not live on the prison diet, but was kept on good rations supplied
to me through the kindness of my comrades out of doors bribing the
turnkeys. I had tea of a morning, bread and butter, and often cold
meat. Meat and all kinds of pastry was sent to me from a cook-shop
outside, and I was allowed to sit up later than other prisoners. During
the time I was in prison for these three months I learned to smoke, as
cigars were introduced to me.
“When I came out we often used to attend the theatres, and I have
often had as many as six or seven ladies’ purses in the rear of the
boxes during the time they were coming out. This was the time when
the pantomimes were in their full attraction. It is easier to pick a
female’s pocket when she has several children with her to attract her
attention than if she were there by herself.
“We went out once or twice a week, sometimes stopt in a whole week,
and sallied out on Sunday. I often got purses coming down the steps at
Spitalfields’ Church. I believe I have done so hundreds of times. This
church was near to us, and easily got at.
“We went to Madame Tussaud’s, Baker Street, and were pretty lucky
there. At this time we hired horses and a trap to go down to Epsom
races, but did not take any of the women with us.
“I was generally employed working in the streets rather than at places
of amusement, &c., and was in dread that my father or some of my
friends might come and see me at some of these.
“When at the Epsom races, shortly after the termination of the race for
the Derby, I was induced, much against my will, to turn my hand upon
two ladies as they were stepping into a carriage, and was detected by
the ladies. There was immediately an outcry, but I was got away by two
of my comrades. The other threw himself in the way, and kept them back;
was taken up on suspicion, committed for trial, and got four months’
imprisonment.
“I kept with the other men, and we got another man in his place. When
his time was expired they went down to meet him, and he did not go out
for some time afterwards--for nearly a fortnight. After that we went
out, and had different degrees of luck, and one of the men was seized
with a decline, and died at Brompton in the hospital. Like the other
stalls, he usually went well-dressed, and had a good appearance. His
chief work was to guard me and get me out of difficulty when I was
detected, as I was the support of the band.
“About this time, as nearly as I can recollect, when I was two months
over thirteen years of age, I first kept a woman. We had apartments,
a front and back room of our own. She was a tall, thin, genteel girl,
about fifteen years of age, and very good-looking. I often ill-used her
and beat her. She bore it patiently till I carried it too far, and at
last she left me in the summer of 1844. During the time she was with
me--which lasted for nine or ten months--I was very fortunate, and was
never without 20_l._ or 30_l._ in my pocket, while she had the same in
hers. I was dressed in fashionable style, and had a gold watch and gold
guard.
“Meantime I had been busy with these men, as usual going to Cheapside,
St. Paul’s Churchyard, and Fleet Street. In the end of the year 1844 I
was taken up for an attempt on a lady in St. Martin’s Lane, near Ben
Caunt’s. The conviction was brought against me from the City, and I got
six months in Tothill-fields Prison.
“This was my first real imprisonment of any length. At first I was
a month in Tothill Fields, and afterwards three months in the City
Bridewell, Blackfriars, where I had a good deal of indulgence, and did
not feel the imprisonment so much. The silent system was strict, and
being very wilful, I was often under punishment. It had such an effect
on me, that for the last six weeks of my imprisonment I was in the
infirmary. The men came down to meet me when my punishment expired, and
I again accompanied them to their house.
“During the time I had been in prison they had got another boy, but
they said they would willingly turn him away or give him to some other
men; but I, being self-willed, said they might keep him. I had another
reason for parting with them. When I went to prison I had property
worth a good deal of money. On coming out I found they had sold it, and
they never gave me value for it. They pretended it was laid out in my
defence, which I knew was only a pretext.
“Before I was imprisoned my girl had parted from me, which was the
beginning of my misfortunes.
“I would not go to work with them afterwards. I had a little money, and
at a public-house I met with two men living down Gravel Lane, Ratcliffe
Highway. I went down there, and commenced working with two of them
on ladies’ pockets, but in a different part of the town. We went to
Whitechapel and the Commercial Road; but had not worked six weeks with
them before I was taken up again, and was tried at Old Arbour Square,
and got three months’ imprisonment at Coldbath Fields. If I thought
Tothill Fields was bad, I found the other worse.
“When I got out I had no one to meet me, and thought I would work by
myself. It was about this time I commenced to steal gentlemen’s watches.
“The first I took was from the fob of a countryman in Smithfield on a
market day. It was a silver watch, which we called a ‘Frying Pan.’ It
had not a guard, but an old chain and seals. It fetched me about 18_s._
I took off one of the seals which was gold, which brought me as much
as the watch, if not more. I sold it to a man I was acquainted with in
Field Lane, where I first lodged, after leaving the coffee-shop when
I first came to London, and where the landlady gave me several nights’
lodging gratuitously. I repaid her the small sum due her for her former
kindness to me.
“I lodged there, and shortly after cohabited with another female.
She was a big stout woman, ten years older than I; well-made, but
coarse-featured. I did not live with her long--only three or four
months. I was then only fifteen years of age. During that time I
always worked by myself. Sometimes she would go out with me, but she
was no help to me. I looked out for crowds at fairs, at fires, and on
any occasion where there was a gathering of people, as at this time I
generally confined myself to watches and pins from men.
“I was not so lucky then, and barely kept myself in respectability. My
woman was very extravagant, and swallowed up all I could make. I lived
with her about four months, when I was taken up in Exmouth Street,
Clerkenwell, and got four months’ imprisonment in Coldbath Fields
Prison.
“When my sentence was expired she came to meet me at the gate of the
prison, and we remained together only two days, when I heard reports
that she had been unfaithful to me. I never charged her with it, but
ran away from her.
“When I left her I went to live in Charles Street, Drury Lane. I
stopped there working by myself for five or six months, and got
acquainted with a young woman who has ever since been devoted to me.
She is now thirty-three years of age, but looks a good deal older than
she is, and is about the middle height. We took a room and furnished
it. I soon got acquainted with some of the swell-mob at the Seven
Dials, and went working along with three of them upon the ladies’
purses again. At this time I was a great deal luckier with them than
I had been since I had left Tothill-fields Prison. I worked with them
till April 1847, visiting the chief places of public resort, such
as the Surrey Gardens, Regent’s Park, Zoological Gardens, Madame
Tussaud’s, the Colosseum, and other places. Other two comrades and I
were arrested at the Colosseum for picking a lady’s pocket. We were
taken to Albany Street station-house, and the next day committed for
trial at the sessions. I had twelve months’ imprisonment for this
offence, and the other two got four years’ penal servitude, on account
of previous convictions. I had only summary convictions, which were not
produced at the trial.
“At this time summary convictions were not brought against a prisoner
committed for trial.
“We were frequently watched by the police and detectives, who followed
our track, and were often in the same places of amusement with us.
We knew them as well as they knew us, and often eluded them. Their
following us has often been the means of our doing nothing on many of
these occasions, as we knew their eye was upon us.
“I came out of prison three or four days before the gathering of the
Chartists on Kennington Common. My female friend met me as I came out.
“I went to this gathering on 10th April, 1848, along with other three
men. I took several ladies’ purses there, amounting to 3_l._ or
4_l._, when we saw a gentleman place a pocketbook in the tail of his
coat. Though I had done nothing at the tail for a long time, it was too
great a temptation, and I immediately seized it. There was a bundle
of bank-notes in it--7 ten-pound notes, 2 for twenty pounds, and 5
five-pound notes. We got from the fence or receiver 4_l._ 10_s._ for
each of the 5_l._, 8_l._ 10_s._ for the tens, and 18_l._ for the 20_l._
notes.
“The same afternoon I took a purse in Trafalgar Square with about
eighteen sovereigns in it. I kept walking in company with the same men
till the commencement of 1849, when I was taken ill and laid up with
rheumatism. I lost the use of my legs in a great measure, and could not
walk, and paid away my money to physicians. Before I got better, such
articles as we had were disposed of, though my girl helped me as well
as she could.
“In the early part of 1849, when I was not able to go out and do
anything, Sally, who cohabited with me, went out along with another
girl and commenced stealing in omnibuses. She was well-dressed, and had
a respectable appearance. I did not learn her to pick pockets, and was
averse to it at first, as I did not wish to bring her into danger. I
think she was trained by my pals. She was very clever, and supported me
till I was able to go out again. I had to walk with a crutch for some
time, but gradually got better and stronger. Some time after that I got
into a row at the Seven Dials, and was sent for a month to Westminster
prison for an assault.
“When I came out I was sorry to find that Sally was taken up and
committed for trial for an omnibus robbery, and had got six months’
imprisonment at Westminster. This was in 1850. I succeeded very well
during the time she was in prison in picking ladies’ pockets during the
time of the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park.
“When she came out, I had nearly 200_l._ by me. I did not go out for
some time, and soon made the money fly, for I was then a cribbage
player, and would stake as much as 2_l._ or 3_l._ on a game.
“In the end of the year 1851 I was pressed for the first time to have a
hand at a crack in the City along with other two men. I was led through
their representations to believe they were experienced burglars, but
found afterwards, if they _were_ experienced they were not very clever.
Though they got a plan, they blundered in the execution of it in
getting into the place, and went into the wrong room, so that they had
to get thro’ another wall, which caused us to be so late that it was
gray in the morning before we got away; and we did not find so much as
we expected.
“At the back of the premises we cut our way into the passage, and,
according to the directions given to us in the plan that had been
drawn, we had to go up to the second floor, and enter a door there.
We found nothing in the room we had entered but neckties and collars,
which would not have paid us for bringing them away. We then had to
work our way through a back wall, before we got into the apartment
where the silks were stored. They cut through the brick wall very
cleverly. We had all taken rum to steady our nerve before we went to
the work.
“We had gone up the wrong staircase, which was the cause of our having
to cut through the wall. There was only one man that slept in the
house, and he was in a room on the basement. We at last, after much
labour and delay, got into the right room, pressed the bolt back,
and found we could get away by the other staircase. We got silks,
handkerchiefs, and other drapery goods, and had about 18_l._ each after
disposing of them--which was about two-thirds of their value. We had a
cab to carry away the things for us to the ‘fence’ who received them.
“We went to another burglary at Islington, and made an entrance into
the house, but were disturbed, and ran away over several walls and
gardens.
“We attempted a third burglary in the City. As usual we had a plan of
it through a man that had been at work there, who put it up for us.
This was a shop in which there were a great many Geneva watches. We
got in at this time by the back window, and went upstairs. We were
told that the master went away at 11 o’clock. On this occasion he
had remained later than usual, looking over his business books. On
seeing us, he made an outcry and struggled with us. Assistance came
immediately. Two policemen ran up to the house. In the scramble with
the man in the house, we tried to make for the door. The police could
not get in, as the door was bolted. We were determined to make a rush
out. I undid the chain and drew back the bolt. I got away, and had fled
along two or three streets, when I was stunned by a man who carried
a closed umbrella. Hearing the cry of ‘Stop thief!’ he drew out the
umbrella, and I fell as I was running. I was thereupon taken back by
one of the police, and found both of the others in custody. We were
committed for trial next day, and sent to Newgate in the meantime for
detention.
“My former convictions were not brought against me. My two companions
had been previously at Newgate, and were sentenced the one to ten
years’ and the other to seven years’ penal servitude, while I got
eighteen months’ imprisonment in Holloway prison. I was the younger of
the party, and had no convictions. I never engaged in a burglary after
this. At this time I was twenty-two or twenty-three years of age.
“I came out of prison in 1853, and was unnerved for some time, though
my health was good. This was the effect of the solitary confinement.
“When I came out, I wrote home for the first time since I had been in
London, and received a letter back, stating that my father was dead
after an illness of several years, and that I was to come home, adding
that if I required money, they would send it me. Besides, there were
several things they were to give me, according to my father’s wishes.
“I went home, and had thoughts of stopping there. My mother was not in
such good position as I expected, the property left by my grandfather
having gone to a distant relative at my father’s death. She was and is
still in receipt of a weekly sum from the old Wesleyan fund for the
benefit of the widows of ministers.
“I went home in the end of 1853, and had the full intention of stopping
there, though I promised to Sally to be back in a few weeks. I soon got
tired of country life, though my relations were very kind to me, and
after remaining seven weeks at home, came back to London again about
the commencement of 1854, and commenced working by myself at stealing
watches and breast-pins. I did not work at ladies’ pockets, unless I
had comrades beside me. I went and mingled in the crowds by myself.
“In the end of 1854 I got another six months’ imprisonment at Hicks’s
Hall police court, and was sent to Coldbath-Fields, and was told that
if I ever came again before the criminal authorities, I would be
transported.
“I came out in 1855, and have done very little since; acting
occasionally as a stall to Sally in omnibuses, and generally carrying a
portmanteau or something with me. I would generally sit in the omnibus
on the opposite side to her, and endeavour to keep the lady, as well
as I could, engaged in conversation, while she sat on her right hand.
She got twelve months for this in 1855, and during the time she was
in Westminster prison I first commenced pattering in the streets. I
did not again engage in thieving till the time of the illumination for
the peace in 1856. In Hyde Park on this occasion I took a purse from
a lady, containing nine sovereigns and some silver; and was living on
this money when Sally was discharged at the expiry of her sentence.
“When she came out, I told her what I had been doing, and found she was
much altered, and seemed to have a great disinclination to go out any
more. She did not go for some time. I made a sufficient livelihood by
pattering in the streets for nearly two years, when I got wet several
times, and was laid up with illness again. She then became acquainted
with a woman who used to go on a different game, termed shoplifting.
While the one kept the shopman engaged, the other would purloin a piece
of silk, or other goods. At this time she took to drink. I found out
after this she often got things, and sold them, before she came home,
on purpose to get drink. News came to me one day that she had been
taken up and committed for trial at Marylebone police court. I paid the
counsel to plead her case, and she was acquitted.
“I then told her if she was not satisfied with what I was doing as
patterer, that I would commence my former employment. So I did for some
time during last year, till I had three separate remands at the House
of Detention, Clerkenwell. The policeman got the stolen property, but
was so much engrossed taking me, he had lost sight of the prosecutor,
who was never found, and I got acquitted.
“On this occasion I told Sally I would never engage in stealing again,
and I have kept my word. I know if I had been tried at this time, and
found guilty, I should have been transported.
“I have since then got my living by pattering in the streets. I earn
my 2_s._, or 2_s._ 6_d._ in an hour, or an hour and a half in the
evening, and can make a shift.
“For six or seven years, when engaged in picking pockets, I earned
a good deal of money. Our house expenses many weeks would average
from 4_l._ to 5_l._, living on the best fare, and besides, we went to
theatres, and places of amusement, occasionally to the Cider Cellars,
and the Coal Hole.
“The London pickpockets are acquainted generally with each other, and
help their comrades in difficulty. They frequently meet with many of
the burglars. A great number of the women of pickpockets and burglars
are shoplifters, as they require to support themselves when their men
are in prison.
“A woman would be considered useless to a man if she could not get him
the use of counsel, and keep him for a few days after he comes out,
which she does by shoplifting, and picking pockets in omnibuses, the
latter being termed ‘Maltooling.’
“I have associated a good deal with the pickpockets over London, in
different districts. You cannot easily calculate their weekly income,
as it is so precarious, perhaps one day getting 20_l._, or 30_l._,
and another day being totally unsuccessful. They are in general very
superstitious, and if anything cross them, they will do nothing. If
they see a person they have formerly robbed, they expect bad luck, and
will not attempt anything.
“They are very generous in helping each other when they get into
difficulty, or trouble, but have no societies, as they could not be
kept up. Many of them may be in prison five or six months of the year;
some may get a long penal servitude, or transportation; or they may
have the steel taken out of them, and give up this restless, criminal
mode of life.
“They do not generally find stealing gentlemen’s watches so profitable
as picking ladies’ pockets, for this reason, that the purse can be
thrown away, some of the coins changed, and they may set to work again
immediately; whereas, when they take a watch, they must go immediately
to the fence with it: it is not safe to keep it on their person. A good
silver watch will now bring little more than 25_s._, or 30_s._, even
if the watch has cost 6_l._ A good gold watch will not fetch above
4_l._ I have worked for two or three hours, and have got, perhaps, six
different purses during that time, the purses I threw away, so that the
robbery may not be traced. Suppose you take a watch, and you place it
in your pocket, while you have also your own watch, if you happen to be
detected, you are taken and searched, and there being a second watch
found on you, the evidence is complete against you.
“The trousers-pockets are seldom picked, except in a crowd. It is
almost impossible to do this on any other occasion, such as when
walking in the street. A prostitute may occasionally do it, pattering
with her fingers about a man’s person when he is off his guard.
“I believe a large number of the thieves of London come from the
provinces, and from the large towns, such as Leeds, Birmingham,
Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool; from Birmingham especially, more
than any other town in England. There are no foreigners pickpockets in
London so far as I know. The cleverest of the native London thieves, in
general, are the Irish cockneys.
“I never learned any business or trade, and never did a hard day’s work
in my life, and have to take to pattering for a livelihood. When men in
my position take to an honest employment, they are sometimes pointed
out by some of the police as having been formerly convicted thieves,
and are often dismissed from service, and driven back into criminal
courses.
“I am a sceptic in my religious opinions, which was a stumbling-block
in the way of several missionaries, and other philanthropic men
assisting me. I have read Paine, and Volney, and Holyoake, those
infidel writers, and have also read the works of Bulwer, Dickens, and
numbers of others. It gives a zest to us in our criminal life, that
we do not know how long we may be at liberty to enjoy ourselves. This
strengthens the attachment between pickpockets and their women, who,
I believe, have a stronger liking to each other, in many cases, than
married people.”
HORSE AND DOG STEALERS.
_Horse-stealing._--These robberies are not so extensive as they used to
be in the metropolitan districts. They are generally confined to the
rural districts, where horses are turned out to graze on marshes and in
pasture-fields. Horses are stolen by a low unprincipled class of men,
who travel the country dealing in them, who are termed “horse coupers,”
and sometimes by the wandering gipsies and tinkers. They journey from
place to place, and observe where there is a good horse or pony, and
loiter about the neighbourhood till they get an opportunity to steal
it. This is generally done in the night time, and in most cases by one
man.
After removing it from the park, they take it away by some by-road,
or keep it shut up in a stable or outhouse till the “hue and cry”
about the robbery has settled down. They then trim it up, and alter
the appearance as much as possible, and take it to some market at a
distance, and sell it--sometimes at an under price. This is their
general mode of operation. Sometimes they proceed to London, and
dispose of it at Smithfield market. The party that steals it, does not
generally take it to the market, but leaves it in a quiet stable at
some house by the way, till he meets with a low horse-dealer. The thief
is often connected with horse-dealers, but may not himself be one.
Some Londoners are in the habit of stealing horses. These often
frequent the Old Kent-road, and are dressed as grooms or stablemen.
They are of various ages, varying from twenty to sixty years.
The person who sells the horses gets part of the booty from the
horse-stealer.
The mode of stealing by gipsies is somewhat similar. They pitch their
tents on some waste ground by the roadside, or on the skirt of a wood,
and frequently steal a horse when they get an opportunity. One will
take it away who has been keeping unobserved within the tent, and the
rest will remain encamped in the locality as if nothing had happened.
They may remove it to a considerable distance, and get it into the
covert of a wood, such as Epping Forest, or some secluded spot, and
take the first opportunity to sell it.
Another class of persons travel about the country, dealing in
small wares as Cheap Johns, who occasionally steal horses, or give
information to abandoned characters who steal them.
These robberies of horses are generally committed in rural districts,
and are seldom done in the metropolis, as horses are in general looked
after, or locked up in stables. They are occasionally stolen in the
markets in and around the metropolis, such as Smithfield and the new
market at Islington.
Sometimes horses in carts, and cabs, and other vehicles are removed by
thieves in the streets of the metropolis; but this is only done for
a short time until they have rifled the goods. So soon as they have
secured them, they leave the horse and vehicle, which come into the
hands of the police, and are restored to the owner.
The horses stolen are generally light and nimble, such as those used in
phaetons and light conveyances, and not for heavy carts or drays.