The means these depredators at present use in accomplishing their nefarious purposes are complicated and various; and of late years have become as much diversified as it is possible for the ingenuity of men to devise, who frequently join good natural abilities to all the artifices of the finished villain.

It is no uncommon thing for the more daring and strong-minded to form themselves into gangs or societies; to the exclusion of those of their fraternity whose hearts are likely to fail them, and who are supposed not to be sufficiently firm, so as to secure their accomplices against the hazard of discovery in case of detection.

Robbery and theft, as well in houses as on the roads, have long been reduced to a regular System. Opportunities are watched, and intelligence procured, with a degree of vigilance similar to that which marks the conduct of a skilful General, eager to obtain an advantage over an enemy.

Houses, intended to be entered during the night, are previously reconnoitred and examined for days preceding. If one or more of the servants are not already a.s.sociated with the gang, the most artful means are used to obtain their a.s.sistance; and when every previous arrangement is made, the mere operation of robbing a house becomes a matter of little difficulty.

By the connivance and a.s.sistance of immediate, or former servants, they are led to the places where the most valuable, as well as the most portable, articles are deposited, and the object is speedily attained.

In this manner do the princ.i.p.al Burglars and House-breakers proceed: and let this information serve as a caution to every person in the choice both of their male and female servants; since the latter as well as the former are not seldom accomplices in very atrocious robberies.

The same _generalship_ is manifested in the nocturnal expeditions of those criminal a.s.sociates upon the highways.

A perfect knowledge is obtained every evening of the different routes and situations of the patroles:--they are narrowly watched, and their vigilance (wherever they are vigilant) is in too many instances defeated.

Infinite pains are bestowed in procuring intelligence of persons travelling upon the road with money, bank-notes, or other valuable effects; and when discovered, the most masterly pains are concerted to waylay and rob them of their property: Nor have the measures pursued by those atrocious villains, the Footpads, exhibited less skill in the plans adopted; while their outrages are too often marked with those acts of cruelty and barbarity which justly render them objects of peculiar terror.

The same adroitness also marks the conduct of those who turn their attention chiefly to picking of pockets, and other smaller robberies.

It would almost fill a volume to detail the various artifices which are resorted to, in carrying on this species of thieving; by which even the most cautious, and those who are generally upon their guard, are not exempted from the ravages of these inferior pests of Society.

In addition to the injuries or losses arising from burglaries, highway-robberies and lesser thefts, it is to be lamented that extensive and increasing depredations are made upon horses, cattle and sheep, and also upon flour, corn, potatoes, provender, and poultry; stolen from the drovers, millers, corn-factors, and farmers in the vicinity of the Metropolis. These have been stated more at large in a preceding Chapter.

It cannot be too often repeated that the great facility experienced, in the immediate disposal of every article obtained by dishonesty, is one of the chief encouragements to all the acts of outrage and depredation enumerated in the course of this Work.

It frequently happens that the Burglars, the Highwaymen, and Footpad robbers, make their contracts with the Receivers, on the evening before the plunder is obtained; so as to secure a ready admittance immediately afterwards, and before day-break, for the purpose of effectual concealment by melting plate, obliterating marks, and securing all other articles so as to place them out of the reach of discovery. This has long been reduced to a regular system which is understood and followed as a trade.

Nor do those Thieves who steal horses,[26] cattle and sheep experience more difficulty in finding purchasers immediately for whatever they can obtain:--they too, generally, make a previous bargain with the Receivers, who are ready at an appointed hour to conceal the animals, to kill them immediately, and to destroy the skins for the purpose of eluding detection.

[Footnote 26: The frauds and felonies committed in the course of a year with respect to horses exceed all credibility. Above thirty thousand of these useful animals are said to be flayed and boiled in the Metropolis, at the Seventeen Licensed Houses, annually, of which about one-fourth are brought there alive, supposed chiefly to be stolen horses. These Establishments require many additional regulations to enforce and insure that purity of conduct, which the Legislature had in view when the Act of the 26 Geo. 3, cap. 71, was pa.s.sed for licensing persons to slaughter horses. In the operation of this Act is strongly evinced the inefficacy of the best laws, when measures are not pursued to insure an accurate and chaste execution.

Wherever the vigilance of a General Police does not extend its influence in carrying into effect all regulations of a preventive nature, it is in vain to hope that the evil in the view of the Legislature will be diminished.]

It sometimes happens also, that the persons who perpetrate these robberies are journeymen-butchers, by trade; who kill whatever they steal, and often afterwards sell their plunder in the Public Markets.

If, by wise regulations, it were possible to embarra.s.s and disturb the extensive trade carried on by all the _concealed Receivers_, who are the particular cla.s.s having connection with the professed thieves, a very great check would be given to public depredations.

In suggesting Remedies, this of all other appears, at first view, to be the most difficult; because of the apparent impossibility of regulating any cla.s.s of Dealers who have no shop, or visible trade, and who transact all their business under concealment:--but still the object is to be obtained by a combination of different legislative regulations, carried into execution by a consolidated, vigilant and well-regulated Police.

The detail, however, of the means of detecting Receivers will, of course, be discussed hereafter, in a subsequent Chapter; at present the following Hints will suffice.

A register of lodging-houses and lodgers in every parish, liberty, hamlet, and precinct, where the rent does not exceed a certain sum (suppose ten shillings) weekly, would prove one great means of embarra.s.sment to Thieves of every cla.s.s; and of course would tend, with other regulations, to the prevention of Crimes.

Night-Coaches also promote, in an eminent degree, the perpetration of burglaries and other felonies: Bribed by a high reward, many hackney coachmen eagerly enter into the pay of nocturnal depredators, and wait in the neighbourhood until the robbery is completed, and then draw up, at the moment the watchmen are going their rounds, or off their stands, for the purpose of conveying the plunder to the house of the Receiver, who is generally waiting the issue of the enterprise. Above one half of the present Hackney Coachmen, in London, are said to be (in the cant phrase) _Flashmen_ designed to a.s.sist thieves.

It being certain that a vast deal of mischief is done which could not be effected, were it not for the a.s.sistance which night coaches afford to Thieves of every description, it would seem, upon the whole, advantageous to the Public, that no Hackney Coaches should be permitted to take fares after twelve o'clock at night; or, if this is impracticable, that the coach-hire for night service should be advanced, on condition that all coachmen going upon the stands after twelve o'clock, should be licensed by a Board of Police. By this means the night-coachmen, by being more select, would not be so open to improper influence; and they might even become useful to Public Justice in giving informations, and also in detecting Burglars, and other Thieves.

Watchmen and Patroles, instead of being, as now, comparatively of little use, from their _age, infirmity, inability, inattention_, or _corrupt practices_, might almost at the present expence, by a proper selection, and a more correct mode of discipline, by means of a general superintendance over the whole to regulate their conduct, and keep them to their duty, be rendered of great utility in preventing Crimes, and in detecting Offenders.[27]

[Footnote 27: The depredations which are committed almost every evening in Cheapside, and the adjacent streets leading into it, affords strong proofs of the necessity of an improved system with regard to watchmen and patroles.

Allured to that particular part of the Metropolis, from the extensive and valuable property in _piece goods_ and other portable articles which are constantly removing to and from the different shops and warehouses:--a mult.i.tude of thieves and pickpockets, exhibiting often in their dress and exterior, the appearance of gentlemen and men of business, a.s.semble every evening in gangs, watching at the corners of every street, ready to _bustle_ and _rob_, or to _trip up the heels_ of the _warehouse-porters and the servants of shopkeepers carrying goods_; or at the doors of warehouses, at dusk and at the time they are locked, to be ready to seize loose parcels when unperceived; by all which means, aided by a number of other tricks and fraudulent pretences, they are but too successful in obtaining considerable booty. In short, there is no device or artifice to which these vigilant plunderers do not resort: of which an example appeared in an instance, where almost in the twinkling of an eye, while the servants of an eminent silk-dyer had crossed a narrow street, his horse and cart, containing raw silk to the value of _twelve hundred pounds_, were driven clear off. Many of these atrocious villains, are also constantly in waiting at the inns, disguised in different ways, personating _travellers, coach-office clerks, porters and coachmen_, for the purpose of plundering every thing that is portable; which, with the a.s.sistance of two or three a.s.sociates if necessary, is carried to a coach called for the purpose, and immediately conveyed to the receiver.

The most adroit thieves in this line are generally _convicts from the hulks, or returned transports_, who under pretence of having some ostensible business, (while they carry on the trade of thieving) generally open a _chandler's shop_, set up a _green-stall_, or get into a _public-house_: some of these old offenders are known also to keep livery-stables for thieves, and horses for the use of highwaymen; thereby forming a connected chain by which these criminal people extend and facilitate their trade; _nourishing_, _accommodating_, and supporting one another.]

At present the System of the nightly watch is without energy, disjointed, and governed by almost as many different Acts of Parliament, as there are Parishes, Hamlets, Liberties, and Precincts within the Bills of Mortality; and where the payment is as various, running from 8-1/2_d._ up to 2_s._ a night.

The Act of the 14th of George IIId. (_cap._ 90.) ent.i.tuled, _An Act for the better regulation of the Nightly Watch within the City and Liberty of Westminster, and parts adjacent_, contains many excellent Regulations, but they do not extend to the eastern part of the Metropolis; and for want of an active and superintending agency, superior to beadles, it is believed and felt that they are not, (even within the district included in the Act,) correctly carried into execution: and that no small portion of those very men who are paid for protecting the public, are not only instruments of oppression in many instances, by extorting money most unwarrantably; but are frequently accessaries in aiding, abetting or concealing the commission of crimes, which it is their duty to detect and suppress.

If as an improvement to the preventive System, and as a check upon the 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 a.s.signed 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 cla.s.s of Forgeries, by shutting out all hopes of Royal Mercy:--Petty Forgeries have however increased:--The Reason a.s.signed.--The qualifications of a Cheat, Swindler, and Gambler explained.--This mischievous cla.s.s of men extremely numerous in the Metropolis.--The Common and Statute Law applicable to offences of this nature explained.--The different cla.s.ses 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 Cla.s.ses--1st. Sharpers who become p.a.w.nbrokers.--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 cla.s.s, 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 _p.r.i.c.king 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 5. and 10. 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 cla.s.s (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 const.i.tute 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.