as yet of the great Mr Harvey, there could be little doubt that he was a
personage who for years had been driving the same trade in the south of
England, where he had been often in trouble, and where not less than in
London he was reputed as the best "coiner" in the kingdom. His
companions were also known as adepts, whose beauty and accomplishments
in another peculiar line enabled them to help the common store. Nor was
Harvey limited to one department alone, being as well adapted and
inclined for _taking_ good money as for _coining_ or uttering bad; so
that viewing them as possessed of these three sources of income, we need
not be astonished at their personal equipment. How little people know of
the money that passes, like water over stones, through the hands of
such gentry! The swell is talked of as a poor devil, with stolen finery,
who lives merely in that sense from hand to mouth, which implies only
freedom from want. A swell is not thus made up or maintained. It is an
expensive character. The hunger and burst may haunt him as an inevitable
condition; but as is the hunger, so is the burst with them--an
extravagance this latter that would provoke the envy of many a fast
youth, born in a mansion, and who runs through his property as fast as
the horse he rides. I am speaking of England. It is seldom that we have
the pleasure of seeing the true grandee here. Scotland is too poor for
them. Yet I have sometimes caught them grazing on our lean turnips, when
the English fields were infested with these foxes, the detectives.
So I had got on my beat no fewer than three swells, and surely a hunter
of sorry thieves like me behoved to be on my honour. There is, I
understand, a difficult etiquette how to _approach_ the great, and how
to _recede_, without shewing to their circumcised eyes the back part of
your person. Would I not require a lesson to save me from being
dishonoured and disgraced by some offence against the code of genteel
behaviour? Might they not smile at my Scotch bluntness and vulgarity,
and refuse obedience to a baton of Scotch fir? One consolation at
least--if the _rose_ is for polite nostrils, the _thistle_ is for thin
skins. I scarcely think that I tried a rehearsal that night; but I was
saved from all fears by my hope of being received by my great man in a
fustian jacket; and as for the ladies, they might consider an Earlston
gingham or a Manchester print sufficient for the trade of melting and
silvering.
Next day I was on my watch, when about twelve o'clock I saw my great man
enter the stair-foot of Ashley Buildings. The glance I got of him
satisfied me that Richardson had not exaggerated his grandeur.
Everything on him was of the best, and the jemmy cane shewed the
delicacy of the hand by which it was held, and by which, too, it was
made to go through those exquisite twirls, so expressive of a total
absence of such a thing as thought, always necessarily vulgar, when one
is surrounded by vulgar people. I gave him time to be _natural_, that I
might be _easy_, and then went up stairs, leaving my assistant and two
constables at the foot. Mrs Richardson shewed me in, but the mint was
locked, on the principle of the Queen's establishment, where valuables
run a risk of being taken away. I knocked and listened. Surely my
grandees were in dishabille. At last my appeal, which they knew probably
was not an usual one, produced uneasiness, so that the cool-bloodedness,
which betokens high breeding, was reversed--low words, but quick--rapid
movements--small chatterings. At length, perhaps at mere hazard, a voice
inquired--
"Is that you, Missus Richardson?"
"No," replied I.
"Mister Richardson?"
"No," again.
"Who, then?"
"A friend."
And so the door gave way to the charmed word.
"Friend? why, a lie!" said the voice of a man.
"Perhaps not," said I, as I stood before them, and made my usual rapid
survey.
I had been wrong in my expectation. The fustian jacket had not taken the
place of the surtout, and my ladies were in the same splendid attire I
had seen them in on the previous day, only the bonnets were not on their
heads--adorned these with an exquisite abundance of fine hair, smooth
and glossy, and done up in the first style of fashion. Yes, I defy you
to have found in Moray Place more personable young women; nor if I had
been there on a visit of condolence for the loss of one of their dearest
friends, could I have found manners more staid and correct--I might add
graceful, if I could lay claim to knowing much of the true and the false
of that accomplishment. But all this I observed by one or two rapid
glances diverted from my principal investigation, which latter yielded
me at first but little: the indispensable bed--the table and chairs--the
plate-rack, and some trunks. It was clear that they had resolved on no
work that day, and no trace of their machinery was visible. My
principal hope lay in an inviting press; and as I made a motion to
proceed towards it, I thought I observed something like an indication
that my gentleman would make free with the door; so applying my fingers
to my mouth, I gave a shrill whistle, the sound of which echoed through
the flat, startled my ladies out of their composure, and, what I wanted,
reached the ear of my assistant, who, obeying the call, was instantly at
the door.
I now proceeded to my work of search. From the lower part of the press I
drew out the identical fustian coat and trousers described to me by
Richardson.
"Your working-suit," said I to Mr Harvey, who seemed to survey the
articles with extreme contempt. "A fustian coat," continued I, as I
traced the blots of chemicals, and traces of quicksilver, and various
scorchings, "is a thing I cannot but treat with respect, when it belongs
to arms of independence. It is the fustian that makes the broadcloth and
the silks."
"They're not mine," said Harvey; "they must belong to the house."
"They ain't Mr Harvey's, I assure you, sir," said Miss Matilda Jerome.
"Perhaps not," said I, as I proceeded, "some people have a habit of
possessing things that do not belong to them--_possession_ just wants a
point to make _property_, and perhaps this point is awanting here."
Forthwith I produced from the press several likely things--a bottle
with quicksilver--some others with chemicals unknown to me--a portable
vice with a screw to fix to the table, which latter had the screw mark
upon it still--a hammer--files, coarse and fine--the indispensable
stamp--but no galvanic battery as I was led to expect,--a circumstance
which puzzled me, because I never could suppose that such adepts could
be contented with the old process of salt and friction.
I had got enough for my purpose in the meantime, so, turning round--
"Please put on your bonnets and plaids, my ladies," said I, "that you,
Mr Harvey, and I, may walk up the High Street to my quarters."
They obeyed with something even like alacrity, on the principle of that
sensible man known to history, who, when standing at the gallows foot,
said, "If it is to be done, let it be done quickly." Such are the
advantages of having to do with genteel people.
I have no doubt we made an excellent appearance in our promenade up the
High Street, only I doubt if any one could comprehend the possibility of
such people condescending to enter a police cell. In searching the women
we got, strangely enough, no bad money, but a considerable amount of
good. The deposit on the window soles had been intended for this day's
work, and scared a little by its having been taken away, they had
resolved on out-door adventures.
I still wanted something, as I have said, to complete the catalogue of
my articles in the working department, and, above all, I required to
connect Mr Harvey with that, so I applied to him for help.
"I wish to know where you live, when in town, Mr Harvey."
"In Mr Campbell's, Bell's Wynd," he replied promptly affording still the
same evidence of the advantages of having to do with high-bred people.
"Then you will please go with me and point it out."
"Certainly."
And getting again my assistant, I proceeded with him to Bell's Wynd,
where, having mounted one of the worst stairs in that dark alley, we
came to a wretched little dwelling of two rooms and a dark closet. How
the great man could have put up in that hovel is difficult to conceive,
except upon the supposition that the _swells_ shrink when they get home.
With the exception of a truckle-bed and a shake-down, there was scarcely
a bit of furniture in the house; nor could I find a recess in any way
inviting to me except the dark closet, which was adroitly barricaded by
the mattress of the shake-down, upon which Mrs Campbell, a miserable
invalid, lay in squalid misery. I made short work here. Laying hold of
the mattress, I pulled it and its burden away from the closet door into
the middle of the floor. A loud scream burst from the invalid, which,
from her look I knew to be intended as a fence to the closet, and not
an expression of pain. The door was not locked, the bed and its occupant
having probably been deemed a sufficient bar.
"Ye've murdered me," cried the cunning wretch, so near her grave, and
yet so keen in the concealment of vice. "The malison o' the Lord light
on your head, and blast it! Haud awa'! my grave-claes are in that
closet, and nae man will enter till that day when my soul gaes hame to
glory."
"If you never die till you're _fit_, you'll live for ever," said I, when
I saw there was not a trace of grave-clothes in the dark hole,--from
which, however, I brought the galvanic battery, which I had found
awanting in Ashley Buildings to complete the apparatus, along with
sixteen base shillings. I also got some other things of less importance.
"And now, Mrs Campbell, I will push you back again," said I, as I
impelled the mattress to its old place.
"And the devil push _you_ hame," she cried, "for you've murdered me."
And she groaned even in that way which aged people do when their
wickedness is brought home to them; for that there was a complicity in
these old people with Harvey, I had no doubt, even from the conduct of
the harridan,--a conclusion confirmed by the assertion of Campbell
himself that Harvey was his nephew.
I now took Mr Harvey back to the Police Office, thinking, as I went,
upon the small amount of real happiness enjoyed by these adventurers
among the rocks that lie in the midst of civilisation. Harvey's domestic
comforts may be guessed from the account I have given. He was a man, and
could bear the want of ease at night, in consideration of his privilege
of walking the streets in a fine dress, and dining in the "Rainbow,"
with respectable people next box. But what are we to say for the women,
with apparently delicate forms, and at least so much of feminine feeling
as we might see shining through their really handsome faces? One might
sum up all their pleasure in saying, that it consisted in promenading
the streets in a silk gown. Even then they cannot be, and are not,
devoid of fear. The same fear follows them home to an extinct fire, a
truckle-bed with a few thin clothes, into which they huddle themselves,
and try in sleep to get away from their own thoughts,--which thoughts
sometimes go into the forms of dreams, wherein they take their own way,
rejoicing in the tricks of a horrible nightmare. Such a being is
everything but the woman she was intended to be,--her enjoyments
everything but the affections and sympathies she was made to feel. Of
course, I am assuming here, and I go upon appearances, that Miss Matilda
Jerome and Miss Elizabeth Jackson were not originally Arabs. I might
make another estimate in that case, for these are seldom touched by
fear; and being against society, as society is against them, there is
some inversion in them, the true nature of which, in enabling them to
seek some strange kind of happiness, we cannot understand,--at least I
could never understand it, and I have seen them in all humours. I
suspect, however, that what we here sometimes call happiness, is only a
kind of accommodation of misery. Thus they take the _sign_ for the
_thing_; and when they are roaring over the tankard, they think they are
enjoying themselves. Perhaps they have more of the real thing in the
hardness of their rebellion; for I think I have read somewhere, that man
(and woman too, I suspect) is such a strange being that he can feel a
pleasure in the very _spite_ of pleasure. I can't say I would relish
that happiness very much.
Well, I find I am at my old trade of spinning morals, without a touch of
which I suspect my experiences would not be of much service to mankind;
and if I had had no hope of that, I doubt if I would have been at the
trouble of opening my black book of two thousand detections. I have
little more to say about my grandees. They were brought to trial before
the High Court, where, on the evidence of Richardson and his wife, the
urchins who found the pieces, our own testimony, and the tale told by
the utensils, they were found guilty. This was not, as I have said, the
first, nor the second, nor the third time for the gentleman; but the
ladies had never been handled so roughly before. Harvey got eight years'
penal servitude, and the two belles five years each. As they sat at the
bar, I could not help thinking of their appearance that day I took them
for ladies of rank on a mission of charity and mercy. Surely our real
LADIES, in their present rage for finery, never think how easily,
and by what base copyists, they are imitated.
One word more on this subject. I am certainly not over-fastidious as
regards female dress. I have seen it in all its varieties, from the
scanty cincture that adorned our first mother Eve, to the ingenious
complications of modern taste and refinement; but I must observe, with
all proper deference to the LADIES, that, in adopting the prevalent
redundancy of skirt, the _imitated_ have become the _imitators_, as the
first of these "circumambient amplitudes" that I ever saw in Edinburgh,
was sported by one of the most distinguished "Nightingales" that ever
walked Princes Street. In fact, after the experience of thirty years, I
find it almost impossible to distinguish the maiden from the
matron,--the human vehicle for smuggled or surreptitiously acquired
property from the sonsy housekeeper,--or the frail Magdalene, who knows
there is a living secret to conceal, from the _robust_ "habitante" just
returned from an annual visit to her country cousins; nay, Paterfamilias
himself, I have heard, on entering a cab or a box at the theatre, has
_breathed_, if he did not _utter_, a heartfelt and pocketfelt anathema
against such a superabundant and inconvenient display of hoop and
crinoline.
Without attempting to quote the words of Pope as to "ribs of whale," I
would simply say to all LADIES, as Hamlet said to the players, "I pray
you avoid it."
The Society-Box.
The way by which the ranks of thieves and robbers are recruited is by
the _old_ teaching the _young_ the figure system. Yes, there is a
proselytism of evil as well as of good. Society is always straining
after the making of parties, and while churches are working for members,
the old thieves are busy enlisting the young. The advantage, I fear, is
with the latter, for there's something more catching in the example of
taking another man's property than that of praying for grace. Of course
I am here looking to the young, and I make this statement without caring
much how your beetle-browed critic may take it.
I have known a good many of those dominies of the devil's lore, not a
few of them with streaks of grey on their heads, who, having themselves
been taught at the same desk, have taken up the trade as a kind of
natural calling, and raised their pupils according to the old morality,
"The sweet morsel of another person's property is pleasant to roll under
the tongue;" and perhaps the more pleasant, too, that the tongue that
_sucks_ is the tongue that _lies_. There was Hugh Thomson, about the
cleverest thief in my day, that rogue brought up as many youngsters in
the faith as would have filled a conventicle; and what a glorious grip
that was I got of him, just as he was trying to reap the fruits of his
lesson, through the ingenuity of one of his scholars, William Lang! I
would not have exchanged it for the touch of a bride's hand, with the
marriage ring upon her finger.
In 1841, there was a Mr Brown who kept a spirit shop in the Low Calton,
nearly opposite Trinity College Church. One of those modern unions
called "Yearly Societies" was kept in his house, the members paying
their contributions on the Monday evenings, which contributions, the
produce of toil and sweat of poor, hard-working men, were deposited in
the society box, and secured under lock and key. One Monday evening, I
was passing down the Calton on my way to Leith Wynd homeward, to get
myself refreshed with a cup of tea. In the mouth of an entry, on the
other side of the street called the North Back of the Canongate, I
observed Hugh and his scholar Lang, engaged, no doubt, in the mutual
offices of teaching and learning. I thought I might learn something too,
and stepping into the recess of Trinity Church gate, I watched their
movements. Shortly, Lang came out--he had become a man by this time,
recollect--and having mixed with the workmen, who were going into
Brown's shop to make their weekly payments, he went in among the rest.
At first, I confess, I could not understand this. The thief could make
nothing of the workmen, even if unknown to them as a thief, which in all
likelihood he was, and the idea of his trying the pocket line among
fustian jackets never entered my head. But that there was some play to
go on, where Thomson was patronising, I could have no doubt whatever.
After a time, during which I took care that Thomson should not see me,
Lang came out, and, having joined Thomson, the two went off together,
with something that sounded in my ears as a laugh, and the meaning of
which was made clear to me by a happy thought that occurred to me on the
instant like a flash. I now wanted to see Brown by himself, but as the
workmen were still going in and coming out, I was obliged to wait a
considerable time. Selecting at length a moment when the coast was
tolerably clear, I entered the shop. There, in the back room, was the
sacred box, devoted to benevolence, and from which some widow and
orphans might, before the year expired, receive something that would
make _her_ tear less scorching and _their_ cry less shrill--some broken
bones, too, broken through the labour and toil of the poor man for the
rich one, might have less pain through the charm of that box. Thoughts
these pretty enough to some minds, but to such as Thomson quaint, if not
funny.
"Mr Brown," said I, as I entered, "will you be kind enough to shew me
your list of members?"
"Surely, Mr M'Levy." And he placed the book in my hands.
Running down the names I came to "William Lang, joiner," though all his
_junctions_ were between his hand and the property of another.
"I have seen enough," said I; "and now, Mr Brown, you will take especial
care to carry your box up-stairs with you to-night to your
dwelling-house."
And without giving him time to ask for explanations, which I did not
feel much disposed to give, I left him. I knew that Brown shut up late
on the pay-nights, and therefore having plenty of time that evening,
even in the event of an emergency, I went home to get my tea. After
which, and having cogitated a little under its reviving influence, I
took another turn down Leith Wynd. I wanted to examine the iron gate
leading to the church. On looking at it, I found that the lock was off,
and consequently free ingress was afforded to any one wishing to enter.
I went to a blacksmith's and got a chain and padlock, the use of which
will be apparent, when I mention, that if I adopted the recess within
the gate as a look-out, from which I could see Brown's shop, it was as
likely to be so used by those we wanted to observe, as by ourselves, the
observers.
Having made these preliminary arrangements, I proceeded to the Office,
where I secured the services of one or two of the most active
constables, besides my assistant, for I knew that having Thomson to
cope with, we had something to encounter far more formidable than any
other thief or robber within the sound of St Giles's. I was in all this,
I admit, fired with the ambition of getting a man who had become as bold
as Macbeth under the witches' prophecy. Having waited till about eleven
o'clock, the hour when Brown generally closed, I repaired, accompanied
by my men, to our place of retreat. We entered cautiously, and shutting
the old gate with as little noise as possible, I secured the two halves
with the chain and padlock, with which I had provided myself--a
proceeding which, as it afterwards appeared, was necessary to the
success of our enterprise, but the object of which my men could not at
the time very clearly understand. Yet what more likely than that Thomson
and his gang should wish to reconnoitre us, as we wished to reconnoitre
them. We were soon enclosed, and ready for observation. We saw the light
put out in Brown's shop, and heard the locking of the doors both in
front and at the back, or rather in the side of the entry which led up
to the premises above which the spirit-dealer resided. But more than
this, we saw the cautious cashier with the sacred box under his arm, as
he stept up the entry--a sight which I enjoyed with a secret chuckle of
satisfaction, for it was no mean pride to be up with a man such as Hugh
Thomson.
It might be about twelve o'clock before we saw any symptoms of sport.
Suddenly, three men, coming apparently from different directions, met,
and whispering a few words parted, to act for caution-scouts to each
other. Each took a round, casting wary glances to the right and left,
and desultory as their movements were, I could recognise Hugh, Lang, and
another, David L----, also an old pupil of Thomson's. It seemed to be
Thomson's special care to look into the Trinity Church recess, and as we
saw him coming forward, we retreated behind the pillars of the gate. He
appeared to be taken aback as he observed the gate secured, and taking
hold of a railing, he shook it; so that it was evident to me that the
place we occupied had been fixed on for retreat, if not for observation.
I had thus again the advantage of my old friend, and the moment he
receded we resumed our posts. In a few minutes, the different scouts
seemed to agree in the opinion that all was safe, and went direct to the
work I had anticipated, the moment I saw Lang enter with the members of
the society. The front door was not their object; it was the back, or
more properly the side one in the entry, which, from the passage being
right opposite to us, I could see along, though very indistinctly,
scarcely more than to enable me to trace their dark figures against the
light thrown in at the farthest opening. None but a keen trapper or
snarer can appreciate the pleasure a detective of the true instinctive
order feels when engaged in the capture of game so wild, shy, and
cunning. Their very cunning is what whets our appetites, and I
absolutely burned to embrace the dauntless leader of the gang.
Now we saw one separate from the rest, come up the entry, and begin to
act the "goose-guard," dodging backwards and forwards, throwing up his
head, and looking from one side to another. Inside the entry, meanwhile,
some obstruction seemed to take place, even adroit as Thomson was; but
presently we were surprised as a vivid flash of exploded gunpowder
illuminated the passage. Though unprepared for this, I understood it at
once. Thomson had a way of his own with _sullen_ locks--placing a small
parcel of powder into the key-hole, and pushing it home, so as to reach
the wards, he exploded it with a match. The only thing I wondered at was
the scarcely audible report--perhaps to be accounted for by the moderate
charge, and the resistance of the guards which he intended to loosen. So
long as they were in the entry, we could not move, even to undo the
padlock and get the gate open and ready. Our moment was that of their
entrance; and watching thus, with breathless anxiety, we saw that the
door had been opened, by the disappearance of the shadows from the
entry. Out we sallied. The "goose-guard," L----, is made secure in an
instant. Two constables, placed one on each side of the front door. I
and my assistant enter the close and get to the side door. Lo! it is
locked. The gentlemen had wanted time, not only to rifle the box, but
to enjoy themselves with ample potations from the whisky barrel; and no
doubt their libations would have been rather costly to Mr Brown, as
every minute besides would have been devoted to the abstraction of as
many portables as they could carry away.