are from fifteen to twenty thousand Jews in
the city of London, besides, perhaps, about five or six thousand more
in the great provincial and sea-port towns; (where there are at least
twenty synagogues, besides six in the Metropolis;) most of the lower
classes of those distinguished by the name of German or Dutch Jews,
live chiefly by their wits, and establish a system of mischievous
intercourse all over the country, the better to carry on their
fraudulent designs in the circulation of base money,--the sale of
stolen goods, and in the purchase of metals of various kinds; as well
as other articles pilfered from the Dock-Yards, and stolen in the
provincial towns, which they bring to the Metropolis to elude
detection,--and _vice versa_.
Educated in idleness from their earliest infancy, they acquire every
debauched and vicious principle which can fit them for the most
complicated arts of fraud and deception; to which they seldom fail to
add the crime of perjury, whenever it can be of use, in shielding
themselves or their associates from the punishment of the law.--From
the orange boy, and the retailer of seals, razors, glass, and other
wares, in the public streets, to the shop-keeper, dealer in wearing
apparel, or in silver and gold, the same principles of conduct too
generally prevail.
The itinerants utter base money to enable them, by selling cheap, to
dispose of their goods; while those that are stationary, with very few
exceptions, receive and purchase, at an under-price, whatever is
brought them, without asking questions.
VI. _Cheats who sell provisions and other articles by means of false
weights and measures._ Nothing requires the assistance of the
Legislature in a greater degree than this evil; to shield the Poor
against the numerous tricks thus practised upon them, by low and
inferior shop-keepers and itinerants.
The ancient System of regulating this useful branch of Police by the
Juries of the Court-Leet, having been found ineffectual, and in many
respects inapplicable to the present state of Society, an act passed
the 35th of his present Majesty, (_cap._ 102,) to remedy the
inconvenience with regard to fraudulent weights; but difficulties
having occurred on account of the expence of carrying it into
execution, certain amendments were made by another act, (37 Geo. III.
_c._ 143,) and the Magistrates in Petty Sessions have now power to
appoint Examiners of weights, and to authorize them to visit shops,
seize false weights, &c.
This plan, if pursued as steadily as that which already prevails in
regulating Bakers, promises to produce very valuable benefits to the
lower ranks of people at a very small expence.
VII. _Cheats and Swindlers who associate together, and enter into a
conspiracy for the purpose of defrauding Tradesmen of their
goods._--One of these sharpers generally assumes the character of a
Merchant;--hires a genteel house, with a counting-house, and every
appearance of business.--One or two associates take upon them the
appearance of Clerks, while others occasionally wear a livery: and
sometimes a carriage is set up, in which the ladies of the party visit
the shops, in the stile of persons of fashion, ordering goods to their
apartments.--Thus circumstanced, goods are obtained on credit, which
are immediately pawned or sold, and the produce used as a means of
deception to obtain more, and procure recommendations, by offering to
pay ready money,--or discount bills.
When confidence is once established in this way, notes and bills are
fabricated by these conspirators, as if remitted from the country, or
from foreign parts; and application is made to their newly acquired
friends, the tradesmen, to assist in discounting them. Sometimes money
and bills upon one another are lodged at the bankers for the purpose
of extending their credit, by referring to some respectable name for
a character.
After circulating notes to a considerable amount, and completing their
system of fraud by possessing as much of the property of others as is
possible, without risk of detection, they move off; assume new
characters; and when the bills and notes are due, the parties are not
to be found.
Offences of this sort, where an actual conspiracy cannot be proved,
which is generally very difficult, are not easily punished; and it
seems of importance that frauds and impositions of this sort, and
others of the same nature, where the confidence of tradesmen and
manufacturers is abused by misrepresentation and falsehood, should be
defined, so as to render it difficult for the parties to escape
punishment.
VIII. _Cheats who take genteel Lodgings, dress elegantly, assume false
names_:--pretend to be related to persons of credit and
fashion--produce letters familiarly written to prove an
intimacy,--enter into conversation, and shew these letters to
tradesmen and others, upon whom they have a design--get into their
good graces, purchase wearing apparel and other articles, and
disappear with the booty.
This species of offence would be very difficult to reach by any
existing Law, and yet it is practised in various shapes in the
Metropolis, whereby tradesmen are defrauded to a very considerable
extent.--Some legislative guards would certainly be very desirable to
define and punish these offences also.
IX. _Cheats, who have been formerly in the service of Milliners,
Mantua-Makers, Taylors, and other Traders, who have occasion to send
to shop-keepers and warehousemen for goods_;--These, after being
discharged from their service, getting into the company of sharpers
and thieves, while out of place, teach them how to personate their
former employers; in whose names they too frequently succeed in
obtaining considerable quantities of goods before the fraud is
discovered.
It would certainly be a good rule at no time to deliver goods upon a
verbal message; and it would be useful if all persons discharging
servants, would give notice of it to every tradesmen with whom they
deal.