The criminal class of New York is very large, but it is not so large as
is commonly supposed. In the spring of 1871, the Rev. Dr. Bellows stated
that the City of New York contained 30,000 professional thieves, 20,000
lewd women and harlots, 3000 rum shops, and 2000 gambling houses, and
this statement was accepted without question by a large portion of the
newspapers of other parts of the country. New York is a very wicked
place, but it is not as bad as the above statement would indicate. The
personal character of the gentleman who made it compels the conviction
that he believed in the truth of his figures; but a closer examination of
the case makes it plain that he was singularly deceived by the sources
from which he derived his information.
It is very hard to obtain accurate information as to the criminal
statistics of this city. The reports and estimates of the Police
Commissioners are notoriously incomplete and unreliable. They show a
large number of arrests, but they deal mainly with the class known as
"casuals," persons who merely dabble in crime, and who do not make it a
profession, and the larger proportion of the arrests reported are for
such trifling offences as drunkenness. Indeed many of the arrests
reported ought not to be counted in the records of crime at all, as the
persons apprehended are released upon the instant by the officer in
charge of the station, the arrests being the result of the ignorant zeal
or malice of the patrolmen, and the prisoners being guiltless of any
offence.
The population of New York is unlike that of any other American city. It
is made up of every nationality known to man. The majority of the people
are very poor. Life with them is one long unbroken struggle, and to
exist at all is simply to be wretched. They are packed together at a
fearful rate in dirt and wretchedness, and they have every incentive to
commit crimes which will bring them the means of supplying their wants.
It is a common habit of some European governments to ship their criminals
to this port, where they have a new field opened to them. The political
system of the city teaches the lower class to disregard all rights,
either of property or person, and, indeed, clothes some of the most
infamous criminals with an amount of influence which is more than
dangerous in their hands, and shields them from punishment when detected
in the commission of crime. All these things considered, the wonder is
not that the criminal class of the city is as large as it is; but that it
is not larger and more dangerous.
The truth is, that the class generally known as Professional Criminals
number about 3000. Besides these, there are about 5000 women of
ill-fame, known as such, living in 600 houses of prostitution, and
frequenting assignation and bed-houses, about 7000 rum shops, 92 faro
banks, and about 500 other gambling houses, and lottery and policy
offices, within the limits of the City of New York.
The professional criminals are those who live by thieving, and who
occasionally vary their career by the commission of a murder or some
other desperate crime. They rarely resort to violence, however, unless
it becomes necessary to ensure their own safety. Then they make their
work as simple and as brief as possible. They form a distinct community,
frequent certain parts of the city, where they can easily and rapidly
communicate with each other, and where they can also hide from the police
without fear of detection. They have signs by which they may recognize
each other, and a language, or _argot_, peculiar to themselves. Those
who have been raised to the business use this argot to such an extent
that to one not accustomed to it they speak in an unknown tongue. The
following specimens, taken from the "Detective's Manual," under the head
of the letter B, will illustrate this:
_Badger_.--A panel-thief.
_Bagged_.--Imprisoned.
_Bag of nails_.--All in confusion.
_Balram_--Money.
_Bandog_.--A civil officer.
_Barking irons_.--Pistols.
_Bene_.--Good, first-rate.
_Benjamin_.--A coat.
_Bilk_.--To cheat.
_Bill of sale_.--A widow's weeds.
_Bingo_.--Liquor.
_Bingo boy_.--A drunken man.
_Bingo mort_.--A drunken woman.
_Blue-billy_.--A strange handkerchief.
_Blue ruin_.--Bad gin.
_Boarding-school_.--The penitentiary.
_Bone box_.--The mouth.
_Bowsprit in parenthesis_.--A pulled nose.
_Brother of the blade_.--A soldier.
_Brother of the bolus_.--A doctor.
_Brush_.--To flatter, to humbug.
_Bug_.--A breast-pin.
_Bugger_.--A pickpocket.
_Bull_.--A locomotive.
_Bull-traps_.--Rogues who personate officials to extort money.
As a rule, the professional thief of every grade is a very respectable
looking individual outwardly. He dresses well, but flashily, and is
generally plentifully supplied with money. In a "crib," or rendezvous,
which he once visited in company with a detective, the writer could not
select a single individual whose outward appearance indicated his
calling. The New York thief generally has money, which he squanders with
great recklessness. It comes to him easily, and it goes in the same way.
There are many instances on record which go to show that the "members of
the profession" are frequently most generous to each other in money
matters. The thief is usually a man of steady habits. He rarely drinks
to excess, for that would unfit him for his work, and he is not usually
given to licentiousness, for a similar reason. If he be found living
with a woman, she is generally a thief also, and plies her trade with
equal activity.
[Picture: THE OCCASIONAL FATE OF NEW YORK THIEVES.]
Altogether, there are about three thousand thieves of various kinds,
known to the officers of justice in New York, who live by the practice of
their trade. They are divided into various classes, each known by a
distinctive title, and to each of which its respective members cling
tenaciously. These are known as Burglars, Bank Sneaks, Damper Sneaks,
Safe-blowers, Safe-bursters, Safe-breakers, and Sneak Thieves. The last
constitute the most numerous class.
The Burglar is the aristocrat of crime, and you cannot offend him more
than by calling him a thief. He scorns the small game of the sneak
thief, and conducts his operations on a large scale, in which the risk is
very great, and the plunder in proportion. His peculiar "racket" is to
break open some first-class business house, a bonded warehouse, or the
vaults of a bank. The burglar class has three divisions, known to the
police as Safe-blowers, Safe-bursters, and Safe-breakers. They are said
to be less than 250 in number, those of the first and second class
comprising about seventy-five members each. The safe-blowers are
accounted the most skilful. They rarely force an entrance into a
building, but admit themselves by means of false keys made from wax
impressions of the genuine keys. Once inside, their mode of operation is
rapid and systematic. They lower the windows from the top about an inch.
This is usually sufficient to prevent the breaking of the glass by the
concussion of the air in the room, and not enough to attract attention
from without. The safe is then wrapped in wet blankets, to smother the
noise of the explosion. Holes are then drilled in the door of the safe
near the lock, these are filled with powder, which is fired by a fuse,
and the safe is blown open. The securing of the contents requires but a
few minutes, and the false keys enable the thieves to escape with ease.
This method of robbery is very dangerous, as, in spite of the precautions
taken, the explosion may produce sufficient noise to bring the watchman
or the police to the spot. Experienced burglars only engage in it, and
these never undertake it without being sure that the plunder to be
secured will fully repay them for the danger to be encountered. This
knowledge they acquire in various ways.
The Safe-bursters are the silent workers of the "profession." Like the
class just mentioned, they enter buildings by means of false keys. They
adopt a thoroughly systematic course, which requires the combined efforts
of several persons, and consequently they operate in parties of three and
four. They first make the safe so fast to the floor, by means of clamps,
that it will resist any degree of pressure. Then they drill holes in the
door, and into these fit jack-screws worked by means of levers. The
tremendous force thus exerted soon cuts the safe literally to pieces, and
its contents are at the mercy of the thieves. The whole process is
noiseless and rapid, and so complete has been the destruction of some
safes that even the most experienced detectives have been astounded at
the sight of the wreck. Such an operation is never undertaken without a
knowledge on the part of the thieves of the contents of the safe, and the
chances of conducting the enterprise in safety. The Safe-blowers and
bursters do nothing by chance, and their plans are so well arranged
beforehand that they rarely fail.
The Safe-breakers, though really a part of the burglar class, are looked
upon with contempt and disowned by their more scientific associates in
crime. They do nothing by calculation, and trust everything to chance.
They enter buildings by force, and trust to the same method to get into
the safes. Their favorite instrument is a "jimmy," or short iron bar
with a sharp end. With this they pry open the safe, and then knock it to
pieces with a hammer. In order to deaden the sound of the blows, the
hammer is wrapped with cloth. They are not as successful as the others
in their operations, and are most frequently arrested. Indeed the
arrests for burglary reported by the Police Commissioners occur almost
exclusively in this class. A really first-class burglar in a prison cell
would be a curiosity in New York.
Closely allied with the Safe-blowers and bursters is a class known as
Bed-chamber Sneaks. These men are employed by the burglars to enter
dwellings and obtain impressions in wax of keys of the places to be
robbed. They adopt an infinite number of ways of effecting such an
entrance, often operating through the servant girls. They never disturb
or carry off anything, but confine their efforts to obtaining impressions
in wax of the keys of the store or office to be robbed. The keys of
business houses are mainly kept by the porters, into whose humble
dwellings it is easy to enter. When they wish to obtain the keys of a
dwelling, they come as visitors to the servant girls, and while they
stand chatting with them manage to slip the key from the lock, take its
impression in wax, and return it to the lock, unobserved by the girl.
They are generally on the watch for chances for robberies, and report
them promptly to their burglar confederates.
The Bank Sneak is better known as the Bond Robber. He is of necessity a
man of intelligence and of great fertility of resource. He steals United
States Bonds almost entirely, and prefers coupons to registered, as the
former can always be disposed of without detection. He manages, by means
best known to himself, to gain information of the places in which these
bonds are kept by the banks, of the times at which it is easiest to gain
access to them, and the hours at which the theft is most likely to be
successful. All this requires an immense amount of patient study and of
personal observation of the premises, which must be conducted in such a
way as not to attract attention or excite suspicion. When everything is
ready for the commission of the deed, the thief proceeds to the place
where the bonds are kept, seizes them and makes off. If a package of
bank notes is at hand, he adds that to his other plunder. Usually his
operations are so well planned and conducted that he is not observed by
the bank officers, and he escapes with his plunder. Once at large, he
proceeds to sell the bonds, if they are coupons, or to use the bank
notes, if he has secured any. Registered bonds require more care in
their disposition. Generally the bank offers a reward for the arrest of
the robber and the recovery of the goods, and calls in a detective to
work up the case. The thief at once manages to communicate with the
detective, and offers to compromise with the bank, that is, to restore a
part of the plunder upon condition that he is allowed the rest and escape
punishment. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred his offer is accepted,
the bank preferring the recovery of a part of its loss to the punishment
of the thief. In this way the thief secures a large part of the amount
stolen, sometimes one-half. Should the thief be caught with his plunder
upon him, and the bank be thus saved from loss, which is rare, the
offender is turned over to the police, and the bank joins heartily in the
effort to send him to the penitentiary.
The Damper Sneak confines his attentions to the safes of the business men
of the city. Wall street has suffered heavily from this class. The
thief enters a broker's office, in which the safe is generally left open
during business hours, and asks permission to look at the directory, or
to write a note. If this permission be accorded him, he manages to get
inside the railing, in close proximity to the safe, if its doors are
open. A confederate (or sometimes more) now enters and attracts the
attention of the broker or the clerk, by making fictitious arrangements
for the purchase of gold or some security. The thief who first entered
watches his opportunity, and then, with the greatest rapidity, darts to
the safe, abstracts whatever he can lay his bands on, and passes out,
always thanking the broker for his courtesy. The confederates leave soon
after, and then the robbery is discovered. The Damper Sneak has to steal
at random, taking the first thing within his reach, but he often secures
a rich prize. He takes his peculiar name from the safe, which, in the
thief language, is called a "Damper." One of the boldest of these
robberies occurred a year or more ago, in Wall street. A broker
employing a number of clerks, and doing a heavy business, was standing
one day in front of his safe, during business hours, talking to a
gentleman. A man, without a hat, with a pen behind his ear, and a piece
of paper in his hand, entered the office, passed around the counter to
where the broker stood, and said to him quietly, "Will you please to
move, sir, so that I can get at the safe?" Being very much interested in
his conversation, the broker scarcely noticed the man, supposing from his
general appearance and manner that he was one of the clerks, and
accordingly stepped aside without giving him a second glance. The man
went up to the safe, took out a package of United States Bonds, and
coolly walked out of the office. The bonds amounted to one hundred
thousand dollars. The loss was discovered in the afternoon but no trace
of the thief or of his plunder was ever found. Strange as it may seem,
the city is constantly suffering from similar robberies, and the rogues
almost invariably escape.
The Sneak Thieves are the last and lowest on the list. As has been
stated, they constitute the bulk of the light-fingered fraternity. These
confine their attentions principally to private dwellings, are adroit and
successful, but incur constant danger of detection and punishment. A
sneak thief will pass along the street with that rapid, rolling glance of
the eyes which distinguishes the tribe; now he checks himself in his
career; it is but for an instant; no unprofessional eye directed towards
him would notice it; but the sudden pause would speak volumes to an
experienced police officer. He knows that the thief's eye has caught the
sight of silver lying exposed in the basement. In an hour after he hears
that the basement has been entered, and the silver in it carried off. He
knows who has taken it, as well as if he had seen the man take it with
his own eyes; but if the thief has had time to run to the nearest
receiver's den, the silver is already in the melting-pot, beyond the
reach of identification.
Sometimes the sneak thieves work in pairs. Upon discovering the basement
door of a residence ajar, one of them takes position at it, while the
other ascends the front steps and rings the bell. As soon as the servant
has gone up from the basement to answer the bell, the thief at the lower
door slips in, and gathers up the silver or such other articles as he can
lay his hands upon. Again, selecting the dinner hour, which is usually
between six and seven o'clock, and operating in the winter season when
the streets are dark at that hour, one of the thieves will remain on the
side-walk, on the lookout for the police, while the other climbs up a
pillar of the stoop and reaches the level of the second story window.
The window fastenings offer but a feeble resistance, and he is soon in
the room. The family being all at dinner in the lower part of the house,
the entire mansion is open to him. Securing his plunder, he leaves the
house as he entered it, and makes off with his confederate. Some of the
wealthiest mansions in the city have been robbed in this way, and heavy
losses in jewelry, furs, and clothing have been entailed upon
householders in all localities. Sometimes the thief has a confederate in
the servant girl, but professionals do not often trust this class, who
are always ready to betray them at the slightest indication of danger.