"who cannot always make from fifteen to twenty per cent. of money. Some
persons, for want of knowing this system of raising money, are obliged
to sacrifice their property by locking it up in mortgages for one half
its value, and spend the other half in paying solicitors' enormous
bills, and expenses of mortgage deeds, &c. We have particularly to
observe, that the parties pay all expenses of postage, to and from,
also bill stamps, and our net commission of eightpence in the pound,
which commission, with money for stamps, &c. must be remitted before we
send the bills. We also have respectable references from the parties,
before we accommodate them, to some of their friends in London (if any),
otherwise in the country (the strictest secrecy and delicacy being
observed in the inquiry), to know if they are really respectable, and an
acknowledgement or undertaking when they receive such bills of
accommodation, stating that they received them for the express purpose,
and will pay them when due. When any bills become due, if the money is
remitted to us, or goods equivalent thereto, a day or two beforehand, we
will at all times pay them here, without any extra charge whatever; and
for any money which may be entrusted to our care, if the parties have
not friends here, for taking up the bills when due, or any goods that
may be consigned to us for sale, on commission, we can give security and
references on our part of the highest respectability."
An instance of his success under this circular may not be uninteresting.
A farmer in Essex, taken off his guard by the apparent plausibility of
this high-sounding circular, complied with the requisitions, and got
bills accepted by Coster, in the name of one of his firms, to the amount
of two hundred pounds, in two bills, at three and four months. When they
became due, the honest hood-winked bumpkin, relying on the apparent
integrity of the party, remitted a hundred pounds, the amount of the
bill, which fell with the nicest precision into the hands of the
swindler, who, indeed, anticipated nothing less. This circumstance only
got wind through the medium of a lawyer's letter to the drawer, who
hastened with all possible expedition to town to learn the cause of such
an unexpected application, when, as he had assured himself, the bill
ought to have been in the hands of his accommodating friends, for the
hundred pound equivalent which he had punctually forwarded to them for
that purpose. His astonishment, however, was not diminished on his
reaching Little Winchester-street, when he was plumply told by Coster
himself that no such letter as the one to which he alluded, containing
the money, had been received, and, in short, that it was all "a humbug."
"That the firm of Young and Company, the acceptors of the bill, had
recently been bankrupts, and had gone away, the Lord knew where." At
such tidings, the poor farmer looked as sheepish as an Essex calf; and
finding all his applications accompanied with the same uncompromising
negative, he was glad, to prevent an exposure of circumstances, which
might have been the means of ruining him, to beat a retreat to his
native place; not, however, without the reflection of having purchased a
hundred pounds' worth of common sense to direct his future conduct in
the bill line.
This, however, is far from being a solitary instance of the success of
our hero's schemes, or the uncompromising impudence and determination
with which he proceeded in his machinations.
The variety of the names and residences of the firms of which he was the
sole proprietor enabled him to carry on his trade with great
plausibility and success. Thus, when a transaction was to be carried on
by Messrs. Young and Co. of Little Winchester-street, Messrs. Brown and
Co. of Cushion-court would be perfectly able to speak in the highest
terms of the respectability of that firm, and the delivery of goods, or
the handing over of bills of exchange to be discounted, as the case
might be, was looked upon as being secure, and as being perfectly
warranted, by the reference. It would be as useless as impossible to go
through one tithe of the speculations of this vagabond, by which he
gulled various persons engaged in trade. In one case he obtained the
whole stock of a celebrated wine-grower in Germany, who was about to
sell off, to be consigned to him; in another he procured the possession
of a very large quantity of Dublin stout; while, in a third, he became
the consignee of a valuable stock of timber; in neither of which
transactions, however, did he ever pay one shilling of the purchase
money. The number of his _aliases_, and the impossibility of identifying
his person, secured him from the consequences of arrest; for in no
transaction in which he engaged did he ever appear personally to
complete the terms of his contract, or to give any security for
re-payment. All was done through the medium of agents, whom he had bound
to him by some tie of more than ordinary firmness, and who acted either
as principal or agent, as purchaser or referee, as the necessities of
the case might require their employment. To these persons, who were
mostly decayed tradesmen, he behaved with little generosity. They were
retained at salaries varying from ten to twenty shillings per week,
according to the extent of their usefulness; and he scrupled not,
whenever an opportunity presented itself, to cheat them of their
stipulated share of the plunder which he might procure. At the time of
his apprehension, Coster had four of these persons in his employment,
one of whom, named Smith, had long been in his service, and was now
destined to become his dupe, and to be liable to the same amount of
punishment as his master.
It is to Alderman Sir Peter Laurie, and to his indefatigable exertions,
that the public are indebted for the riddance of the city of this
notorious swindler. Sir Peter had long been aware of his existence, and
of the mischiefs which he produced, and the frauds which he committed,
and he determined to suffer no exertion of his to be spared to secure
his apprehension and conviction. He soon discovered his residence in
New-street, and had him taken into custody, with his man Smith. Coster,
it appears, had not latterly confined his business to the ordinary
routine of swindling by procuring goods under pretence of the solvency
of his firm, but he had added to it that of putting off forged notes. In
the month of February 1833, he and Smith wrote letters to a person named
Clarke, residing at Honiton, in Devonshire, desiring him to transmit a
quantity of lace to Mr. W. Jackson, at No. 84, Bishopsgate-street (the
Four Swans), and inclosing three 10_l._ notes to pay for it. Mr. Clarke
discovered that the notes were forged, and transmitted them to the Bank
of England solicitor (Mr. Freshfield), with an account of the manner in
which they had reached his hands. A scheme was determined to be put in
operation to secure Mr. Jackson, whoever he might be, and fictitious
parcels were made up and sent to the Four Swans, purporting to be
transmitted from Honiton. Smith applied to receive them, and they were
handed over to him, upon which he was immediately taken into custody.
Coster was soon after discovered to be at the head of the transaction
and was also secured, and the letter containing the notes was found to
be in his handwriting.
After undergoing several examinations at the Mansion House, the
prisoners were committed to Newgate for trial; and on Tuesday, the 16th
of April 1833, were convicted at the Old Bailey. This result to the
investigation was principally secured by the testimony of two men, who
had formerly been instruments in the hands of Coster, and who gave an
extraordinary account of the success of the schemes of their late
master.
At the conclusion of the same sessions Coster was sentenced to be
transported for life; but his servant, Smith, was unable to attend the
court, in consequence of severe ill health, and his judgment was
respited. At a subsequent period, however, he also received sentence of
transportation.
JOB COX.
TRANSPORTED FOR LETTER-STEALING.
The offence of which this young man was convicted, at the time of its
commission subjected its perpetrator to capital punishment. The
particular case is not remarkable for any peculiarity, but it is fit
that it should be mentioned in connexion with the observations made in
allusion to the conduct of the learned recorder of the city of London,
with reference to his neglect of the highly important duties entrusted
to him. In the case of Hunton, who was convicted of forgery, it will be
seen that the recorder, by a delay in conveying the result of his report
upon the cases of capital felons to his majesty, suffered several
wretched prisoners to remain in suspense as to their fate for many hours
longer than was necessary. In the present instance, he actually signed a
warrant for the execution of the convict, although at the privy council
it had been determined that the life of the unhappy wretch should be
spared.
Cox was a postman in the service of the General Post Office, and in the
instance in which he was charged with abstracting a letter from those
entrusted to him for delivery, and appropriating its contents to his own
use, it appeared that on the 18th of March 1833, a Mr. Foreman, of No.
101, Grafton-street, Dublin, had sent a letter containing a 10_l._ bank
note, addressed to his brother, Mr. H. Foreman, in Queen-street,
Clerkenwell, which, however, never reached its destination. Inquiry
being made at the post-office, Cox was found to have signed a book in
the ordinary way as having received the letter, and it was subsequently
ascertained that he had paid the same note to Mr. Lott, a publican in
Lambeth, who had given him change for it. There were reasons to believe
that Cox had been guilty of other offences of a similar character, and
he was taken into custody.
At the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey, held in the month of May
1833, the prisoner was tried and convicted of the offence imputed to
him, and, on the 20th of the month he received sentence of death, in
obedience to the requisites of the act of parliament.
At this time it was the practice of the recorder of London to report to
his majesty in council the cases of the various prisoners in custody
upon whom sentence of death had been passed. The case of Cox was
reported, with others, as usual, and upon the return of the learned
recorder to London, he caused it to be made known to the prisoner, that
his execution was directed to take place. The unhappy wretch had looked
forward with confidence to the result of the exertions of his friends in
his favour, and received this intelligence with deep dismay. He was told
to prepare for death, and the reverend ordinary of the jail proceeded
to pay to him those attentions usually expected at his hands.
A blunder of a most extraordinary nature, however, was soon discovered
to have been made. This discovery is thus described in a newspaper of
Sunday, the 23rd of June:--
"On Thursday morning, Sir Thomas Denman, lord chief justice of the
King's Bench, on casting his eyes on a newspaper, saw the paragraph
representing the fact that Job Cox was ordered for execution on Tuesday.
His lordship thought the statement had been published from false
information, and he adverted to the circumstance in the presence of one
of the under-sheriffs, as of a very mischievous nature. The
under-sheriff, in some surprise, observed to his lordship that the
paragraph was correct--that the recorder's warrant had been received on
Wednesday evening, at half-past six o'clock, at Newgate--that the
intelligence had been communicated to the unfortunate culprit--and that
notices had been sent to the sheriffs and the other officials. 'What
(said Sir Thomas Denman), Cox ordered for execution! Impossible! I was
myself one of the privy council present when the report was made, and I
know that no warrant for the execution of any one was ordered. Cox was
ordered to be placed in solitary confinement, and to be kept to hard
labour, previously to his being transported for life, to which penalty
the judgment to die was commuted.'
"The under-sheriff repeated the extraordinary information to his
lordship, who instantly requested that he would forthwith apply at the
secretary of state's office, when he would be re-assured of the fact,
and receive an order in contradiction of the learned recorder's warrant.
It is needless to say, that the under-sheriff, who was very glad to be
the bearer of such good tidings to a poor unhappy fellow-creature, very
speedily executed his mission. He found that the correction of Sir
Thomas Denman was accurate, according to Mr. Capper's books, in which
the allotted punishment was regularly entered; and Lord Melbourne,
immediately upon being informed of the mistake under which they laboured
at Newgate, sent thither an authority to countermand the warrant with
the black seal, signed 'Newman Knowlys.' Cox had just twenty-two hours
previously been told, in the usual solemn way, to prepare for death; and
as he had calculated largely and correctly upon the merciful character
of the administration, he received the awful news as if he had been
struck to the earth with lightning. The mistake, upon being mentioned to
him, it is unnecessary to state, gave full relief to his heart."
Mr. Knowlys, who at this time filled the office of recorder, was
immediately called upon to explain to the Common Hall of the City of
London the circumstances attending the very remarkable error into which
he had fallen, but having heard from him whatever excuse he had to urge,
on Monday 24th of June, they came to the following resolutions:--
"Resolved unanimously, That this Common Hall has learnt with feelings of
the deepest horror and regret, that the life of Job Cox, a convict under
sentence of death in Newgate, had well-nigh been sacrificed by the act
of the recorder of London, in sending down a warrant for his execution,
notwithstanding his majesty in privy council had, in the gracious
exercise of his royal prerogative of mercy, been pleased to commute his
sentence for an inferior punishment.
"Resolved unanimously, That the mildest and most charitable
construction which this Common Hall can put upon this conduct of the
recorder is, that it was the result of some mental infirmity incident to
his advanced age; but contemplating with alarm the dreadful consequences
which, though happily averted in the present instance, may possibly
ensue from such an infirmity in that important public functionary, this
Common Hall feels it an imperative duty to record the solemn expression
of its opinion, that the recorder ought forthwith to retire from an
office, the vitally important duties of which he is, from whatever
cause, incompetent to discharge."
The recorder, who was present, was received with deep groans. The
resolutions of the Common Hall were followed by a Resolution of the
Court of Aldermen, announcing the receipt of a communication from the
recorder, that from his advanced age, ill-health, and debility
consequent upon a late very severe fit of illness, he had felt himself
bound, after serving the city for more than forty-seven years, upwards
of thirty as common-serjeant and recorder, to resign the office of
recorder.
The Hon. C. Ewan Law, son of the late Lord Ellenborough, was
subsequently elected to fill the office which Mr. Knowlys had occupied,
and the duties of which he has ably discharged up to the present period.
The useless form of reporting the cases of felons sentenced to death has
since been removed, and the capital penalty in cases of letter-stealing
has also been taken away, and the less severe punishment of
transportation substituted for it.
THE CALTHORPE-STREET RIOT.
This affair, which produced much bitterness of feeling between the
people and the Metropolitan Police, occurred on Monday the 13th of May
1833. For some time before, the streets of London had been placarded
with bills announcing the intention of certain parties to hold a meeting
in a place called the Calthorpe Estate, at the back of the Cold Bath
Fields Prison, its professed object being to adopt measures preparatory
to a National Convention being held; and in consequence, a government
proclamation was issued, declaring a meeting for that purpose to be
illegal, and warning all persons to abstain from attending it or taking
any part in its proceedings.
This proclamation, there is little doubt, tended in a very material
degree to produce the very evil which it was intended to repress. The
intention to hold the meeting was little known, for the party by which
it was called was an obscure though violent political sect; but the
effect of the government notification was to excite the curiosity of
many who were driven to the spot, to which otherwise they would have had
no attraction, for the purpose of witnessing whatever might take place.
Precautions were taken by the government to secure the public peace,
which, had they been adopted in a proper spirit, would have been most
praiseworthy. The very consequence, however, of the extensive
preparations which were made, was to attract fresh curiosity, and to
draw new observers to the scene of the proposed meeting.
The assemblage was appointed to take place at two o'clock; but long
before that hour several hundreds of persons had collected upon the spot
indicated as the place of convocation. Groups of idlers were to be
observed dispersed in different directions, among which women and
children were intermingled to a very considerable extent; and there were
not wanting among them the partisans of the disaffected, to amuse them
with declamations on the sufferings of the people, and the necessity of
their taking strong measures to obtain redress.
The police force of the metropolis, in the meantime, were to be seen
marching from all quarters of town towards the scene of action. Between
two and three thousand men were placed on duty, all of whom were
distributed at certain appointed places of rendezvous, under the orders
of their superintendants and inspectors, while Viscount Melbourne, the
Home Secretary, and Messrs. Rowan and Mayne, the commissioners of
police, with a considerable number of police magistrates, sat as a
species of council to direct their future movements, at the White Hart
tavern, in Gray's Inn-lane. The formidable appearance of the police on
their march created new food for curiosity, and they were followed by
hundreds of persons anxious to ascertain the inducement for such an
assemblage; and the numbers of the mob collected were thus every moment
increased.
At one o'clock between six and seven hundred persons had assembled; and
this crowd, comparatively insignificant considering the parade which had
been made, kept gradually swelling until three, when a van was driven up
at the end of Calthorpe-street, which a young man named Lee, who was
afterwards taken into custody, mounted, together with three or four
other shabby-looking persons. At almost the very moment of the van
taking its station, however, the driver appeared to become alarmed, and,
notwithstanding the entreaties of Lee and his companions, drove off. Mr.
Lee and the others were in consequence compelled to quit their intended
rostrum, and to adopt one somewhat less convenient, namely, a paling
which stood on the spot. Lee was soon raised upon this new pulpit, and
after a few prefatory remarks, he proposed that Mr. Mee should take the
chair. It had been stated that, "The National Union of the Working
Classes," a society of men bound together for the purpose of procuring
the achievement of certain political objects, would attend the meeting;
and their committee was known to be assembled at a neighbouring
public-house, called "The Union," engaged in arranging the programme of
the proceedings of the day. Mr. Mee was recognised as an active member
of the Union, and he was immediately elected by acclamation as chairman.
Mr. Mee then got upon the paling, and after thanking the meeting for the
honour which they had conferred upon him, proceeded to address them upon
the objects with which they had been called together. He declared that
he was thankful to the ministry for having given the meeting an air of
importance, which, but for their proceedings it would have wanted; but
the question which they had to consider was, whether, as they had met
under such disadvantages as surrounded them they should go on, or
whether they should adjourn to a more favourable opportunity? (Cries of
"No, no! go on!") He was, he said, but a working man with a family, and
if they were not prepared to give his family one-tenth of their earnings
they should not cry "go on." He might fall a martyr in the cause, and in
that case, he should expect his family to be supported. (Cries of "Yes!
yes!")
The "Union," which had been expected every moment, and for which an
anxious look-out was maintained, at this time appeared in sight. The
procession, into which it was formed, consisted of about one hundred
and fifty persons, and they carried among them eight banners. The most
conspicuous of these was one which bore the motto, "Liberty or Death,"
with a skull and cross-bones on a black ground with a red border: others
bore mottoes of "Holy Alliance of the Working Classes;" "Equal Rights
and Equal Justice;" while there were also to be seen among them a
tri-coloured flag, the flag of the American republic, and a pole bearing
at its head the Cap of Liberty. The procession with these ensigns walked
in good order to the spot at which the speakers had assembled; but they
had scarcely taken up their position, when a body of police marched into
Calthorpe-street with the greatest order and precision. Their formidable
appearance seemed to make a momentary impression on the mob, but a
person pointing to the flag bearing the motto, "Liberty or Death," cried
out, "Men, be firm!" and shouts of "Go on! go on!" instantly resounded
from all sides. The police had now reached the middle of the street, the
crowd clearing the way for them to advance; and staves in hand they
pressed forward to a man who was still addressing the mob. As they
advanced near what may be termed the platform, however, they met with
much resistance; a conflict ensued, and under circumstances respecting
which the evidence was of the most contradictory nature, one policeman,
named Robert Cully, No. 95 of the C division, received a mortal wound
from a dagger and died instantly; and two others, Serjeant Brooks of the
C division, and constable Redwood of the C division, were wounded, with
the same or a similar instrument.
In the course of the afternoon a great number of persons were taken into
custody, who had been observed to be active in the proceedings of the
day, and all the flags were captured; and by six o'clock the whole of
the mob had been dispersed, and quiet was restored.
Pursuant to the instructions of Viscount Melbourne, the prisoners who
had been secured were taken to Bow-street on the same evening to be
examined before Sir F. A. Roe, the chief magistrate. The whole street
was filled with persons interested in the fate of the prisoners, and the
proceedings excited a vast degree of interest. The result of the
examinations taken on that night was the remand of a person named Robert
Tilly, on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder of Cully, a
charge, however, which subsequently proved unfounded; and of a man named
Fursey, on the charge of stabbing Redwood and Brooks; while a great
number of others were held to bail, or fined for the various offences of
assault, or rioting, preferred against them.
On Thursday, Fursey was fully committed on the capital charge of
stabbing Redwood and Brooks; and on the next day, a true bill was
returned against him by the Grand Jury.