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SCIENTIA
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POVERTY,
MENDICITY AND CRIME;
OR,
THE FACTS, EXAMINATIONS, &c,
UPON WHICH THE
REPORT
WAS FOUNDED,
PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS
BY
W. A. MILES, ESQ,
TO WHICH IS ADDED A.
DICTIONARY OF THE FLASH OR CANT LANGUAGE,
KNOWN TO EVERY THIEF AND BEGGAR.
EDITED BY
H. BRANDON, ESQ.
LONDON:
SHAW AND SONS, 137 & 138, FETTER LANE,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS OF THE BOOKS AND PAPERS OF THE TITHE AND
FACTORY COMMISSIONS (BY AUTHORITY),
AND OF THE BOOKS AND PAPERS OF THE POOR LAW COMMISSION,
1839.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY SHAW AND SONS,
137 & 138, FETT ER LANE.
eco

rel Bork
5 3570
CONTENTS.
PAGES
Preliminary Observations.
1 to
42
Report of W. A. Miles, Esq.
43
51
Letters ..
52
85
Facts and Observations
86
105
Prisons...
105
133
Police Information
133
·
151
Flash Houses and Fences..
151
152
.
.
Low Lodging Houses
152
154
HTC $*$7010
Pawnbrokers
154
8.
Thimblemen
ib.
Gipseys
155
Trampers
155 to 158
Drunkenness of Paupers
158
A Dictionary of the Flash or Cant Language known
to every Thief and Beggar
161 to the end.
Á 2

REPORT,
&c.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
BY THE EDITOR.
In embodying Mr. Miles's Report on Prison Discipline, presented by
him to the House of Lords, on the 5th of June, 1835, together with the
information, letters and papers, collected by that gentleman during his
subsequent investigation of that subject, and his enquiry into the causes
of crime and poverty in the labouring classes, as one of the commissioners
deputed by government for that express purpose, a mass of evidence and
history, perhaps the most extraordinary ever read, will be placed before the
public, the perusal of which will, it is to be hoped, not only be interesting,
to them, but produce also a sensation that will urge them most strenuously
to advocate, until their efforts are crowned with success, a revision and al-
teration of our criminal code. The facts thus developed may also cause
certain functionaries of this land to have a somewhat more enlightened
view of the sacred duty entrusted to them ; I mean those magistrates who
make the committal of a fellow-creature too much of a common business-like
affair, never condescending to give it that nice attention, which the particular
bearings of every case before them ought to demand; some frequently al-
lowing their passions, as human beings, to sway them even as to the
quantum of punishment they adjudge to the offending party, others by making
every case, from the hardened adult down to the juvenile or first offender,
to stand upon the absolute and dry letter of the law, never pausing to learn
whether it arose from the genuine feelings of the accused party by dint
and example of bad society, or, as in the case of the little child forced into
it by the infamy of its parent through fear of chastisement, or other com-
pulsory means; or whether the mind of the degraded little urchin be suffi-
ciently matured to comprehend thoroughly the difference between virtue
and vice. What might not a little leniency be productive of in some cases,
which, upon investigation, would be found deserving of it? but that would
be causing extra trouble to the worthy dispenser of the law, which " is
not in his bond.” That this is no vistənary hypothesis, or highly-strained
picture, there are deplorable proofs to be produced in testimony,—too strong
to be refuted. Indeed the following facts are illustrative of a portion of the
foregoing remarks, which, when read with the attention they deserve, must
awaken feelings of disgust and horror against the law, and perhaps even
against its dispensers. Mr. HOARE, in his speech at the London and Middlesex
Sessions debates, (vide Times, 23d Feb. 1838, described the state of the
B
2
prison-" that at the then present time there were three children under som
litary confinement, one was seven years, one was eight years, and the third
ten years old. When the prisoner of seven years was taken into the peni-
tentiary the matron asked her what she could do for her, to which question
the girl replied that she should like to have a doll ; and the other two,
when the matron went to tuck them up in bed, were generally found to
have made their clothes into dolls which they were nursing."
“ Mr. Talk said, the youngest had been convicted at Manchester of
stealing certain goods, which the mother had received knowing them to
have been stolen. The child was sentenced to transportation, and the mother
was adjudged to suffer six months' imprisonment: the sentence of the child
was commuted to the solitary system at the penitentiary.”
There is a failing that has within a short period increased greatly, both
in the upper courts and in the magisterial proceedings, which was once in-
digenous to the sister kingdom on the civil side, a course which, if con-
fined to that court, might be tolerated, though even there it must be con-
sidered as bad taste and somewhat detracting from the serious character of
the proceedings, but when permitted to be adopted at a criminal prosecu-
tion it is a conduct that bears with it an appearance of heartlessness highly
reprehensible. I allude to the aptness of making witty remarks and jokes,
even to punning, not only with the witness but the prisoner also, an act
repulsive to all well-disposed minds. Surely at such a moment, in such a
scene, the utmost gravity ought to be observed, and the feelings of the ac-
cused (for in charity we are bound to suppose he has feelings) respected.
It is truly said that the most dangerous weapon that can be wielded against
sacred institutions is ridicule; and does not this forgetfulness of their
sacred proceedings, turning the court into a club-room to bandy jokes in,
with the approving smirkes and laughter that are sure to attend on the would-
be wit, if they proceed from “the man in power," tend towards bringing the
judicial proceedings into disrepute, instead of their being regarded with an
awful reverence, which is due to institutions of so sacred a nature ?
In the following pages the reader must not expect to find an uninter-
rupted chain of narrative, exhibiting under a tale of romance the manners
and habits of the lower classes—the subject itself is not of a nature to
admit of it. He will find, instead, a number of curious facts and state--
ments, all authentic, together with the opinions they gave birth to, as well
in the author's mind as in others, his informants, whilst the former was
performing the elaborate duty assigned to him, and striving to discover the
best method to be adopted for bringing back to the path of virtue such un-
fortunate individuals as had offended the laws of their country, and burst
asunder those bonds which should connect society, or, what is a greater
desideratum, to strike at the root of the evil and prevent the crime alto-
gether-a task of the deepest interest and importance. The perusal of
these documents very greatly benefit the legislator in the performance of
his duty ;- the philanthropist also may gain knowledge of some worth to
him, as, from being alive to the real truth, he will be the better enabled to
follow the bent of his amiable feelings, and more easily capable of disco-
vering and avoiding the false theories that he had heard broached from
time to time, for the amelioration of pauperism and the reduction of crime,
leading astray many a worthy individual, who from the deception and in-

3
to copy
gratitude he has been subject to, had at length abandoned his well-inten-
tioned zeal,
This work will also have an interest for the curious enquirer into the im-
pulses of human nature, as he will be enabled to trace from the birth to its
final close the stimulus for the conduct of so large a portion of his fellow-
creatures, upon whose mercy, generally speaking, the public are so greatly
dependent.
This work may prove an object of some little curiosity to the tracer of
etymology in languages by the slang dictionary or glossary which it contains,
as many of the words may be traced to the Hindostanee and other ancient
eastern languages, forming another point for conjecture as regards the
wanderings of the gipsey tribes, from whom, they being the earliest depre-
dators, that portion of the flash language must have descended - through
what grades ?-to the present parties. Thus conquered states are sure to
engraft a portion of the language of their subjectors on that of their own,
as with nations in close amity, that mutually borrow words, at first used as
quotations, but which through constant use become gradually engrafted
with and a portion of the parent language.
To hope for a thorough reform in the criminal class is too Utopian for the
most sanguine to maintain one moment. From all propensities spring a desire
others, which is, in itself, the strongest passion in human nature,
To gratify this appetite, whatever the bent, some persons are led on from
step to step, until they become guilty of acts which at the commencement of
their career the bare mention of had made them freeze with horror; but hav- .
ing become accustomed to these habits from the commission of crime in se
they next are the tutors of it to others, until grown so hardened that their
own offspring are at last trained by them in those pursuits that threaten to
make them terminate their existence on a scaffold. Thus man, who ought
to be the most enlightened of created beings, is the only one who is utterly
regardless of the welfare of his offspring, and engendered by ignorance he
becomes the most depraved.
Of all topics, religion and politics only excepted, there is not one which
forms the subject of so much controversy, so many various opinions, as
public delinquency, and the means to be adopted for preventing it as effec-
tually as possible, especially as regards juvenile culprits; and while the
ultra-philanthropist is striving to over ameliorate the condition of the un-
tried especially, though not to the extent that his opponents would wish the
world to believe, the ultra rigid fall into an error infinitely worse, as it has
the more dangerous tendency : by huddling together, in a manner lamentable
to contemplate, all captives, the hardened murderer with the venial depre-
dator—the offender with a first offence with the several-times-recommitted
hardened sinner, steeled against every proper feeling and wallowing in
infamy-all, all mixing together with those, too, committed for trifling de-
viations from rectitude : by so acting they give the old offender the opportu-
nity of teaching the tyro the very acme of his craft, and thus disseminate
crime by extinguishing the last embers of virtue in the young and vaccillating
offender.
It is somewhat singular that from the earliest period of our writers on
crime, and the administration of the laws, the same mode of prison disci-
pline, and the same ill-chosen course, in discharging the duties of office

B2
4
connected with the criminal law, have been complained of which exists in
the present time.
In the 38th year of the reign of Elizabeth a Mr. Eden, one of the justices
for the county of Somerset, wrote on the internal state of England. After
enumerating the disorders which then prevailed in that county, he says
that “ 40 persons have been executed in the year for robberies, thefts, and
other felonies ; 35 burnt in the hand; 37 whipped; and 183 discharged.
Those who were discharged were the most wicked and desperate persons,
who could never come to any good, because they would not work, and no
one would take them into service. Notwithstanding this great number of
indictments, one-fifth part of the felonies committed in the county were not
brought to trial, and the greater part escaped censure, either from the su-
perior cunning of the felons, the remissness of the magistrate, or the foolish
lenity of the people. The rapines committed by the infinite number of
wicked, wandering, idle people were intolerable to the poor countrymen,
and obliged them to a perpetual watch on their sheepfold, pastures, woods,
and cornfields, and every other county in England was in no better condition
than Somerset, and many in a worse. There were at least from 1 to 400 able-
bodied men, vagabonds in every, county, who lived by theft and rapine, and
who sometimes met in troops to the number of sixty, and committed spoil
on the inhabitants. The magistrates were awed by the associations and
threats of confederates from executing justice on the offenders.”—Vide
Eden on the Poor, vol. 1, p. 111, from Stype's Annals.
That under such a system crime must increase rather than diminish, is
obvious to all who are capable of reflecting, and that there still remains
cause for the same species of complaint is equally certain.
A few years since, just previous to instituting the new and efficient
police, a burletta was presented at the minor theatres, called “Life in
London," in which were exhibited the orgies, houses of meeting, and all
the tricks resorted to by the thief and the beggar generally the par nobile
fratrum, a knowledge of which, until that period, was a secret, save to a
few select—the elect of the young blood about town ;-but once made the
subject of public notoriety, all London, from the sprig of fashion to the
dapper apprentice, became innoculated with the mania peculiar to the na-
tives of this country, and they determined to gratify their curiosity by
visiting the scenes in real life they had witnessed the performance of on the
stage; while some among them, more daring, could not rest satisfied until
they had all acted their feats of prowess by creating a “row with the
Charlies,” agreeable to the fashion of the three celebrated worthies, Messrs.
Tom, Jerry, and Logic.
The disgraceful riots that took place in consequence of this exposure
were such as to call loudly for interference by some strong measures on the
part of the executive, for the system of police and night watch, as then in
operation, was utterly incompetent to maintain that quiet in which a well-regu-
lated city ought to be kept ; and it is not to be doubted but to these disgusting
disturbances solely the country is indebted for the present police, as without
some such monstrous offending, the old system would have continued as it
had been, a poor weak attempt at control, or have undergone such trifling
alterations that it might truly be termed alter et idem. Heavy offences

5
require strong measures; the new police was formed, and the streets of the
metropolis became better watched and guarded than they had ever been
before.
Previously to treating on the subject of crime generally and its causes
it will be necessary to unfold a few of the “ secrets of the prison house,”
and place before the reader a description of the interior of the gaols of
England, in the year 1818, as pourtrayed by Mr. T. F. Buxton in his
pamphlet, “ An enquiry whether crime, &c.” published in that year, in
order that they may become fully acquainted with that construction of that
moral pesthouse, a prison, as well as what passes within its walls.
“ In this gaol (Bristol) all charged with felony, or convicted, without
distinction of age, were in heavy irons; almost all were in rags, and filthy
in the extreme, exhibiting the appearance of ill health ; the state of the
prison, the desperation of the prisoners, broadly hinted in their conversa-
tion, and plainly expressed in their conduct, the uproar of oath, complaints
of obscenity, the indescribable stench, presented together the utmost misery
with the utmost guilt--a scene of infernal passions and distresses, which few
have in imagination to picture and which fewer still would believe that the
original is to be found in this enlightened and happy country.
“ After seeing this yard and another of larger dimensions, the adjacent
day rooms and sleeping cells, the conclusion of my own mind was that
nothing could be more offensive or melancholy; this opinion, however, was
speedily refuted. A door was opened, we were furnished with candles,
and we descended eighteen long steps into a vault, at the bottom of which
was a circular space; a narrow passage, eighteen inches wide runs through
this, and the sides are furnished with barrack bedsteads. The floor, which
is considered to be on the same level with the river (Frome), was very damp.
The smell, at one o'clock, was something more than can be expressed by the
word disgusting. The bedstead was very dirty, and on one part of it I
discovered a wretched human being, who complained of some illness. This
was his infirmary, the spot chosen for the restoration of decayed health ; a
place, one short visit to which affected me with a nausea, I did not recover
for two days. The preceding night eleven persons had slept there, and
according to the report of the gaoler, some of them were untried.
“ All to whom I spoke complained of illness. One had been there thirty-
one months, and according to his own account, never well. Another,
fourteen months also, never well, “and how,' they very fairly asked, “can
it be otherwise, when we are giddy and sick every morning from the air in
which we have passed the night?' This, they said, in presence of the
turnkey, who gave his tacit consent to it, only adding an observation pre-
cisely similar to that recorded by Mr. Nield, as made to him when visiting
this gaol seventeen years ago. He says, “the turnkey himself told me,
that in the morning when he unlocked the door, he was so affected with the
putrid stream issuing from the dungeon, that it was enough to knock him
down.'?
In a note, Mr. Burton says, “A person only accused of crime may be
placed in this prison, wear heavy irons, and sleep every night in the 'pit,'
and this for a whole year before his trial.”-Vide Enquiry whether Crime
and Misery are produced or prevented by the Present System of Prison Disa
cipline:—by T. F. Buxton, 1818.

pero
6
“In the Borough Compter (Evidence, p. 63), examined in December,
1817, and February, 1818, for felons only have one yard and ward : ac-
cused and convicted, are crowded together, from high assaults up to rob-
bery and murder : the whole employed in gaming, and complaining they
have nothing else to do. Next to them were upwards of forty debtors;
stowed in two rooms of twenty feet long, by less than ten feet wide,
which are their bedroom, dayroom, kitchen and workshop. In each of
them twenty people were put to bed on eight straw beds. “I maintained,'
says Mr. Buxton, that this thing was physically impossible. But the
prisoners explained away the difficulty by saying, they laid edgeways.”
“During the day their
the day their general occupation is playing at cards ; there is no
school ; no soap allowed, and no separation attempted between the con-
victed and untried, the novice and the old offender; or even the healthy
and the sick of contagious disorders. I saw one man lying on a straw
hed, as I believed, at the point of death, without a shirt, inconceivedly
dirty, so weak to be almost unable to articulate, and so offensive as to ren-
der remaining one minute with him intolerable; close by his side, five
others, untried prisoners, had slept the preceding night, inhaling the stench
from this mass of putrefaction, hearing his groans, breathing the steam
from his corrupted lungs, and covered with myriads of lice from his rags of
cloathing : of these, his wretched companions, three were subsequently
pronounced by the verdict of a jury, not guilty. On the day after their
discharge I found the two who were convicted almost naked : on asking
the reason, they said their cloathes were under the pump to get rid of the
vermin received from the vagrant: his had been burnt by order of the
gaoler : his clothes had been cut off, and the turnkey said one of his com-
panions had brought him his garter, on which he had counted upwards of
forty lice.'
The gaoler told me, that in an experience of nine years, he had never
known an instance of reformation, he thought the prisoners grew worse,
and he was sure that if you took the first boy you met with in the streets,
and placed him in that prison, by the end of the month he would be as
bad as the rest, and up to all the roguery of London.
of London. Half the present
prisoners had been there before, and upon an average, he thinks, if
one hundred were let out, he should have from twenty to thirty back again,
besides those who might go to other gaols.”-Ibid.
In spite of the strong remonstrances, the heavy censure the public
launched against such impolitic, such unjust measures, very little zeal was
displayed on the part of the administration to meet their views, yet still
they deemed it necessary to make some trifling alterations, but these were
not wisely imagined, nor generally adopted, and how little real benefit re-
sulted from those enactments will be seen by perusing the following state-
ments, made in the year 1835, in consequence of the enquiry instituted by
government, at that period, on the subject.
“ The gaol of this borough (Great Grimstead, Lincolnshire,) consists of
four cells and a yard, the dimensions of that for male criminals, is twelve
feet square, that for male debtors, thirteen feet by eight feet, and the
women's room, ten feet by seven feet, the yard is forty-two feet by fifteen
feet.
“ It is used in turn by the male and female prisoners, each, for a certain

56

7
may be.
irons.”
25
number of hours. The male debtors, and the prisoners for felony and
misdemeanour, all go into the yard together. Female prisoners, whetler
debtors or criminals, untried or convicted, live constantly together. The
magistrates very seldom visit the gaols, and the gaoler expressed a doubt
whether they had done so the last two years.” --Vide Appendix to Minutes
of Evidence, in Report for Municipal Corporations, 1835, p. 2250 ; also 2d.
Report to Lords' Committee on State of Gaols, 1835, p. 182.
“There is one gaol in this borough (Berwick upon Tweed). Great
complaints were made of its state and condition. The gaoler resides at a
considerable distance. The debtors and felons occupy the same floor,
their dayroom merely separated by a wooden door. There is but one day
room for debtors of both sexes, and only three sleeping rooms, in each of
which three beds are placed.
“ The debtors and felons may converse together during the day.
“ No airing-room or yard attached to the prison.
“Debtors are allowed at certain times to walk on the roof of the Town
Prison, the prison is situated over the Town Hall.
“There is but one room for criminals, of whatsoever description they
“The dayrooms are very insecure, and it is necessary sometimes, by
way of securing the prisoners, to confine them in their sleeping-room in
“The criminals have no place for exercise."
“ The average number of debtors is six, seldom above twelve.
“ The average number of criminals, twenty; here have been as many
as thirty-two, at present there are twenty-two, of these seven are females,
a large proportion of them are children.”-Ibid, 1447; Ibid, 2d Report,
176.
in the middle of the town, without any airing for the men, of any descrip-
tion, either debtors or felons, and felons and misdemeanants, tried and
untried are altogether in one apartment, and their bed-room was next to it,
a most deplorable place. They lived in one apartment, a very small one,
and the contamination must be dreadful, religiously and morally, not only
so, but for their health also. It was so offensive, that though accustomed
to prisons, I hardly knew how to remain there.
“Under that room was the debtors' room, and they had no airing court,
and perhaps confined for months in that room; even for a small debt of £5,
a man is confined in the lowest company, in a deplorable place, so offensive,
it is quite disagreeable to be there. I found a lieutenant in the navy in
the place a few weeks ago; however, I made a representation to the ma-
gistrates, and it was put in the public papers. They said they were earnest
to make the alterations required, but they had laid out so much in a THEATRE,
and a great HOTEL, that they were not able to do it at present; but they had a
small fund they were getting together, in hopes that it would be accom-
plished in the course of time.”—Vide 2d Report of Lords' Committees on
State of Gaols, 1835. Mrs. Fry, p. 329, 330.
Q. - Are you of opinion that imprisonment in Newgate, Giltspur-street,
and the Borough Compter, in their present condition, must have the effect
of corrupting the morals, and tend to the extension, rather than the sup-
pression, of crime? --- A. Decidedly so.”-Ibid, Mrs. Price, 337.
8
Q. "Are the prisoners in Newgate crowded too closely together?-A.
Mrs. Fryer : It is ruinous. Mrs. Fry: There are twenty or thirty women
in one room all shut up together.
Q. “For every description of crime?-A. Mrs. Fry: Yes, and what
must be the result.
Q. “ Are there not women for every grade of crime, in Newgate, placed
together.-A. Miss Frazer : With free access from one ward to another; there
can be no effectual separation.
Q. “You do not think the condition of Newgate such as to prevent
contamination ?-A. Mrs. Fry: Certainly not, every thing is as badly
arranged there, as it is possible, with regard to moral improvement.”—Ibid,
p. 337.
Q. “What is your opinion of the state of prisons under the local juris-
diction ?-A. In many instances their condition is most melancholy, I believe
that there are several that have no instruction, no employment, no inspec-
tion, no classification, and that they get into a low and deplorable state of
morals, and that they may truly be called schools for crime, I would not
say all are in that condition, but I fear many are.”—Ibid, Mrs. Fry, p. 334.
Q.
“ Under the present law the young woman who was charged with
stealing an egg, would be put in the same ward with the woman who had
killed her husband ?-A. Yes; we have persons in the gaol who have been
transported and come back again for a misdemeanour, nothing can be so
inefficient as the present classification under the act.” - Ibid, Lord Godol-
phim, p. 376.
Q. “Do you think that many of the prisoners went out intending to
lead a better life ?-A. That has been my advice, and they have made
sacred promises both to the governor and myself; but I have had the mis-
fortune to see them again for other crimes. Some had not been out above
one week, others a fortnight, and one, two, or three months; the general
complaint, want of character, they could not get employment, and were
obliged to go to thieving again.
Q. “Do you suppose they ever planned robberies in prison, to be after-
wards executed ?”—A. I have no doubt of it, and the juvenile offenders
made appointments to meet outside after the imprisonment had elapsed.”
Ibid, J. H. Nares, p. 370.
The following is the evidence of T. Dexter, who was sentenced to trans-
portation for stealing a pair of shoes, first a prisoner in Newgate, he

says, to-
*
*
Q. From what you saw in Newgate, before trial, do you think a man
has much chance of coming out better than before he was committed ?-
A. Certainly not.
Q. You think, probably, worse ?-- A. Yes, much worse
We sleep in beds very close together, and here I would
mention a circumstance that took place the first night I went to Newgate:
not being in the habit of being among such people, I thought it very
strange, and I overheard a plan laid to see if I had got any money about
me: however, I thought I would be aware of them. I sat upright in bed,
with a broom which I had managed to conceal under the rug, and upon
their coming, I threw the broom down with such force as to strike one of
them on the nose, and I was not molested any more that night.
9
66
Q. “Did they attempt any thing more that night?--A. To other prisoners,
but not to me; generally, if anything of that sort were reported to the go-
vernor, the property was invariably produced again : but in four cases out
of five, perhaps no complaint was made.
Q. For fear of being ill used ?-A. Yes !-Ibid p. 318, 319. (He was
removed to the Dolphin Hulks.)
Q. “Was the language in the Dolphin much better than you
heard in
Newgate ?-A. Not at all, except when in presence of the guard, but
when the prisoners were by themselves, I should say the language was
quite as bad as at Newgate.
Q. “Do you think that the boys were reformed by the punishment they
had undergone ?-A. I should most certainly say not and frequently,
when I have seen it in the newspaper that a judge had, out of mercy, sen-
tenced a boy to go on board the hulks, I have said, were it a child of mine,
I would rather see him dead at
my
feet.
Q. “You conceive that they go out much worse than they come in ?-
A. I do.
Q. When those boys were all on board the Convict Hospital, did you
see any signs of their being sensible of their crime for which they were
committed ?-A. In very few instances.”—Ibid,
P:
321.
DEXTER,- continued.
Q. “Do you think they (the boys) dreaded imprisonment much ?-A.
No. It was the dread of ill-treatment of the boys to one another; there
are what they call · Noes,' perhaps little boys not higher than the table. I
have seen them myself, take a broomstick and strike a boy over the arm,
almost to break it, and the other dared not say a single word to him.
Q." Why not ?- A. The 'Noss' have got such an ascendancy, and they
are so liked by the majority of the boys, that any body that dared say a
word against them was sure to be pitched into by all hands, and I have
known it when three or four have been obliged to be locked up in a cell
by themselves, in order to shelter them from murder, those they would
call · Noseys,' that is, those whom they considered to have been to the offi-
cers, to tell them any thing that was going on, those were particularly
pointed out by the majority of prisoners on whom to wreak vengeance.”—
Ibid, p. 323.
[The above prisoner had tried many ways of getting a livelihood in vain,
and the crime for which he was sent to prison, he had committed through
distress.]
Q. “Have you not heard of persons, acquitted on the ground of in-
sanity, being sent to the lunatic asylum, and removed back to the gaol
again, in consequence of the physician of the asylum reporting the
person
not insane?-Å. There have been several instances. It is the regular
course, when the secretary of state receives a representation from the medi-
cal attendants and directors of the asylum that the prisoner is perfectly

sane.
Q. “Do you not think that it would be expedient that another wing
should be added to Bethlem Hospital, by a grant of public money to the
governor of that Hospital ?--A. I can scarcely give an opinion on the
question of a public grant of money, but there is certainly great inconve-
10
nience caused by the present system.”-Ibid, J. M. Phillips, Under Secre-
tary of State, p. 344.
Q. “Do you think it conducive to the restoration of those who are in-
sane to be confined in Newgate ? ---A. I have stated in my report book,
which is open to the inspection of any party, and sent up to the court of
aldermen, my decided opinion, that they should be removed, whether tem-
porarily mad or likely to remain so. I think it extremely injurious that
they should remain there.
Q. “Do you think there is any chance of a prisoner who is temporarily
insane recovering in Newgate ?- A. They are treated very kindly. I have
now, in my memory, a man whom I considered an idiot, another, who is
once in a twelvemonth for a few days, under such an excitement that he
would commit any desperate act, who is sane the whole of the rest of the
year.
Q. “Is it not attended with danger to the other prisoners ?--A. Yes ;
he is under my care now, for having with a knife threatened the life of a
prisoner.”-Ibid, G. Macmurdo, Surgeon to Newgate, p. 380.
The number of insane people, as, by the return, confined in the different
prisons included in the gaol act, 4 Geo. 4, c. 64, made Michælmas, 1834,
were as follows. (Note.—This does not include those belonging to corporate
and local jurisdiction.)
Female
1
1
0
Male
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
4
2
7
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Charge.
Arson.
Cutting and Maiming,
Ditto and Stabbing.
Ditto and Wounding.
Dangerous.
Debtor.
Felony.
Larceny
Malicious Shooting.
Murder.
Rape.
Ditto and Assault to Commit.
Security, want of
Sheep Stealing
Shooting, &c.
Stabbing.
Theft.
Unruly.

olo
8
31
8
TOTAL 39
11
22
The length of time they had been incarcerated differed much.
6 under 6 months.
3 from 6 months to 12 months.
8
1 year to 3 years.
5
3 years to 5 years.
5
5 years to 8 years.
1
9 years.
2
11 years to 13 years.
3
15 years to 16 years.
1
5 no date.
22
22
24 years.
TOTAL 39
The first point connected with the foregoing extracts to which the es.
pecial notice is requested, from its cruelty as well as the danger that
may result from it, is the domiciling insane persons in the same
ward with criminals. No comment, however voluminous, however
strongly penned, can show such heartless conduct in its true light. What
must be the feelings of the poor maniac, during the short intervals in which
the Creator permits his mind to resume its proper functions, alone ample to
destroy its wavering intellect for ever, putting aside the dangerous situa-
tion in which the other prisoners are placed ? This is a thing that ought
not, for a single instant, to be endured; and if this grievance existed singly-
it were enough to make every feeling heart cry out, “ trumpet-tongued,"
for an alteration,
With such a system as this, pursued for the numberless years it has been,
who can wonder at crime having increased at the fearful ratio witnessed,
and yet year after year had passed with innumerabile applications, both in
and out of parliament, praying that notice might be taken of it; yet with
such self-evident facts before their eyes, demonstrating the absolute ne-
cessity of reform in this particular, no real change has been adopted—it
appears marvellous-a problem that baffles all skill in solving.
The worst feature in our prison system, is most assuredly the want of
proper classification in lodging the prisoners, it being so pregnant with
mischief, in fact, the root of the evil. The evidence of Dexter, as quoted
(p. 8,) relative to what passed on the first night of his imprisonment
in Newgate speaks volumes, and his further opinions, added to and cor-
roborated by the other extracts, must be conclusive to every one who
reasons, that prisons, as now conducted are absolutely the schools for vice;
evidence of the officers connected with the prison is not required to show
this, for common sense must suggest it, but it is most valuable, as esta-
blishing the fact in practice, which reason had pointed out theoretically.
What hope can there be for reformation when such scenes are acted
within the very walls, where people are incarcerated as a punishment for
their crimes, and what chance can be held out of amendment from local
authorities, when we find theatres and great hotels are considered of prior
consequence, and built at so costly an expense as to preclude the possibility
of their laying out any money to remedy the abuses of prisons ?*

* See Mrs. Fry's evidence, as quoted, p. 7, on Plymouth.
1
12
It is a generally-admitted axiom that among the uneducated, the human
mind is more prone to evil than virtue; how greatly, then, must vice be
disseminated, and the evil propensities encouraged, by persons of all de-
scriptions, from the hardened murderer to the truant-playing apprentice,
mingling and without one admonitory antidote to check them, all unem-
ployed, all uneducated in the proper school of morality. The idlers, tyros
in crime or petty misdemeanants, be they boys or adults, will listen with
eager curiosity to the gossiping of the old and hardened offenders, while
relating to each other the exploits they have achieved, or when giving in-
struction how to escape detection in certain situations, which from their
own
experience they have been led to conceive the best, and to hear them plot
fresh depredations to be committed as soon as they shall have finished the
term of their captivity, or be set at large upon a verdict of “not guilty,” what
but evil can arise from such a state of congregating ? the mind cannot fail
to become contaminated in some degree, even in the best disposed among
them, whilst others, incited by the picture of pleasure they have heard
described in the event of a successful enterprise, and from the encourage-
ment given to the growing desires by the hardened wretches, enter reck-
lessly into the path of vice as soon as they have turned their back on the
prison door, future accomplices and companions of the “ gaol bird,” who had
been their tutor, commencing their career perhaps by a robbery planned
whilst in prison. Minds, not over strong nor sufficiently guarded by moral edu-
cation, are easily led astray, and the very punishment they are enduring as a
requital for faults committed, will be used as the rudder by which they are
steered to crime, in persuading them that they are aggrieved victims instead
of criminals paying the penalty due to offended justice. This is the cer-
tain effect of the present system, and to expect anything like repentance or
thorough reform in a criminal, would be ridiculous.
In a work published some time since, which is generally considered au-
thentic, “ The Autobiography of James Hardy Vaux,” a notorious thief,
is the following anecdote, which as it corroborates and is illustrative of the
facts above stated, namely, that vice is taught in prison, it is here tran-
scribed.:-
He (Vaux) had in a most systematic manner robbed jewellers’ shops,
and, as he conceived every one of note had fallen under his lash. He was
at length taken up for stealing a gold snuff box, and committed to New-
gate, where he made acquaintance with two brothers, both of the same
profession as his own, and committed for a similar offence; they were very
communicative to each other, and Vaux discovered that there were some
of his favorite shops which had escaped his notice. “ They pointed out,”
says the text, “about half a dozen shops which it appeared I had omitted
to visit, arising either from their making no display of their goods, or from
their being situated in private streets where I had no idea of finding such
trades. Although I had little hopes of acquittal, it was agreed that in the
event of my being so fortunate that I should visit these tradesmen I had
overlɔoked, and I promised, in case I was successful; to make them a pecu-
niary acknowledgment in return for their information.'
He was further instructed in what manner to proceed, and what sort of
goods to order, and a Mr. Belger, a first rate jeweller in Piccadilly, was
particularly recommended to his notice as a good flat. He succeeded in

13
getting acquitted, and in robbing the shops pointed out to his notice, when,
like a “man of honor,” he did not fail to perform his promise to the two
brothers, his associates in Newgate. The good flat he robbed more than
once, and once too often, for Vaux was discovered by him at last, and
through his instrumentality convicted.
Crime is generated from various causes, that, again, in themselves are
divided and subdivided, but their original source must be placed under the
two general heads of public and private, the latter acting directly in se, the
former from bad administration of the criminal law.
Poverty is one of the great causes, and proceeds from both public and
private abuse. It is the originator of minor crimes, when it arises from
want of employment commensurate to earn sufficient to maintain a large and
growing family so often to be found in the hovel of the poor ; of the greater
offences, when it is owing to idleness, and a total dislike to labour, of
which there are but too many instances, the individuals never attempting
to work more days than will procure food, and of that a scant portion for
the family, while for their particular self they make up the deficiency by a
quantity of those pernicious spirits so destructive to health, and become
besotted the rest of their time, until they are compelled to labour for a
supply of provision ; at length work fails altogether, either from a slackness
in trade, or the party having become too enfeebled or besotted to use
proper care and exertion. Then, with poverty staring him in the face, his
favorite liquor refused, and he turned out of the same house in which he
had squandered so much, when flushed with cash, he becomes half mad,
the inflamed state of his mind from drink adding to it, and the wretches
he had associated with in his boosing hours, being of the worst description,
giving bad advice, he is tempted and falls.
But there are others who struggle in vain, and can only get a partial
employ at most, who find, strive to their utmost, they cannot gain sufficient
to drive “the gaunt wolf, famine” from the door, and are doomed to be-
hold the wife and children of their love, dearer to them than life, in a state
of starvation—what wonder that they should be induced to steal food to
soften the cravings of hunger, and alleviate the bitter cries of the young
and helpless infants ? Parental affection is strong, and what for himself a
man would scorn to do, for the sake of his poor and suffering child he
rushes to, and rather than behold his family dying in the agony of starva-
tion, he begins by robbing victuals; for this, he is placed in prison with a
set of reckless vagabonds, by whom he is taught to become as degraded as
themselves, and crime following crime, he stops not till he rises to the
acme of his profession. Whereas, if this description of prisoners had
been kept apart, he would have returned to society nothing the worse for
his incarceration.
Early marriages are one of the great causes of poverty, a folly to which
the labouring classes are greatly addicted, getting large families before they
are enabled by their strength or abilities to maintain them. Dr. Granville
made a very curious table, showing the ages at which they marry, and as
his calculation is made upon his " Lying-in Hospital” Practice, which is
confined to the lower classes, none else taking the benefit of such institu-
tions, it is confirmatory of the fact, and of the extent of this evil.

14
1
The following is Dr. Granville's Statement, from an examination of 876
cases in Lying-in Hospitals :-

Age.
No. of
Persons
married.
Age.
No. of
Persons
married.
Age.
No. of
Persons
married.
13
14
7
5
7
5
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
3
1]
16
43
45
67
115
118
86
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
85
59
53
36
24
28
22
17
9
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
0
2
0
1
Another great private source of crime may be traced to ambition--the
wish to vie with persons in their own sphere, but more especially the love
of aping their superiors—a strong feeling, even with those of educated
minds, and in this portion may be ranked the unfortunate youths who rob
their employers. The term unfortunate is used, because, though there are
many who commit the act in the wantonness of crime, yet there are not a
few who are led to it by the impolitic, if not culpable conduct of the em-
ployer, an error generally fallen into in this country, most particularly
those who form its commercial community, who from avarice or narrow-
ness of mind consider that they are justified in striving to procure per-
sons at the very lowest salary possible, and that however beggarly the
stipend, it will be a just and sufficient remuneration for the services they
perform. It is this failing that causes so many merchants and others em-
ployed in trade to select the offspring of the lower classes, who readily
engage themselves at a much lower rate than the son of a gentleman
would be willing to do, and the reason is obvious, the former not having
any appearance to keep up in society, need not make any display in dress,
and the numberless little et ceteras that the latter is obliged to attend to
for the fear of losing caste; foreigners also, from their readiness to accept
a smaller salary, are preferred to the children of the better classes, who by
circumstances, are, as one may say, compelled to require a salary in ac-
cordance with that rank in society they are wont to move in—a set of
needy foreigners, therefore, or children of the lower grade of English, are
placed in situations of trust, with large sums of money continually passing
under their care, and having the desire to imitate the manners and appear-
ance of some of their fellow clerks, the sons of some gentleman who per-
haps give their services gratuitously for the sake of being initiated in the
craft of merchandize, cannot resist the temptation, and crime inevitably
follows.
Where there are frequent opportunities to job or peculate, an addi-
tional sum ought rather to be given to diminish the temptation, not that
large salaries will in every instance do away with the desire to gain wealth, or

15
preserve from committing crime; but when the salaries given are not ade-
quate to maintain the individual sufficiently to accord with his station in
society, or in which the situation he holds requires he should appear, the
temptation increases in strength, in ratio with the poverty of the real
salary, differing from the one requisite, and peculation is sure to be the
consequence.
Belonging to this class, too, may be named the female servants, and
they form no insignificant number ; from these the higher ranks of our
prostitutes are recruited. Thirst for dress and finery, which has crept
on to such a degree that it is not a very rare sight to behold them wait-
ing on their mistress in a morning, bedecked in silks and ornaments equal
to the young ladies themselves, even where the ladies are of the highest
class of the community.
Great censure is due to ladies, especially those who are mothers, for not
restraining their servants from squandering away the whole of their money,
loss of place ought to be the consequence of not laying by a small portion
of wages to sustain themselves in the event of illness or other unforseen
calamity; the dress of a female servant ought to be good, but perfectly
void of ridiculous ornament and frippery. The ladies' maids of our aris-
tocracy are a race the most highly culpable of their sex, aping all the pride
and airs of their lady, and desiring to appear abroad with equal eclat, to
effect which, the wardrobe of the mistress is not unfrequently resorted to,
and the purse not always held sacred, or she becomes a prostitute whilst
under the roof of her employer, till descending from one false step to ano-
ther she at length links her fate to some favourite of the swell mob, to
whom she at first listened as a suitor, and ends in her being accessary to
robbing the family which had fostered her. It is ascertained, beyond doubt,
that most of the houses that are robbed, arises from the connection and
intimacy which the servant has contracted with some of the petty workmen
who have been employed about the premises, many of whom are thieves
themselves, or connected with some gang of villains who resort to that
expedient to learn what property is kept on the premises, and how it is
disposed of at night.
“ A great deal of crime,” says Mr. Nairn, in his evidence,
rated in consequence of the tradesmen who employ journeymen to work
for them, in gentlemen's houses, not taking care to enquire into their cha-
racter : by getting acquainted with servants, they get a knowledge of
those parts of the house where anything valuable is kept. A number of
men that were in the prison were painters, plasterers, and bricklayers, they
were in the practice of communicating with thieves, and it is in that secret
manner that they get information where property is kept.”Vide J. H.
Nairn, p. 370, 2nd. Report, Lords, on State of Gaols, 1835.
There is a most infamous conspiracy existing between the purveyors or
housekeepers of the aristocracy and their tradespeople, the latter paying the
former a large per centage on the bills for the sake of “gaining their cus-
tom." Twenty per cent. is often given, and it has been known to rise as
high as fifty ; * unfortunately the nobleman considers it as derogatory to his

" is gene-
* This fact was stated some two or three years back, before a magistrate, in a cause
of quarrel between two of these worthies.
16
high rank to look into his pecuniary domestic affairs; but taking it in a
moral point of view, it is his duty to do so for the sake of preventing this
species of peculation, which is an absolute theft and one of the stepping-
stones to crime generally, as the money so attained is mostly as lightly
spent, and the servants once out of place for a length of time, the diffi-
culty to procure the wherewithal to keep alive their former extravagance
makes them not hesitate to become regular thieves, the fine sense of
honesty having been destroyed by the transaction with the tradesman,
who had not failed, in his turn, to make out a bill more than sufficiently
long to cover merely his generosity in bestowing Christmas boxes upon
the domestics of his patron. These tradesmen are a rank disgrace to their
more honest fellow-shopkeepers; they are worse than fences, and it is
greatly to be regretted that a complete exposé cannot take place, and all
such tradesmen dealt with according to their merit.
Another evil in society that is pregnant with mischief, is giving a false
character to servants, which ladies are constantly in the practice of doing,
to avoid being plagued, or “ perhaps,” as they say, “ insulted by the dis-
carded servant,” whose character, if correctly stated, would not be such as
easily to procure a new situation ; thus a pilferer having once had the luck
to start off in a private family with a good name, is from this shameful
habit let loose upon the public to commit his depredations at leisure and
convenience, with the chance of blame falling upon an honest individual,
through the crafty machination of the wicked. By making servants con-
scious that they would only procure such a character as they really deserve,
great good would accrue to the public generally, and the servants them-
selves would be taught to curb their temper and other bad propensities, by
which they would become infinitely more contented and happy beings, and
valuable members of society.
It is too often the case that servants are looked upon as little better than
slaves, and so to treat them. To say the least of such conduct it is unwise,
for in proportion to the kindness with which they are treated, so will they
study in return to make us enjoy numberless little comforts so delightful to
experience, and which it is in their power to give life to or destroy.
Humanity ought to suggest that the situation in which these persons are
placed, witnessing nightly those scenes of pleasure, without being per-
mitted to join in them, is sufficiently grating, for they all have their feelings,
in common with the best of us, and it ought to be one of the first cares
of the heads of families to lighten, as far as consistent with the rules and
shades of society, the state and labours of their dependants. In France
the servants are in an enviable condition compared with those of England,
and if the plan were followed in this country, giving them their little
pleasures, many a one, whose propensities were wavering, would be con-
firmed in virtue, and become a useful member, instead of a disgrace to
society.
Of the public causes calculated to increase delinquency, the long and
sanguinary wars in which this country was engaged for such a number of
years, forms not the most trivial, from the demoralization which can hardly
fail to be the result of mingling in such scenes of horror, as those engaged
in active warfare are accustomed to take a part in, and the troops who
have not been absolutely employed imbibe vicious propensities nearly equal

17
to their brethren in arms, hardened by listening to their various tales of
rapine and slaughter, the history of the deeds of their campaigning.
To narrate what passes at the sacking of a city, is to describe the
demons of hell let loose, and at their worst of work.
The numbers of the idle and dissolute that are drafted off to the
army
and
navy in the time of war, is a strong counterbalancing power in favour of
keeping crime under ; but when immediately on a peace the super-
abundant war establishment is disbanded, an immense number of bad
characters, rendered worse by the mode of life they have been accus-
tomed to, are thrown upon society to gain their livelihood in the best way
they can, who, little inclined to succumb to the patient druggery of daily
labour, form a band highly dangerous to public morals and public safety.
Yet, in a state governed by a well-regulated police, with a code of laws,
such as would be calculated to deter from the commission of crime, this
is an evil that would have cured itself in a much shorter period than has
transpired since the cessation of war, but with a prison discipline, such as
we labour under, added to the state of the police, as it existed at the break-
ing up of the war, the demoralized disbanded soldier, convicted of civil
crimes, becomes the schoolmaster to his new fellow citizen, whom he suc-
ceeds in rendering, equally with himself, fit and proper objects for the
harpies of the law to lay their fangs upon.
There is a poverty arising from public cause that has acted most bitterly
upon the labouring classes, reducing them from comparative comfort to
want; this distress is caused by the erroneous enactments of our rulers
making the great difference that has taken place in the value of money so
disproportionate, when compared with the changes in husbandry and
labour, a table to prove which is here annexed.
Table showing the disproportion between the advance made in the prices
of husbandry and labour, the fall that has taken place in the value of
money, and its consequent progressive pauperism, from the revolution 1688
to 1812.
The Stab given at the last two periods, ENGLAND has never recovered.

Amount
Number
Price of
Years.
Value of the £.
sterling in
quartern loaves.
Average money
wages of
husbandry.
Bread wages
in
quartern loaves.
of
of
Bread.
Poor's Rates.
Paupers
1687
1776
1785
1792
1803
1811
1812
d.
3
63
6
7
10
12
20
80
37
40
34
24
20
12
d.
6
8
8
9
10
12
15
24
15
16
15
12
12
9
665,362
1,523,163
1,943,649
2,645,520
4,113,164
5,922,954
16,452,656
563,964
695,177
818,851
955,326
1,039,716
1,247,659
2,079,432
* It is not meant to be implied that every soldier and sailor, actively employed, must
be necessarily bad; but from the mode in which the ranks and service are filled up,
frequently from the refuse of gaols, a vast proportion must be wickedly inclined, and the
seat of war is not a school to train them back to morality.
с
18
These tables have not been pursued beyond 1812, as after that period
the causes became mixed up with others too intimately to make it a sepa-
rate ruling cause.
But that which, as a public cause, acts most directly as an encourage-
ment to crime, is the sanguinary code of laws that we are afflicted with,
and the no less strange manner in which they are carried into effect, the
natural consequence of a code so unwisely composed.
Nothing can be more absurd to reflecting minds, than to hear such
constant exclamations, extolling the laws of this country to the highest
degree for their being equally severe on the prince and the pauper.
Were every grade of society constituted similarly, and the value of
money of no greater moment to one than another, the law in those particu-
lars would be deemed, theoretically at least, equal; but whilst there is
only one set of fines for certain offences, to be levied alike on all offenders
who can be so foolhardy as to contend that the beggar and the peer are
dealt with alike, merely because, if either be taken before a magistrate for
breaking the laws against drunkenness for instance, he would be mulct in
the fine of 5s. Surely the fact itself proves to the contrary, and there cannot be
two opinions, how widely different is the tax upon the poor or upon the opu-
lent captive. But this is not the only point in which the laws differ materi-
ally in the relative force with which they bear on the different classes. Again,
look at the flagrant instances of favouritism that are constantly to be met
with in the justice room, when any one of the aristocracy is brought be-
fore the presiding magistrate, in cases of street or night-brawls; and it is
the knowledge of this which engenders the heart-burnings, the animosities
inculcating a desire of revenge, natural enough, in the bosom of the in-
sulted poor man, and from which springs many a crime, that a more honest
distribution of the laws would prevent.
If a religious fanatic brings a bill into the house for the “better obser-
vance of the sabbath,” whose comforts are to be abridged—why the poor
man's and those of the middling classes, for it is the stage coaches and
omnibuses that are to be prohibited from making their appearance, while
the streets may be thronged with carriages, and though the labourer is not
permitted to purchase his necessary food on that sacred day, unable to
have accomplished it before from not having received his wages till too
late the preceding night, yet the fishmonger may keep the turbot cool, that
is, to grace his lordship’s Sunday table, and send it hone on the very day,
just in time to be prepared for dinner.
Penny theatres, too, are decried and suppressed, whilst the larger ones
are permitted—the reason assigned being that the company who frequent the
former render the step necessary, but the delinquency does not arise from
cheap exhibitions, it is from the inefficiency of the law to restrain the
audience, for in the plays themselves there is no improper language used.
Holland, a notorious thief, in his examination, said he had heard bad lan-
guage at those places before the curtain drew up, but never anything bawdy
on the stage.* This is a damning proof where the fault lies ; if the laws were
such as to restrain vice, and those properly administered, it would effectually
prevent the improper conduct of the loose individuals, and preclude the

See his Evidence, in the following part of this work.

19
necessity of reducing the pleasures of the poor; pockets are picked every
night at the royal theatres, and scenes of the worst description carried on
in the lobbies, yet it never entered into the cranium of the wiseacres that
if the theatres were shut up, these abominations would be effectually
eradicated. It is highly gratifying to witness the order and pleasure with
which cheap diversions are conducted on the continent, even so close to us
as Boulogne and Calais, where may be seen the lowest classes enjoying
themselves in dancing and visiting the divers public gardens, the entrance
to which is a fee equivalent to our penny.
Another proof of the difference with which our laws are administered
according to the parties affected, is manifest in the proceeding against the
various houses for play in the metropolis, the clubs of the aristocracy and
the little goes, little hells, &c. of the poor.
The love of money, and an itch for gaming, are two dangerous passions,
that to some degree, more or less, are inherent in every breast, and the
lures held out by such houses to gratify those passions are too strong for
feeble minds to resist; they are therefore pernicious to the community at
large, as well as to those who frequent them individually, and it is of the
first consequence that they should be abolished ; but it is only with the
houses of the lowest description that summary justice is done—the tables
broken up, and the owners punished as the law directs ;" were there
luxurious prototypes dealt with accordingly, there could be no complaint
on that head; but when information is lodged against the clubs, and
higher hells; the numerous shifts they are capable of resorting to in order
to escape, is scarcely to be credited, and it is with the greatest difficulty
that a conviction can be obtained; but even then, what with moving for
new trial, and other tricks of law that are resorted to, the conviction is
quashed, or otherwise rendered nugatory, and the gaming table remains in
statu quo. Surely they cannot be defended in any degree as of a less demo-
ralizing or less dangerous tendency than the lesser ones ; each is for its grade,
ruinous fortunes are lost, whole families beggared by this accursed propen-
sity, and to retrieve themselves forgery is frequently the result, or to avoid
witnessing and bearing the horrid consequences, forgetful of every moral
or religious tie, they terminate their existence by their own hands,
There is a grievance which, although fully as serious as any that can be
complained of, is known to comparatively very few individuals; namely,
the heavy costs that are charged to the offender, which operates most per-
niciously when the party is too poor to pay them, being of an infinitely
greater sum than the fine which has been imposed; therefore, as the cri-
minal, in the event of not discharging the amount of the fine and costs, is
consigned to prison for a certain number of days, regulated according to
the sum due, he is punished much more for being too poor to pay the fees
of court, than for being guilty of the offence with which he was charged.
The following details of the proceedings at the Brentford Petty Sessions
will show more fully the magnitude of this evil :--
“A question of considerable importance to the public generally, and to
the magistrates throughout the kingdom, was brought forward at the
BRENTFORD PETTY SESSIONS. It arose out of the publication of a
case relative to a boy named Joseph Young, aged nine years, which ap-
peared in the papers of Monday last, who was fined 10s. for stealing five
C 2
20
Feed
potatoes, valued at 1d., the costs in which amounted to an equal sum with
the fine, and who was, in default, committed to prison for 14 days. Mr.
Armstrong said, he wished to draw the attention of the bench (so many of
whom he was glad to see present) to a question which, in his opinion, re-
quired some little attention from every magistrate in the habit of practising,
particularly at petty sessions. It was a question relating to costs, which
had arisen out of a case that had been brought before him and Dr. Walmes-
ley, on Saturday last, in which, for a theft of property valued at 1d., they
had inflicted a fine of 10s. on the defendant, a boy of tender years, thinking
that in doing so (more for the punishment of the boy's father, for neglect-
ing the education of his child, than as applying to the prisoner) that would
be the utmost amount of money of which he would be mulcted, nor for one
moment anticipating that the costs would equal the fine. He was glad to
find that the case had been noticed in the widely-circulated pages of the
Morning Herald, in which it was described as a 'hard case.' It certainly
was so, but he and his colleague felt they could not, after the evidence that
had been adduced, do anything else but convict, which they did, not think-
ing, as he had said before, that the amount would be doubled by the costs.
There was also another case, one of assault, on the same day, in which it
was considered justice would be satisfied by fining the defendant, a female,
in the sum of 1s., yet on that 8s. 6d. costs had been added, and he had, at
that moment, a paper laid before him, in which 6s. was charged for con-
veying her to prison, the amount of costs having prevented her paying the
fine. In bringing this forward he had no intention that anything he might
urge on the subject of costs should apply to Mr. Clark, the clerk to the
bench, than whom, he was sure, no man was more anxious to do justice to
all parties ; but he did so, in the hope of drawing the attention of govern-
ment to the point, for them to do something to remedy so crying an evil. -
Mr. Clark said, all that would have gone into his pocket out of the amount,
would have been 5s. for the conviction in each case.--Mr. Armstrong
replied, that might be very true, but that was an evil ; for by it, when the
magistrates had thought the fine of ls. sufficient to meet the justice of the
case, the charge of 5s. for the conviction increased the punishment six
fold. When he and his venerable colleague fined the boy 10s. they had
done so as a punishment on his father, for not taking more care of him ;
but 10s. more being added to the amount for costs, the father had been
unable to pay it, and the boy had been consequently sent to prison. He
wished to know whether, under the circumstances, the bench had the power
to liberate him ?-Mr. Clark said, certainly not.-Mr. Armstrong would
then, in future, visit whatever offenders might be brought before him with
the extreme penalty he thought the offence deserved, and would make that
amount carry the costs. Whether his colleagues would also adopt that
course was matter for their consideration.-Capt. Jelf Sharp did not see
how they could alter the amount of costs without an act of parliament
being passed for that purpose.--Mr. Armstrong thought it would be
better if some regular stipend were paid to the magistrates' clerks, which
would do away with costs. He had at that moment a paper put into his
hand for him to sign, an order for 7s., the amount of the expenses for con-
veying the boy to prison. Hiş only object was to have justice rendered at
as cheap a rate as possible, so as not to press too heavily on the lower


21
classes. He, however, feared no good could be done but by an application
to the legislature on the subject.-Mr. Clark said, if justice was made too
cheap, the country would be involved in litigation, from John o'Groats to
the South Foreland. The fees of magistrates' clerks were fixed by the
judges, by whose scale he would have been entitled to 7s. for a conviction.
He, however, had only charged 55.-Much further discussion having taken
place on the subject, during which the bench appeared unanimous in
opinion that some revision of the table of fees ought to be made, with a
view to their reduction, the conversation dropped.”-Weekly Chronicle,
30th Sept., 1838.
This, of course, is confined to those crimes which are punishable by fine
and the imprisonment awarded for the DEBT, i. e. the fine and costs not
being paid.
The next and perhaps the greatest cause of all that induces to the com-
mission of crime from the lately initiated to the oldest offender, but more
especially the veteran, who is perfectly alive to the routine of practice in
criminal courts, is the almost unconquerable hope they nourish of escaping
punishment, grounded on the numerous chances in their favour, emanating
from the many legal anomalies and absurdities with which our prosecutions
are shackled. They are as follows :-
First, the expense to which the prosecutor is liable, together with loss of
time, to him a consideration of value; the trouble and vexation he meets
with in attending, first, at the committing magistrate's, next before the
grand jury, and lastly at the court itself, where he is often detained several
days before the trial takes place; his troubles do not end even then, as
when in the witness box hé runs the hazard of encountering the brow.
beating of an overbearing, insolent, pragmatical barrister, the counsel for
the prisoner, who puffed up with conceit and pride, is fond of displaying
his great powers, and of impressing his auditors with what he conceives
zeal for his client, taking the most unjustifiable liberties, unchecked even
by the presiding judge, to his shame be it said, for the sole purport of de-
feating the ends of justice, as it is expressly on purpose to confuse the
witness, in the hope that he may utter something in his evidence that is
technically termed damnatory to the prosecution, either by appearing guilty
of prevarication or in differing from the charge as laid down in the indict-
ment, in consequence of which the prisoner would be discharged; it is the
existence of such evils, that makes many prefer submitting quietly with the
original loss, to prosecuting under the almost certainty of undergoing
them, especially when the offender is one of notoriety.
If the prisoner be not fortunate enough to gain his discharge from the
above, and the prosecution still continues, he then rests a hope on his legal
adviser's discovering what is termed a “ flaw” in the indictment, which is
the existence of some legal, verbal, or technical inaccuracy, even ortho-
graphical, in the deed of indictment; the effect of which is, that the
proceedings are stayed, and a verdict entered for the captive accordingly;
however, since Mr. Peel's bill, a great reform has taken place in this abuse,
as far as regards clerical errors, and materially lessens the probability of
escape on that point. It is not above two or three years since, a man, the
murderer of his wife's child by a former husband, eluded suffering the
penalty of the law through one of these flaws; the person who drew up
C
22
the bill having written down the wrong cognomen, and this was deemed
of sufficient consequence in arrest of judgment, although the child was
described and identified on the trial by the most conclusive evidence.
This ruffian (whose name is Sheen), is at large, more bold and daring than
erer, made an adept during his sojourn in Newgate, and absolutely setting
every one at defiance. He had cut off the child's head.
The phraseology in which an indictment is couched is truly ridiculous,
frequently full of falsehoods, but never a plain recital of the fact complained
of; such a mode must naturally lead to mistakes, and ought to be aban-
doned, substituting in its stead a simple statement of the crime committed
by whom and against whom, and this should be construed in the common
acceptation of the words used, generally and liberally, and not to be set
aside, either from orthographical or technical error, the recognition of the
crime, and the perpetrator to be deemed sufficiently conclusive.
Another disgrace, and one that is fully on a par with the last, is special
pleading, particularly when used in cases of felony. It has, in a most ex-
traordinary extent, enabled numbers to avoid that punishment they so
richly deserved. As an example to what an extravagant extent this evil
has been successfully carried, I will cite one case, out of the many, that are
to be met with in the police reports : it took place on the western circuit,
the first on which Judge Littledale presided, and occurred shortly after his
appointment.
A man was indicted for stealing a couple of ducks, to which his
counsel took an exception, declaring it was a fatal misnomer, for the ducks
stolen were dead, and ducks, when dead, are no longer ducks, inasmuch as
oxen, calves, and sheep, are no longer oxen, calves, and sheep when dead,
but beef, veal, and mutton. So ducks, when dead, being denuded of
ad Ju their feathers, which in the living bird forms a necessary component
Urdu A part; are no longer ducks, To the great surprise of all around him,
the judge acquiesced in the objection, and the prisoner was, in consequence,
acquitted.
What dead ducks really are, since the wisdom of the law declares, that
they are no longer ducks, the public have, it appears, still to learn, for
neither the learnec judge, nor his equally learned brother, the counsellor,
have ever condescended to enlighten them on the subject.
During the sessions for June (18 to 30) 1838, at the Central Criminal
Court, the same trick was attempted in a case where some dead geese had
been stolen ; but the court, unwilling to be classed as members of that
community, would not bite any more than the geese could, and therefore
overruled the objection. It is marvellous that the case of the ducks and
Judge Littledale were not quoted as a precedent.
Another cherup to buoy up the criminal in the expectation of being dis-
charged with, at most, a slight punishment, if not of escaping altogether,
arises from the sanguinary measures adopted by our code of laws, which
makes stealing in a private dwelling-house to the value of above 40s, to be
visited with the same punishment with those convicted of murder,* and

* The law for making larcenies above 40s. death, was altered in the sessions 1832 3 ;
but some robberies in private dwellings are still visited with death.

23
quible
there are many other offences that would meet the like punishment were
the laws carried into effect as they are written, that can by no means
warrant such severe measures; the generality of the public feeling the
impropriety of them -- shudder with horror at the idea of prematurely
sending their fellow-creatures out of the world, the crime they are charged
with not being of sufficient enormity for so heavy a punishment; the jury
therefore bring them in guilty of minor offences, or acquit them alto-
gether. It was a frequent occurrence, that a verdict was returned of
stealing to the value of 39s. when the property stolen was by the clearest
evidence equal to ten times that sum. Yet the jurymen quieted his con-
science, and satisfied his feelings of humanity, at the same time by justi-
fying himself in saying, he should have thought himself guilty of being
accessary to murder in agreeing with the laws, and that as he did not say
in the words of the law GUILTY OF STEALING UNDER THE VALUE
OF 40s., but guilty of stealing to the value of 39s. he had not forsworn
himself, for the property was in truth worth the sum named in the verdict.
The sophistry of this argument, and the benefit it yields them, the thief
was fully alive to; therefore it formed a grand link in the chain by which
he expected to escape, since the crime has been visited with a punish-
ment more consonant to the feelings, and befitting the offence; convictions
under it have been more certain, but much still remains to be done.
There is a serious evil existing in the manner which some judges allow
their temper to gain the ascendency over their reason, and browbeat the
jurors, should any of them venture to oppose the doctrine that the court
may have laid down--a circumstance unfortunately of too frequent occur-
rence, as nothing can be more destructive to that awe with which both
judge and jury ought to be contemplated.
It is somewhat remarkable that not a juror has been found spirited
enough to have his honest indignation roused, and to take upon himself
the task of lecturing the judge upon his conduct.
One of these scenes of altercation is inserted, in consequence of its
having taken place on the jury wishing to state their opinion and feelings
at having to sit and try causes under such a severe code of laws, which
they have expressed in a most able manner.
It took place at the Old Bailey. Newman Knowles, Esq., the then
Common Sergeant, presided.
“Old Bailey, 25th July, 1827.
“ Previous to the breaking up of the court last Wednesday evening, the
foreman of the London jury stated, that as it appeared probable their at-
tendance might not be required again, he was directed by his co-jurymen
to address a few words to the court, in favour of the capital convicts,
which, with permission, he would read from a paper he held in his hand.
“The COMMON SERGEANT said, he could not permit the jury to address
him on the subject of capital punishment; to which the juryman replied,
that it was an application for mercy to the convicts of the present session,
and requested the court to indulge him with its patience.
ceeded to read, but after a few sentences was interrupted by the
“ COMMON SERGEANT.---'I can hear no more: the jury are usurping
that which does not belong to them.'
“JURYMAN.---'My lord, the jury think it important.'
He then pro-
24
" COMMON SERGEANT.—'I cannot listen to anything more. It is not
the province of a jury to arraign the laws of the country.'
JURYMAN.— This is an appeal from the jury to
“ COMMON SERGEANT. I cannot listen to it; you can have nothing to
do with the punishment the law awards.'
“ JURYMAN.--'My lord, I must be allowed to differ with the court on
that point.'
“ COMMON SERGEANT.—' The jury are usurping more than belongs to
them, and I will not hear it.'
“ JURYMAN.-My lord, the jury could not mean to offend. I have
only a few words to offer.'
« COMMON SERGEANT.—Sir, if you offer any more words, I will commit
you for contempt of court. Go out of the court !!!
* JURYMAN.—My lord, I am not aware of having said anything offen-
sive; and had I so considered this application for mercy, I certainly would
not have undertaken it; as it is, I must submit.'
All the remark that need be made on the above is, that a dogmatic judge
found a servile jury.
The address that was intended to be made to the court, as well as the
altercation that took place, was published in the newspapers of the time,
with the names of the jury attached, as if they appealed to the public in
justification. The address, which demonstrates the feelings of the jury,
was as follows:
“The London jury cannot separate without making an anxious appeal
to the court in behalf of the prisoners who have been capitally convicted.
By a conscientious discharge of the duties imposed on them, they have
been compelled to commit the lives of individuals into the hands of their
fellow-men, for offences varying in character and degree; and it behoves
them to state their feelings of deep regret, that the absence of marked
atrocity should not insure an exemption from the dreadful sentence of death.
Notwithstanding the high degree of confidence they would place in the
merciful discrimination of those who are invested with the final disposal of
lives forfeited to the law, the principal apprehension caused by the uncer-
tainty of remission deprives them of the satisfaction which should follow their
own verdict. Reason and humanity dictate the hope that the embarrassing
difficulties attending the office of juror may be speedily removed, con-
strained as they now are by their oath to award a punishment so manifestly
excessive as to demand the constant interposition of higher authority, to
prevent its being carried into effect. It is their humble desire, therefore,
to communicate to His Majesty's Council, through the humane officers of
the court, that the London jury respectfully disclaim the extreme penalty
which their verdict would seem to invoke on the criminals they have had
in charge, and earnestly solicit their deliverance from death.
“ (Approved.)—STEPHEN CURTIS, Well-street, Cripplegate; SAMUEL
Pope, ditto ; GEO. BARNARD NICOL, ditto ; GEO. THOMPSON,
Castle-street ; BENJAMIN Lyon CoxHEAD, No. 39, Cannon-street;
H. W. JACKSON, East Cheap; BENJAMIN CLARKE, Well-street;
RobT. HARRILD, 20, Great East Cheap ; Thos. BEILBy Nicholl's-
square; Geo. DowNING, Falcon-square; HENRY OERTEL, 10,
Martin's-lane, Cannon-street; JOSEPH CLASH, Cannon-street."


25
for
The great good sense, feeling, and propriety evinced in the above address
must be obvious to every body, and leaves one at a loss to account why the
foreman should have been stopped by the Common Sergeant when reading
it to the court.
There is a mode adopted for the recovery of stolen property, which in
itself is a strong invitation to theft, for the depredator gains little less
by this means than he would have been able to sell his booty for, so
trifling is the sum given by the receivers and purchasers, and they have
this additional advantage in this transaction, they are sure of being
exempt from prosecution, while in all other cases they run the risk of dis-
covery It is the parties robbed compromising with the agents of the
robbers, and paying a certain sum to get the property restored, pledging
themselves that no questions shall be asked; and this is done in defiance
to an act of parliament making such proceeding " compounding felony,"
and awarding a severe punishment to all who are guilty of it.
ningly are these compromises conducted, that all attempts to draw the
actors into a trap by having officers ready to take the mediator into custody
would prove fruitless, and the property entirely lost.
No language can be used too strong to deprecate a system in which
flasb houses are allowed to exist, no matter what the plea; they are
places at which the worst of characters nightly assemble to perform their
orgies, concert fresh plans of robbery, and to share their booty. Townsend,
the Bow-street officer, in his evidence states, that it is necessary they
should be winked at, or else the officers would have additional trouble in
finding his man, as if the extra exertion of the officer ought to weigh a
feather, when placed in competition with the bane that these houses are to
society—the owner being mostly a receiver of stolen goods, the establish-
ing a public house serving as a screen, It must be allowed on all sides,
that permitting the existence of such houses is upholding a greater evil
for the prevention of a lesser one, and therefore sowing the seeds of great
mischief to society at large.
Permitting flash houses to exist merely for the cause assigned, would
almost tempt one to the belief that the buyers of stolen goods are tolerated
by the authorities for a parallel reason ; namely, to detect thieves, else it
would appear almost incredible, that among the numerous purchasers none
of them are to be found tripping sufficiently to cast them into the power
of the law; occasionally one of the petty dealers is brought to justice for
having stolen goods in his possession ; but to entrap one of the wholesale
purchasers is a circumstance of the rarest occurrence. Can the eye of the
police be vigilant, and yet permit such immense traffic as is daily carried
on without discovering some lapse of caution by which they might be
caught, the individuals themselves being known to the police. The thief
and the thief taker have been upon too intimate a footing for the ends of
justice to be carried properly into effect.
“Fences,” as the purchasers of stolen property are termed by the frater-
nity of vagabonds, ought to be watched with the eyes of Argus, and in no
case nor under any plea be suffered to escape the severest punishment
when detected, for they are the most dangerous pests, by far the greater
number have been themselves the first insidious tempters to sin, and when
alarmed by the slightest danger of their being implicated with their
Hours

26
7
victim, they turn king's evidence, and betray him. Could the prose-
cution of these fences be made appalling, condemning them to captivity
and heavy fines, to nearly beggaring the parties, added to conferring so
splendid a reward upon conviction of any one of note, that the thief
would consider it worth his while to betray him, something might be
achieved towards ridding the metropolis of the most dangerous ones, and
though to succeed with only a few, yet it would have a wonderful and
almost instantaneous effect, for from the lack of such a ready mart, this
branch of the profession, burglars and wholesale robbers, would be at a
loss where to dispose of their property, and scarcely any but petty street
robberies attempted.
Punishment is absolutely necessary for the well being of a state. This is
an axiom no one will attempt to refute, but the quantum to be meted, and
the manner of inflicting, is one of the most difficult tasks of the legislator.
The view which framers of laws must take in their enactments to punish
offenders, ought to bear a double object; first, the prevention of crime
being a second time practised by the same individual ; secondly, and
which is by far the more desirable to accomplish is, that it act as an
admonitory warning, and deter from the commission of crime altogether.
Prevention is better than cure, is another axiom that carries conviction
home to every mind, and on no evil does it weigh so thoroughly as on the
one which is the main subject of these pages, for it is very rarely that
instances of reformation' are to be met with, if ever. The convict who
quits a prison, after having suffered the penalty due to his offence, is
seldom at liberty for any length of time, and if the laws were strictly.
carried into execution, he would be still more often incarcerated than he
is, a worse and more callous culprit, arising chiefly from the contamina-
tion with which he was inoculated during his imprisonment; this is the
evidence of every one, who, from his official occupation, must be deemed
a competent judge of the fact.
The criminal knows he has lost grade in society, his conscience ever
whispers to him, and the finger of scorn pointed at him, with Hic niger
est constantly in his mind's eye. He is thoroughly aware that the com-
panions he associated with in prison have rendered his morals still less
pure, and he feels himself not to be trustworthy.
" I would work,” many
have replied to the kind admonitions of the visiting magistrates or prison
chaplain. " I am willing to work; but where can I get employment, am
I not a marked man,* who will trust me-beg I may not-I will not
starve."
If there were no other point to prove that it is a great desideratum to
have a code of laws to intimidate from a first false step in preference to
that which by punishment may deter from a second, this very colloquy
would in itself be a sufficiently weighty one, for in spite of the just indig-
nation that may arise against a delinquent, still such an appeal, so strongly
founded in truth, must awaken feelings of compassion, especially when, on
reflection, we find the laws themselves, as put in execution, operating as sti-
* See the evidence of a person turned away from employment, because his fellow-
journeymen found out he had been in prison.-Evidence of Pike, p. 427.
27
mulants rather than checks, from the manner in which they shield the
offending party.
The sufferer, while under punishment, deep as his crime may have been,
and little as he may really be entitled to it, will draw the sigh of commis-
seration from every one with a heart at all disposed to pity, for although
fully impressed with the propriety, no one possessed of any sensibility can
behold unmoved the pangs of a fellow creature, and the recollection of the
offence is buried for the moment in witnessing the state of the suffering
offender.
It is to be lamented that many who are most active in visiting prisons,
with a feeling of philanthropy that cannot be too highly lauded, for the
purpose of bringing their inmates to a correct sense of their conduct, are apt
to mistake the object to which their zeal ought to be directed, namely, the
striving to keep them out of prison, as they do not consider an innocent
individual, applying to them for relief, as an object applicable to the end
they wish to accomplish, because he is free from crime, whereas their
intent is principally, if not wholly, to cause the sinner to return to the path
of virtue; surely if the subject be seriously considered, the arguments
must be far more forcible, and the fact of still higher importance in
favour of rescuing them from falling than of producing penitents, if only
for the feelings of the individual, which must, if there be any conscience
left, be far more enviable in the former instance, the intent is erroneously
founded, as all practice clearly verifies.
To succeed in eradicating an evil it must be dealt with manfully at the
onset-principiis obsta not palliated in the highest degree.
A code of laws, in which the punishment should be, as it were, ana-
logous and graduated to meet every species of crime, could surely be drawn
from the immense mass of evidence that has been obtained during the
investigation of the subject; perfection cannot be expected, nor any grand
panacia, but any alteration, based on a correct principle, and thoroughly
digested, must operate to considerable advantage: the primary feature to
be observed is, that the punishment shall be graduated and varied, so as to
meet every different shade of crime, and to fall with equal severity upon
every rank in life ; at the same time care should be studiously taken to
avoid every sentence that might wear the appearance of levity, and, above
all, everything that would cause it to bear the semblance of anger; but
when the laws are of the sanguinary nature that compose our code, the
punishment, so far beyond what the offence calls for, in most instances, no
grade between the most trivial and death, it then carries more the appear-
ance of revenge against a person who has yielded to bad propensities,
than an act indispensably necessary towards checking the continuance of
crime, or an admonitory warning, to prevent the falling of the yet innocent,
and causes a repugnance in every bosom that is alive to generous sentiment.
The nature of the punishment to be inflicted also should be so clearly
specified, that every body should be equally competent with the judge to
declare what will be the sentence on the prisoner in the event of his being
found guilty ; under such regulations the conviction of the culprit would be
more certain, as the prejudices and feelings of the community would no
longer be lacerated, as they are, by the ultra punishment of the present day
and the acquittal no longer take place on those grounds merely.
Yet, whilst humanity would forbid the infliction of too severe a punish-

28
Bath pure
ment, moral rectitude as well as equitable justice, should caution against
allowing mercy too great a preponderance ; for if the punishment do
not exceed the advantage that is derived from continuing in the path
the delinquent has selected, there can never be the slightest chance of
restraining him. So, where the culprit has become habituated to a life of
plunder-a veteran on the lists, he should be more severely dealt with
than the man who had committed the same act for the first time, and the
more flagaant the offence, of course, the heavier the sentence. In the
event of fine to be levied, the amount should be varied at the discretion of
the judge, and fluctuating more in amount, so as to accord with the cir-
cumstances of the delinquent. But when the prisoner is sufficiently
opulent to render it impossible to levy a pecuniary penalty of adequate
consequence to make an indelible impression, then the punishment should
be in person absolutely, and the confinement for a certain number of days
also at the discretion of the judge or committing magistrate, yet to be
commensurate with the offence and general conduct of the offender, espe-
cially in the case of drunkenness and night brawls, a propensity so much
more disgraceful to the gentleman, who from his rank in life ought to have
a pride that would make him shrink at the bare thought of such a degra-
dation, and here too a vast difference is to be observed in the present
treatment of the several offending parties ; for while the poor man is kept
incarcerated at the station-house the whole of the night to be ready at the
time he is to make his appearance before the magistrate, the rich one is
enabled, by the strength of his purse, to be at large on his parole, until
waited on by the officer who had him in charge, whom he leisurely attends
to the justice room. Can this be called even-handed justice ; does the law
here visit all parties equally. It is owing to such impolitic practices that
ill-blood rankles in the heart of the poor man, and induces him to con-
sider the aristocracy as his oppressors, and thus he is led, by brooding over
the treatment he has received, to commit crime through feelings of hatred
Atau
bon

and revenge.
As death is the severest penalty that can be paid, a step from which
there can be no retrieving, so it should only be inflicted where, after the most
mature deliberation, it is deemed absolutely necessary, and even then in
the fewest cases possible; it is too much of a kindred with murder, when
the offence is not flagrant, to be tolerated, and if on that position only it
ought not to be wantonly sported with.
intence Death should only be awarded to the murderer, or to the villain whose
puitarle ferocity has endangered the life of his victim, or so maimed and mutilated
Lourd him, as to render the life he has spared a burthen ; in such cases, to throw
the offender back upon the public in any way, were to endanger society at
vleriaus large and a mistaken lenity.
Ellen Nothing can be more erroneous than the supposition that sanguinary
Dr. Johnson says, " To equal robbery with
murder, is to reduce murder to robbery; to confound in common minds
the gradations of iniquity, and incite the commission of a greater crime to
prevent the detection of a less ;” and it is a fact, proved from the confes-
sion of the culprit himself, who having been guilty of one of the minor
offences for which the punishment is death, determines upon killing the
only witness that can appear against him, in the hope of concealing it

29
altogether; he knows the sentence in both cases to be the same, and
therefore, if discovered, he is not placed in a worse situation legally than
he was before : this is what he is naturally led to reflect upon, and not
the enormity of the after crime. Had a more lenient sentence been
awarded to the first offence, an innocent life would have been spared, and
the criminal have quitted this world unshackled with so foul an offence.
The working of the game laws exhibits a woeful instance in the
history of the affrays between the keepers and poachers, corroborative of
the truth of these remarks.
The frequent exhibition of a fellow.creature being forcibly deprived of u
life, accompanied with all the parade of a public execution, serves only to
make the heart callous, to teach the people violence, and to render theme in
regardless of life itself: the latter, a thing morally, religiously, and legis-
latively reprehensible in the highest degree. The shock produced by an
execution, in fact, is but momentary; the beholding a lifeless body hanging
but a disgusting spectacle, and as an example, must fail in every beneficial
effect. Nay so little is it regarded, that it is no uncommon circumstance
to detect a thief performing his avocation even at the foot of the gallows.
The intrepid manner in which many of the culprits meet their death,
cause them to be considered by their gazing friends as little short of
martyrs, while the more enlightened, in many instances, unable to suppress
their commiseration, wish they had met their death in some more honour-7
able cause.
>
Every inquiry that has been made into the nature and growth of crime,
serves but to strengthen this doctrine, and the following tables form an
additional reason why the laws should be changed, owing to the benefits
that result from a less sanguinary system.
Return (to an Address of the House of Commons, dated March 21,
1837), of the numbers of EXECUTIONS which took place in LONDON
and MIDDLESEX, (in periods of 3 years each) ending December 31, 1836,
together with the number of commitments in each of those periods respec-
tively, for offences that were capital, January 1, 1830.
Executed.
Committed.
3 years ending 1830
52
960
3
1833
12
896
3
1836
None
823
Abstract of the criminal commitment for England and Wales divided
into 3 classes.
1st class. Non-capital offences.
Commitments.
3 years ending Dec. 31, 1829
46,833
3
1832
51,623
3
1835
51,701
2nd class.-Offences for which the PUNISHMENT OF DEATH
still continues to be inflicted, such as Murder, Arson, Robbery, &c.
Executed. Commitments.
3
years ending Dec. 31, 1829
108
1,705
1832
120
2,236
3
1835
102
2,247
...
3
9
....
>
3rd class. -Offences for which the PUNISHMENT of DEATH was
30
96 ..
.
ABOLISHED in the Sessions 1832-3, such as Arson, under certain
circumstances only, Forgery; Horse and Sheep Stealing, Larcenies above
51., House Breaking, &c.
Executed. Commitments.
3 years ending Dec. 31, 1829..
4,622
3
1832
23
4,724
3
1835*
2
4,292
These were
Persons
Persons
committed.
convicted.
Upon an average of the last 3 years to the offences,
Class 2, for capital punishment, for every.
100
42
While for the same period, Class 3, where the
punishment of death has ceased to exist, there has
100
74
been for every
These tables prove an equal continuance of crime, at least where the law
continues severe, and a diminution, though small, in the earliest period of
punishment being ameliorated, see Classes 1, 2, and 3, while the last
average of commitments and convictions is an astounding fact of the un-
willingness of jurymen to convict under such a sanguinary code.
There are enthusiasts who strenuously deprecate the punishment of
death, and would abolish it altogether; some, from religious motives,
averring that it is contrary to the ordinance of our Saviour to spill the
blood of a fellow-creature, and as many a culprit who had suffered death
died unrepenting, they were thus cut off from every chance of divine
mercy, when, had life been spared, they might have ultimately been made
sensible of the heinousness of the offence, and become truly penitent. In
reply to this, it is not too much to pronounce their hope to be perfectly
apocryphal ; for, if with the uncompromising certainty of suffering an igno-
minious death on a given day, to escape from which were utterly impos-
sible, save from a previous natural cause, with all the existing warnings
and circumstances by which he is surrounded, without intermission, from
the hour that sentence is pronounced until the final close ; if at the awful
moment he is preparing to ascend the scaffold, the religious monitor by his
side; or, when placed under the fatal beam, viewing the gathering mul-
titude assembled to witness his death with all the dreadful retinue around
him, conscious that he is feeling the winds of this earth breathing on him
for the last time, and that there is but one short moment between him
and eternity, when he will be hurled before the judgment seat of his
offended Maker, to meet that everlasting doom that his crimes in this world
have drawn on him; if in no one of these trying situations, the voice of
conscience can be róused to whisper repentance to the heart, contrition
will not be subsequently lighted up while waiting unmolested, until
nature herself put a period to his existence.
There have been several improvements made in the internal regulations
of prisons at the suggestion of Mrs. Fry and other philanthropists, yet
much remains to be remedied in this respect; one of the greatest evils,
now materially altered, especially in Newgate, is, that the friends of those
confined, demonstrating a fidelity in their friendship that shames their more

During this period the punishment of death was revoked.

31
6. Since our
honourable fellow creatures, never ceased visiting their less fortunate com-
panions as often as possible, and seldom failed to supply them with luxuries
when their purse was low; but this still exist too much to make a prison
a “ house of care."
Mrs. Fry said, in her evidence before the Lords, in 1835 :
suggestion of an objection to the admission of visitors to the prison
(Newgate), and to too frequent admission of porter and roast chickens, and
other such things coming into Newgate, they have been much checked ;"
a prison with such licentiousness is not a place of dread; the poor starving
tyro will not hesitate to seek acquaintance even with the worst, in the
hopes of getting a portion of their food, in the which expectation he is
seldom disappointed, and thus begins a dangerous association, for from that
hour the poor man is lost.
In most prisons the diet allotted to its inmates is preferable to that given
poor
Cold Fields
severest regulated in England.
At Cold Bath Fields, the diet, which was altered at the suggestion of
Mr. Wakefield, surgeon to the establishment, is as follows:*-
PRISONERS above 16 years old, whose period of imprisonment exceeds
3 months.
20 oz. Bread daily
6 oz. Meat, three times a week
1 pint Gruel, Saturday
Dinner
1 pint Soup, three times a week
1 pint Gruel daily for Breakfast.
PRISONERS above 16 years old, whose imprisonment does not exceed
3 months,
20 oz. Bread daily
6 oz. Meat, twice a week
1 pint Gruel, three times a week Dinner
1 pint Soup, twice ditto
1 pint Gruel daily for Breakfast.
All PRISONERS under 16 years old.
6 oz. Bread daily
6 oz. Meat, Sunday
1 pint Gruel, three times a week
1 pint Soup, Wednesday
1 pint Gruel daily for Breakfast.
}
}
Dinner
2 days pantang
Mr. Wakefield further stated, that there had been no ill effects from
following this regimen, and when asked “if he were of opinion that a man
confined for above three months required more nourishment than one con-
fined for a shorter period,” replied, “ I do not think he does, for three
months, the time that I am generally obliged to interfere in regard to their
diet is, when they have been from seven to eight months ; but that varies
according to the constitution of the parties.”—2nd Report, Lords, 383-4.
It is a remarkable fact, that washing in the bath is not resorted to
m2
* The change took place about January, 1834.
30

32
generally, especially in Newgate, where the worst of every description
congregate. Mr. Wakefield, surgeon to Cold Bath Fields, declares, (and
common sense suggests the propriety,) that it is absolutely necessary :
Q.“ Are they washed on admission, at both prisons, (Cold Bath
Fields and Clerkenwell ?). -A. Into both.
Q.“ Do you think that necessary for the health of the prisoner ?-A.
Quite essential; that was one of the first regulations that I insisted on.
Q. If the Governor of Clerkenwell Prison was to find a man who
came in extremely dirty, with very filthy clothes, for the safety of the
prisoners, would he take them away, and have them washed, and give the
prisoner a prison dress ? -A. I do not know whether he has the au-
thority.
Q.“ Ought he to have the authority in your opinion ?-8. Certainly.
Q.“ To prevent infection ?-A. Yes, to prevent infection and eruptive
diseases, which are very common among the lower classes.”—H.Wakefield,
Ibid. 385.
Q.“ Are all prisoners, when admitted to Newgate, washed and cleaned
before they are placed with the other prisoners ?-A. No, excepting in very
extreme cases, where vermin and dirt are excessive.
Q. “ Do you not think it most desirable for their own health and for
that of the other prisoners, that this course should be always adopted.--A. I
think it desirable that this should be done in every case that may appear to
require it.”
The same questions were then put with regard to Giltspur-street Prison,
which elicited the same replies. Vide Ibid, 387, G. Macmurdo, Surgeon
to Newgate and Giltspur Street.
Cleanliness is requisite to preserve health ; its opposite extreme seldom
failing to engender diseases of the most malignant species. It is therefore
suggested that, in framing a new code, washing is a practice that should be
expressly ordered, not only on admission, but as often as possible during
confinement.
Each official document that is published adds some fresh and weighty spe-
cimen of the disgraceful system acted on in prisons of neither health nor
morals being considered in the slightest degree. It could not have been
worse had the sole object of the legislator been to get rid of the criminal in
pique at being so frequently foiled by the humanity of the jury, the defec-
tive state of the law, or the blunders of those employed to act as its har-
bingers in the temple of justice.
To teach religion in a prison is a difficulty scarcely to be surmounted ;
for none, not even the most depraved but has a tinge of superstition, bor-
dering on religion, that he firmly adheres to ; and so various are the doc-
trines, so diametrically opposite in many points, which an enthusiast re-
gards as fundamental, that it is next to impossible to draw them to perform
worship in such close companionship, and with the harmony that the mode
of teaching it would require, or to find a religious monitor competent to the
task of maintaining a strict sway over their minds collectedly ; but a doc-
trine of moral ethics might be framed to quiet the prejudices of every sec-
tary, and this should be carefully instilled into them. Great complaints are
made on this subject and against many of the chaplains, for the loose man-
ner in which they perform their duty. Their names are not mentioned in
33
this treatise ; for, as it is not possible to enumerate every one and the pre-
cise charge against each, it might appear invidious. Mrs. Fry, in speak-
ing of the absence of religious as well as general instruction, states that,
where it is best administered, even there, she says “I am convinced much
more is wanted, and I am obliged to allude to Ireland, because I have seen
such advantage result from it. They are far more particular in Ireland; the
government inspectors will get it done, and it must be done; and there is
a certain portion of time devoted to the school, and it is a pleasant thing to
see the order and attention and interest that is shown by the prisoner.”
--2nd Report, Lords, 1835, p. 329.
The following minutes relating to the discipline and general menage on
board the FORTITUDE and EURYALUS, convict hulks, at Chatham, the
former for men, the latter for boys, will be found interesting. They are ex-
tracted from the Appendix and Minutes of Evidence before the Lords,
1835, 2nd Report,” and are therefore authentic.

56
FORTITUDE, (Convict Hulk for Men).
Had on board, May, 1835, 621 prisoners, of which only twenty were on
board 1st June, 1833, the rest came in since.
A separate ward for infirmary and hospital.
There are gangsmen and wardsmen chosen from the mass, who are oc-
casionally themselves sent abroad.
One of the guards is schoolmaster. Some of the men are taught reading,
writing, and figures.
Divine Service twice on Sunday and on Thursday evening.
An offence-book is kept.
They are allowed to make a complaint to the visiting officers, and do so
often.
When they rob each other they are double ironed, and their friends are
stopped from coming to see them.
On an order coming down for a certain number to be sent abroad, the
worst characters are generally selected. They now seldom remain on board
longer than four or five months; in some instances they have been as long
as ten months, but very rarely so.
They may see their friends once in three months, this must be on Sun-
day, between the services. Some have been known to come from as far as
Yorkshire to see them.
Porter is allowed when the labour is extra, but it must be drunk on the
spot (dock yard) none being allowed to be carried on board.
They are allowed to earn one shilling a week, one half of which is kept
for them until they are discharged, the other they are compelled to spend in
bread or potatoes, it being deemed requisite for their health. They may
not purchase beer nor spirits. They receive their pay Saturday, and are
not permitted to have any thing beyond their regular rations and what
they are allowed to purchase.
The daily arrangement of the Week is as follows:
Monday, quarter before five, A. M. they are roused from their sleep,
and at five each prisoner brings his hammock on deck, and deposits it in
D

34
a berth appropriated to that purpose, after which they stand up in suc-
cession, keeping the prisoners belonging to each deck in a distinct column.
When the whole of the hammocks are deposited each column forms into
single file and returns below; a quarter before six, breakfast, one pint of
gruel or burgoo and a quarter of a pound of biscuit to each ; quarter-past six
the greater portion are permitted to come on deck for the purpose of giving
those, whose turn it may be, an opportunity of cleaning the wards and pas-
sages on the prison decks ; quarter before seven they are sent on shore to
labour in the dockyard, previous to which each individual is searched by
the subordinate officer and guard, in order to detect the concealment of
money, letters, or disguise for the purpose of escape. A due regard is
also paid to their clothing, to see that it is kept properly mended, face and
hands washed, irons clean, and that their general appearance is as decent
as the nature of circumstances will permit; quarter before twelve they
return on board, and are searched, with a view to prevent the purloining
of any article of government stores, while employed in the dockyard ;
quarter past twelve, dinner : Monday this consists of four ounces of cheese,
one pound of brown bread, one pint of small beer; the same on Wednesdays
and Fridays; on Tuesday boiled beef (fourteen ounces in its raw state),
one pint of broth, thickened with oatmeal, and a proportion of herbs and
pepper, one ounce of salt, and one pound of brown bread; the same on Thurs-
days, Saturdays, and Sundays ; quarter past one they are again searched, and
return to labour in dockyard; half-past five return on board and searched,
thus closing their labours in the dockyard ; six o'clock supper, one pint
of gruel or burgoo only. The whole of their food is supplied under the
immediate inspection of the officers and guards, and every care taken to
prevent trafficking with their provision ; quarter past six a general muster
takes place, and the wards on the prison decks are locked, to prevent any
communication or visiting from ward to ward; quarter before seven the
most illiterate in the middle and lower decks attend school, those in the
upper
deck are employed in washing their bodies, for which purpose large tubs of
warm water and soap are provided, the remainder of those on the other decks
are employed in repairing their clothes and paying every attention to the
cleanliness of their persons and bedding; at eight o'clock a general muster
takes place and every ward is locked up for the night, unless any particular
emergency should require a ward to be opened, and at nine a hand bell is
rung
which denotes that silence is to be strictly observed, and every prisoner
to repair to bed immediately. During the night the prisoners are frequently
visited by the officers of the watch, and an entry made of the state of the
ship in the nightwatch report book. On the receipt of prisoners from gaols
or other places and in all cases of transfer or embarkation to New South
Wales, each prisoner is washed, shaved, and has his hair cut. The officers and
guards are required to be sober, steady, attentive, diligent, and persevering
in the faithful discharge of the several duties they are called upon to per-
form, and to have no unnecessary conversation with any of the prisoners,
and to give their orders in as few words as possible, but in a firm and deter-
mined manner. The foregoing rules are strictly observed every day with the
following exceptions, viz. on Tuesday evening the illiterate belonging to the
upper and lower decks attend school, and those of the middle deck wash
themselves ; Wednesday evening shaving, hair cutting, shaking and airing
35
bedding; Thursday evening divine service ; Friday evening those on the
lower deck wash themselves, which completes the general arrangement for
washing the whole of the prisoners during the week ; Saturday evening,
shaving, and hair-cutting, and every attention paid to the cleanliness of
their person and clothes ; on Sunday a general muster and inspection takes
place at nine o'clock, to see that their general appearance is decent.
They attend divine service twice in the day from half-past ten A. M. to half-
past twelve P. m., and from a quarter before three to a quarter past four
P. M., during which the greatest order and decorum prevails, both in coming
into chapel and returning to their wards; the remaining part of the day is
devoted to reading the scriptures, tracts, and other religious books.
EURYALUS, (Convict Hulk for Boys).
It being considered preferable to keep boys separate from the adults,
they have a hulk for themselves. The upper deck is appropriated to those
who are convicted for a first time, the second to the next, and the lower
to the worst rate offender.
There were 250 on board (May 1835). Seven were in the hospital
ward at that time; the average, in general, is six.
The youngest that had ever been on board was 10 years old, and he
was sentenced to seven years' transportation,
The boys, on their reception, are sent to the washhouse to be well cleaned.
They are then placed in a probationary ward for a fortnight, after which they
are classed according to the character received with them from the several
gaols, &c.
They are employed in making clothes for the establishment, such as
shirts, jackets, waistcoats, and breeches. The eldest boy (a prisoner) who
is the best workman, teaches them, and persons who are tailors in the
cutting-out place occasionally visit them. Two of the guards are cutters
out. The cooks are convicts, and there are a few shoemakers. They
sometimes dig in the garden on shore, where a man superintends.
They do not receive any of their earnings.
They are taught to read and write by a schoolmaster, under the direc-
tion of the chaplain.
On Fridays and Sundays there is one sermon preached to them, and
prayers are read every day, but they are never prepared for confirmation.
They are never permitted to make a noise.
Relatives only are permitted to visit them, and then there is always a guard
present.
In some instances they are pardoned for good conduct, but it is of very
rare occurrence.
They are never transported before they are 14 years old. .
They look forward to the time of being sent abroad eagerly, for what
with close confinement, application to duty, and being closely watched,
they are glad to be removed from the ship.
They seldom have recourse to any other than solitary confinement as a
punishment, or more frequently stopping a portion of their food; but
sometimes they have flogged the boys on the breech with a cat, not more
than one dozen, or in one or two cases one dozen and a half, and they are not
allowed to see their friends.

D 2

36
It is very doubtful whether the system tends to reform them. To have
them confined on shore would be preferable, as in that case the better dis-
posed boys would be more easily preserved from contamination. The best
thing is to send them abroad.
ROUTINE OF ONE DAY.
At 5 A. M. all hands are called, ports opened, hammocks lowered and
lashed
up, the boys washed and examined. At half past 5 a signal is given
to prepare for chapel, when the boys stand round in their respective wards
after which they go in, headed by the elder boys of the ward, who place them
in their respective seats with profound silence. The morning hymn is sung
and prayers read by the schoolmaster, the officers and a portion of the
guards being present. After prayers they return to their respective wards,
and stand in ranks till the breakfast is served about 6 o'clock, equally di-
vided, and examined by the steward and others, he then desires the boys
on one side the desk at a time to go to their tables, hold up their bread
and give thanks and sit down ; at half past 6 the boys commence coming
on deck, each elder boy heading his division, and his deputy bringing up
the rear, hammocks stowed, boys filed up into their respective divisions by
the elder boys of the ward, after which the officer orders all the elder boys
on the quarter deck, for the purpose of making known anything that might
have occurred since their last report. Then each of their complaints are
noted down in order that they may be inquired into. The boys return
below in a single file to clean their respective wards, with the exception of
those who are appointed to wash the main and quarter decks. At 8
o'clock the boys are set to their respective work, when silence is observed.
At 9 the elder boys, accompanied by those of whom they have to complain,
state their complaints to the commander, when such correction is awarded
as the nature of their offence deserves; i. e. by stopping their dinners or
correcting them moderately with the cane, or by solitary confinement on
beard and water not exceeding seven days; but should anything of conse-
quence occur during the day it is immediately inquired into. At 12 the
dinners are served down under the inspection of the steward. All quarter
masters and guards are in attendance for the purpose of seeing that each
boy eats his proper allowance. At half past 12 boys are sent on deck for air
and exercise, but not permitted to make the least noise.
At half past 1
boys filed up as in the morning, and sent below to their respective work.
At 2, a division, consisting of one-third of the boys sent into the chapel
for the afternoon, when they are taught reading and writing. At 5, boys
leave off work, clean their wards and wash themselves. At half-past 5,
supper served down, after which the boys come on deck for air and exer-
cise. At half-past 6, the boys file up as usual, and take their hammocks
down. At 7 the signal is given to prepare for chapel, when they proceed
in as in the morning, after which a portion of the boys are catechised,
the evening hymn sung, and prayers read by the schoolmaster. The boys
return to their respective wards. At 8, the signal is given to prepare for
muster, when each boy stands with his hammock placed before him till the
whole of them are mustered; the signal is then given to hang up their ham-
37
mocks. At 9, profound silence throughout the ship, boats secured, fires
extinguished, locks examined by the officer, and the keys delivered up for
the night. The watch, consisting of two guards, one of which is placed
below the other on the deck, relieved every three hours and half; the bell
struck and “ All's Well” called every half hour through the night. On
Saturday the boys are washed all over in tepid water and soap.
“ Attendance of the Chaplain and Surgeon. The Rev. Henry Dawes
performs divine service twice a week, and examines the boys progress in
school; and visits the sick in the hospital three times, or oftener if neces-
sary. Mr. Hope the surgeon attends daily.”--Appendix to Evidence, supra.
The want of
"the
our system, an unpaid one will ever prove a failure, from their modus
operandi, especially when there are clergymen on the bench. It is strange,
atat
but not more strange than true, that the Minister of the Gospel is ever
found to be the most intollerent among his brother magistrates, though by
his functions he ought to temper mercy with justice, and act up to that
divine doctrine he is in the habit of preaching to others. A
A proper and
paid magistracy should be appointed, but no clergyman of any persuasion
whatever to be admitted, civil or political interference forming no part of
their duty in this world. These justices should be armed with additional
power, placing under their jurisdiction several additional offences, so that
the offender might meet with summary punishment; a police should be
placed under their control, and it should be impressed on the minds of all
parties that their primary object must be the prevention of crime, whenever
possible.
Offenders ought to be punished whilst the recollection of a crime is
yet in the memory of the public, otherwise, the example loses a consider-
able portion of its force, for in delaying to bring the prisoner to trial any
length of time, many of the circumstances connected with the offence
escape the memory, and an impression is awakened in his favour from
having been so long in “ durance vile.”
In towns, where the commitments are sufficiently numerous, a criminal
court should be kept constantly open, and where the offences are seldom,
let the criminal occasionally be sent to a neighbouring county for trial ;
any thing is preferable to the close contact between the tried and the un-
tried, or even to mixing the untried for all offences, the infant and the
veteran sinner, for pollution must ensue.
Confession of
considered sufficient in every case to pass sentence on; this would save
vast expense and trouble, and would materially decrease the number of trials
and attendant consequences.
As this would be fraught with peculiar ad- Sufland
vantage, a more lenient sentence ought to await those who voluntarily
confess at their first examination, in order to induce them to acknowledge
their fault. Cases for death alone to be an exception.
When the nature of any punishment proves beneficial in its effect, it is
sure to act diametrically opposite to the manner in which it was intended,
for this reason, therefore, it is that transportation under the old system
was for those who were indifferent to social ties or those of consanguinity,
an absolute boon; and in not more than two or three instances does it

, Volanting

38
ud for her ,
appear from the evidence to have been dreaded by the culprit, yet often
greatly to the contrary. The alteration lately adopted at those colonies by
causing the convicts to be more closely watched, and in being more severe
and strict in the discipline, obliging them to perform to the letter the
he several duties to which they are doomed, may, when it becomes more
generally known, operate to alter materially the disposition of the convict
it that respect; but at present the thieves declare that it is a tale trumped
up to frighten them.*
Flogging ought to be effaced from the list of punishments, for every one
who has been examined on the subject agrees that it tends to harden and
render the sufferer more desperate, but never to deter.
The silent system, if it could be really carried into execution, would be
excellent, from the extreme irksomeness it would cause the sufferer, but
without classification it would be of little use, as human ingenuity, which
with this class of people is ever on the qui vive, so highly preponderates,
thas it would soon devise a code of signals, a mode of communicating
Inai
their thoughts to each other which could not altogether be suppressed even
if discovered, and would sufficiently wear off the edge of annoyance that
the want of speaking might cause.
The evidence of this subject is W. C. a boy at the Westminster Bride-
well, who says, “the boys at breakfast and while on the wheel make signs.”
F. C. otherwise W. J. also a prisoner in the Westminster Bridewell, who
says “it is my duty to keep order and silence. I have caught the boys
making signs at chapel.” Even Mr. Chesterton in his able remarks on
prison discipline, admits that strictly as he considers they are watched in
Cold Bath Fields, “ yet he has detected slight whispers, but still he trusts
that the system will be enforced so as to prevent conversation of sufficient
length as that would be required to produce demoralization and mis-
chievous machination in the mind of the listener.” He adds, “ the silent
system however can only be maintained by the most determined perse-
verance to punish every breach of it, not a single excuse must be admitted,
otherwise false reasons for speaking will be abundantly offered.”-Second
Report, Appendix, 15, No. 245, 1835.
The solitary system from its nature would be found capable of produc-
ing the strongest effect; shut out from the light of day, never hearing the
sound of the human voice, the keeper who delivers the food not being
allowed to exchange one syllable; without a single object for the mind
to rest upon save its own reflections, and those reflections of the madden-
indicens ing dye that is given birth to in thinking on the cause that has placed him
there, must indeed be appalling; but this may be carried to an extent that
will defeat its own purpose, for if the calibre of each prisoner's mind be
not ascertained and the seclusion kept up to the highest pitch of irksome-
ness ere it become weakened by the loss of intellect on the one side, or the
prisoner becomes accustomed to it on the other, then the effect desirous of
being produced would fail by a calamitous termination in the first instance,
and in the latter from its ceasing even to annoy.
There cannot be two opinions of the separate system as being beyond
Silatuz, ang the strong est eliect; that
saya
* See Prime's Evidence, in the subsequent pages.
39
all comparison the best both for the tried and untried, it is the only effectivenna
way of preventing contamination; but is it possible in every town, &c. to
give sufficient space for the purpose of erecting such a building as it would
require? The present recepticles are for the most part utterly incompetent,
and would have to be, with very few exceptions, rebuilt, or so materially
altered as to differ little in the expenditure which plan they chose to adopt,
and this would amount to such a ruinous expense that the people would
rise, one and all, en masse against it.
There are many prisoners who would give the preference to this
system instead of mixing indiscriminately.
Q. “Does your experience enable you to state whether prisoners have
ever or generally expressed a wish to keep separate from other prisoners ?-
A. Miss Frazer: I have known an instance of a man saying he very
much preferred solitary imprisonment to being a yardman in Cold Bath
Fields."-Second Report Lord's Evidence, p. 338.
JOHN HENRY NAIRN, examined :-
Q." Do
you
think it would be an improvement if they were kept in
separate cells, and not permitted to speak to one another on the treadmill?—
A. It would be a great improvement. It is also very bad that some of
the worst felons are confined with persons imprisoned merely for misde-
meanors ; sometimes a man is taken before a magistrate for travelling
about the country without a licence: if he has not the power of paying the
fine, he is sent to the House of Correction among other prisoners of very vales de
bad character. I have known a burglar who has been taken with his
tools in his possession for committing a burglary, in the same yard with a
prisoner who has been imprisoned for a fine, and I think a man was very
often made a bad character when he would otherwise have been an honest

man.
p. 370.
Q. "Do you think an innocent man committed for trial would prefer being
placed in a separate cell, to being placed in a yard with bad character ?-
A. I think there are characters that would prefer it, and those are persons
of a superior education to the generality. I should think a man of educa-
tion would prefer almost solitary confinement, to being turned into a yard
with those men, although solitary confinement is the greatest punishment
that
you can give a felon, and they complain of that more than any thing
else.
Q.
You are aware that there is a great deal of difference between
separate and solitary confinement ?-A. Yes, a thief dreads solitary confine-
ment more than any other punishment.”—Ibid.
LORD GODOLPHIN, examined:
Q. “ Do you think that persons of good character and comparative inno-
cence would consider it a boon to be kept separate, instead of being placed
in the yard or in a cell with prisoners of more depraved and abandoned
character?--A. Many would I have no doubt.
- Q. “ If you took an interest in a prisoner and you thought there might be
a chance of his reforming, would you not wish that he might be confined
in a separate cell instead of being placed with others ?-A. Certainly.
Q. “ You would consider that it would be much better for him to be
separate, to prevent his quitting the prison more depraved than when
committed ?-A. I should say anything was better, generally speaking,
than being mixed together."---Ibid, p. 376.

40
LS
allosch
But, under seclusion, work ought not to be allotted to the prisoner as a
task generally, for it is found to operate to the contrary.
Idleness, where there is a congregation of persons, will always be pre-
ferred by the dissolute; all they require while in confinement is to be
amused, that time may not pass heavily, hence the cards and divers games
to be fonnd played in prisons; the time, too, passes merrily enough in
recounting their old depredations, the real secret lies in the fact, that they
are sufficiently occupied to escape ennui ; but separate, alone, the mind which
naturally seeks for something to ruminate upon beyond its own cogitations,
could not bear the everlasting monotony which there presents itself; and
the captive will hail labour or anything by which he can beguile the
tedium he suffers as a boon. This grand benefit, therefore, results from
the separate system, in addition to avoiding contamination, namely, that
by rendering the solitude combined with idleness irksome, the germ
of industry is inculcated in the mind as a comfort, and a wholesome
reaction may subsequently take place which may terminate in comparative
virtue.
Mr. G. L. Chesterton says, those who cannot work at trades and
soldiers sentenced by Court Martials, who are forbidden to do so, feel the
punishment most keenly. In company with Mr. Brebner, the governor
of the Bridewell and with the Chaplain, your governor made personal
Soteles also expressed
the utmost horror of the separate confinement, nay two-
enquiry of nearly thirty soldiers confined for military offences, and they
;
and when asked, as they were in each case on so expressing themselves,
what number of lashes they would undertake to receive in lieu of separate
imprisonment, most of them answered 100 lashes for every one month's
confinement; one man said he would rather receive 800 lashes than suffer
six months; and another affirmed he would willingly take 500 to be rid of
two month's imprisonment. When first admitted into the prison no pri-
soner convicted for the first time has communication with another prisoner,
except to be first instructed in his trade: he only leaves his cell for the pur-
pose of exercise in a long gallery, and each cell being protected with double
doors there is no possibility of clandestine communication. THERE IS NO
PUBLIC SERVICE IN CHAPEL, THE CHAPLAIN IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND FOUR
HOURS DAILY, AND HE EXHORTS AND INSTRUCTS EACH PRISONER INDIVI-
DUALLY IN THEIR CELLS.”--Vide Report of the Governor of Cold Bath Fields
House of Correction, April Sessions, 1835.
olid The turnkey to the Westminster Bridewell, says they (the prisoners)
dread being shut up in a solitary cell without work more than anything,
they will fall on their knees and beg the governor to let them go to the wheel.
It is a serious charge against Government that they do not patronize
with vigour, and avail themselves of the purposes for which those
admirable institutions, “ The Philanthropic, in St. George's Fields,” and
“ Captain Brenton's Asylum” at Chelsea, are formed, from which so much
benefit might be derived, and at a comparatively small expense with that
of the present system.
Adults and even boys of seventeen years of age and upwards, instead of
being sent abroad for the lesser crimes, might be made to remunerate the
public by their labour for the evils they had done to society, and thus in
a measure compensate the state; but it would be an erroneous measure, a
confines

41
up
false policy, to place them to any species of work by which the industrious
labourer might be thrown out of employ or even injured, by a diminution of
his wages, as that would at least be semi-pauperizing the honest man for
the sake of the rogue. The labour that such convicts ought to be put to
should be heavy, and for the public advantage, such as the building up sea
girt walls where the sea encroaches, so as to protect the coast from its secours
inroads in such situations, where it would not be deemed advisable if to
be paid for in full wages to the labourer. Convicts must be kept or have
a large sum expended in transporting them; the additional expense, there-
fore, if any, would be too trivial for calculating, and the advantage
infinitely superior. These people also should be made to dig trenches for
the purpose of irrigating and tilling some land, and of draining others
ge
from which the sea has receded, so as to render them fit for husbandry, or
such other purpose as best suits their locality. They should be made to
raise the sand from those rivers into which it has floated with the tide,
to prevent their becoming unnavigable, as the Mersey, Dee, and others,
the latter has within the last forty years become frightfully choaked up; and
they are obliged to keep men constantly at work in the Mersey, at an enor-
mous annual expense, to prevent a similar effect. Let them level hills and
fill
up hollows in those roads where so much mischief is often occurring from
the drifting of snow; these and similar toils, which in themselves are heavy,
might be done at no more expense than we are now at in transporting felons,
in supporting convict ships, treadmills, and other establishments, from
which it were futile to entertain any hope that real benefit could accrue,
whilst from the other, every day's work would be productive of general
good to the community, and the viewing these people kept at constant hard
labour would act as an example to the venal, to prevent their committing
petty crimes with the view of obtaining gaol allowance and leading an
idle life.
These remarks have been extended to a far greater length than was
originally intended, but the editor could not suffer the work to go to press
without offering a few suggestions, when by the adoption of which he
conceives some good might result. He has also added a few statements
that passed under his own immediate knowledge, and several authentic
statistics, some of which, though they are not immediately connected with
the subject, are nevertheless-remotely so, and are useful as well as inter-
esting, from their being of a nature that will make the reader more
intimately acquainted with the “ busy hum” of this great metropolis.
STATE OF CRIME.
As the perusal of several tables was thought to be more irksome than
interesting to the generality of readers, the following digest of their con-
tents has been substituted.
From careful research and tables calculating the extent of crime, the
authenticity of which can be proved, the result is as follows :-
That in boys under 18 years of age the average time of their having
been on the town is two years two months and three days for each.
That out of 207 boys, 53 have become wicked purely from the drunken-
ness of parents; viz. five from both parents; eight from mothers; and
40 from fathers, being addicted to that vice.

42
It is generally bruited abroad that by far the greater number of juvenile
delinquents are of Irish parentage, either half or wholly bred; the following
numbers will show how little truth exists in the assertion. Out of 163
guilty boys only 34 are of Irish parents, of these 10 have fathers Irish,
4 mothers Irish, and 20 both parents Irish.
Whilst forgery and uttering forged notes, with guilty knowledge, were
punished with death, the numbers of those executed for the latter crime
bore a frightful proportion in the scale of criminals who lost their lives.
In the return for 1820 the number of executions were 43, of which
seven were for highway robbery; six for burglary; five for high treason;
three stealing in a dwelling-house value above 40s.; two for horse and sheep
stealing; one cutting and maiming; one forgery; one house breaking;
one murder; and one sacrilege ; while for passing forged notes there were
as many as 15.
In the return for the year 1833, there were 4891 criminals prosecuted,
of these 1414 were for offences against the person; and 3477 against
property; and of those tried 845 were old offenders.
During the years 1830 and 1834 both included, the criminals in the
manufacturing districts averaged in proportion to the population as follows,
at Bristol, 1 in 290; at Cheshire, 1 in 492; Derby, 1 in 1223; Durham,
1 in 1270; Gloucester, 1 in 611; Lancashire, 1 in 481 ; London and
Middlesex, 1 in 336; Nottingham, 1 in 606; Somerset, 1 in 597; Staf-
ford, 1 in 633; Warwick, 1 in 510; Wilts, 1 in 625; Worcester, 1 in
561; York, 1 in 956; among these no insignificant number were boys
under 12 years of age; from 12 to 16 years the ratio increased fearfully;
and from 16 to 21 the latter numbers (from 12 to 16 years) were very
nearly trebled.
POPULATION.
At the census taken in pursuance of 11 Geo. 3, c. 30, the numbers
were :-males 8,163,023; females 8,376,295. Total, 16,539,318. Of
these were employed as domestic servants : males under 20 years, 34,555 ;
males above 20 years 78,669. Total males 113,224. Females, 670,491.
Total employed as domestic servants 783,715.
LIST OF PRIVATE SOCIETIES IN LONDON, CONCERNING
CRIME.
1. Refuge for the Destitute.
2. Philanthropic.
3. Prison Descipline Society.
4. Mendicity Society.
5. Juvenile Vagrants.
6. Magdalen.
7. Guardian.
8. London Female, Pentonville.
9. Children's Friends Society; they
have the Victoria Asylum, at Chis-
wick, the matron is Mrs. Boushell.
10. Captain Brenton's, Chelsea.*
* These pages were written before any complaints were known to have been made
against this society, but they argue nothing against the construction, as they arise solely
from the bad officers which were sent abroad to conduct it.
43
REPORT
OF
W. A. MILES, Esq.
DELIVERED TO THE LORDS, JUNE 29, 1835.

“In pursuing my enquiries concerning prison discipline and the effect it
produces, my attention has been directed, first, to the source of crime;
secondly, to the effect of punishment; thirdly, to the habits and manners of
thieves, in order to ascertain, if possible, the discipline most likely to
render a gaol most irksome, without having recourse to extreme severity
or torture.
"And my conclusions are, first, that the source of crime is early contami-
nation and vicious education from parents ; secondly, that labour and safe
custody will not deter or reform offenders; thirdly, that the discipline
should be rendered so irksome that the self-convenience and interest of an
idle man or a thief would make him prefer a workhouse to a gaol; to effect headil
throulea
prefirrest
gaol.
which I should suggest, that no prison dietary should exceed those of
workhouses; that the periods of sleep should not exceed four hours; and
as mental idleness is greater punishment than physical labour, I should re-
commend that prisoners should be placed in forms, and inspected daily by
policemen.
* In order to obtain the fullest information on the subject, I have not
only carefully read the reports before the select committees of the House of
Lords and the House of Commons, but I have also visited the London
gaols, the police offices, and have also held personal communication with
thieves, in order to ascertain from them their feelings with regard to prison
discipline, as well as their habits in life ; but they are a race so artful, and
habitually inclined to deception, that I place but little credence in their
statements, unless confirmed by other information.
“With regard to punishment, I think that severity of corporal punish-
ment generally hardens the feelings, destroys what may remain of good in
the disposition of a man, and produces mental degradation. To overcome,
or rather to counteract, the evil of vicious education is an end which I do
not think attainable by violence or force.
The following table of recommitments, from Michaelmas, i833, to
Michaelmas, 1834, shows that labour punishments do not deter from
crime:

co
A
44
Names of Prisons.
Total
Number
committed.
Once. Twice.
Four Total
Three times Number
times. and recom-
oftener. mitted.
758
127
55
Cold-Bath-Fields
Westminster Bridewell
Brixton House of Correction..
Giltspur-street Compter..
Borough Compter
Surrey County Gaol
10,596
2,912
2,402
5,706
1,844
2,096
2,149
413
123
241
103
121
370
45
52
102
23
740
340
137
37
72
16
4,017
925
367
534
239
196
154
41
36
23
Total.....
25,556
Total recommitted
6,278
when
existence, without
6
“ The total of recommittals, namely, 6,278, is a proof of the very large
number of offenders whom prisons have not deterred; criminals who,
having become hardened, know what they will have to undergo in case of
conviction, and who may be looked upon as the gangrene of society, the
prison population of the metropolis. But in order to frustrate the calcula-
tions and anticipations of thieves upon the subject of punishment, I should
non ho suggest that the discipline towards recommitted offenders should be in-
esebel A stated number of times, he should be inevitably transported as a vicious
7 likes and incorrigible man.
“ London thieves have no sense of moral degradation ; they are corrupt
to the core; they are strangers to virtue and character, even by name; for
many of them are the children of thieves or of exceedingly dissolute people,
consequently they can have no contrition; they are in a state of predatory
any
tection, because it is an inconvenience, but they will not repent their crime;
Lords
ward with anxiety to the moment of their release; but their minds and
very
habits are not constituted for repentance. Mr. Chesterton, of the House
slots
of Correction, informed me that he considers reformation among juvenile
offenders to be utterly hopeless; he observed, that boys brought up in a
low neighbourhood have no chance of being honest, because on leaving
a gaol they return to their old haunts, and follow the example of their
parents or associates.' Lieutenant Tracy, of the Westminster Bridewell,
has pointed out to me lads who live constantly in gaols. Captain Kincaid,
of the City Bridewell, informed me that one-half of the number under his
pot lock on the day that I inspected the prison (June the 9th) had been more
than once committed, many of them several times, especially the boys.
Mr. Teague, of the Giltspur-street Compter, is of opinion that young
thieves are mostly incorrigible—that nothing will reform them; an opinion
which, he says, he has formed from the experience of many years. Mr.
Capper, of the Home Office, stated, in his evidence, that out of 300 juvenile
convicts, on board the hulk Euryalus, the eldest of whom was not 17,
133 had been committed more than once; and an experienced burglar told
me that young thieves cannot and will not reform, “the only thing, Sir,'
he remarked, “that may save them is transportation, as it removes them
from evil companions.
24oz
the
transporti
her parents or associates.
for the
45
chi
* The young thief is a nucleus of mischief. A young pickpocket named
Stuart, aged 13, informed me that his parents daily sent him into the
streets to look about,' that is, to plunder whatever he could lay his hands
upon; that his principal associates were three young thieves, with whom
'he worked,' or robbed; that when he was 10 years old he stood at a
horse's head while his companion stole a great coat from the gig; that he
got 6d. for his share of the plunder; that he had committed many robberies
because he was made to do it; and that he lived entirely by plunder.
“Mr. Chesterton states, in his evidence before the select committee of
the House of Commons, 1831, in answer to query 474, 'some of the pa-
rents lead their children into evil courses. It is no uncommon thing, when :2,410
we are listening to the conversation between the prisoners and their parents,
to hear a conversation that shows at once the boy's situation ; but the old
thieves are in the habit of bringing in with them young inexperienced lads.
Whenever the elder thieves are recommitted, they are frequently recom-
mitted with another.' He also observes (522) that “the elder thieves are
continually corrupting young lads, and bringing them into prison.'
I am informed that Captain Brenton considers the total number of juvenile
offenders within the bills of mortality to be 12,000. Dr. Lushington, I
believe, computed the number still higher; and from the evidence above
quoted it is evident that each elder offender is daily spreading the mischief
2
far and wide.
“There is a youthful population in the metropolis devoted to crime,
trained to it from infancy, adhering to it from education and circumstances,
whose connections prevent the possibility of reformation, and whom no
punishment can deter; a race sui generis,' different from the rest of so-
ciety, not only in thoughts, habits, and manners, but even in appearance ;
possessing, moreover, a language exclusively their own.
“There are lodging-houses kept by old thieves where juvenile offenders
herd together, and their constant intercourse tends to complete corruption.
It is in these hotbeds of vice that they revel in the fruits of their plunder ;
and though extremely young, they live with girls, indulging in every
kind
of debauchery.
“There are eleven girls now in the Westminster Bridewell, the eldest is
not 17, who were taken in a thieves' nest, in Union-court, Westminster.
One of the girls I questioned in the presence of Leutenant Tracey, who also
examined her: she said that the whole court is composed of lodging-houses
similar to the one where she had lived; that 17 or 20 young girls lived in
And
the same house; that they paid 7d. a night for a front room and 6d. for a
back room, in which were three or four girls; that young thieves -boys
who lived entirely by plunderlived, slept with, and kept them; that the soon
police would not allow a bundle to be carried into or out of the court with-
out searching them, and that all stolen goods were consequently fenced,
or disposed of before the boys came home. The latter part of this state-
ment was confirmed to me by policemen, who also informed me that the
girls frequently maintained the boys by the wages of their prostitution.
“I have also seen several Newgate tokens; they are circular thin pieces Normente
of metal, of various sizes. The initials or names of a loving pair are
Joking
punched upon them, together with a heart, or some symbol of affection ;
sometimes with a motto, as True for ever,' Love for life,' &c. &c. &c.

about
Cleaning
dowy
P

46
These tokens are manufactured in Newgate, and I am informed that the
parties attach the greatest value to them, wearing them constantly about
their persons, attaching to them in many cases a superstitious value, and
deeming them as amulets to preserve them from danger and detection,
Mr. Chesterton remarks, in his evidence before the select committee in the
House of Commons (522), “if you go into the history of the thieves out of
doors, it is very lamentable; they frequent the worst of public houses ;
they all of them keep their women, and even the young boys keep girls ;
it is a system of profligacy from beginning to end.' Mr. Plank, the chief
officer at Marlborough street, informed me, that each young prostitute in
the streets has generally a young thief very near her, in order to facilitate
her escape, or to hand over any property she might abstract from any
person's pocket.
“ The flash-houses are the resorts of the elder thieves ; here they as-
semble, concoct their schemes, share booty, and indulge in drinking, * as
well as constant gambling. All thieves delight in gambling, and one of
their chief inducements to thieve is in order to have the means to enjoy
and indulge in their greatest passion.
“It is in these lodging-houses, flash-houses, and low receptacles for
gambling that society receives the greatest injury; it is in these sinks of
iniquity, so common in every part of town, and so notorious that every
policeman knows them, that contamination takes place to such a degree
that it rots to the heart those whom it has once infected.
Upon these grounds I venture to conclude that the most essential service
to the community would be to put these houses under immediate surveil-
lance. Mr. Plank suggested that the most effectual mode of stopping the
trade of gambling-houses would be, to station two policemen at their re-
spective doors, to watch narrowly the ingress and egress of the visiters, by
which means young shop-boys or thieves would be deterred from entering,
Leninien from fear of subsequent recognition.
“ With respect to gaols, I am led to consider that the plan of attempting
to render them schools of virtue, however humanely or ingeniously it may
be devised, is too Utopian for successful practice.
“Mr. Chesterton thinks that nothing in the shape of punishment will
deter thieves ; that solitary confinement, with as low a diet as is consistent
with health, and no more labour than is necessary for exercise, would be
considered a much severer punishment than any they now suffer; that he
considers, moreover, the character of those people to be so dreadfully
abandoned, that he thinks very little short of a miracle can work reforma-
tion to most of them,-referring to those who embrace crime as a pro-
fession, and they are very numerous.
“Prisons, where offenders converse together, as they are permitted to do
in Newgate and the Compter, are decidedly mischievous to the men and
to the community. In Newgate the prisoners herd together, like dogs in
Loody
* On referring to the Ninth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison
Discipline Society, Boston, I find that the connection between intemperance and crime
is about 641 per cent.
+ The burglar whom I have before quoted, in reply to a question," do you think
these flash houses to be injurious ?" answered, " they are the root of all evil."
,
.
47
a kennel, basking in the sun or prowling round and round in the yard, as
I saw them. They appeared to be reduced as nearly as possible to the
state of wild animals inclosed in cages; safe custody is all that is attended
to, and it must be evident to the most casual observer, that such prisons
are as much the nurseries as the receptacles of crime,--lyceums for the
education of thieves. Mr. Plank, of Great Marlborough-street, informed
me, that he has frequently seen young thieves cry very much when first
brought before a magistrate; but that if they have been remanded for a
day or two, the short contamination of a gaol during so brief a period
rendered the offenders hardened and even insolent when again brought up.
Silence and separation, even solitude, do not appear sufficient to deter
from crime, because, notwithstanding this system is practised in America,
Mr. Crawford observes, in his evidonce before the select committee in the
House of Lords, that even where silence is maintained by immediate per-
sonal chastisement, (and the whip is used very freely in some of the peni-
tentiaries) still it is found that men will return;' and Captain Basil Hall
remarks, with respect to the gaols, that the same men come and go,
round and round again.
“Even in America, where labour is valuable and a man can obtain work,
we find that the penitentiaries fail in their effect; that there is a standard
quantity of felons whom nothing can deter from crime, and who, since
they prefer prison to labour, may be considered more as thieves by choice
than from necessity.
“ From these evidences and enquiries I have concluded, that vice is so
habitual that it is impossible to overcome the vicious effects of wicked
education; that the source of crime commences in very early life; and
that, as the feelings are too degraded to be made susceptible of moral edu-
cation, a gaol should be made so irksome that self-convenience and self-
interest, in the absence of virtue or repentance, may induce a person to
abstain from the commission of evil.
“Certainty of punishment, without the probability of mitigation, is one
of the secrets of effective discipline. A thief speculates upon chance,
chance' is his favourite word, and however remote a chance may be, he
Chance 'is the Alpha and Omega of a thief's existence. There are chances
of detection, chances of prosecution, and chances of acquittal ;* but even
after conviction there are chances of mitigation, chances of indulgence in
the gaol, and even at the foot of the gallows one solitary chance remains-
that the royal demise may save the culprit's life. Thieves calculate all
chances to a nicety, and I am informed that they calculate that it is better to
plunder than to inlist, with the chance of a bullet instead of a halter.
anno

hinh
6
6
* Total number of persons who have been committed and subsequently acquitted in
London and Middlesex, from 1824 to 1834 inclusive :
Committed... 24,965 Acquitted.
5,078
Not found guilty 7,881 No bill found, or not prosecuted. 2,803
Found guilty ,... 17,084 Total not found guilty
7,881
Total found guilty.
27,084
..
Total committed
24,965

48
You h
fima
Ya
I therefore suggest, that if detection and prosecution were made as certain
as possible, and that when sentence had been once pronounced it should
be rigorously enforced, persons might be scared from evil ; for no situation
can be more wretched and deplorable than one of annihilated hope.
“With regard to the most effectual punishment, it is requisite to know
the habits of the people whom it is proposed to punish. They are restless,
turbulent, fond of liquors and excitement; they are fond of communicating
their adventures to their companions ; they are, moreover, of indolent
habits, and shy of observation. Such I consider to be the characteristics
of London thieves : at least, those characteristics upon which punishments
can be framed; and as the state of an offender in a gaol should be made as
dissimilar as possible to his general habits when at liberty, I should pro-
pose that the discipline should be founded on-
Non-employment,
Separation.
Constant inspection
Silence.
Diet and short sleep,
Labour.
Non-employment should be a punishment, because labour becomes
habitual ; it becomes a less punishment erery day ; but while the effects of
the punishment are decreasing, the offender is every day becoming hardened
and callous. *
Labour ultimately becomes a relief to the monotony of the day, and in
that case is a boon to an offender; therefore, I think that the non-employ-
ment would increase the irksomeness and weariness of the time. I have
been informed that prisoners have a great dislike to the monotony of Sun-
day, because they have no employment. Mr. Crawford, in his evidence
(fol. 4, select committee, House of Lords) said, 'one of the greatest pun-
ishments upon the men (at Wakefield) was to take away their labour.'
Again, he observes, (fol. 7) I have visited the House of Correction at
Springfields, in which persons are occasionally confined in solitude, without
employment, for a certain period : this appears to me to be far more
severe.' The Reverend Chaplain of the Penitentiary states also, in his
evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons, 1831,
that he thinks the treadmill, as it is now used, does no good at all; he is
convinced that nothing short of seclusion will go to reformation. In ordi-
nary cases of conviction, where three or six months' confinement are ordered,
he would give three months of strict solitary confinement, without labour.'
"This opinion concerning non-employment is corroborated by Mr. T. G.
B. Estcourt, who states, in his evidence before the committee of House of
Commons, (562) with reference to work, I do not consider the hard
labour as any material addition to the weight of punishment; on the con-
trary, I believe that if imprisonment was altogether to be divested of
* Mr. Cope, the Governor of Newgate, informed me, that the most troublesome men
to manage were prisoners under sentence of long fines or terms of imprisonment. An
experienced burglar, well acquainted with the habits and feelings of thieves, assured me
that reformation might in some cases be effected, if young offenders were punished for
a short period and released, as he judiciously observed, while the severity is fresh upon
their memory and before they have become habituated to the treatment. He stated
that, generally speaking, ą reaction takes place in about a month or six weeks.
49
66
labour, and that during the hours that agricultural labourers are now employed
on the tread wheel, if they were confined in separate cells, the weight of
the punishment would be greater than it is, when they are for a certain
number of hours in the day employed on the tread wheel.' He further
states, that 'prisoners who have been confined in solitude in the House of
Correction, Wilts, have requested to be employed in preference to being
continued in solitude, without any labour at all ;' adding that the results
of his experience (563) leads him to conclude that solitary confinement,
with no more exercise than is barely sufficient for the preservation of
health, is a severer punishment than labour on the wheel, with seclusion,
during the hours that the prisoner is not at labour.'
“On the 18th of June Lieutenant Tracey, of the Westminster Bridewell,
told me that he had just punished a man, by taking him from his work,
and that the prisoner begged it again as an indulgence.
As it is evident that labour becomes a relaxation, where silence espe-
cially is enforced, I should suggest that it should be used not so much as
a constant punishment as for the purposes of preserving health.
“It would be a severe and irksome punishment if prisoners were com-
pelled to sit for a number of hours in the yards on forms, with partitions
on each side, in rows one above another, facing a blank wall.
“ When I inspected the gaols the prisoners appeared to me to be more
ill at ease when seated on the forms and looked at than when in their
separate cells.
“In a cell a feeling of solitary independence may be generated; the
offender may turn his back to the inspection hole and indulge in a train of
vicious thoughts, unmolested and unbroken by the eye of the turnkey
resting upon his; a thief, or even a viciously-disposed person, shrinks from
the glare of another's eye, and if the prisoners were compelled to sit in the
above-mentioned irksome manner, with an eye constantly upon them, the
tedium and annoyance would form a salutary punishment.
“ In cases of recommitments, presuming that the culprits are hardened
offenders, policemen from the different stations should attend as yardsmen
to assist in preserving silence, so that the extra expense of officers would
be saved; and the faces of habitual and incorrigible thieves would be
familiar in watever part of the town they might attempt their subsequent
depredations.
injurious to .
twelve hours; but I should suggest that the twelve hours should be
divided into two periods, four hours for sleep, eight for discipline, night
and day, so that in the twenty-four hours the prisoner will have had eight
hours, of two periods of four hours for sleep.
Supposing the discipline to consist in non-employment or sedentary
duty, in walking, in labour, and in sleep, every approximation to alternate
hours for each would be a severer punishment. This mode of discipline
would allow of an infinite variety of changes, so that every time an offender
should be recommitted, he would experience a different treatment, by
which means he could never speculate upon the punishment he would
receive.
"Where the dietaries of prisons is superior to those of workhouses, they are

“ Short
periods of sleep I consider to be a severe discipline, without being shortlin
istiet
50
preferred by vagrants. The principal turnkey at Giltspur Street Compter told
me, that when Winter approaches, the same vagrants return to that prison in
preference to the workhouse. I learned from Lieutenant Tracey, that one
woman in the Westminster Bridewell so highly approved of being well
clothed and fed, that she wrote to her sister, recommending her to get com-
mitted, which advice was duly followed.
Mr. Chesterton remarked, that in his opinion the regularity and
sobriety enforced within the prison, is the means of considerably benefiting
the health of habitual drunkards.
“ If prisons had workhouse allowance with the addition of severe disci-
pline and proportionate labour, there could be no calculation as to preference.
It is probable that a man could not undergo the severe labour, if restrained
to a low diet. It is in evidence that he could not, because the allowances
are increased in cases of long imprisonment, in which case the offender is
paid in extra food for his labour ; but as all convict labour is the dearest
that can be obtained, and as it is generally unproductive or losing, it could
be exacted only in proportion to the workhouse diet and be equally severe,
because it hardly appears reasonable that the community should be at the
expense of supplying extra food in order to enable a man to do extra work.
“ With respect to silence and separation, the evidence on all sides is so
full and satisfactory that I can offer no remarks, except the following cor-
roborations:
“The women at Westminster Bridewell are more separated than at Cold
Bath Fields, because in the latter they work a treadmill; at the Bride-
well there is none at present. The women complain of the separation, and
say that they would prefer three months with Mr. Chesterton at Cold
Bath Fields, though he is very severe, than pass one under the lock of
Lieutenant Tracey; so that the women would purchase by an additional
labour of two months, the indulgence of society for one. Mary Powell, an
unfortunate woman who once rode in her carriage, but who is now a victim
to drunkenness, and hardly ever out of a prison, informed me that all the
women dread the separation at the Bridewell. The smashers or passers of
bad money, say they will risk three false pieces in the City, rather than one
in the counties of Middlesex or Surrey, or in Westminster, because they
abhor the silent system; and the head turnkey, and John Anderson,
at Giltspur Street Compter, informed me that his gaol was becoming
more crowded as silence is not there adopted.*
“ However zealous the governors of the different prisons may be to en-
force silence, I think that every prisoner should have a solitary sleeping
cell. Every prison could be made to contain a greater number than re-
turned in the schedules relating to gaols, 1835. If the day-rooms or
sleeping-rooms were converted into separate cells. It appears to me that
the cells could be constructed in a cheaper manner than by using solid
masonry; the object would be to prevent sound passing from one to
another, and that object would be obtained by constructing hollow walls of

* In the ninth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Prison Discipline
Society, Boston, I find that the gaols wherein prisoners are allowed to assemble
together are reported to be, in a greater or less degree filthy; but in the prisons where
the silent system and separation are adopted, neatness and cleanliness prevail; and I
beg to observe that cleanliness of person generally bespeaks and might tend to generate
cleanliness of mind.
51
brick, (faced with cement for the purpose of detecting any attempt of
removal of bricks) and then filling up the intervening space with saw dust;
or by building the wall in a series of hollow chambers or flues, which
would not only preclude the passing of sound, but would be at once dry
and fire proof.
“The following table shews the number of extra cells that would be
required in the different gaols of the Metropolis :-

Names of Prisons.
Number of
Prisoners the
Prison is capable
of containing in
separate sleeping
cells.
Greatest
number in
the Prison at
one time.
Number of
extra cells re-
quired for each
Prisoner to be
separated.
New Prison, Clerkenwell
House of Correction, ditto.
Surrey County Gaol
Brixton House of Correction
Newgate .......
Giitspur Street Compter
Borough Compter, Southwark ..
Westminster Bridewell ...
32
417
173
148
19
22
6
288
414
1,245
208
270
414
163
96
355
382
828
35
122
395
141
90
67
Total .
1,105
3,165
2,060
“ Before I conclude I wish to make the following remarks upon
the
treatment of juvenile offenders :--It appears that, generally speaking, they
are incorrigible, and that the only means of preventing the recommission
of crime is to remove them from their associates and from temptation. To
transport them immediately, without having previously trained them to
labour and endeavouring to instil into them habits of industry, is to burthen
a colony with a worthless and a useless set of vagabonds. I therefore
suggest that the destitute juvenile offenders, as well as the frequently re-
I committed juvenile thief, should be trained to work in this country; the
one should be subsequently transported, the other subjected to compulsory
emigration.
" If the youthful offender, whose crimes have drawn upon him the imme-
diate punishment of transportation, behaves himself well during his term
of home imprisonment, he may be rewarded by a shorter sentence in the
colony. As for the destitute youth whose offences are less glaring, he
should be subjected to compulsory emigration, and be free on his arrival,
but placed under the care of the local government.
To build a prison for this class of offenders would be a great expense ;
but I beg leave to suggest, with the greatest deference, that the island of
Brownsea, in Poole Harbour, is well calculated for their reception ; it is five
miles in circumference, the soil is sandy, the situation healthy; it is sur-
rounded by deep waters and soft mud to a considerable distance and that
a few row boats and well-trained Newfoundland dogs could prevent escape.
On this island every employment could be used, every trade could be taught,
and in so large a tract of land the boys could be trained to the use of the
plough and other agricultural labour.
" W. A. MILES."

LETTERS.
Welshpool, 9th Oct. 1836.
Dear Sir,—I do myself the pleasure of sending for your perusal my
memoranda of information, afforded me by the constables of Barnett, Brent-
wood, Cleobury, Dartford, Daventry, Stoney Stratford, Towcester, and
Warwick.
I also send a paper containing queries, which, however, can be best em-
ployed in personal investigations.
The points or principles to which my enquiries in the country would now
be directed should be in each district-
I. The present state of crime, and to trace the reason or cause of its
increase or decrease.
II. The present state of the police, together with the efficiency of the
constables, their appointment, their pay, the services they may have per-
formed, and their general activity in visiting the parents of, or apprehending
thieves or vagrants.
III. The subject of vagrancy, which I should divide under the separate
heads of “trampers” and “lodging-houses."
1. Trampers.
1. Their different classes.
2. Proportion of professional vagabonds.
3. Means of life.
4. Their impositions and deceptions.
5. Their habits.
6. Inducements to vagrancy,
7. Effects of punishment.
2. Lodging-houses.
1. Number in each parish or town.
2. Average number of customers nightly.
3. Period when most frequented, and the cause.
4. If frequently inspected.
5. If persons are frequently apprehended in them.
6. Characters of the landlords or keepers.
7. The opinion of the landlord concerning the different classes
of his customers.
8. General appearance and condition of the houses.
IV. Beer-shops.
1. The number in each parish.
2. The rental.
3. If visited by officers.
4. General effect on the moral character.
I should turn my attention to each of these points in every district, and
venture to suggest such remedies as I might think best calculated to check
crime.


53
If punishments are made too severe against beggars and trampers, the
end will be defeated, because they will become objects of commiseration,
and the twaddling voice of a pseudo-philanthropy will be raised in their
behalf to such an extent, that the cadging system will be materially benefited.
Frequent inspection of these lodging-houses will considerably annoy this
vermin class of society, who dupe the public daily of an enormous amount,
and if it were not that these fellows are generally thieves, the public only
pay a daily tax for their credulity, and are scarcely worth protecting, as
they encourage and foster these vagabonds.
Every lodging-house is a link in the chain of crime, and I would
have them all licensed, their doors should be open to the police at all hours,
and they should be compelled to make a daily return of the number of
customers, their names or nick-names, (which latter, when known, would
be more desirable) together with a description of their persons.
I would, moreover, subject them to a fine if they should permit the same
tramper to remain a second night under their roof, and the police, during
their rounds to the other houses, would detect a lingering vagabond, who
should be taken before the magistrate on the following morning.
I should seriously recommend a trial in one of the prisons, which I am
persuaded would check tramping, namely, commit every tramper, let the
time be short and severe, but before he is dismissed shave one side of his
head, and if he is again caught before it has grown, then shave the other :
it would also be desirable to put them in the stocks when taken; not that
it can degrade the tramper, but it will render his face familiar, and he will
not infest the neighbourhood again. Another advantage will be, that he
will warn his brethren. I am convinced that if one particular district will
try this mode of treatment; there will be no beggars or trampers in it
within less than three months.
The secret of punishment is not severity; I speak with regard to
trampers and habitual thieves. It is to render a person so very irksome
and annoying that it shall be almost intolerable to him; and to effect this
I would not lock a fellow up at six in the evening, and let him wallow 12
hours in his bed, but he should be roused every four hours alternately
throughout the four and twenty, to work and rest; sailors keep their
watch, and are exposed to all weathers, while these vagabonds are fast
asleep.
Every approximation to alternate hours would be a severer punishment,
and that increased severity should be exercised on every recommittal.
I send you a mass of evidence, collected by me from thieves. No person
has seen it, as I have not had time to arrange it; but you will find some
very extraordinary information in it.
The notes were taken at the time, therefore you will excuse the rough-
ness of the MSS.
I remain, my dear Sir, yours very truly,
To E. C., Esq.
W. A. M.
Welshpool, Nov. 7, 1836.
Dear Sir,—Thanks for your queries and your letter. I shall be in town
about the middle of next week.
54
I think information concerning the following subjects would be desirable:-
Whether the duties are not more efficiently performed by permanent
constables ?
Are the duties of parish beadles performed by aged persons ?
Is it considered that trampers associate with or corrupt the poorer classes
in your division ?
Are offenders frequently apprehended in beer-shops ?
Are there any canals or navigable rivers passing through your division ?
(Memorandum.-Boatmen are a profligate and abandoned class.)
What number of trampers have been passed by the pass-master in your
district ?
With regard to associations, it might be well to ascertain the extent of
each district ; also if they are in communication with other associations.
I think, however, that no correct conclusion can be derived from the
number of prosecutions by the associations ; because a person who has
been robbed feels more inclined to prosecute, if he be in the association, than
the person who has not a similar benefit ; and this is so well known among
the depredators, that they are careful not to rob a member of such asso-
ciation, or at any rate they would rather rob another person.
In order to ascertain the number of trampers, I should suggest that on
a particular night (say Sunday) all the lodging-houses should be visited
where this class may visit and lodge, distinguishing these women and
children, countries and counties, if possible; and on the following day the
relieving officer should state the number who may apply for relief, thus
ascertaining upon a rough calculation the number who are in a state so
destitute that they require food.
The number relieved in one year was very near 87,000, many had been
relieved several times no doubt, but it gives an idea of the number of
strolling vagabonds.
In reference to what employment may be required of constables, I should
suggest that an officer should be the pass-master.
The query No. 20 will be more complete if it enquires the extent of
the division.
Detached portions of a county, situate in another county, are generally in
a bad state, because it is not, perhaps, within the jurisdiction of surrounding
magistracy.
I remain, &c. &c. &c.

My Dear Sir,-I herewith forward to you some memoranda which I
collected yesterday at Oxford. My informant is T. L., the city marshal
and superintendent of the city police.
It appears that there are seven magistrates in the city of Oxford.
There are two distinct classes of constables, namely, the city police and
the university police; the former, which only perform day duty, consists of
8 patrols, 14s. per week and clothes.
2 inspectors, 12s. salary, who are allowed fees.
1 superintendent, 30s. salary for both offices, being also city marshal.
11
55
The university police do the night duty. My informant was unable to
give me accurate details, but he believes the force is-
20 patrols, 11. ls. per week and clothes.
2 inspectors.
1 superintendent.
23
11 day police or city force.
occurs.
34 total force.
Serious misdemeanors and offences are not very common, but consist
chiefly in shoplifting, robbing carts, &c. &c. &c., and these robberies are
generally effected by trampers, chiefly Irish. Horse-stealing occasionally
A few days since a constable observed the pockets of a man of
suspicious appearance to be much loaded, and on searching they found
some shirt collars, trowsers, and other things, which he had purloined from
a cart. The fellow is committed for six months, and is connected with
three other trampers, who were in the lodging-houses, but instantly or-
dered out of the town by the policemen. The thief was an Irish tramper.
My informant is of opinion that the greatest proportion of offences are
committed by trampers or strayers from London or from Birmingham,
having, moreover, no doubt but that the thieves of both places are in con-
stant communication. (In reference to Birmingham thieves, it may be
well to inform you, that when I was at Welshpool, last week, a Birmingham
pickpocket was apprehended in the fair.) About the end of term time,
Oxford is overrun by Jews and fellows of very suspicious characters, who
come in light carts from London, ostensibly to purchase old clothes, but
they will all fence. There are many fences in the city of Oxford, but
chiefly among lodging-house keepers. Diamonds, rings, snuff boxes, and
other jewellery were found, a few months ago, concealed under a heap of
ashes, in the coal-hole of a low lodging-house, being the property stolen
from a house in Bucks, by two burglars. One of them, nicknamed Splasher,
was apprehended and sentenced to transportation, (the other is at large.)
This man (Splasher) contrived to escape from the hulks, but was recognized
by a Bow-street officer, about three weeks ago, in Holborn, in consequence
of his description in the Hue and Cry, and is now again in custody. The
first apprehension of this fellow was in consequence of the Hue and Cry,
which, to use my informant's own expressive phraseology, is “wonderful
useful.”
With regard to trampers, he considers the far greater proportion to be
impostors, at once idle, thievish, and dissolute, and that they continue
tramping as a profession, from generation to generation. No relief is ever
given to the old well-known trampers, nor do they often seek it.
Swarms of Irish apply when emigrating in search of harvest work, but
my informant sees nothing of them on their return, (probably they change
their route, or they are passed along another road.)
It has already been stated by my informant, that trampers are most
frequently thieves, and to such an extent are their depredations, that there
are not less than, most probably more than, 30 resident fellows in Oxford
who associate with the trampers, acting for them as agents in fencing pro-
perty, or as bullies in attempting to rescue, if any tramper should be

56
apprehended. My informant has had most of these men in custody for
the above-named offences. These fellows never work, but are always
watching the officers, in order to give, if possible, to the trampers whom
it was requisite to apprehend, or else loitering away their time at the low
lodging-houses.
With regard to the lodging-houses, my informant is but an echo to the
opinion of every practical man to whom I have spoken on the subject,
namely, that they are the nurseries and hot beds of crime throughout the
country.
In this city, however, the police have, ever since last August, when
they were constituted, visited these houses every night and morning, and
if a tramper is detected two following days or nights in the city, his certain
punishment is fourteen days' imprisonment. The trampers, previous to
this regulation, used to remain 10 days or a fortnight in the town. The
effect of this salutary inspection is, that the regular trampers take good
care to avoid the penalty of a sojourn, and the lodging-house keepers com-
plain that it ruins their establishment.
There is no distress among the inmates of the lodging-houses. Beef-
steaks, and the best of cheer, seasoned by drinking and card playing.
Informant inspected a lodging-house last night—found the party at cards.
He burnt the pack amidst the grumbling of the company, and above all
the lodging-house owner, who declared he might as well shut up shop.
There are about 12 lodging-houses in this city, and they are all situate
in the parish of St. Thomas.
“Beer shops," my informant says, " are the worst things that ever hap-
pened,” they are not only the sly lurking-holes of the worst, most idle, and
dissolute of characters, but boys and girls, almost children, congregate in
them to play cards, and something worse.
In case of any robbery of importance, the superintendent sends informa-
tion to Abingdon, distant six miles, to Witney, (10 miles) and to Wood-
stock (eight miles). If it be deemed in time, the information is sent by
letter; if otherwise, by expresses on horseback--an expensive method, he
observed, and which would be saved if there were patrols on the high roads.
In reference to the beneficial result of spreading information concerning
robberies, I beg to call your attention to the remark of my informant con-
cerning the Hue and Cry, deficient as it is.
My informant, in continuing the subject of the utility of constant and
immediate communication, stated that he received, only this morning, by
the driver of the mail cart, a communication from the gaol at Newbury,
informing him that a horse-stealer, named Perry, was brought yesterday
to the prison; that he knocked the gaoler down, took his keys from him,
locked him in a cell, and walked out of the prison. It was known that he
had written and addressed a letter to a Mrs. Perry, of Oxford, and conse-
quently the keeper of Newbury forwarded a communication to the superin-
tendent of the city. It appears that this man is well known as a notorious
horse-stealer; that the woman is his wife; that the postman did deliver a
letter to her this morning from Newbury; and that as it was most pro-
bably requiring some rendezvous, which might lead to his recapture, the
constables were closely watching her during the time I was at Oxford.
Pass tickets are seldom produced by trampers; sometimes they are for-
geries. Informant burns them, and the tramper is glad to escape as

57
quickly as possible. About six or seven have been produced within the
last month, and they are all from gaols. The money given is generally ld.
a mile per head; if, however, to a person and a child, 11d. The amount
of
pass money for the last three months is lls. 2d.
A discretionary power is left with the superintendent to relieve extreme
cases, and he occasionally gives a ticket on the lodging-house keeper for a
bed. In some instances he gives the applicant a further benefit, namely,
3d. to purchase food. The amount of money given in this manner is
averaging 30s. per quarter, and the tickets for beds about 24s. per quarter,
which
money is paid out of a rate collected by the overseers and called the
Trophy rate.
There are two associations for prosecuting offenders, namely, the Gar-
deners and Florists' Association and the Farmers' Association. The former
association has only had three prosecutions within the last two years ; the
latter several. Informant is of opinion that they check crime.
There are, moreover, many associations in different parishes and adjoin-
ing towns. Hoping these memoranda may be useful,
I remain, &c. &c. &c.

Nov. 27, 1836.
Dear Sir,- I return to you your proposed schedule, headed "a return of
the number of depredators known to the police.”
You asked me for my candid opinion, and I therefore suggest to you,
whether the classing and headings of the schedule are not too complicated
for general circulation, and therefore, whether the returns may not be
inaccurate,
I think if plain queries were circulated concerning lodging-houses,
brothels, flash public-houses, houses kept by receivers of stolen property,
your returns could be the more easily and accurately obtained, and then
the information thus afforded might be satisfactorily arranged in your
proposed schedule, which partakes more of the character of a digested
summary.
I send you a set of queries on each of the above subjects, and also the
heading of various queries put by me to convicted thieves, from which
tables could be arranged from the evidence I have already forwarded
I remain, &c. &c. &c.
you.
Lancashire, Liverpool.
M---- W-- says he has been connected four years with the
police of Liverpool, three years as superintendent of the night police and
one year as head constable of the new police force, (his present situation).
The police extends to the borough limits, which include a population of
about 220,000.
The town police consist of about 400 men, and the dock police 180 ;
these forces will be consolidated in a few days.
The annual loss of property by crime in this town is more than 600,0007.
The prostitutes are the greatest thieves; they plunder drunken or in-
cautious strangers, and the nightly reports entered in this office of money
thus lost varies from one to four hundred pounds, besides robberies of which
the police hear nothing. It is difficult to form an average, because the
58
other night a man lost 2,0001. ; but there is never less than 1001. thus stolen
nightly, generally much more.
The greatest victims are commercial men, and sometimes an Irish mem-
ber or two of parliament, on their way to London.
There is a low brothel, the rental of which is about 201. per annum,
wherein robberies had been committed to the amount of 9001. within the
last six months.
Informant says he searched a brothel some short time since, and under
a heap of ashes he found one hundred sovereigns; but as no owner could
be found, the property was restored.
It is immaterial whether these prostitutes steal gold or notes. The gold
is difficult to trace, it is gone instantly from their possession, and notes are
easily disposed of. Respectable tradesmen in this town will cash bank
notes for a girl whom they know to be a prostitute, provided she is a pur-
chaser of about 10 per cent.
There are about 400 brothels in this town, wherein girls are kept, and
each house maintains about five. There are also about 2,000 prostitutes,
who live in lodgings, making a total of about 4,000 women of this class;
and there are at least 1,000 idle rascals, called fancy men, who live entirely
upon the thefts and prostitutions of these women. They are generally in
close attendance, either to bully a dupe or decamp with the plunder which
the women immediately pass to them.
Though many of these women leave and go away to other towns, others
supply their places. The stock is still the same, and Dublin contributes
largely in her numbers.
There is another class of persons who plunder and dupe to a considerable
amount, namely, "magsmen,” as they are termed. These men infest the
docks, the streets; the inn, coach offices, or any other places where strangers
are likely to be found. They then enter into conversation with him, pre-
tend they are going to America, if the strangers be going, look at the ship
with him, propose to take their passage in the vessel, then a dinner is pro-
posed, and there the dupe, somehow or other, is sure to be plundered, either
through want of caution, or through the agency of women or wine, perhaps
both. Informant says that one of the most daring and successful of this
class is a man named J----S A--n, who is keeper of several brothels.
He is, moreover, the fence-general for all the southern part of Scotland,
and all the northern English intervening towns. He is considered one of
the most knowing thieves in England, and is one of the most daring and
most expert of housebreakers. Eight of his gang have been transported ;
but although informant has had this man twice in custody, he has escaped
through defect of evidence.
The amount of money stolen by these" magsmen from strangers is at
least 8,0001. per annum.
Robberies on mercantile goods are annually committed to an enormous
extent, by men called "lumpers.” The lumpers are a class of labourers,
employed in the docks and about the shipping, to load, unload cargoes,
and move -merchandize from place to place, in connection with carters.
The character of a lumper is no recommendation in the eyes of his em-
ployer. There is a certain task to be done, requiring certain physical
strength, and as long as it is done, it is immaterial whether the man be
honest or dishonest.


59
These men have no regular employer, and no inducement to study his
interest or their own character, so they plunder whenever they can.
Whole bales of cotton have been taken by them, with the connivance,
though, of the carters; and ready purchasers are found among men carry-
ing on respectable lines of business.
Before the establishment of the new police eight or ten burglaries were
generally effected every night in the environs; none are now committed.
Informant cannot recollect a recent case; one or two of trifling extent
within the town only.
Pickpockets are innumerable, chiefly by lads. The pawnbrokers take
the handkerchiefs at ls. each.
Last year many robberies were effected on shops, by breaking the glass
and stealing things out of the windows. This system was new to the
police, but being now aware of it, it is in a great measure checked.
The present prevalent mode of robbing is stealing lead from roofs of
houses and warehouses. It is an article now worth about 201. per ton.
The robbery is frequently not known till a fall of rain may penetrate the
roof. The thieves find a ready market in the marine store shops.
Many robberies are also committed by entering dwellings with latch
keys, and by boys sneaking into shops and abstracting the tills or property
within reach, when the tradesman may be in his back parlour at his meals.
The greatest number of robberies are committed in the evening, between
the hours of six and nine.
With regard to fences a thief will find no difficulty in getting rid of any
stolen property, whatever it may be; witness the circumstances already
mentioned of respectable, at least apparently respectable, tradesmen cashing
notes of high value for well known prostitutes, of tradesmen purchasing
whole bales of cotton from lumpers. The marine store dealers are all fences,
informant does not know of one exception; they will sometimes give in-
formation in a minor case, in hopes of escaping suspicion, but any one of
them will purchase to any amount. Pawnbrokers also fence, although there
are some few in this town of the greatest respectability.
The brothel keepers fence all property stolen by their prostitutes.
Fenced property is conveyed wholesale to Dublin, to Manchester, Bir-
mingham, and other towns, and from those places the fences also consign
property to their associates in Liverpool.
Informant is of opinion that the police ought to have a more extensive
power over pawnbrokers and dealers in marine stores, as they are the
greatest receptacles for stolen goods; moreover he regrets that juries are so
delicate with regard to convicting a receiver of stolen property; there is
great difficulty in obtaining a verdict, because a host of neighbours, out of
kindness, come forward to give testimonials as to character, &c.; the man
escapes, unless he happens to be a Jew, then he is fully suspected and con-
victed as a matter of course. There are not many Jews in Liverpool, and
informant considers most of them to be very respectable fair dealing®men.
Informant
says that his principal object is to render thieving difficult to
be committed, and detection as certain as it is possible to render it. The
exertions of the police have driven away a considerable number from the
town ;-they have not gone into rural districts. A town thief will seldom
work in the country, and it is a fact that he will rather commit a burglary
.
60
in a town, though attended with five times the risk than adventure one in the
country, where he could be more secure. In an Edinburgh paper about a
month ago it is stated that the Liverpool thieves were then very numerous
in Edinburgh.
The arrangements of the Liverpool police differ, though not very mate-
rially, from the system of the London Police. Particulars will be supplied.
Informant considers the Liverpool police to possess a decided advantage
over the metropolitan force, inasmuch as they have the keeping of the fire-
engines. He has lately introduced an American plan, called a hose reel,
which will bring an engine into play in one minute, at any distance, without
which it would require fifteen or twenty minutes.
The average amount of loss by fire in this town was 400,0001. annually,
but since the police have had the care of the engines, and this hose reel has
been used, the average loss does not exceed 20,0001. per annum.
With regard to vagrants there are innumerable low lodging-houses in
this town for the reception of this class which is very numerous, owing to
the communication with Ireland. There are frequently cases of extreme
want among some of the vagrants, especially Irish. There are no mendicity
societies, but there is a nightly refuge for the destitute. It is only fre-
quented by distressed strangers of honest habits, but not by trampers. In-
formant cannot call a tramper a stranger, for he sees the same faces over
and over again. The regular tramper is a regularly accustomed larceny
thief, but though he may commit a burglary in the rural districts, he will
seldom, if ever, attempt one in the towns.
The trampers subsist chiefly by begging and by occasional small thefts-
they obtain much money by begging.
Informant here observed that it was worthy of notice that many trampers
travelled with children from five to twelve years of age, and that these children
are most remarkably attached to them, though they seldom are the trampers'
offspring. Informant has questioned many trampers on the subject, who
confess that the children are not their own, but state that their parents are
dead. The affection always displayed by these children, especially if the
tramper is committed, has always struck the informant as remarkable as it
is unaccountable.
Informant lately detected a tramp impostor who pretended to be blind,
this man was accompanied by a child; the man was sent for a month to the
Bridewell, the child to the workhouse where she shewed the greatest affec-
tion, and joined him immediately on his liberation. This man, however,
was discovered to be an itinerant fence, and received handkerchiefs from
boys for which he gave them sixpence, and took all risk of pledging them.
Twelve duplicates, all dated within two days, were found upon his person,
and on his liberation from the Borough he had the impudence to apply for
them, which was of course refused.
Informant is not acquainted with the Cheshire officers of police in any
of the rural districts; there are officers belonging to this force stationed at
the Pier Heads at Birkenhead, and other towns on the Cheshire coast
facing Liverpool; the town thief would be recognized by them, and he
has moreover to pass the dock office when he embarks.


61
Macclesfield, June 23.
Dear Sir,--I have been to Knutsford and am now at Macclesfield, I find
that every witness is anxious to put on the best face he can upon his own
duties, (that is natural) and hitherto I have not been able, owing to the
weather, to go into the villages in order to have conversation with farmers
and others to corroborate the evidence I have collected.
It appears to me that the Cheshire constabulary force is not sufficient,
(I am speaking only of Bricklow hundred, and the Preston division of the
Macclesfield hundred,) moreover, each special high constable acts upon his
own peculiar system in his own district, so that want of numbers, and
want of uniformity of action, render the system imperfect; I am told by
all, that there is little crime in the rural districts, yet I hear of robbery,
though certainly not to any great extent, except along the canals. The
paid constabulary force, I think, employ themselves most actively in look-
ing after the Beer shops, especially on Sunday during Church time—they
pocket half the penalties.
I think, moreover, that it is highly injurious to the principles of any
police, to allow any of its officers to derive any emolument by an infringe-
ment of a law; and in Cheshire it renders them little better than common
informers. I am very anxious to see some farmers, but it will require
some care as they are wary and suspicious of every stranger.
I call your attention to the evidence I forward for your perusal, and shall
feel greatly obliged by your kind and candid opinion thereon; and so im-
portant do I consider your remarks, that I would rather not commence in
the adjoining hundred till I hear from you on the subject, as you might see
some object to which you would more particularly call my attention.
There is a gross case of tyranny and injustice on the part of an influen-
tial magistrate, near Knutsford, namely, T—E, M. P. for N-
C- and if my information be correct, the lady's maid at T H-
(E-'s S-) has more influence than the Governor has power at the
House of Correction. Captain W— the Prison Inspector, was informed of
the affair, and he will be able to supply particulars as it is in his department.
Poaching I find to be the greatest crime in the eyes of the Magistrate-
the murder of a partridge or a human being, are ever visited with the
fullest penalty of the law.
I shall have much to engage my attention in the hundred of Wirrall,
where wrecking is considered no crime, and a wreck is a Godsend.
In the next station I shall take (Nantwick hundred,) I shall, perhaps,
find how Magistrates oppressed townships with paid constables on the
passing of the Constabulary Bill, and brought into bad odour.
It were better if all the officers could be paid out of the county-rate.
I have heard of a magistrate in the county who is at variance with all
the rest, so I have written to him for an interview, when I come into his
part of the county, and I have a letter of introduction to an attorney at
Chester, who will not screen the magistracy,
I remain, &c. &c. &c.
2
L
Chester, Feb. 12.
Gentlemen,-Pursuant to my instructions from your board, I proceeded
to the county of Cheshire, in order to make enquiries concerning the con-
62
stabulary force under the Cheshire Act, and other matters connected with
the police.
I have directed my attention to the following subjects :-
I. The present state of crime.
II. The protection afforded by the constabulary force.
III. The inefficiency of the township or court leet constable.
1st. With regard to the present state of crime, I find that the greater
proportion of offences are committed by persons from Manchester, Stock-
port, Macclesfield, and Congleton, who make their descents upon the rural
districts, committing violent assaults on the highway, burglaries, and
thefts of every description.
There are, moreover, certain districts where it is notorious that thieves
and poachers reside almost unmolested, and dreaded by the inhabitants for
miles round-Formerly there were organized gangs of idle and desperate
men, who committed the most daring robberies; but the vigilance of one
or two officers of the constabulary force has broken up these banditti; but
although these bands of organized ruffians no longer exist to the extent
they formerly did, there are, however, certain districts where they herd
together, such as at Wilmslow, at Laindow common; and in the portion
between Wilmslow and Altringham, there is a daring set of marauders,
who live on the range of the Peckforden hills, who plunder in all the sur-
rounding districts, and are the terror of the farmers.
I find that the barges are considerably plundered on the various rivers
and canals, which pass through the county.
The greatest mart for all stolen property is at Manchester, the thieves
and receivers of which town, are in constant communication with those of
Liverpool and Birmingham.
Poaching is considered to be the root of every crime and evil, and the
magistrates generally give the fullest penalty to offenders against the game
laws. It is true, a poacher proceeds from one offence to another, if he
misses his game he will take a sheep, if attacked he may desperately com-
mit a murder- His habits are idle and dissolute, and in order to support
those habits, he seeks for money in the way by which it is most easily
obtained. Young fellows who are active, are paid by landed proprietors
to attend them on sporting excursions, they render themselves useful at
the battû—they make it their study to learn the habits of birds or game,
and ultimately poach on their own accounts.
There are not many instances of burglaries to any great extent, they are
not committed by residents in the rural districts; but by strangers, fre-
quently by trampers, sometimes by thieves from Manchester ; it is however,
very common for the poor to steal from the poor to plunder their cottages,
or rob one another of their working implements. Hen roost robberies are
very frequent.
There are occasional instances of horse or sheep stealing, in some in-
stances the stolen horses have been traced along the banks of the canal.
The trampers are generally thieves, purloining whatever they can from
the dwellings, or stealing linen from the hedges, the latter species of theft
is designated by them snow-dropping.
With regard to the state of crime in the towns, I find that it exists to a
considerable extent, though not of a very grave and heinous character-

63
the rag shops and pawnbrokers, ever offer the immediate means for a thief
to turn his plunder into money. In Stockport and Macclesfield, many
(indeed almost all) the children are employed in the manufactories, but as
in all large communities, there is a certain number of children of vicious
and stealing propensity; and in both these towns they plunder shops, rob
the tills, purloin from carts, and loiter about the streets, rather than seek
an honest living. In Stockport the manufactories are cotton, and the ma-
terials being of little value, there is but little inducement for a child to
steal from his employer; not so, however, in Macclesfield, where the manu-
factories are in silk, which is valuable; the children employed at the fac-
tories can easily conceal a small quantity about their person, and they
always find a ready market in the unprincipled men who have small looms,
and immediately manufacture the silk they purchase at about one-fourth
its value. These men are known under the term of “ Turkey Merchants,'
many
of them have risen from the greatest poverty to easy circumstances,
style themselves manufacturers, &c. possess lands and houses, although it
is notorious, that they have carried on their business by purchasing stolen
property. The proprietor of one factory, considers that he is plundered of
silk, to the annual amount of £500. It is not only children who pilfer,
but also adult workmen, and it is almost impossible to prevent the plun-
der: for instance, a quantity of silk is given to a man, which he is required
to throw or wind, the silk is weighed to him, a certain allowance is made
for " waste," and he is expected to return a required weight. He gives
in his work and the weight is correct, but he has plundered to his fullest
extent, and in order to obtain the weight the silk is soaked, and even the
bobbins on which it is wound have been steeped in wet sand to make them
weigh the heavier. In some instances, the wooden bobbins have been in-
geniously pierced and filled with lead. In order to check these systematic
robberies, it is requisite that the manufacturers and the police should adopt
vigilent and decisive measures.
On referring to the calendar of prisoners, tried at Knutsford quarter
sessions, in January, 1837, I find the total number to be 114, of which
number 96 were cases of felony, 20 of the cases were from Stockport; 15
from Macclesfield; and four from Congleton.
It further appears by the same calendar, that the number of persons
undergoing punishment in the prison at that period, amounted to 141, for
the following offences :-
Larceny
60 | Bastardy
4 | Leaving Employment 2
Poaching
28 | Neglect of Family 4 | Perjury
2
Riots and Assaults 17 | Rapes
3 | Embezzling money.. 1
Vagrants
9 Bigamy
2 Unnatural Crimes .. 2
Burglary
On visiting the prisons, I found that very few offenders in comparison
with extent of county, and population came from the rural districts, but
were chieây from the towns, especially Macclesfield and Stockport, as
above stated; and there were only eight prisoners in the goal under 19
years of age. The youngest aged 12, had been twice before in prison,
and was one of the most crafty and hardened boys I ever examined.
I now turn, gentlemen, to the subject of the constabulary force, appointed
under the Cheshire local act. When the bill was first passed, I had reason

.
7
64
to believe, that the magistrates appointed coristables with a lavish, and
perhaps injudicious patronage. One magistrate observed to me, that it
was used as a means to protect game. In the Stockport division of the
Macclesfield hundred, the townships were taxed with the expense of seven
constables--some of the appointments were given to very inefficient per-
sons, and one was nearly blind. Eight or nine constables were forced
upon the townships in the hundred of Nantwich---the consequence was,
that the townships appealed, and were relieved from the expense which
they considered to be a greater burthen, in proportion as they saw the utter
inefficiency of the constables, whom they had to support in comparative idle-
ness; and who was more active in looking after poachers and beer-houses,
than protecting property of the rate-payers These constables seldom or
never saw the special high constable, they did not hold themselves
respon-
sible to him for their time or conduct. Each man pretended to take care
of his own immediate district, and was in no system of communication
with the adjoining constable.
The present constabulary force is too weak in numbers to be an effec-
tive power, and though the superintendants or special high constables have
a better controul over the petty assistant constables, yet the officers of
each district are not in immediate communication with each other, and the
police in each hundred is managed according to the judgment of the spe-
cial high constable. Many persons have informed me that they consider
the constabulary force to be inefficient; and it is the opinion of some, that
the bill should be compulsory on all townships, in which case, the consta-
bles should be paid from one general rate.
The hundred of Macclesfield is divided into two districts, namely, the
Stockport and the Prestbury—the rural police in each are distinct from the
town police of Stockport and Macclesfield, as will appear hereafter. In the
Stockport division, which comprises a population of about 30,000 (inde-
pendent of the town, which is 60,000); there is one special high constable,
and two assistant petty constables. I have been informed that depreda-
tions are commonly committed in the districts, and the special high con-
stable stated to me, that he only renders himself active in heavy cases of
felony, as he never went out for minor offences, and never heard of them
unless when casually in a village. He further added, that unless informa-
tion is brought to him of a robbery, he does not send his assistant consta-
bles to any particular round or district, but they ramble through the
townships, looking after public-houses and beer-houses, particularly on
Sundays, the officers receive the half of the penalty.
In the Prestbury division, a special high constable and two petty assist-
ants perform the public duties, in a district containing about 30,000, in the
centre of this district the town of Macclesfield is situated, with a population
of about 24,000. Jealousy formerly existed between the borough and the
county magistrates, which fostered a similar feeling between the town and
the rural police, and even now they do not co-operate very cordially
together. The special high constable informed me, that he can only visit
each township about once a month ; that there are many robberies and
thefts committed in the rural districts, which never come to the knowledge
of the police, and which are compromised by the parties. He further
stated, that in almost every township there are a certain proportion of idle

65
men, who seldom or ever work, and are yet in better condition than the
labouring man. It is a common saying among the beer-shop visitors, that
" there is only fourpence a day difference between working and playing,
and that playing has it.” In the year 1836, there were 135 cases brought
before the Magistrates of the county, and 100 of them were taken or
brought up by the constabulary force officers,
It is much to be regretted that there is no system, no regular official
communications daily made from one portion of the police to the others,
no uniformity of action in the force, no general interest among the officers.
I now turn to the police in the towns of Macclesfield and Stockport.
First, in Stockport there is a population of 60,000, over which there is
a police force, consisting of one superintendent, one serjeant, and 10 con-
stables; but no opinion can be correctly made, as it has only been in opera-
tion about nine months. The number of larcenies are said to be consi-
derable in the borough, and there has been no cases of highway robbery
or burglary, since last September. The superintendent does not consider
the majority of his men to be conversant with their duties. The greatest
portion of the aggravated offences are committed by strangers, either from
Liverpool or Manchester, who are in constant communication with the
thieves of Stockport; and who frequently plan the robberies, which the
more experienced strangers subsequently effect.
There are 48 lodging-houses in the town, 14 of which are frequented by
thieves and suspected persons.
About 1,000 cases are annually brought before the borough magistrates,
of which number 270 are for felonies.
There are several receivers of stolen property resident in the town, and
in the house of one man, stolen property was found to the amount of £200.
All the officers of police in this town have a fixed salary, and do not
derive any extra emolument from the penalties inflicted on public houses
or beer houses—these penalties are paid into the funds of the borough, and
are carried to the police account, by which means the police are not con-
sidered as mercenary informers.
I enclose a copy of the regulations of the Stockport police.
The borough of Macclesfield contains upwards of 24,000 persons, ac-
cording to the population returns, but I was informed, that as the limits
had been extended, the population is now upwards of 30,000. The police
of the town consist of one superintendent and eight constables.
The Magistrates appear satisfied with the exertions of their police, and
consider that effectual good has resulted from its arrangements. It might
be tolerably effective as a detective day force, but it is to small a force for
the duties of day and night.
I have already alluded to the system of plunder, so dexterously and so
continually carried on in the silk trade of this town; and I think, if the
police were occasionally to station themselves at the doors of the factories,
in order to search the persons on leaving work, the dread of detection might
operate in checking this species of theft.
The rag shops are great inducements to plunder, and I am informed,
that the owners purchase any thing which may be brought to them. Clothes
or shoes are immediately sent to a tailor's or shoemaker's to be altered, in
order to prevent a person from identifying his property.

66
There are 10 lodging-houses in the town, containing 70 double beds,
and on the night I was at Macclesfield, there were 67 trampers and va-
grants in the town, the greater portion of whom came from Manchester,
Birmingham and Ireland.
With regard to the townships or court leet constables, I consider them
to be inefficient and worse than useless, generally ignorant of their duties,
and almost always reluctant to act. In this county, I find that in cases
requiring courage or exertion, they leave the duties of the police to be
performed by the constabulary force officer, and when he requires their
assistance they shrink from their duty, and even screen the offenders.
The office of constable is frequently forced upon a person in a village,
who is perhaps a retail dealer or huckster, his connexion with his neigh-
bours is his support, and looking to his private interest he has no induce-
ment to be active. The appointment is annual, and it is his object to
shuffle through the period of his service. He is an unpaid and an irresponsi-
ble man, connected sometimes by blood, sometimes by friendship, and
frequently by local circumstances, with men resident in the neighbourhood,
whose habits may be notoriously bad or generally suspected. No consta-
ble or officer of police should be long resident in the neighbourhood where
he is required to act. There are many instances, where the office being
considered not only troublesome, but obnoxious, persons avail themselves
of every means to escape the duties. Sometimes the office is forced upon
persons through pique or hatred. I know an instance of a magistrate who
received presents from persons, in order that they should not be chosen ;
one person neglected to send the usual offering on the choosing day, and
meeting the magistrate on his return homewards apologized, by saying
that he had forgotten it. “ That may be " said the magistrate,
- but I
have not forgotten to make thee constable for the next twelve months,'
In another case, some magistrates endeavoured to force the office of con-
stable on a woman. But these cases do not refer to Cheshire, and I shall
have occasion to refer to them, during my future investigations.
In some townships there are men who permanently act as constables or
beadles, and receive a small annual allowance; sometimes they act as de-
puties to the chosen and responsible officer. In these cases, the office is
generally held by some idle, ignorant, drunken man, the village busy-body
or the parish sot, who, but for this office, would be upon the parish books;
and who, by virtue of it, finds himself at free quarters at the beer shops or
public-houses, mixing and drinking with the worst of characters, greedy
of money, he is always ready to screen or to inform, according to the
amount he may obtain ; and he finds it more to his advantage sometimes
to compromise an offence than to apprehend an offender. Such men are
very jealous of the interference of the police, and find it the best policy to
be in the most cringing subserviency.
Whether the township constable is paid or not paid, he is inefficient,
sometimes through fear, sometimes through interest. A highway robbery
was committed lately at Wilmslow, and the constabulary police repaired to
the spot, but were unable to apprehend the offender, although they knew
the man, and he was also known to the constable of the township. This
man is still at large, although he is known to have been subsequently to
the shop of the constable, who is a huckster. One evening information was

67
given to the township constable, that the man was at a public-house, within
100 yards of his own shop, in a state of helpless drunkenness, but the
officer refused to take him into custody.
The township constables in the neighbourhood of the Peckforden Hills,
are afraid to point out offenders, of whom there are many living in cot-
tages along the entire range of hills, making daring descents upon the
lower lands, and pillaging with impunity. Even farmers are afraid to
identify their own property, when it may be discovered, in case they should
provoke the vengeance of the marauder, so that a man who adds revenge-
ful outrages to his crimes and thefts, is the most likely to defy justice, by
intimidation. I know an instance of a magistrate, in the eastern portion
of the county, who saw two men with several others, come out of a beer-
shop to run a race on a Sunday, as the bells were tolling, or as he was
going to the morning service, but who took no notice of this improper con-
duct, because he said, the house was frequented by the worst of characters,
and opposite to it he had a plantation, which might have been maliciously
injured.
Having mentioned, gentlemen, the present state of crime, the protection
afforded by the constabulary, and the inefficiency of the township consta-
bles, I beg leave to offer a few remarks upon these subjects generally.
It is natural that a constabulary force officer, as well as a township con-
stable, would endeavour to give me as favourable an opinion as possible of
the state of his district, it is even possible, that the same feeling might
actuate those who have the control or command of the police force. Such
I have found to be the case, and seeking other information, I have been
told, that the Cheshire act operates little, if any good, that it is fraught
with mischief in various ways, where the population is not dense; and that
it will never work well under magistrates as at present, except for tacit
compacts, for purchasing subserviency and jobbing.
I shall next proceed to test the various information I have received, and
report to you thereon, and endeavour to shew the manner in which the
constables are said to be protected by their patrons; and the nature of
their services, both private and public, civil and political, by which they
purchased that protection.
It is absurd to inform me that in a district containing nearly 100,000
square acres, and a population of 30,000 persons, three police officers can
detect every offender, or tend in the remotest degree to check crime. More-
over, I have already shown that the township or court leet constable is
utterly useless, so that, in point of fact, there is no active and efficient
police, consequently, the inference is that every man is just as honest as he
chooses to be, and as long as he confines himself to petty depredations,
he thinks that the farmer will quietly bear the losses already sustained,
rather than subject himself to his future revenge, or incur the expense or
loss of time in prosecuting him.
Many robberies are compromised before the information can reach the
ears of the constabulary force officer, and even when he has heard of them
and apprehended the offenders, witnesses have perjured themselves to
screen the parties.
Under a police thus isolated, thus constituted, and so weak in number,
it is evident that misdemeanors and offences must be constantly committed,

F 2
68
especially when it is taken into consideration, that there are large manu-
facturing districts at the eastern end of the county, and that the western
portion is in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. The following extract of a
letter will best explain the state of crime and bold baring of the habitual
thieves in certain portions of Cheshire, where there are no paid constables.
In the hundred of Broxton, the state of crime is most alarming, there are
no paid constables in the whole hundred, consequently the farmers are
continually robbed, their cheese rooms broken open, granaries and out-
buildings plundered to an alarming extent; and to such a degree of hardi-
hood are the thieves arrived, that though living in the midst of the farmers,
whom they plunder, yet they dare not (to use their own expression) interfere
with them, the consequence is that in the neighbourhood of Broxton, Bick-
erton, Burwardesley, Duckington, Hart Hill, Bulkely, and the surrounding
villages of Tattenhall, Chowley, &c. &c. may be found a number of burglars,
sheep-stealers, horse-stealers, and all the other lower descriptions of crime
that can be mentioned, as in the course of my experience I am prepared to
show the various grades of crime I have enumerated having been commit-
ted by numbers of persons now living at large in different districts.
The constabulary act is deficient in its operation, because it is not com-
pulsatory on all townships; it is partial in its operation, unsystematic in its
arrangements, disjointed and unconnected.
No just conclusion can be made as to the beneficial result of a rural po-
lice if reference be made to the Cheshire Constabulary Act, nor do I believe
that it has been productive of any good.
In my next communication I shall call your attention, gentlemen, to the
state of crime in the hundred of Warrall, and the savage ferocity of the
wreckers along the coast.
I have the honor to remain, gentlemen, &c. &c.

Welshpool, March 16, 1837.
Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated yester-
day, enclosing me one from Mr. Davenport of Calmley Hall, Cheshire,
who informs me that Mr. Chadwick showed him my report in which I am
much gratified to find he concurred, and moreover that his evidence was
taken down confirmatory thereof. I am the more satisfied, because, as yet
I have had no interview with him, and the testimony on my part cannot
therefore be suspected or doubted.
My voice is returning lento pede, and my exertion of it throws me back
again ; I cannot speak for a continuance yet, and have not been out of the
house but once for some weeks. On receipt of your
" sinews of war,
T
may be able to proceed, as I am anxious to proceed to the invitation of
Mr. D., who gives me ten days' “ Law.”
I have been much interested by Mr. S.'s remarks at our society concern-
ing statistical tables of crime, and wish you could send me the report of
your paper on the subject. I have not the paper of Mr. S. before me ; but
though he takes good ground, I fear his classification would be found too
theoretical to be practicable.
If he would class crime so minutely as he proposes, in order to show the
animus,” the “ primum mobile of vice,” he must take one general head or
principle of action, namely, the passion of human nature,

69
This is the spring, the fountain-head of crime, as well as of virtue.
Firm resolution and bold daring are as essential to the hero as to the
thief or the murderer. Thurtell's courage, if properly applied, might have
procured a tablet to his ashes in Westminster Abbey instead of a glass case
in the Museum for his skeleton. Propitious circumstances call forth the pas-
sions of human nature in a right and honourable course. Unpropitious
circumstances call them forth, and they plunge into crime.
In both cases
are energies excited, roused, and employed.
Notwithstanding the arguments of Mr. Symonds, and his separating
under different heads the crimes of theft and rape, they spring from the
same root or radical, namely by the passion of human nature. The man who
rifles my pocket robs it for money, whereby he may gratify some passion,
such as drinking, gaming, and wenching; the man who ravishes a woman
gratifies a passion. The one acts as a thief under social compact, for he
requires the money, the medium of intercourse. The other is the animal,
whose passions have carried away all feeling of the social compact; but
the passion of human nature in both is excited and gratified by both, though
in different methods.
The gambler and the thief are one and the same as far as relates to the
mainspring of their actions. The root of crime, as far as the craving for
the property of others, is idleness, which as surely begets dissipation and
a host of crimes. The gambler requires money to feed his dissipation ;
his idleness prevents him from working. The thief is in the same position,
he steals because he is too lazy to work, with this difference, however, that
the thief who may grace the drop at the Old Bailey next sessions will not
betray his comrade, but the gambler, whom fashion may consider to adorn
, a ball-room, would plunder his bosom friend.
I shall, however, continue this subject further, and in the mean time let
me state, that I think there is no subject so little understood—there is no
subject so motheaten by mawworms, as crime and criminals.
I remain, &c. &c.
DISTRICT.-
Extent.
Acreage
Manufacturing
Sort.
Population,
Agricultural.
Mining
Number of Miles of Road.
Turnpike.
Ditto Ditto Canals.
Bye-roads.
Number of Townships rated.
CONSTABLES
1. Paid.
11. Unpaid.
I. Paid. Number of Officers
Salaries.
Character.
Previous Occupation. Knowledge of duties.
Chief Officer,
Check on his Men.
Communication with adjoining districts.
Method. Frequency.
Occurrence Book.
Report Sheet.
Periods of Visits to each portion of District.
Hours of Attendance, and periods of do, on Magistrates.
70
CONSTABLES, continued-
Number of hours on duty. Day. Night.
Fees and Perquisites.
Number of offenders apprehended. By Paid Officers.
By Unpaid Officers.
Number of known Resident Thieves or suspected men.
Districts.
Families of each man.
Number.
Nature of their Robberies.
Name of Gang. If dreaded by Neighbours.
Reluctance of Residents to inform or assist through fear.
Through local connections.
Delays or Escapes
Difficulty of finding Magistrates,
Intimacy of Officers with Offenders.
Rescues or Escapes from Custody-
By Violence.
By insecurity of Locks up.
Police, preventive or detective
Patrolling
Means used-Bribing Scouts.
Has the Force in the District been increased or diminished.
Cause
What services could Police render.
Fire Engines.
Stray Cattle.
Collecting Rates
Road Nuisances.
Registration Lists.
Hedge Breaking
Weighing Machines. Weights and Measures.
Any Private Watchmen-
Number.
Duty performed.
Salary.
Efficiency.
Does the Officer consider himself the Agent of the Magistrate.
CONSTABLES-
II, Unpaid. Number in District.
Trade or calling
Efficiency.
Inefficiency.
Fear.
Local Interest.
Carelessness.
Ignorance. Drunkenness.
Habits and Connection,
Screening Offenders.
Means and Motives.
Co-operation with paid Officers.
If connected with guilty or suspected persons
By Blood,
By Friendship.
If presumed to be possessed of influence,
Politically
or other means.
Substitutes
Amount of pay. Age.
Is he a pauper.
Habits. Drunk. Sober. Honest.

1. CRIME
I. Facilities.
II. Commission in
(
Rural Districts.
III. Detection.
71

CRIME, continued--
1. Facilities. Receivers. Number known. Suspected. Prosecuted.
Canals, species of property in transit.
Coaches, Carts, and Vans.
Poulterers' Shops.
Butchers.
Large Towns.
Ostlers at Inns.
Receivers.
II. Commission. Is district noted for Crime.
Worst portions.
(Towns
Increase.
Decrease. Cause.
S
Is Crime more frequent in periods of Distress.
If committed by Residents or Strangers.
Number of resident Rogues and their Haunts.
District from whence Strangers come.
Habitual Idleness.
Cause of Migration. Active Police.
Real Distress.
Presumed loss per Acre owing to
Hedge breaking or Near Towns,
Stray Cattle in Fields.) In Rural Districts.
III. Detection.
Means adopted, individually or combined.
By Patrolling By paid Scouts.
Information to the Districts by Letters or Messengers.
Distance to adjacent towns where there is Police
Ditto
Ditto
without Police.
impediments. By information by Neighbours, By ignorance of Officers.
By going into other Districts. By reluctance to prosecute.
By forcible rescue.
By fear.
By insecurity of Lockups. By cases compounded.
Number of offences committed.
Number apprehended.
Unions among offenders to pay fines.
Juvenile thieves.
Effect of Prisons.
Distance to the Prison.
TRAMPS-
Number of Houses, If inspected by Police. Number of Beds.
Are Tramps allowed to remain night after night.
Robberies.
By Intimidation.
By Force.
By Stealth. By Women or Men.
Increase or decrease of Trampers.
Periods of Visitations.
Causes.
Same Trampers periodically.
Is Milage Money given.
Prison Passes.
Effect of Punishment.
Neighbourhood from whence they migrate.
BEER HOUSES
Number of each.
PUBLIC HOUSES
Games.
Gambling. Stakes.
Number of houses where allowed.
72
FIRE ENGINES-
State of.
In whose custody
How often exercised.
Cost.
Supply of Water.
WEIGHING MACHINES
If Let. Amount supposed. Supposed Annual Receipts.
LOCKS UP or CAGES-
Number in District, Security of each.
Escapes from
RIOTS-
Means of quelling
Constables. [Number of available.
Yeomanry
Efficiency.
Militia. Distance.
Date, cause, and result of last Riot.
MAGISTRATES-
Number Resident
Laymen. Clergymen.
Experience. Knowledge of State of Crime.
Judicial and Constabulary powers combined.
Communication with Officers.
Reliance of Officers on Magistrates.
Bias.
Opinion, Remedial Suggestions
Periods.
Sittings.
Number of Cases.
POLICE-
Effect of Dissimilarity in each Division,
Want of Combined Action.
Paucity of Force.
Opinion concerning
Paid Officers.
Extension of Force.
Organization of General Police.
Number requisite to make it effective.
Inefficiency of present system.
Leet Constables.

66
Chester, May 7, 1837.
Dear Sir,—The Chester races commence on the first of May, and are
the earliest in the year. It is at these races that the first annual gather-
ing” takes place of the character, from “ legs” (as the betting men are
called) to the “thimble riggers,” who go in flocks from race to race
throughout the country. There are also men who are card sellers, ballad
singers, tumblers, conjurers, nut and gingerbread sellers, and above all
a most vicious looking class of fellows, who make a good living by placing
knives and boxes on the tops of sticks. This latter class was very nume-
rous at the races; they were chiefly Irish, and travelled with their women
and children.
A notorious gambling firm in London opened gaming rooms here, in a
principal street, next door but one to a very large hotel, and I understand
they had no reason to complain of want of visitors or betters. It was
73
Are
پس از
frid
stated to me, that at former races the townsmen were in the habit of meet.
ing at the principal inns, in order to play their games of whist, but now
the gaming table is preferred.
I here beg to remark upon the serious mischief these branch gamblers Ndern
inevitably commit, by bringing the knowledge of roulette, hazard, and
rouge et noir among the more quiet classes of community, because it is not
here that the mischief may end. It is not only in the excitement, or rather
during the Saturnalia of the race week, that the mania for gambling may
exist. These gamblers soon discover monied dupes, and invitations are
freely given to visit their establishments or hells in London, and, in short,
these branch auxiliary dens, which are always attended by a full complement
of plausible dashing men from the parent establishment, convey metropolitan
vice throughout all the rural district,
It would be advisable that three or four policemen, who are well ac-
quainted with London thieves, should go the round of all the races, in
order to mark the various characters, and if you should consider my services
of use, I would attend and receive their reports and observations.
I now turn to the question of police, with regard to these races.
The mayor, for many days previous to the commencement of races, in-
variably committed trampers, vagrants, and suspicious persons for that
number of days sufficient to keep them in custody till the races might be
over, and moreover, acting upon my suggestion, he caused some of their
heads to be shorn and turned out after a short imprisonment. The effect,
I believe, has been to deter many of them, and they consider it to be a very
severe punishment. The police officer or superintendent, John Hill, is at
once systematic and determined. I consider his men to be in good disci-
pline, and I have not heard of a robbery of any extent or amount; he
crushed the thimble rig men the first day; he apprehended five, who were
instantly committed. A body of special constables were sworn in, in case
of any riot, but I am not aware that their services were required, the police
force being sufficient.
The more desperate characters did not come to these races, and the
reason was given to me by one of the characters who follow the races. He
said they wrote on before hand to the lodging-house keepers, to know if the
police would be strict, and I presume that the reply, in which, perhaps,
was contained some observations upon the shearing system, deterred them
from the intended visit. I mention this to show how cunningly and sys-
tematically these fellows' act, and to show, moreover, what good results
arise from an organized though scanty police. I say scanty, in reference
to the overwhelming number of bad characters who make a racecourse the
arena of their actions.
The following is a return of the number of persons committed during
the race week :-
Reputed thieves
Vagrants
Pickpockets
8 Beggars
4
Gamblers
5 Prostitutes
Loiterers and suspicious
Drunken cases
29
characters
24
Total
- 89

12
5
2
74
Of the pickpockets, five came from Liverpool, two from Manchester, and
one from Wigan.
Of the reputed thieves, the greater portion came from Manchester and
Birmingham. Last year 109 were apprehended, of which number 16 were
swell mob men. Not one of that class was observed to be present at these
races this year.
On observing to a magistrate of this city, that the open establishment of
these gaming tables was injurious, he stated that about three years ago
they were greatly suppressed by the determined conduct of the mayor;
that previous to that time they were in every street; and that touters
stood in the door-ways, distributing cards and inviting persons to walk in
and “ try their luck,
I have seen the pickpockets and reputed thieves dismissed from the gaol -
their heads were shorn.
Two pickpockets were brought before the magistrate the other day, when
I was present, and the father of one of them, who stated that he came from
and lived at Liverpool, stood forward in behalf of his son. Unfortunately
for this man, I had seen him, when on the bench at Liverpool, brought up
for selling spirits in a low cellar, where he encouraged young lads who were
all thieves. There are men of this class in London, especially about Step-
ney, who board and lodge boys and buy all their stolen property. These
places are vulgarly called “ kid kens."
I again beg to call your attention to the expediency of observation
among the race vagabonds, the mischief they produce, and the modes of
plunder. I should say that the mass now travelling and herding together
from race to race is not less than 700.
I remain, &c. &c. &c.
Cheshire, Hundred of Worral.
Gentlemen,-I do myself the honour of transmitting to your board the
following observations concerning the wreckers on the western coast of
Cheshire, together with various evidences which I have collected upon the
subject.
The hundred of Worral is situated at the western extremity of Cheshire.
It is bounded on the north by the Mersey, on the south by the Dee, and
on the western side by the Irish Channel. On the banks of the Mersey,
and opposite to Liverpool, are several townships, which, since the facilities
afforded by steam-boat-ferry navigation, have become very populous. The
intervening district, between the Dee and the Mersey, is but thinly inha-
bited; upon the sides of the Dee are situated Neston, Parkgate, and still
further down the village of Hoylake; facing the sea is the village of
Wallasea.
There are sand banks on this portion of the coast, extending four or five
miles into the sea, and it is only through the channels of various depths
and widths among these shoals that the port of Liverpool can be approached,
whereby the navigation is rendered hazardous and intricate. It is on this
part of the coast that many ships of the port, either outward or homeward
bound, aré annually stranded, and portions of the cargoes either washed on
shore or taken from the wreck, frequently fall into the hands of the in-
habitants or other persons, who flock in droves to a wreck; sometimes

75
farmers and farmers' men come with carts eight, ten and even twelve miles
to participate in the plunder, or to buy what a wrecker may have secured.
The inhabitants of Hoylake and Wallasea ostensibly carry on a fishing
trade; they may fish in the summer by way of amusement, because wrecks
are less frequent. The Hoylake boats are good and excellent sea boats.
I have seen little fleets of them on the Flintshire coast, and an old boat-
man said to me, “not a fellow in any of those boats ever earned money
enough to buy one; they are all got by wrecking. These fellows never
fish but for amusement, for they make sometimes more in one day at
wrecking than they could in seven years at work.” In the stormy winter
weather these men are looking out for wrecks, and they hover along the
shore in herds. So exclusively do these persons consider the privilege of
wrecking to be theirs, that they are jealous of a stranger's presence. I am
informed that a magistrate residing in the neighbourhood once hastened to
the beach on the occasion of a wreck, hoping that his presence might
prevent plundering; but the wreckers cut the harness of his carriage. It
is probable that the archdeacon
may
be
very unpopular.
I have made enquiries concerning wrecked property, and the following
is the result:
The plunder is carried speedily from the beach, over the sand hill, and
there concealed. If the wreckers consider that either owing to the bulk
or nature of the property there would be difficulty or danger of detection
in conveying it away, they then give information to the merchant or the
agent of the underwriters at Liverpool, and make the best bargain they
can for salvage money. Their demands are sometimes exorbitant, and
even more than the property would fetch when sold by auction, as in the
instance of a steamer's funnel, which was washed on shore, they asked 51.
and it was sold only for 31. If, on the other hand, the wrecked property
is considered available and a ready market can be found for it, these
wreckers keep it upon their own account, and sell it for their own profit.
The cargoes of outward bound are as various as they are valuable, con-
sisting of bales of calicos, silks, cottons, laces, cloths, stuffs, &c. &c. And
I have heard that wrecked property of this kind has been sent in cart loads
to Chester, and thence by water carriage back to Manchester. Sometimes
a portion finds its way to Liverpool, in both of which towns persons may
be found who will buy property, from a diamond to a copper nail.
At
the latter place, however, there is greater danger of detection in the transit,
as there are two paid constables on the shore opposite Liverpool, besides
an active police in Liverpool itself; yet, notwithstanding this difficulty, I
was informed that nearly 12 cart loads of plundered property from an out-
ward bound ship, called the Grecian, was recovered from marine store
dealers and others at Liverpool. There is, moreover, another facility in
disposing of wrecked property, namely, by private sale among the inland
inhabitants, or by selling it to strangers, who flock to the coast at the time
of a wreck, or go round subsequently in order to purchase bargains.
It is said that there is honour among thieves, but I do not think the
adage can be applied to the wreckers, for I have heard that they will
plunder from each other.
It is very difficult to calculate upon the probable annual sum a wrecker
may obtain ; like gambling, it is all luck, and as he will take every thing

76
he can seize upon, he may be seen carrying off a piece of tarpauling one
day, or rolling off a case of spice on the next. A wrecker's cottage for-
merly was like a general store dealer's shop-laces, silks, butter-tubs, and
bacon were all for sale ; but the frequent searches recently made by the
police have rendered these wreckers more cautious, I hope, too, perhaps, a
little more honest. It is certain that some of the persons living on the
coast have amassed considerable sums of money by the means of wrecking,
but though they are always silent as to the amount, they do not scruple to
admit that wrecking is not bad trade, although it is not so good as it used
to be.
I have been told of a person who now lives in easy circumstances,
on the produce of a farm which he purchased some time ago with the pro-
ceeds of a “lucky find” upon the beach. Last year a vessel named the
Sophia went on shore on this coast, with 30,0001. of specie on board ; this
accident fortunately occurred at high water, in a tremendous gale of wind,
and before the wreckers could board her, a detachment of police had arrived
from Liverpool, whereby every thing was saved. Sometime ago a West
Indiaman was wrecked, and the wreckers drank of the rum to such an
excess, that many of them died in consequence; and it must have been a
horrible and revolting scene to witness the infuriated excesses of men in
a civilized community acting the part of lawless savages.
Having mentioned the attendance of the Liverpool police at the loss of
the Sophia, I now beg to call your attention to the means adopted for the
prevention of wrecking and that general system of plunder which by custom
has been almost considered as a prescriptive right among the dwellers on
the coast. How far these means have been efficient, and how far they
could be rendered more efficient, may further appear by the following
observations:
The magistrates of Cheshire, fully aware of the mischief arising to the
population by their habits of plunder, proposed that if the owners of the
wrecked property, or those connected with the shipping interest, would
join them in constructing lock-up places or store magazines, for property
saved or found, they (the Cheshire magistrates) would subscribe the sum
of 2001.; but the Liverpool merchants being insured, it was immaterial
whether the cargo foundered in the Atlantic or was washed on the sands of
Wallasea; while, on the other hand, no definite answer was made from the
chairman at Lloyd's, and thus the matter rests.
The present means of prevention are the customs officers stationed at
Hoylake, and also detachments of police from Liverpool, whenever the
agent of the underwriters or merchants may deem it worth their expense
to obtain their services. At the last wreck, during which time the men
were on duty for 12 days, the gratuity sent by Lloyd's, although the wea-
ther was boisterous and the duty heavy, only amounted, when shared, to
2s. 7d. per head, and persons thus inadequately paid cannot be presumed
to feel a proper interest in the performance of their duties; it is, in fact,
an indirect encouragement to plunder.
Relative to the presumed prevention and assistance rendered by the
Customs House officers at Hoylake, it may be a subject worthy of investi-
gation, inasmuch as some of them have not only been resident there many
years, but in some cases have intermarried with the families of wreckers;
at any rate, the officers are not free from suspicion, and some of the

77
wreckers have accused them, not only of being afraid to interfere, but in
sometimes sharing in minor booty. An old fisherman observed to me on
this subject, that the customs officers could not take much, as the wreckers
watched them as narrowly as they did the wreckers; and I thought that
the old adage of set a “thief to catch a thief” was here exemplified.
Next to this dubious sort of prevention is the Liverpool police, or rather
the dock police, which has been recently consolidated with the town police.
It is customary when a wreck occurs, to send intelligence by telegraph,
and even by messengers to the owners at Liverpool, and on application
made by them at the police office, as many constables as may be required
or spared from town duty are sent, at the cost of remuneration and carriage
by the merchant, to the spot, where they take charge of the ship and cargo.
The saved property is taken to the depôt at Hoylake or the light house at
Leazar. When employed on this duty they take an account, as far as they
are able, of the property taken by the inhabitants, which, together with
the finder's name, are entered in a book, and salvage money is paid thereon,
but the wreckers, as I have already stated, try for salvage money, from
necessity, not from choice or inclination.
It has been the endeavour of the dock police superintendent (Mr. D.)
to impress upon the minds of the inhabitants of the coast, that it is more
to their interest to save property with the hope of receiving salvage money,
than to incur the risk of transportation by stealing it. The wreckers,
however, use their own discretion upon this point; they plunder where
they can, and restore where they must, by which means money or reward
is certain, and they choose that which is likely to be the greatest amount.
The wreckers are bold and daring men, expert in the management of
their boats, and frequently launch them in the most boisterous weather, to
rescue human lives. Capt. Charles Monk, when on the quarantine service
at Hoylake, about 20 years ago, has frequently manned the boat, and, to
the credit of the inhabitants on the shore, he always found volunteers
enough, from among whom he could select an active crew, and I believe
in many cases their bravery has only been rewarded by the consciousness
of having done their duty. The courage of Capt. Monk and his residence
in the vicinity obtained him the respect and confidence of the wreckers to
such an extent, that his presence caused order where formerly no order
existed, but all was plunder and club law, like wolves fighting over their
prey. He inculcated among them that salvage money would be paid for
the property they restored, and that while honesty would be rewarded,
theft and plunder would be punished. Unfortunately the various delays
and difficulties attending the payment of salvage money might have pre-
vented the wreckers from implicitly believing his doctrine; there is, how-
ever, but little doubt that he prepared them for the subsequent intervention
of the police in the protection of property.
There is no doubt, and I write it with confidence, that owing to the
recent interventions of authority and payment of salvage money, as well as
a few instances of punishment, there is far less brutal ferocity than there
was wont to be, and it is to be presumed that as the evil passions of these
men can be restrained by such casual means, even when under the excite-
ment of plunder, that a steady and judicious arrangement would almost
completely do away with the disgraceful system which has so long prevailed.

78
;
As it is shown that these men are tractable, an energetic decision of
conduct and management would mould them to honest and industrious
habits, and would also diminish a national blot, The secret of all punish-
ment and rewards is certainty and promptitude, and if these men were fully
convinced that they would be speedily and fairly remunerated for all they
might restore, and as surely punished for all they stole, it would be their
interest to be more honest. One great cause of the present evil is the
mutual distrust existing between wreckers and the parties to whom they
look for salvage money, whereby both are discontented. The finder of
property has frequently to make several journeys to Liverpool before he
receives payment; the principal of the firm may be out, and the rough old
fisherman is, perhaps, answered insolently by a beardless dandy of a clerk.
He is perhaps made to feel that the impression concerning him and his
claim is that he is little better than a thief, because he has saved or meddled
with wrecked property. The consequence is that finding no encourage-
ment for honesty, he considers it more profitable to run the risk of punish-
ment and to plunder. He hides his stolen goods in holes and under sand,
as a beast of prey would hide his provender, and when the officers search
the district, probing with iron rods, as is frequently the case, they can ob-
tain no information--the wreckers look on and sneer at their searchers
whatever is found is never owned, and it is a game of “hide and find.”
Not only is the salvage money uncertain as to the date of payment and
amount, but even the attendance of the police is irregular, and it is this
want of system both in prevention and reward which produces serious mis-
chief, not only to the mercantile part of the community, but also to the
moral character of the people.
In order to remedy this evil, I beg to offer to your notice the following
suggestion, and the same principle might extend along the coast of
England :-
It would be highly desirable that payment of salvage money should be
prompt and certain ; it is fair that the wreckers should be paid forthwith
for their trouble and rewarded for the danger they may have incurred,
without being subjected to the delays and demurs of the merchants or
underwriters. I therefore suggest, that a naval officer should be stationed
on the coast; that he should be carefully selected on account of his
judicious conduct and brave bearing; that he should study to gain the respect
of the wreckers; that he should be the agent for all the property saved ;
and that as payments and rewards would be made through him, he would
be also entitled to their confidence; he should be storekeeper of the pro-
perty, and a book should be kept of the names of persons placing wrecked
goods in his custody.
The value of every parcel or bale of property should be certified by a
district valuer or valuers, and upon his or their certificate being forwarded
to Lloyd's or to the merchants, the resident officer should be authorized to
draw for the amount of salvage money, besides a per centage to remunerate
himself and valuer, within a given period, (the shorter the date the better)
and in default of payment the property should be sold forthwith by auction,
for the benefit of the finder and the two above-named persons.
The present arrangement is defective relative to the attendance of the
police, because much time is frequently lost before they are called into

79
:
action; and if not sent, the wreckers naturally conclude that as the
property is not worth protecting, no harm can exist in stealing it. I
therefore submit, that in cases of wreck, as in cases of fire, the police
should forth with attend, and that their expenses should be paid out of the
county rates of Cheshire, or by some portion of the salvage money.
Trusting that these observations may be considered worthy of your
notice,
I have the honour, &c. &c. &c.
To the Commissioners of the
Constabulary Force.
Dudley, June 10, 1837.
Gentlemen, -I forward an analytical table concerning the juvenile
offenders in the borough jail at Liverpool, referring to the under-mentioned
subjects
I. Ages of offenders.
II. Number of times previously committed.
III. Number of years they own to have been criminal.
IV. Their real or pretended trades or occupation.
V. The existence of parents.
VI. The countries of the parents.
VII. Their occupations in life.
VIII. Their habits with regard to drunkenness.
I have made all the information in these tables referable to age, and
although the arrangements may be novel, I hope it may be found to afford
curious data as to juvenile delinquency and the cause of crime.
The following centesimal proportions may be found worthy of con-
sideration :-
Juvenile offenders, in proportion to the other prisoners, are 68
Of the number of juvenile offenders who have been previously committed,
47 per cent. Of the total number of boys recommitted, the lads of 14 and
15 are 20 per cent.; and recounmitted youths of 18 and 19 are only in the
proportion of 8 per cent. Boys, who own themselves to have been criminal
for
years,
52 per cent. (The average to each boy is about 33 years.) Of
this class of criminal boys, lads of 14 are in the proportion of 22 per cent.,
and lads of 15, 27 per cent. ; while youths of 19 and 20 are only 8 per
cent. Boys who could not state they had a trade, but have been thieves
from earliest infancy, 23 per cent. Boys who have both their parents
living are about 45 per cent. Orphan youths about 24 per cent. Boys
who have one or the other parent living, about 17 per cent. Of these
parents, the Irish are 40 per cent. ; the English, 32 per cent. .
Of the occupations of fathers, labourers, including carters, porters,
stablemen, &c. 26 per cent.; carpenters, 15 per cent.; tailors, 9 per cent.;
masons and shoemakers, 7 per cent. ; smiths, 6 per cent.
Of the occupation of those mothers who earn their bread, washing-
women, 30 per cent. ; hawkers, 20 per cent.; charwomen, 12 per cent.
Boys who have drunken parents, 53 per cent.
may
form a matter of consideration as to how far crime in youth may
be frequently attributed to drunkenness in parents. Many of the boys,
some of them only 14, have owned to me that most of the money they
acquired by plunder was invariably spent in drink, and adult thieves,

per cent.
It
80
whether old or young in crime, in Liverpool and elsewhere, have frequently
acknowledged that their crime originated (to use their own expressive
words) in “ drink and bad company.
The number of juvenile thieves in the borough jail is 54, and the average
time that each boy has been upon the “ pave ” is three years and a half.
A thief, whether old or young, is not contented with the small sum which
would satisfy honest industry, verifying the old adage, “light come, light
go,”-they are dissipated in their habits. One boy, aged 15, said, “six
shillings a day all the year round would not do for him.” Another, a coiner
and passer of bad money for four years, said that three of them generally
shared 21. 10s. daily among each other; and another lad said, if a boy
chose to be “industrious,” (as he called it) he could always pick up 10s.
per diem. Supposing, however, that every boy is not so industrious as to
earn 10s., there is not one who on the average does not steal enough to
yield him 3s. a day; but allowing that these 54 boys only obtain 1s. 6d.
a day, and that they do not steal on Sundays, they have expended during
their course of crime (three years and a half) 4,4501. 5s. 6d., to obtain
which money the property sold must have amounted to 8,9001. Ils, and
most probably much more, because the marine store dealers and other
receivers of stolen property seldom give so much as half the value ; but in
order not to overcharge the statement, let the minimum of the boys' ex-
penditure be admitted and the maximum of the price given, it appears
that the community of Liverpool have paid a tax, imposed by the crime of
54 boys, amounting to 8,9001. lls.
It has been stated to me that 1,700 persons live upon plunder made
upon merchandize in the docks, and by taking the above-mentioned data
it appears that to support these persons the daily plunder must amount to
2251. or 79,8151. per annum, for the maintenance of only 1,700 thieves,
and the watch committee report the number of male thieves in Liverpool
to be nearly or about 2,800.
That I have taken the amount of money spent by persons leading
criminal lives at the minimum will be evident from the report of the watch
committee, to the town council of Liverpool, bearing date 2nd March,
1836, wherein, after stating the number of juvenile thieves to be 1,200,
and the total number who live by theft and prostitution to be 6,900, they
use the following words :-“This mass of crime is maintained at an ex-
pense to society, the amount of which staggers belief. By the accounts
placed in the hands of your committee it is estimated at upwards of
700,0001. per annum, and from the information your committee have col-
lected, they must declare their conviction that immense as the sum is, it is
not exaggerated; on the contrary, it is much understated.”
By this recorded statement it therefore appears that the daily expendi-
ture of each person in crime is upwards of 5s. 6d. per diem, instead of the
sum I named at the minimum, Is. 6d.
Proceeding upon the information afforded me by the watch committee, it
will, therefore, be manifest, that instead of the community paying for the
support of 54 boy thieves for three years and a half, 8,9001. 11s., they
have actually cost society 41,8321. 98., independent of prosecutions and
prison expenses.
Moreover, it will be found that the 1,700 persons who plunder from the


81
docks must cost the merchants or foreign shippers an annual sum of
146,4051. 15s., instead of my previous calculation at the minimum, namely,
79,8151.
The docks of Liverpool, with the exception of one, are unenclosed and
open to the street, extending in one continued line for a distance of nearly
three miles, and upon the front of that line, sometimes within 42 feet of the
edge of the quays, marine store dealers' shops frequently abut. Many of
these shops are the receptacles of stolen property, from a ball of cotton to
a pound of sugar, and have back entrances, in order to facilitate escapes
and prevent detection.
It is in the space between these shops and the edge of the quays, along
the side of which the ships are moored, that merchandize is landed and left
till weighed and removed to the bonded warehouses. Sugars, coffees, and
spices are piled in heaps along the quays, and men, women, and children
prowl along the range, pilfering what they can, and more freely plundering
when they dare.
The persons engaged on the quays with cargoes, such as coopers, cus-
toms officers, clerks, and hired labourers, are too busily engaged in their
respective duties to notice the stream of pilferers, who in succession visit
the heaps and take toll as occasion may suit.
The merchant is only responsible for that amount which has been weighed
or entered in the King's customs-book, and as much or the greater portion
of the plunder is committed before it passes through the scale, this Laza-
roni population is in fact supported by contributions on the property of the
foreign consignee or planter.
There is a slovenly indifference with regard to property, in suffering it to
be so much exposed, as it throws too much temptation in the way of the
idler, and then society is called on to punish the man who could not resist
that temptation which negligence caused and which caution ought to have
prevented. As the merchants engender so they ought to remedy the evil,
not by punishment, but by prevention.
In order to check the plunder, and to render thieving as difficult as pos-
sible the surest remedy would be to enclose the range of docks, and to
station an officer at every outlet, as well for the sake of the revenue as to
check robbery, and it would be fair to presume that if such a plan were
adopted the value of property saved from the pilfering of these seventeen
hundred persons would amply defray not only the expenses of a few extra
officers, but also yield an ample interest for whatever money might be ex-
pended in erecting walls or palisadoes.
I now beg to call your attention to the subject of juvenile thieves in Li-
verpool, the number of whom the watch committee state to be 1,200. It
has been already shown in the centesimal proportion that the greatest pro-
portion in the juvenile delinquents are lads from fourteen to fifteen years of
age ; and I may observe that while the
average
rage number of years among the
twenty-eight who owned themselves to have been criminal for years is 31
years, the period of crime amongst boys of fifteen is upwards of 4) years.
It is a strange and singular fact that young boys are more hardened in crime,
more daring in exploit, more reckless of punishment, and far more trouble-
some in prison than adults. These boys appear to have ventured all their
energies on crime (as a gambler would venture his estate) they are hailed
1
G
Familie
!
82
with joy among their companions on their release : they hasten to put into
practice the lessons they may have learned from their fellow prisoners, for
a jail is a thief's college ; and yet there are persons who believe or pretend
to believe that by congregating together a mass of rogues a villain can be
turned into a saint. The folly or duplicity of such persons might be partly
excusable if they did not busy themselves upon what they do not under-
stand, and create, perhaps to gratify private ends, a false feeling of hu-
manity in society than which feeling nothing can be more injurious to the
community and to thieves themselves.
The greatest portion of the juvenile thieves in Liverpool are Irish lads or
of Irish parents. There are streets, courts, and alleys in this town, most
densely inhabited by the poorest classes of Irish, and it would beggar des-
cription to give an account of the filth, misery, drunkenness, and sometimes
starvation state in which these people exist. A gentleman, on whose veracity
I can rely, has told me that he once witnessed an Irish “ wake,” in one of
these neighbourhoods, that the corpse was laid on the floor, with candles
round it, and that the friends and relatives of the deceased were drunk and
tumbling about at random over a few favoured pigs, who were allowed the
privilege of sharing the room with their owners.
Many of these Irishmen are pigmongers, who share their rooms with
their animals in which they traffic, and the magistrate frequently has to
hear complaints from neighbours of the great nuisance created by this hos-
pitable commingling of men and animals. It is but natural to conclude
that children of parents living in this filthy and wretched state would be
trained to thieves and plunder. They are turned daily forth to get food or
money how they can, and they are welcome at home in proportion as they
spare the cupboard or bring plunder back at night. As a hungry dog will
cater for himself, so a young thief will seek for means to procure food. The
boy has been taught to thieve ;—the dog may get a thrashing, the boy
may get imprisoned, but both will steal again when prompted by necessity
or hunger.
Many of these boys are sent out by their parents to bring home money
for their use.
A lucky adventure is celebrated with gin and revelry, while
the
young urchin is lauded for his adroitness; but if he returns home pen-
niless he is unmercifully beaten, so that he has to choose between the
chance of detection and the certainty of ill-usage.
The frequent recommitments of these boys prove two things: first, that
the lads are incorrigible; secondly, that prisons are of no use; and if
prisons are of no use, and only tend to perfect youth in crime (which doubt-
lessly they do), then society is taking great trouble, at a considerable ex-
pense, to educate rogues, that they may plunder
that they may plunder on the most adroit principles.
It appears almost absurd to put a boy of twelve years of age with his
pinbefore on in the dock, and gravely ask him how he will be tried, by God
and his country. A good sound whipping, ordered by some summary pro-
cess, would terrify him more than all the exciting pomp of imprisonment
and trial. If the whipping does not terrify him then it would be justice to
society and kindness to the lad to teach him some useful trade, and make
him go to some new colony-say near the Cape of Good Hope ;- each boy
would find a market for his labour by ministering to the wants of others.
These boys are quick and energetic, they have more than the ordinary re-


83
quisites to be good members of society, but those capabilities are misap.
plied. The quick shrewdness and undaunted courage of a thief would have
made him a hero if circumstances had otherwise directed the same means
and energies. A young thief said to me, when I remonstrated with him
on the course he had adopted—“ Well, sir, and what then? I shall thieve
directly I get out of this place” (the prison) “ I will not starve, and I can
soon get a purse or handkerchief to buy a dinner. I do not want to thieve
if I can get money honestly, but how am I to get it? will you employ me?
will anybody be fool enough to employ me? just out of gaol, and with no
character, just think of that, sir, and tell me if I must not thieve !"
As I am convinced that many boys in large and populous districts are
thieves from necessity, as it is apparent that they possess shrewdness, ener-
gies and many of them abilities, and as it is moreover evident that prisons
neither deter or reform, I earnestly beg your attention to the subject of es-
tablishing a juvenile colony, as well for the benefit of the community as for
the merciful sake of these lads.
With regard to these jails almost every prisoner has owned to me that
however bad he might have been before he was sent to one, he learned more
in it than he ever dreamed of out of it.
The system of classification, however good it may be presumed to be, is
injurious in its effects. A thief is classed among greater adepts, and he is
accordingly perfected in his trade. As there are classical classes in our
public schools, so the theorists in prison discipline have established criminal
classes in our public jails—the exhibitions are to the gallows or to Botany
Bay.
Even the adoption of the silent system, good as it is, will be incomplete
unless accompanied by solitary confinement; for I have known instances
where offenders would probably have reformed indeed they had obtained
work in situations), but they were recognized by some fellow-prisoners who
insisted by threats or inducements to renew the acquaintance which they
had not the moral courage to withstand, and they relapsed into crime
again.
In all large towns there are generations of thieves, and a certain portion
of them form a jail population. They go to prison as a matter of course;
they call it “ bad luck," and look upon deprivation of their liberty as a kind
of tax upon their thieving industry. Some make it a matter of considera-
tion whether it were best to hybernate in a prison or a workhouse, and
make their choice as a traveller would choose his inn, in reference to con-
venience or accommodation.
In a work recently published and entitled “Modern India,” the author
states the wise men of the East to have different ideas with the men of
Europe, concerning prisons and the support of vagabonds and thieves.
He says-
“They laugh at the idea of erecting a building, for the purpose of con-
gregating a host of vagabonds, who were they not incorrigible before,
would be sure to become so by so close an association with their fellows.
Moreover, they equally scout as preposterous and absurd, the notion of
being obliged to expend any part of their money in the maintenance of a
prison establishment. What they do there is to have the culprit up,
and
G2
84
should he be proved to have committed the crime laid to his charge, exe-
cute a summary punishment on him; this is usually of a corporal kind.”
The author, after stating that these punishments are personal mutilations,
observes-
“Men who have suffered these mutilations are frequently to be met in
the streets of every town in Hindoostan ; the dread of which such summary
punishments exercise upon the minds of the subjects of the native inde-
pendent princes of Hindoostan, is an efficient safeguard to property, and is
the principal cause of crime not being more prevalent among them.”
As these mutilated men are thus frequently to be seen in every street in
the towns of Hindoostan, it is evident that even these sanguinary punish-
ments will not effectually deter from crime, and it will be no less evident
that the only method to save society from the ravages of the innate rogues,
and to prevent the contamination which is naturally around him, is banish-

mert.
There are many men who travel and who live from jail to jail, and who,
of although unknown at the jail where last confined, may be well-known at
scores of others in England. Many of these persons mark their fingers
with Indian ink and gunpowder in the jail : now, as they have no objections
voluntarily to bear marks of this kind, it would be no very harsh punish-
ment to mark them for the good of society, and when an offender is found
guilty of a fourth offence, having three previous marks upon him, it will
be fair to pronounce him incorrigible, and consequently his definite punish-
ment should be transportation. As it is probable that a man might reform
after two or even three marks, they should be placed on the sole of his
foot, or on the ham of the knee, so that the brand will not be generally
visible ; the mark should be fixed only in cases of felony, and then only by
direction of the judge or chairman of the quarter sessions, whenever it
might be deemed essential.
A measure of this kind, if it might not deter, would thin the prison
population and save contamination ; for wicked men seek to corrupt others.
Unless a police is rendered as preventive as human ingenuity can make
it, it will in proportion fail to be effective. A police officer is a paid agent
to perform certain divisions of labour, and if no persons could be found
who would sell their time to perform that labour, the duties of watching
and guarding would be performed by those who had property to protect;
and if so, the persons, when protecting their property, would study how to
prevent, instead of waiting to be robbed and then to endeavour to detect
the offender. The community, which is but one individual mass, should
act upon this principle of prevention; it is what each would do individually,
instead of which each hopes to escape being plundered, is careless of crime
as long as he is unmolested; a policeman is considered to excel in the
mysterious craft of thief hunting, and his duties are only supposed to com-
mence when the evil has been committed.
The public may exclaim about expense, but when you consider the
statement of the watch committee at Liverpool, that they consider the
annual amount of plunder (700,0001.) to be understated, and when you
consider, also, that the population is only 189,242, (including the richest
and the poorest, as well as 6,900 thieves and prostitutes) it will be evident
tool population att
189,262
you
6,900 Thieves hostilen
hrostitutes and
of so you, Ito 3

85
that the public never take into consideration the aggregate amount of
plunder which is requisite to support so large a fraternity of thieves.
Even in the more thinly-inhabited agricultural districts the farmers do
not consider that on the average the damage done to their gates, hedges,
fences, or plunder from barns or hen roosts, amount annually to one shilling
per acre, at the very least, (being much more in the immediate vicinity of
towns) and yet they would in many cases prefer losing this certain sum
than contribute one-fourth of it to secure prevention, and the same remark
applies to larger and to denser populations.
I beg, in concluding these remarks, to observe, that in many places the
constables refuse to take in information concerning robberies from adjoin-
ing districts when sent by post, on account of the expense; and I further
submit to your consideration the expediency of each post office having
blank covers, with“ police” printed outside, which should be supplied to
the constable, or in which the postmaster should enclose an open letter to
the constable of any adjoining district, and which, being open at both ends,
should be delivered free at its destination.
I remain, &c. &c. &c.
To the Commissioners of the
Constabulary Force.

86
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS.
The evidence and information in the following pages are given verbatim
as they were elicited from the several persons examined, and inserted at
the time in Mr. Miles' notebook, the only alteration to which that the
editor has made, lies in the selecting, classing and arranging the memo-
randa, so as to make them appear as connected as possible.
This plan was adopted under the impression that the reader would place
more confidence in the correctness of the statement, maugre its occasional
crudeness and grammatical inaccuracies, than in a flowing detail, in which
every period had been carefully rounded, and the whole what is technically
termed “written up;" indeed, the facts narrated are in themselves of too
extraordinary a nature to require any fictitious aid to render them
interesting
I have not followed the opinions of persons who have superficially ex-
amined the subject, in order to obtain notoriety, but I have at various
times examined many hundred boy-thieves; and it is from close observa-
tions of the human mind, influenced by uncontrollable circumstances, that
I have arrived at my conclusions.* I pledge myself to the accuracy of my
statements.
There is a marked tendency in many dispositions to early crime. This
remark holds good among all classes of society, even from our universities
to our prisons. If, then, this proneness to evil exists amongst those whose
parents have wealth to educate and example to give, in order to train the
moral feelings, how much the more may it be expected to exist, and how
much sooner will it ripen, among the children of the poorer classes, where
the example is too frequently vicious. It is among these children that the
youngest in years may be found to be the most reckless and the most
hardened in crime.
* In my enquiries I turned my attention to the following heads : namely,
I. Age of offenders.
II. Number of times previously committed.
III. Number of years they have been criminal.
IV. Their real or pretended trades or occupations.
V. The existence of parents.
VI. Their occupations in life.
VII. Their habits, with regard to drunkenness and bad example.

87
He
of a hru
A boy only 10 years of age was sentenced to death, together with his
father, for housebreaking, and on his return from the court to his cell, pre-
ceded by the clergyman and his father, he said in an under-tone to the
prisoners, who were anxious to know the result of the trial, “ I'm bless’d,
if they have’nt stuck it into our old chap at last!” pointing with his thumb
to his doomed parent.
My observations upon the subject of juvenile crime induce me to attribute
it chiefly to the following causes :-
I. The congregating of the poorest classes in the low neighbourhoods.
II. The neglect of parents.
III. The facilities of selling every sort of stolen property.
A very great proportion of juvenile thieves in large towns are thieves
from necessity. There are herds of homeless, friendless, masterless boys,
who have no means of support, who never knew the value of character or
the sweets of labour, and who must either rob or starve. There are dis-
tricts in London which are exclusively inhabited and most densely popu-
lated by Irish labourers, by persons who support themselves by the chance
adventure of each day, by professed beggars and confirmed thieves; and
neglected children swarm in these districts.
I leave it to the conviction of any one whether the parental solicitude of
government should not be extended towards these wretched children, whom
no punishments can deter, and to whom prisons are in many cases a refuge
of luxury and comfort. A poor ragged sweep, about 16
years
of
age,
without shoes or stockings, and his red legs cracked with the cold, was
brought to prison for some trifling offence. The warm bath into which he
was put much delighted him, but nothing could exceed his astonishment
on being told to put on shoes and stockings.
on shoes and stockings. “And am I to wear them ?
and this ? and this too?” he said, as each article of dress was given to
him.
His joy was complete when they took him to his cell; he turned
down the bed-clothes with great delight, and, half-doubting his good for-
tune, hesitatingly asked if he was really to sleep in the bed! On the
following morning, the governor, who had observed the lad's surprise,
asked him what he thought of his situation ? “ Think of it, master! why
I'm damn’d if ever I do another stroke of work!” The boy kept his word,
and was ultimately transported.
I shall now endeavour to give a description of St. Giles's, observing,
with respect to low neighbourhoods, “ Ex uno disce omnes.
The nucleus of crime in St. Giles's consists of about six streets, riddled
with courts, alleys, passages, and dark entries, all leading to rooms and
smaller tenements, crowded with a population existing in all the filth at-
tendant upon improvidence, crime, and profligacy, as if the inhabitants by CA
common consent deem themselves only“ tenants at will,” till the gallows today
or the hulks should require them.
Every room in the houses, from the cellar to the garret, is let separately
to different persons, at an enormous rent (say 10s. per week.) These
renters take others to lodge with them, so that frequently 10 or 12 persons
of both sexes may be found lying naked on the floor of the same apart-
ment. An Irishman told me that he paid 10s, a week for a front room,
but that he contrived to live rent-free, having three men and their women
domiciling with him, who each paid 3d. a night for their accommodation ;
>
Gile

88
“and sure don't they always give me a bit of something to eat?” he added,
so that he had a portion of his food, all his rent, and 6d. in the bargain,
every week.
The furniture, as may be imagined, is but very scanty, and the gridirons
or frying-pans are constantly travelling from room to room. There is,
moreover, an open communication at the backs of all the houses, so that
directly a panic is created, men, women, and boys may be seen scrambling
in all directions through the back yards and over the party walls, to effect
an escape.
The next description of houses are lodging-houses: the price of a bed,
or rather half a bed, is 3d. In one establishment of this kind there is
accommodation for 180 persons. The rooms are filled with low truckle beds
supplied with a straw mattress, two coarse sheets, a blanket, and a rug.
Men, women, and children sleep in these rooms, without any regard to
decency or modesty. The trade of the public-houses in these regions has
been rather diminished, in consequence of the more alluring gin palaces.
The landlord of a public-house in St. Giles's complained to me of “our
people,” as he called his customers, wasting their money out of the pre-
cincts of St. Giles's, remarking that when they were “in trouble” they
expected him to become their bail. And in corroboration of this remark,
a police magistrate observed to me that Irishmen could always procure
bail, when required.
I shall now proceed to offer some remarks upon the inhabitants and their
various means of existence, not omitting to point out the neglected state of
their children.
It is in this district that the lines of doubtful honesty and confirmed
roguery are very minutely blended. It is here that the labouring man is
in nightly company with the habitual thief (a parallel in low life, of the
nobleman associating with the black-leg). The population is composed of
various descriptions of persons, and each description has its various classes.
The microscope shows the subdivision of atoms, and a minute enquiry into
various classes subdivides society into unimagined grades.
Here I saw the lowest being in the scale of civilized society. An old
man named Morgan had lived by himself in a cellar for upwards of 30
years : it was neither flagged or floored, and the ground was rugged and
uneven; all his furniture was a cup, a kettle, and a knife; he had no chair
or table ; his bed was on a heap of rubbish in the corner of his cellar, upon
which he slept in his clothes, with a rug to cover him, curled up like a dog,
for the heap was not more than about three feet by four. He never applied
for parochial relief, but received a few pence by cleaning out rooms or
occasionally washing a staircase. Sickness at last confined this poor
wretch to his cellar, and he was found in the agonies of death. The first
time that I gave him 6d. the possession of silver was a novelty to bim, and
rushing from me like one bent on urgent business, he shortly returned
with some coal, bread, tea, and matches in the hollow of his hat, and
holding up a penny (his change), he said, “ Morgan will have some break-
fast to-morrow.'
The majority of those who live by labour in St. Giles's are Irish persons,
such as porters, bricklayers' labourers, hawkers, &c. &c. The women also
attend the markets, or sell fruit or fish in the streets, or go out charing or

89
to a
washing. These people live hard in their fare, and still harder in their
drink; for they generally get as drunk as their means will allow them.
There is also a great proportion of beggars who live well and merrily.*
One little cripple, drawn by two dogs, generally returned home about one
or two o'clock in the afternoon with six or seven shillings in his pocket,
and spent the rest of the day in the public-house. The police state that he
is the most noisy little vagabond in the district.
There is also a great number of hawkers, board-men, cab-men, and
higglers, men of precarious callings, and whose characteristics are of more
doubtful complexion than those of the labouring men who rise and go
fixed employment.
There are some portions in this small district which are inhabited by
particular classes. There is one street chiefly inhabited by beggars, one
portion of which is mostly occupied by begging-letter men. In another
portion there is a nest of courts and alleys inhabited by Bath-brick sellers,
door-mat men, and others, who travel with dog-carts : the approach to
- this quarter is soon known by the number of dogs, which seem to form a
social community among themselves.
The women and the girls in these districts live with their men as long as
they can agree together, or until one or the other be imprisoned or trans-
ported. The very children are prostitutes, living with their “ fancy lads ;'
and it is difficult to say which are the most degraded, the men or the
women, the girls or the boys.
It is thus that I suppose crime is more engendered in low neighbour-
hoods, where the poorest and the most idle congregate: and I now beg to
continue
my
remarks
upon
the second head, namely, the neglect of parents.
The various pursuits of these parents call them from home during the
greater portion of the day, and their children are left to play and idle in
the streets, associating with other lads of more experience than themselves,
until seeing and hearing how easy it is to steal, they commence their
career of crime, unchecked on the one hand and applauded on the other.
There are some parents who turn their children out every morning to pro-
vide for themselves, not caring by what means they procure a subsistence,
so that the expense of feeding them does not abstract from their means of
procuring gin or beer. Other parents require their children to bring home
a specified sum every night, to obtain which they must beg or thieve.
Others hire out their children to beggars, for 3d. a day (a cripple is con-
sidered worth 6d.); and many women hire children in arms about the
same age, to pass them off in the public thoroughfares as twins. Groups
of these young neglected vagabonds herd together, and theft becomes their
* At certain periods the beggars and idle persons, including women and girls, leave
St. Giles's, in order to make their country circuits. Many hundreds emigrate into Kent
to pick hops, and to steal what they can. The beggars follow on the heels of the
fashionable world, and when fashion rusticates, the mendicant leaves London. Some
travel the round of the races; some go systematically begging at every door in each
town, and at every house in the rural districts. They exchange routes in St. Giles's
before they start, and give each other written memoranda of various gentlemen's seats,
and what tale of deception is best calculated to awaken the owners' sympathies. These
vagabonds return as periodically as they start, and none of them ever starve upon the
road.

90
study; even if a child was well disposed, it is not probable that he could
escape the contagion of such bad example. There is a community of chil-
dren, who live and are separated from persons more advanced in years.
Moreover, there is so rapid and so certain a communication among them
all over the metropolis, that if they discover any of their slang or
flash words to be known out of their circle, they will substitute
another, which in the course of a day or two will be adopted by the frater-
nity. There are lodging-houses exclusively for their accommodation, public-
houses which are chiefly supported by their custom, and the landlords of
both sorts of establishments are ever ready to purchase any plunder they
may bring.*
With this neglect of parents on the one hand, and the facilities to crime
on the other hand, can it be expected that these children can resist temp-
tation ? The wonder would be if a boy was honest! My conclusion,
therefore, is, that the neglect of parents in these low neighbourhoods
renders them nurseries of crime.
I now come to a serious and lamentable subject as connected with juve-
nile crime; and in calling attention to it, I hope that some strong remedies
may be adopted to check the evil, which is, in fact, the germ of crime, and
which, if allowed to remain unchecked, must render every attempt to reform
these boys abortive. I mean, the FACILITIES OF SELLING STOLEN PROPERTY.
The receivers of stolen property abound in every district; even some of
the larger silversmiths have been named to me as dealers in plunder, as
well as drapers and mercers. Mischievous as these persons are, the greater
facilities among boys exist in the smaller receptacles. There is not a boy
thief but who knows that he can immediately dispose of any property at
any hour of the night or day. Many men who deal in plunder keep
lodging-houses, in which only boys and girls are admitted, upon condition
that they board in the house and sell to the master all their booty. These
houses are known under the flash term “ kid kens.' A pretended account
is kept against these children, and they are daily forced to go out and
thieve. Watches, bank notes, in short, every species of property is bought
for a mere nominal value—a few shillings is given to the thief, and the
presumed balance is taken in liquidation of the previous debt or in earnest
of future payment. These children have stated to me that they live in a
complete state of thraldom, liable to the severest beatings if they have been
unsuccessful ; and if they attempt to leave the establishment, or to be idle,
or to sell any property elsewhere, or to endeavour to reform by seeking
work, the receiver threatens to have them apprehended.
The number of boys who live by plunder is considerable, so that society
is maintaining them at a great expense, either in the shape of prison ex-
penses, or by the value of the property they steal, especially when it is con-
sidered that the receivers never give one quarter of the value; and there is
not a boy thief who, on the average, (including the poor pudding snammers)
does not expend 5s. per diem.
The marine store dealers and rag-merchants also afford great facilities.
* On questioning lads concerning their first inducements to crime, the answer has
almost invariably been, "drink and bad company."

.91
One of this class, on being sent to prison, coolly observed, "it does no
great harm to come here sometimes, for we pick up some new customers !”
It would be desirable if some measure could be adopted, in order to make
these men responsible for their dealings, especially the low brokers, whose
houses are constructed to facilitate crime and impede justice.
In order to convict these persons, the mode of search should be most
summary, because the transition of property is too rapid for the present
cumbrous forms attendant upon search warrants. Moreover, each broker
and marine store dealer should be licensed, on payment of an annual sum,
which money could be advantageously employed towards the support of a
REFORMATORY ESTABLISHMENT for juvenile offenders.
Having thus far shown the habits of the poorer and also of the idle
classes, who live packed and compacted together in the low neighbourhoods
--having pointed out the mischief arising from the neglect of parents, and
moreover the pernicious effects of the facilities now permitted to exist for
the sale of stolen property, I trust that I have explained the principal roots
of crime; and in continuation of the subject, I will offer a few cursory re-
marks concerning the habits and grades of young thieves, whereby I think
I shall be able to show not only the utter hopelessness of reformation, but
also that they must of necessity continue thieves under the present system.
These boys herd together-they form a separate community—they have
no link to bind them to society—the world is to them a field for plunder,
and punishment “bad luck," as they term it. They must eat, so they
thieve, having no other means of procuring food “they have no character
to recommend them to an employer, and the cravings of hunger are more
imperative than any incipient feelings of honesty. These lads have no idea
of providing for the morrow, as every hour of their freedom is uncertain ;
and each boy thinks that as he lived one day, so he can exist the next.
Money is useless to them beyond enabling them to supply themselves with
food or drink-having never worked for money, they do not appreciate its
value; so in order to get rid of it as quickly as they can, they gamble, thus
verifying the old adage, “light come, light go.”—Young boys will play
“ skittles" or "pitch and toss,” for five sovereigns or more at a stake;
and so strong is their gambling passion, that boys in Newgate used (and
may now, for aught I know) to make a gambling currency of pieces of blue
and white crockery—the coloured or plain side being “heads” or “tails, "
as may be agreed upon--the stakes, their food!
Juvenile delinquents are kind to each other, provided they think that the
wants of a companion are not in consequence of his idleness in thieving or
want of daring. One lad, recently transported, was much looked
up
the fraternity, and a young thief in distress never applied to him in vain,
for his great expertness always gave him the means of gratifying his ex-
travagance !
There are various grades or “castes” of these boys—a kind of aris-
tocracy among them. There is the incipient house-breaker, or swell-mob-
man; the pickpocket, a subdivided class, however, for the boy who dives
for purses or for watches would scorn to take a handkerchief. Then, again,
there is a class called “sneaks," who enter shops slily, or crawl upon their
hands and knees to abstract a till. There is another caste
or class
called “bouncers,” who enter a shop, and while bargaining contrive to
to by
2.)

92
steal property. Another class steals exposed property about shop doors or
windows : others break, by means of a nail, the glass in windows, in order
to abstract goods : some rob from mercers by inserting a jagged wire and
drawing silk through the bolt holes. There is one class who ride behind
carriages to steal the leather braces, which they can sell for 9d. each pair ;
but the lowest of all thieves (despised even of his fellows) is the “
“pudding
snammers." These “pudding snammers are young urchins whose love
of pudding far exceeds all love of work; so they loiter about cook-shops,
and when customers are departing with plates of beef or pudding, pounce
on them, and the choice provision and the “pudding snammers have
vanished like magic. They sell the surplus, after gratifying their own
hunger, to other boys or to costermongers, and then seek a shelter in some
nest of crime, where they can be accommodated with a bed for 3d. or a stair
to sleep upon for a halfpenny.
These above-mentioned grades generally herd together, and the “pud-
ding snammer ” is generally deemed unworthy of higher fellowship.
Such is the germinating mass of crime among neglected children in large
towns; and it is to be lamented that play-grounds and schools are not
established in the districts.
In considering the subject of juvenile delinquency, it is requisite to take
into account the various causes which compel them to be vicious; and
though we must condemn, still we must regret that no efficient means have
been adopted to prevent this lamentable evil.
Young thieves have often confessed to me, that their first attempts at
stealing commenced at apple stalls, and that having acquired confidence by
a few successful adventures, they have gradually progressed in crime,
allured by others, and in their turn alluring. They find companions to
cheer them and instruct them, girls to share their booty and applaud them,
and every facility to sell their daily booty. There is, moreover, a kind of
lottery adventure in each day's life; and as these excitements are attainable
at so easy a rate, is it strange that these children are fascinated with and
abandon themselves to crime?
Imprisonment to a young urchin who steals and has no other means of
subsistence is no punishment; for it is indifferent to him where he exists,
so long as he has food and raiment. It is in prison that boys form ac-
quaintances, more mischievous than themselves. Many lads have owned
to me that they had learned more in a gaol than out of one.*
I once asked a lad if there was any school where boys were taught to
pick pockets ? Upon which he significantly observed, “no occasion for
one, sir, the best school for that sort of thing is HERE!” alluding to the
prison in which I saw him.
* It is a strange but singular fact, that young boys are more hardened in crime, more
daring in exploit, more reckless of punishment, and more troublesome in prison than
adults. These boys appear to have ventured all their energies upon crime, as a gambler
would a stake. They are hailed with joy among their companions on their release from
gaol; and hasten to put into practice the lessons they have learnt from their fellow
prisoners. Almost every prisoner, whether adult or juvenile, has owned to me, that
however bad he might have been before he went to prison, he learned more in it than
he had ever dreamed of out of it.

93
w
hun
The frequent number of recommittals in all our prisons proves the utter
inefficiency of prison discipline with respect to reformation,* and proves
that such treatment only hardens in crime, whereby society is at considerable
cost to make the bad worse. The governors of many prisons have told me
that boys are more astute, more hardened, and more difficult to conquer
than adult thieves.
I have seen young children, not in their “
teens,” placed behind large des
iron bars, strong enough to restrain an elephant. And what is the effect ?
It is this : the mind of the boy becomes impressed with an idea that he
must be a very clever lad to require such barricadoes, and that society has
a great dread of his talents. The elder thieves patronize a boy of this
class, and look upon him as a hopeful “Roscius.” I have observed that
boys in Newgate, who have been sentenced to death (although the boy, as
well as the judge and every person present, knew that he would not be
hung in pursuance of that sentence,) conduct themselves as boys of a su- ramte
perior class to the transport lads. The boy under sentence of transporta-
tion for life is of greater consequence than the boy who is sentenced to
seven years, while the lad whose sentence is a short imprisonment is not
deemed worthy to associate or converse with them : in short, the daring
offender is a member of the prison aristocracy, (or rather kakistocracy,)
and severity of punishment is by them converted into a scale of merit.
The pomp and panoply of justice only gives to these lads a feeling of self-
importance : they never had any feeling of shame or disgrace; but this
idea of self-importance might, if properly acted upon, be turned to the
advancement of industry and honest emulation.
I have found much shrewdness, much talent, and, moreover, much good
feeling mixed up with these boys. In fact, shrewdness, bold daring, and
close observation is their “stock-in-trade,” and without those requisites
they would make but very sorry thieves. There is a library in the boys'
ward at Newgate : it contains a great number of evangelical books and
lives of a great number of dissenting ministers; among the other books,
however, there are a few containing history and travels, and it is with these
latter books that the boys are delighted; they read them with eagerness,
and the more illiterate boys will subscribe portions of food to engage the
services of a boy to read to them aloud. The schoolmaster mentioned
cases of boys who were so fired with the desire of reading, that, although
they did not know their letters when they came to prison, they were enabled
to read before they left it.
Thus it is evident, that however lost these children may now be, there is
“material” to work upon, if properly managed and directed.
These boys match their cunning against the chances of detection, and, if
detected, against the chances of conviction. “ Chance" is a thief's motto.
ihan
A housebreaker and bankrobber once observed to me—“you have
bolts, watchmen, police, and law, sir, to protect your property. You lock in the
Chang
* The frequent recommitments of juvenile thieves prove two things. Ist. That
under the present system the lads are incorrigible. 2ndly. That prisons are of no use;
and if prisons are of no use, they only tend to perfect a youth in crime, in which case
society takes great trouble, at considerable expense, to educate rogues, in order that
they may plunder upon the most adroit principle.

94
it away every night, as much as to say, get it, if you can! We set our
cunning to work, and if we get it, why!—we beat you.” Such is the
“ morale" of a thief,—such is the “morale” of a gambler-namely, to
obtain money without labour. The malefactor, however, who will seldom
betray a confederate, is strangled at Newgate; and the gambler, who would
ruin an innocent family, is courted at St. James's.
Sed et exorabile Numen
Fortasse experiar. Solet his ignoscere. Multi
Committunt eadem diverso crimena fato.
Ille crucem pretiam sceleris tulit, hic diadema.”.
Juvenal, Sat. 13, 102.
I have questioned many boys of shrewd understanding concerning their
opinions, and the opinions of their associates, as to their ultimate fate (for
all thieves are fatalists). They look upon their inevitable doom to be
either sooner or later transportation or the drop !
It is difficult to imagine a state of more gloomy wretchedness and more
despairingly horrible than the self-conviction of condign punishment, with-
out one gleam of hope to clear the melancholy perspective. Punishments
and whippings are therefore useless, for the mind is prepared to endure
more, and every imprisonment is only looked upon as another step in the
ladder of their sad destiny. The lad is hopeless, consequently reckless in
his conduct,-hardened to the present, and irreclaimable as to the future.
It is not by prison discipline that reformation can be effected: the temp-
tations, the facilities, and the love of idleness are too alluring. Crowds of
young thieves will wait round a prison gate, to hail a companion on the
morning of his liberation, and to carry him off to treat him and regale him
for the day.
I have asked boys under sentence of transportation if they thought they
could reform, if returned again upon society, and the general reply has
been, “no.”
Their reasons for that conclusion I give in their own words :
“if we were to be free to-morrow, we must go to our old haunts and our
old companions, for where else can we go? If we try to be honest we
cannot, for our “pals' (associates) would torment us to return; in short,
we should only have to come back here at last, but we are now going to
another country, where we hope to be honest men.”
I have, moreover, questioned many lads as to what methods they would
adopt to prevent other boys from falling into crime, and their remarks have
been, “stop playing in the streets, for a pocket is soon picked, and there
are many who show others how to do it;—and the next thing is to stop
those cursed receivers ; for if a receiver knows a boy to have dealt with him,
(that is, to have sold him property,) he will make him go out to thieve; he
will never let him rest; and even should we get into employment, he will
teaze us till he makes us rob the master, or will tell of us to the police."
These remarks prove the boys to be good judges of their own cases; so,
like a skilful physician, they know where to apply the remedy; and as I
feel convinced that many of these urchins possess every requisite to be
good and useful members of society, so am I certain that their reformation,
in a majority of cases, is as practicable, under proper means, as their ulti-
mate ruin is now certain, under the present system.

95
VISIT TO ST. GILES.
There is a weekly club held at the Rose and Crown, in C-L-
consisting of idle characters, street hawkers, beggars, and labourers, as
well as chimney sweepers, &c. The greatest proportion I consider to be
bricklayers' labourers, or hard working men; the next street hawkers ;
then beggars and idle fellows, with five grown chimney sweepers-out of
a hundred persons full one-third of the company were women, chiefly Irish,
many of whom belonged to the men in the room, and the whole party
were apparently acquainted. I recognized nine thieves in the room, three
of whom I had seen at a similar house in Whitechapel.
The chair was filled by a young fighting fellow in a flannel jacket, whose
hammer and lungs could not maintain the decorum he required-
before him were placed two plates, one over the other, and in the under
one was deposited the subscription money. It was the bank from which
the president drew in payment for gin, beer, and tobacco-before him was
a bottle of gin and dram glass, with a taste of which he occasionally
treated a friend, and regaled himself,
The landlord, a cunning little old Irish man, named Reilly, was most
attentive to our comforts, and sent for a little active old Paddy, to treat
his new customers by an exhibition of the shillaleh dance. Garry, who
was formerly in the 18th Hussars, did it well; and gave an excellent idea of
the quickness and ease with which an angry Irishman could split a fellow's
head; Garry entered into the spirit of the pantomime, and his expression
of countenance describing the attack, the defence, and the smile of victory,
was well done. His acting was full of life, and his dance full of drollery.
Three thieves had snugged themselves up in a corner just behind the
door, and were too busy in deep conversation to notice anything that was
going on. From their manner and expression it appeared to me, that
they were in conclave on some disappointment, and evidently attaching
blame to the mismanagement of one of the party, who appeared very ear-
nest in his own vindication.
Young Reilly was absent, in consequence of his having gone to bail a
young Irishman, who was apprehended, when on the point of commencing
a prize fight, at some short distance from town.
Dancing reels to the tune of an old fiddle, played by Sullivan, brother
to the dancer at Covent Garden Theatre, was the amusement of the people.
On adjourning from Reilly's in our way to Milberry's, we met with old
Morgan, who was walking at a smart pace bawling out his curses. On my
going up to him, he turned back and made for the court leading to his
cellar, up which he turned uttering his curses all the while, and too excited
to give me any answer.
It was eleven when we got to Milberrys-nobody in front of the bar-
the time when that house is full, being 1 or 2 o'clock. The customers do
not finish prowling the street till those hours; we saw several pair of eyes
peeping from different doors, and one fellow well dressed, but with a most
evil expression of eye, sat lowering behind the bar.
We then parted company with some of our friends, they to see St. Giles
under the escort of S-, while we adjourned to Grout's, where I made
my supper of bread and cheese.
- 9

96
Grout says, at least one half of his lodgers are regular customers, many
of whom are labouring men. Many hawk things about the streets, some
carry parcels, and some live God knows how; as for the strange proportion
he knows nothing about them. Many of the persons who hawk things
about the streets in trays, make 10s. a day, selling snuff boxes, steel pens,
&c. &c. the profits on which, are more than half. He showed me a circu-
lar snuff box with a colored head of Apollo, an engraving, thickly var-
nished, and so highly colored that an indifferent person would think it to
be a painting; this box he bought of one of his customers for ls, the man
sells them in the street for 28., 2s. 6d. sometimes 3s. according to his cus-
tomer, and they cost him 9s. a dozen or 9d. each. Dr. B. remarked, that
these men can buy steel pens at 9d. a gross.
Went a casual round and spent an hour, at Milberry's are fine tables
with high back partitions, and fronting the door on a large black board,
the following lines :
My pipe I can't afford to give,
“ If by my trade I wish to live;
My liquor's proof, my measure just,
" Excuse me, Sir, I cannot trust.
“ To prevent MISTAKES all liquor to be paid for on delivery.”
The pot boy or rather pot man, is a sly down-looking fellow, and goes
by the name of “ Jem the Baker,” D. and S- told me he was a most
notorious thief.
Mrs. Milberry says, she knows that the men who sell pocket books, &c.
at the coach offices, consider 9s. to be a very trifling day's profit.
There are no coffee houses in St. Giles, but the hucksters are open all
night, and the gin shops in the Broadway open at 5 o'clock.
Saw Mr. B-4, the agent of the London City Mission, his station is
confined to the back settlements.
He states that there are 738 children of both sexes, and both religions
under 12 and above two years in his division, the majority are Catholics.
The families are in a state of great destitution, arising in various in-
stances from want of work, low wages, and also from improvidence-he
says, if he was to go out every morning with £5 in small change, in order
to give it away in charity to the most distressing cases, is convinced that
41. would be consumed in gin.
Food is the only effectual relief to them.
When I asked him at what age he thought children took to thieving,
he remarked, that he saw children of 10 and 12 years of age gambling for
money
in groups along the pavement, and he could come to no other con-
clusion, than that they obtained the means by plunder.
There are two schools in St. Giles, one for Protestants the other for
Catholics, opposite to each other.
Another visit, 11 o'clock, hardly a person in the rookery, at 12 o'clock
not one, at Milberry's, a few women were sitting on the pavement and
leaning their backs against the wall, a favourite position of the lower
classes-again I saw old Morgan, some ruffians nearly smothered the
poor harmless being once, by thrusting a quantity of straw into the cellar
and setting it on fire, when he was asleep.
R---, gave me the following information. Young girls of 12 or 14

97
year's
of
age hire a room for 8d. a night, at Cormac's or Coffy's; these
young wretches take men, boys, or anybody in, and frequently six or eight
boys and girls sleep in the room, paying a small sum to the original renter
of the apartment, so that each room becomes a separate little brothel,
drunken men are sure to be plundered, and an unguarded man is frequently
stupified with drugs, and robbed even to his very shirt. There is no clue to
detection, as the rooms are let for the night to the girl who pays before
hand, and decamps when she chooses. Cormac's house has five rooms.
Milberry's house has 30 rooms. At Coffy's, also a lodging-house, a coiner
lived, who is now transported, 731. of base coin was found on the premises
hid under a heap of mortar and rubbish.
BEGGARS FREQUENTING ST. GILES.
A great many are now in the country, (September) they will be all at
home before Christmas. The hare-skin time is now on; these people
take out a daily supply of bad money, and pass it away when they give
change.
Begging is not so profitable now as it was a year or two ago (1835),
owing to the exertions of the new police and the Mendicity Society. A
beggar always calculates upon a ld. a street. · He has known six or seven
beggars, dressed like distressed mechanics, go down to Monmouth Street,
and a street or two adjoining, and make 14s., and has heard them talk of
their earnings; he thinks, no beggar makes less than from 3s. to 4s. a day;
they all live very well; they live as well as any respectable small shop-
keeper, and he thinks better too: they drink very hard ; get drunk gene-
rally before they get home; they use the gin palaces, as they do not con-
sider the spirits at small public houses good enough for them.
A great many cadgers live in Short's-gardens,
Women hire two infants about the same age for 4d. or 6d. a day, and
make 3s. or 4s. a day at the very least. . He knows a woman who does
not care whether her husband works or not. She begs and knits night-
caps in the streets; she supports her husband and three children very well by
the proceeds. He goes harvesting for a few weeks, that is all he ever does.
Beggars go out of town when the nobility and gentry are at their
country seats, many dressed as old soldiers and sailors, and have lists of
those houses and estates where military or naval officers reside ; they have
also lists of the residences of benevolent people. Before they depart for
the country, they meet at certain public-houses, and ask what seats arę
good” to call at. The information is given, and if one tells another of
a house that is good for a pound, the fee is 2s, 6d. The same parties
cannot call twice, but sell the information. It is a constant practice with
beggars to compare notes; they do not make a general purse and share
the money.
They do not sell walks or beats to each other ; they only sell informa-
tion, where they cannot again attempt their imposition themselves.
Eight out of ten are strong enough to get their living by labour; but
begging is much easier.
Children are trained to beg and steal— almost all the beggars have been
brought up to trades; I heard a beggar say, in reference to his lucky im-
H

98
Geert
positions, that if he were to have a twelvemonth's imprisonment, it would
not be a day more than he fully deserved; he prefers the beggar's life to
one of industry and labour.
Street sweepers in squares and fashionable neighbourhoods, make a good
trade; they run of errands for servants, help to clean knives, &c. &c.
R-- has heard many say, that they got more victuals given to them
daily, than would keep a whole family. They generally sell what they do
not require.
Beggars never wear any clothes that may be given to them--some go
about without shoes, stockings or shirt, only a pair of trowsers and a
knit jacket, to excite compassion ; and get clothes daily given to them,
which yield them 4s. and 58. a day.
The sailor beggars are called turnpike sailors.
He does not believe there is any school for teaching the street language-
*** Core it is no use, the street being the best school.
An impostor, named Quin, lives in St. Giles's, but is now in the country;
he is a young fellow and could work, but makes more money by impo-
sition. He assumes the character of a wretched looking deplorable old
man, bent nearly double, leaning forward on his stick, and apparently
crawling with great pain and exertion, at the rate of about one mile in 12
hours. His disguise is so well managed, that it is a matter of surprise to
the neighbours, who are themselves old cadgers. It is supposed that he
takes something to make him look ghastly and pale ; he has been a coiner,
and imprisoned for it. Now he begs under the above-named disguse,
and R— who has seen him walk as well as I can, has heard him say
at the bar, he always contrives to get 10s. or 12s. per diem.
R-knows a fellow who lodges in a court behind his house, who can
earn a very good living at his trade (a whitesmith); but has heard him
say, he never would work at it under 6s. a day; knows he can get 5s.
easily at it.
Beggars have lists of all charitable societies and institutions to which
they incessantly apply in the winter ; they apply for coals, potatoes, &c.
which they sell as soon as obtained for half their value.
The women get baby linen, tickets of admission, &c.
working man would wish to obtain the benefit of any hospital or
dispensary, he would have great trouble and difficulty; a beggar can get it
directly on application for an order, to any charitable institution ; the
beggar procures and sells it to the applicant for the best bargain he can
inake with him ; in 48 hours it is always to be obtained.
In the neighbourhood of R—'s bouse the idle live; the working men
live in rooms facing the street; the bad idle fellows at the back of the
houses;; the thieves live up the courts and alleys.
At Coffy's houses, three or four couples live in a room or cellar, with
their children, generally 10 or 12, all in a room.
Some of the fellows in St. Giles are bad enough for any crime, and are
lazy to a degree; they will watch for labouring men coming home on
Saturday night with their wages, and will hustle and rob them.
In private houses, rooms are let to a person who receives the inmates in
it, sometimes eight families in a single room. Superintendent E. has
visited these apartments, and witnessed the greatest scenes of wretchedness

99
His landlady Day
1
and debauchery. Girls, of 18 or 19 years, sleeping stark naked with their
parents. He has frequently seen a man with two women in one bed, and less
two men with a woman between them.
Gambling among the boys, is carried to an excess in St. Giles, especially
on Sunday morning--policemen cannot catch them. It is astonishing to
see the boys with hardly a rag upon their backs, playing for 4d. or 6d. a
toss, “ three up,” is the game; these boys are generally children, who are
not in any work. Some of them are, and they keep money back out of
their wages, while others can only get it by begging or thieving.
There is a little deformity who lives in St Giles, at a lodging-house; aftan
he has no legs, and is dragged about the streets in a sort of carriage, by
two beautiful dogs; he has an unfurled banner behind him.
pays him the greatest homage, lifts him in her arms, and puts him on his
carriage, straps him on, and sets him off every morning about 9 o'clock.
He returns to dinner at one, when she sallies forth, unstraps him, and car-
ries my gentleman into the house – he never goes out any more that day,
but gets regularly drunk, and makes more noise than any fellow in the
division.
He always makes his 7s. or 8s. a day in these few hours, and abandons
the rest of his time to mischief. His landlady and he have had a quarrel
lately, and he is now at Rat's Castle; but she is ready to break her heart
about the little blackguard, and will not rest satisfied until he returns to
her again.
A fellow who pretends to be a bent cripple, goes about the streets imi-
tating the cuckoo, he makes a good living, and is mostly drunk every
night.
There is a miserable object who goes about the the streets, crawling on
his hands and knees, using a kind of grapple for his hands, and his spine is
bent upwards, giving it somewhat the appearance of the back of a cat in a
passion--this deformity never makes less than 7s. or 8s. a day, frequently
more, and he gets beastly drunk-when he is in this state some of the
cadgers go to his landlady, and she hastens to the spot to fetch his " glory”
home.
Fellows dressed as mechanics and going about with children, are great
impostors.
A mysterious person lately lodged for some years at Gummer's, a dealer
in pigs' heads and sausage maker--he spoke four languages fluently, lived
with his wife in a small back room--his landlord never could find out
who he was, or by what means he got his money. Sometimes he
was in debt 21. or 31., apparently suffering the greatest distress; then he
would suddenly come home with 101. or 151., pay his bill, and live very
comfortably-sometimes he would go out dressed in the most abject miser-
able style, when he had money--at other times when he had no money, he
would sally forth dressed in the most elegant mode; he was a subject of
notice and mystery to all the neighbours; but he never spoke to any per-
son on terms of sufficient intimacy to learn anything about him.
Another mysterious being has lived at a fourpenny lodging-house for
four years, and nobody could make out who he was, when the lodging-
house keeper one day pointed him out to Inspector C-_--, who had
H 2

100
been 14 years in the Bank, he recognized in him a reduced Bank clerk,
with a pension of 501. per annum.
Inspector C considers St. Giles's to be empty this time of the year,
(September), at present the only residents are labouring men, a few hawk-
ers, and theives; he has seen large parties of 15 or 20 men and women of
the town, who ply on the Piazzas, start for several following mornings
past, who have gone hop picking in the country; he mentioned two or
three girls who go this trip annually, and come back with a fresh stock of
money and health. They have a grand holiday when they return, which
they keep up until their money is all gone, and then they return to their
sad calling. These women are perfectly quiet at all times, except after
they return, and when they have this annual jubilee.
• I mention this,” continues the inspector, “ because I think many of
these poor unfortunate girls would willingly work if they could get em-
ployment.”
The Buckeridge property in St. Giles's is considerable ; the agent is
Mr. J—; he takes his seat at the Buckeridge Arms, every Monday at
half past eleven o'clock, and receives his weekly rents.
N- the celebrated tailor, has lately purchased nearly 100 houses in
this neighbourhood; they begin at the timber-yard, opposite the church,
extend to Bainbridge-street, go up Bainbridge-street to Church-lane, in-
cluding Maynard-street.
The two brothels known by the name of Mother Cummins, together
with three small houses in New-street, were sold to Mr. T-P-
of Bainbridge-street, lodging-house-keeper for 1,1001. ; he went prepared
to offer 2,5001.: the purchase was made about four months ago. He
sublets to the sons of the late Mrs. Cummins; there are two houses—the
larger, No. 24, has 32 bed-rooms, which vary in price; a four-post bed-
room is 2s. 6d. ; the furniture in it was an old dirty four-post bed, two
ricketty tables, two old fashioned chairs, one with a broken back, a piece
of looking glass ; one of the tables was occupied by a basin, water-jug,
and towel, and a piece of crockery was at the foot of the bed; no carpet,
the walls dirty, the ceiling showed the names of different visitors who had
traced their names in candle smoke: this was the case in a great many of
the rooms, some of the ceilings in the smaller rooms being full; this 2s. 6d.
room is seldom used, there are three of the sort; smaller rooms, with
Waterloo bedsteads, Is. 6d.; and stump bedsteads, in rooms not above
eight feet by ten feet, ls. The other house has 19 beds, four of which
are 2s. 60. rooms, and the renter occupies three rooms, so that the house
has in all 22 rooms.
The low brothel opposite to Phænix-street belongs to G, who keeps
a shop within a few doors of it. He lets it, together with four two-roomed
houses in the back yard for 41. ls. a week to Mrs. S- -, whose husband
is a bargeman.
Thompson's house in Buckridge-street makes up 100 beds for 100
people, and they are always filled ; he has property in Castle-street, Long
Acre.
A man goes round with a horse and cart to collect metal from old
marine -store shops; Field, maker of base coin, lives in this neighbour-
hood.
CCO у
C
COCCO
(COCO

101
I gave Morgan, the old fellow mentioned, in the course of this visit to
St. Giles's, 6d. ; he thus planned the laying it out-
Soap, 2 d.; Tea, ld.; Tobacco, id. ; Coals, lid.
He has lived on the bare ground, in a cellar, without even a flap to keep
out the snow for 30 years. He lives rent free, and is allowed 6d. a week
by the landlord. He was an errand boy to a gold lace man, and now sub-
sists by cleaning out the rooms of the St. Giles's lodging-houses, charging
2d. each room. He has no bed ; but sleeps on an elevated place about
three feet high, and about four feet by three feet; his position is doubled
up; he lies on a dirty old rush mat, and covers himself with a few greasy
rags. There is no stool, nor any article of furniture in his cellar, except
a tea kettle, a black tea pot with the spout broken off, and a little tin pot;
the fire-place is a few bars of iron on some bricks, and he sits upon a heap
of broken rubbish; he wanders by night about St. Giles's, like an uneasy
ghost, muttering curses or prayers on his knees on the pavement; the
women have a superstitious dread of his maledictions,
VISIT TO WHITECHAPEL.
are-
Jews frequent singing, but not dancing houses ; they are fond of con-
certs, and the principal houses they frequent, and where they have music,
The Black Lion, Simmonds, Petticoat-lane, Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday, at 8 o'Clock, the latter the principal day.
Earl of Effingham, Whitechapel-road, 3d. entrance; this house is
used by Jews and thieves. The swell mob muster there on Sunday night,
but there is no singing then.
A man observed to me, that if the King's crown were to come within
half-a-mile of Petticoat-lane, money would be found in an hour for its
purchase.
Police officer, S- - told me he thought a thief made 8s. or 10s. a day.
Sheen, the
was accused by a young sweep, named Robert
Taylor, of roobing him. Taylor lived at Sheen’s, a house of the most in-
famous description in Wentworth-street; but being shocked at the number
of silk handkerchiefs that were brought there by young thieves, and
other improper goings on, he left it, for he is a bit of a Methodist
preacher, he used to expound on Tower-bill. Sheen said he
gave
him
trust for two nights 8d., and that he ran away till the other evening, when
· he called in and refused to pay. Sheen laid hold of him, rifled him of
3s. 6d., and took his silk handkerchief off his neck.
Sheen said it was useless to make any pretension to character ; but bad
as he was, the boy with all his preaching and Methodism was 50 times
worse.
I have asked several Whitechapel thieves what they thought of Sheen,
and they all agree he is a thorough villain. The opinion that is universal
among the most depraved young thieves is, that the boys who plunder are
cheated by him.

102
Went to the following public-houses, where music was played :-
No. 1. Catherine Wheel, Wentworth-street.
2. Half Moon and Punch Bowl, Buckle-street.
3. Brown Bear, Leman-street.
4. Sydney Smith, Dock-street.
5. Three Crowns, East Smithfield.
6. Brown Bear,
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 6, are kept by Germans; the music was a foreign
band at 1, 2, and 3: at No. 4, it was a clarinet; at Nos. 5 and 6 a
fiddle; at the first three houses a large proportion of the company was
Germans; at No. 3, foreign sailors; at Nos. 4, 65, and 6, disgusting
strumpets, and ferocious Englishmen; hard drinking, with bad music, and
worse dancing ; Jack sailors and Jack ws; at the foreign houses each
person who dances pay 2d. for the musician, of which the landlord gets
nothing; No. 2, is frequented by a better class of foreigners, and a music.
room is set apart up stairs for their use; they are mostly sugar-bakers, and
leave in the early part of the night to go to their employment. The house
I am told is open long after any other, and the drunkenness that occurs is
among those who were not there in the early part of the evening, when
music and dancing were chiefly going on. Policeman 50 (S--) in-
formed me that during that time every thing was always quiet and
orderly.
The lower streets of this district are extremely filthy; the houses as bad
as St. Giles's; and, in some cases, present a greater appearance
of deso-
lation, because they are a better description
are a better description of tenements inhabited by
very filthy or very poor persons.
There are low gaming-houses in Petticoat-lane kept by Jews, and fre-
quented by that class as well as by cracksmen.
Jews about here are fences, especially L-L-, who lives in Pet-
ticoat-lane, and keeps a fence shop in the west end; he sometimes sends
stolen property abroad.
There are several low brothels in this neighbourhood, some of them
kept by fences and passers of bad money, such as B-D
D-, a Jew,
Big Ben,” and another C-P-, who is now in Bridewell
for passing bad sovereigns; a girl is frequently the person who carries bad
money; the utterer never having more than one piece at a time : the girls
at those houses, and many in this district, are not above 12 years old, and
live with young thieves. No. 50, Police, told me, he knew three girls and
one boy to sleep in one bed. No. 60, says, men and women, boys and
girls, as many as six or eight lie in one bed. In the brothels in "Went-
worth-street, Nos. 102, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, they cluster together four or
citer five in a bed. These houses have an outlet at top to facilitate escape ; so
have many
others in this division.
There is a flash house in S—-street, kept by J-G-called the
Sun, he is a notorious burglar cr craksman ; has been well known for
years. The way by which he obtained money to commence publican is
singular ; a friend of his was in Whitecross-street prison, and became
intimate with a man there who was about to take the benefit of the Insol-
vent Act, but who had secreted in his house a considerable sum of money ;
hiba ft B

103
this person communicated his secret of cheating his creditors to his prison
friend, stating where the money was concealed : this was told to J-G-
when he came to visit his friend in Whitecross-street, and before the
debtor went out of prison, his house had been broken into by G- and
the property applied to taking a public house.
Another flash house is kept by I-, who is a transported convict; it
is called the H-situated in Hare-street. He is a fence, dealing only in
silk; he has kept the house about 1} years ; the silk stealers damp silk,
put weight on the bobbing : the manufacturer before giving out the silk,
weighs it to the workman, and the plan is to take as much silk as they can
so as to return the same weight by any means.
The half bred Irish are generally bad; especially the young ones.
The swell mob use Cordell's house in Northumberland-street, Fashion-
street; and also the Blood Hole, in Aldgate, near Whitechapel, in a yard
used by butchers and thieves.
No. 60, told me that two sisters who were confined at the same time,
took it by turns to go out, each with two children, passing them off as
twins, and they made money daily by that plan ; one was shown to me.
Beggars live well ; have hot beefsteaks and beer for breakfast; fare
well at night, and are never poor.
The honest working man suffers the greatest privations ; he has appear-
ance to keep up, and a family to support upon very slender wages ; they
endure the greatest misery.
The prostitutes stupify men, and then rob them; there is one house to stay
here famous for it.
Atten
Thieves, generally speaking, do not get drunk ; they are too cautious ; ( 16
they gamble all day long at public houses, and prowl out about dark,
When a thief has been lucky, he dresses his girl or woman; and the
sudden finery of any known girl is an index of her man's having com-
mitted a robbery.
The music houses here are the Half Moon and Punch Bowl, in Buckle-
street; also the Catherine Wheel, in Essex-street; both kept by and fre-
quented by Germans.*
COFFEE STAND.
In my way home, I stopped at a coffee-stand, opposite Apsley House.
I had two thick slices of bread and butter, a slice of good ham, and a cup
of coffee for 4d.; the coffee is ld.
The man has been in the habit of coming to this spot between 12 and 1
every morning, and leaving it at 8 o'clock, for upwards of 9 years.
His chief customers are labouring men on their way back to work, from
4 to 6 o'clock; some few of the market carters stop ; but the generality do
not deal with him.
* I have been present at these foreigner's meetings, and nothing can be more
correct, or more striking in contrast, to the English houses of the same stamp.

104
VISIT TO A FLASH HOUSE, THE BLACK BULL, IN WINDMILL-STREET.
On my return through Windmill-street, at about 12, I heard females
singing to a piano accompaniment on the first floor of this house. The
windows were open, and I saw many women's heads, dressed out with
flowers in their caps, evidently a gala night; as I had often heard of this
house I went up stairs ; it was the benefit night of a man named Davis.
The apartment comprises the back and front rooms, in which narrow tables
and forms with backs, were fixed in rows: I counted 10 or 12 persons
could sit at each, 5 facing each other. The room was very full, and exces-
sively hot. The company was composed of men and women, two or three
had babies in arms; the greater part of the women were girls of the town,
dressed out in their best, attended by their fancy men. The men were all
of them thieves, thimble men, flash men, a great many of the swell mob,
&c. &c. I did not see one working man among them. The youngest in
the room was about 16, and they were all under 25, with the exception of
three, beside the man who presided at a very good toned grand piano.
The waiter sung two comic songs, and a comic duet with a young fellow,
whose look, dress, and manner, shewed him to be a “ cross cove. The
waiter appeared upon intimate terms with his company, and when passing
down the centre of the room between the tables, sipped at every body's
brandy and water, with the most condescending friendship. The best
dressed persons in the room were equally familiar with him, and in his
praise as a good servant; it must be mentioned, that he never allowed a
moment's pause between the singing, without calling out to the “ Ladies
and Gentlemen to give their orders. I counted from six to ten glasses of
spirit and water, and from three to five pints of beer were brought into
the room. My situation was opposite to the door, and I amused myself
in counting
Many of these fellows were dressed seedily, some shabbily, a few other-
wise. One man about 35, with a broken nose, and very shabbily dressed
sat at my table opposite, but a little higher up ; he had a woman with him
dressed in a blue striped cotton, with a silk handkerchief over her shoulders.
He looked like a journeyman shoemaker, but was intimate with all the
company: a stylish dressed fellow, with rings on a coarse dirty-nailed
finger, and a cane in his hand, gave him a knowing nod from a distance,
and afterwards sauntered by the table, saying to this person, after “ How
d'ye do, &c.," " I should like some sprats IN (or with, I could not exactly
catch this word,) a case or two to-morrow.” The man gave a look of .
acquaintance with his eye, and continued smoking ; it was an order for
base coin, and the man opposite to me, I have no doubt whatever was the
maker or manufacturer of it.
The songs were rather smutty ; one was decidedly so: some were very
humorous, others of a cast requiring some voice, and a little skill in the
management. On my praising any song to the man who sat next to me,
he carefully abstained, though I asked, from mentioning any name; but I
heard three of their names when called upon, Fox, Davis, and Ashfield.
A respectable dressed person came into the room, and asked for some-
body; suspecting he was not of a class with the rest of the community, I

105
went out of the room, and spoke to him in the street, asking him what he
thought of the house, and if he had ever been there before. He then
told me he was searching for a boy, who had robbed his father, and run
away. It was a distressing case, proving the infatuation, allurement, and
facinations of crime, to a disposition prone to guilt. His father's name is
and he lives in Jermyn-street.
PRISONS.
NEWGATE.-Juvenile delinquents out of ten boys, at Christmas, 1837,
in Newgate.
7 are under sentence of transportation.
3
are untried.
10
Of which
1
2
4
has been six times in the House of Correction.
have been twice ditto.
ditto once ditto.
not known to have been in custody before.
3
10
2 had no parents.
2 both parents living.
3 had only fathers.
3 had only mothers.
2 were fifteen years old.
5 were fourteen.
2 were thirteen.
1 was ten years old.
10
10
Four had been in Newgate before; one was liberated in June; another
in July, 1834; another in January, 1835, and had since been in the House of
Correction; another was liberated only June 15, and recommitted the 30th
of the same month. The youngest, ten years old, confessed he had been
begging and thieving for two years, and had been in the House of Correction
four months.
The schoolmaster's name is Welch. He is a prisoner, convicted of em-
bezzlement, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment—he had been con-
fined one year.
He says a great number of young thieves come from
Moorfields; they can nearly all réad, and are mostly Irish. Essex-street, au
Whitechapel, is a very bad neighbourhood, and is the nest of
young crime.
The Whitechapel Fence is in Newgate under sentence of transportation. More
The
young
thieves know him, and tell the schoolmaster he has been a well
known fence for some time. He keeps a fancy bird shop, and is known by
the name of Pigeony, but his real name is S—. He, the schoolmaster,
considers the Irish boys to be the most difficult to manage, as well as the
most vindictive and obstinate.
A pickpocket is very shy of touching a handkerchief if a corner hang out

106
66
of the pocket; they have often been booked, as they call it, as persons pin
them inside, &c. and leave out the end as a bait; they call it a kidment.
Kidding one on is enticing one on.
They do not thieve when they have money. One boy, with two or three
others, used to watch the bank clerks, and get 5, 6, and 7 handkerchiefs
of a morning, as at that early hour they considered the officers were not on
the scent," upon the nose,” as it is called. A boy will follow a person two
or three hours, if he sees a purse that it is likely he may take, they work
very carefully in a mob, because they think people are there more on their
guard.
Young thieves, and perhaps old ones, only look for their immediate wants.
They never thieve when they have money, and are as extravagant as they
are improvident.
Clerkenwell boys are full of vermin in their heads when brought in here.
In the transport yard lice are swarming, and the schoolmaster's wife has
frequently caught some in merely passing the end of the ward. Formerly
the prisoners used to amuse themselves by blowing them through a quill on
strangers.
“ How do you get your living ?"" Minding horses, sir," was the reply;
another boy near cried out, Aye, minding horses and running away with
the whip.
Some thieves are a long time upon the town. Pike knew a man of the
name of Brown who had been a thief 26 years. He was partner with
L- of the Saul's Arms in the purchase of stolen property.
House-breaking was more common than it now is; but many burglaries
are committed which do not come to the ears of the public.
COINERS.—The price of a 5s. piece first hand from the maker is 6d. the man
who sells them to the smasher has 10d. The maker and the smasher sel.
dom deal together ; they are given in the rough to the seller, who files and
prepares them ; the smasher completes them by rubbing them with a yellow
powder, and then with mud ready for lettering. Women are generally the
carriers of base coin ; they bring the “ things,” as they are called, in a
stocking to the seller. Country drovers take base coin with them when
they go home. He (Pike) has frequently seen a Smithfield drover take a
score of bad shillings, and as many bad sixpences. Chimney-sweepers are
also purchasers of bad coin, and a seller and a maker supply one house
regularly.
Field makes for the M----, in Spitalfields.
in Spitalfields. He lives in Shoreditch.
Smith makes for the H, Smithfield. H--e lives in Islington. He used
to serve the C. A. W. St. S. Has seen twenty to thirty smashers waiting
to be supplied.
Thieves and smashers do not associate together ; the latter are considered
to be of a lower grade.
Nicholas Bradshaw, aged 9 years, under sentence of transportation for
seven years. His father, a cabinet maker, can get £4 a week, if he stick
to work; but he drinks hard, and used to take the boy with him very often,
who shared his porter.
This boy is a short, thick, ill-featured urchin, impatient of submitting to
* For a further account and history of this coiner, see Prime's information, p. 148.

107
any question with a dogged, animal sort of manner, both in feature and in
expression, was sulky and hardened when I saw him in the school-room;
but in passing through the yard to leave the ward I saw him go to the rail-
ings and commence an interview with his mother. The poor woman could
hardly support herself upon her legs, and the boy, holding by the rails, hid
his face under his arm casting his whole body on one side. His neck
and ears were as red as scarlet, and he was evidently crying bitterly. It
was some time before his mother could speak-her lips were quivering for
a long time ;-at length she called him by his name, and I left the scene.
G. Whiteman, aged 13, has been twice in prison. He was induced to
thieve by a bigger boy named Jackson, who lives in Limehouse, and makes
dog-carts. Jackson employed him to steal pieces of boards, &c. from car-
penters' shops, and by getting materials by degrees was enabled to manu-
facture his carts, Whiteman never had any money for his thieving, but
Jackson used to give him lots of gooseberries. Whiteman then commenced
thieving on his own account.
The schoolmaster informed me that he had a singular character, named
George Smith, aged 14, who was sent to the Hulks (the Euryalus) on the
29th of October last.
His parents are respectable working people, living at —-, who had lost
all trace of the boy for some time. It was by mere accident that the sister
heard he was under sentence in Newgate. She came to him, and the boy
was very much affected; the next day he was removed to the hulks. The
career of this boy was marked by the greatest success.
He worked in com-
pany with two men, whose names he would never divulge. His manners,
were those of a shrewd, experienced man. He kept his girl, who visited
him as his sister very constantly, until he was sentenced for seven years.
She saw him afterwards once or twice, and the last time she was persuad-
ing the boy to give her his frock coat and waistcoat, which were almost
The schoolmaster interfered-she went away and never returned.
The boy then upbraided the world for neglecting him, and in one of his
angry fits he declared that he cleared as his share, among three, at Ascot
Heath races, the sum of £100; that he gambled, treated, and fooled away
his money, so that at the end of a fortnight he had not a shilling left.
The greatest portion of his time and money was spent at the Waterman's
Arms, back of Shoreditch Church.
The Schoolmaster says that Cooper's Gardens, Hackney, is also a bad
neighbourhood; boys gamble and get corrupted at it, as well as at the
Ruins in Clerkenwell. There are several jewellers in that neighbourhood,
who employ boys, and young thieves prevail on them to play with them in
order to rob them, if they have any parcel. He has had two boys in New-
gate for robbing their master in that way.
The half-bred Irish are the worst and most desperate class of delinquents.
He thinks flogging does them no good. They do not care about it, and
it hardens them.
VISIT TO MR. COTTON THE ORDINARY.
Mr. Cotton thinks that perhaps five, out of the four hundred he has at-
tended to the scaffold, were penitent, and they perhaps were afraid.
Women in the condemned cells are much firmer than men.
new.
off
to stronie

108
He overheard three condemned men in a cell, who knew they would be
executed, talk at night about their former robberies, and what they would
do if they could get out once more. Having had occasion once to give a
prisoner a lecture, he heard a fellow come up to him and say, Bill, the
parson has been laying it into you pretty thick, I think.” Yes,” replied
the other, God d-n his old eyes, but he did it like a gentleman, though.'
He thinks crime has got into the very blood, and nothing can reform
boys in this metropolis. Would send destitute and young offenders to some
colony, not a penal one.
At the juvenile schools he attends nearly every day. He has a library
there of such books as Robinson Crusoe, books of history, and such like.
Considers them as more likely to abstract them from playing at buttons than
the bible would be.
He is decidedly of opinion that the prisoners, male and female, “ gam-
mon” the religious pains-taking ladies who attend Newgate, and if they do
it successfully they know that it influences the sentence on their trial. The
same plan is followed up in the hulks ; the fellows sing psalms vigorously,
and if they come it strong, as they call it, they calculate upon a remission
of their sentence in the period of imprisonment.
The sectarian cabal in the city he considers to have treated him ill, as
they exclude him, and admit meddling preachers and dissenters.
With regard to the influences so shamefully used about sentences before
the prisoner is tried, the prisoners know how it is managed, and Mr. Cot-
ton has even heard the men themselves who have been benefited by the in-
terest used in their favour by the canters over whom they canted, say,
“ What a shame it is that Bill so and so should have got seven years and he
is only a greenhorn, and here I who have been tried so many times, and
been fifteen years at it get off with six months—its all luck, there's no
justice in that.” So say the prisoners themselves.
In reference to the congregating of boys after the national school hours,
he has suggested that they should be marched homewards in sections, under
care of a monitor, and dropped at their different homes.
There are four boys in Newgate whose united various times of being in
prison amount to above 70. Their names and ages are,
Burnet 9 years
Harper 12 years
Morn 11
Sweeney 13
Burnet was capitally convicted. He had his flash girl, and had been
three years a thief; while Morn and Harper had travelled down to Ports-
down fair, to be at the head of a gang of young villains like themselves.
HORSEMONGER LANE.
The Governor, Mr. Keene, at Guildford, went over the prison with Ben-
net, the principal turnkey. The prisoners are in day rooms, without any
employment. There was a general appearance of unsubdued moroseness in
their manners, especially among the women. A dark cell had recently been
constructed, with due regard to ventilation, by means of a pipe near to the
top and bottom of the cell. Over each cell there is a circular opening for

109
ventilation, and it would be extremely difficult to enforce silence, unless they
were closed, in which case the cell would not be sufficiently ventilated.
The back of the governor's house commands a view of each yard.
Bennet observed that a great proportion of juvenile delinquents were
half-bred Irish : that the women drunkards were incorrigible, some of them
living constantly in the gaol-out one day and brought in the next.
NEW PRISON, CLERKENWELL.
Badly planned, bad discipline, and bad people in it: every way likely to
become much worse. There was the same unsubdued, hardened, and fe.
rocious air that I observed in Horsemonger-lane jail.
The turnkey, I think his name was Underwood, informed me that the
boys are extremely hardened ; that confirmed women drunkards were in-
curable, and many of them constantly in jail.
He observed that young boys, to the number of 200, sometimes assemble
at a place called the Ruins, at the back of the walls of the prison, and that posode
many lads in the service of working jewellers and watchmakers (Clerken-
well is their district) are induced to play and ultimately to rob their mas-
11
ters, or are robbed themselves of any package entrusted to their care.
I observed wooden clogs suspended on the walls of the boys' ward, and
was informed they were used to be chained to the legs of the refractory
boys.
It was the same sort of clog as is used to be tied to the foot of a colt or
horse, to prevent his straying and leaping. The turnkey said they were
seldom used, but that the boys dreaded the punishment. This animal mode
of treatment requires no passing comment.
clogs
COLD-BATH FIELDS.
We pro-
Visited this prison with Mr. Pinnock. Passing the first or outer door
you enter a yard where no prisoners are admitted. Immediately before
you is a double gate or wicket, leading into another court, from which, by
a flight of steps you enter a square building, the first floor of which is the
committee-room, and over it the chapel. The ground floor is a vestibule
from whence radiate the several passages to the yard and cells. We
ceeded to one of the yards, where the prisoners were at work upon the
wheel. They stood out at equal distances from each other, while others on
the forms were resting. At every sixth revolution of the wheel, which was
indicated by a mark upon the spindle, and duly proclaimed by the right
hand pian, who retired, and every prisoner on the wheel removed to the
next stall on his right, so that in turn each would be the end or tallyman.
It appeared to me that it was hard work, for on coming off the wheel I
observed that each man in this as well as the other yards immediately threw
his jacket over his shoulders, and put his cap on his head, as he sat upon
the form to wait, till by degrees, it came to his turn again to ascend the

110
(what thieves term) the everlasting staircase, of which each step is eight
inches high.
They worked in silence. A yardsman stands in the yard, and two mo-
nitors patrol the platform of the treadwheel to enforce silence and report
any deviation. The prisoners assemble in double rows at the sound of the
dinner bell, falling in from the rear, so that they do not pass each other
face to face, and then file off to their seats. The tables are narrow boards
on trestlels, and also placed in parallel rows. They are allowed one hour's
rest, and may either continue in their seats or walk round the yards in
single files. But on no pretence are they permitted to speak.
The plan of employing prisoners to act as wardsmen has one advantage,
namely, that the envy with which they
with which they are looked upon by the others is so
great that if they fail to report any misconduct, the other prisoners imme-
diately tell the turnkey of it, as well to degrade the monitor as to advance
themselves to the vacancy if he is punished.
Some sleep in separate cells, others in large rooms containing three tiers
or frames like on shipboard. Monitors sleep on low bedsteads, in front of
these frames, in order to prevent conversation. Each room is overlooked
by the turnkeys on night duty, who peep through a small hole, and lamps
are burnt all night in the room, not in the solitary cells, of course,
At the time I visited this prison the felons slept in separate cells, but im-
mediately after the criminal court sessions the gaol becomes more crowded,
and the average addition of numbers is about fifty or sixty, in which case
three are placed in some of the cells. A watchman patroles outside, and if
he hear any conversation, he marks the cell and the hour. An enquiry takes
place in the morning, and if they all three stoutly deny it the three are sen-
tenced to punishment. If two have conversed the third generally informs
rather than be deprived of his meal to screen them.
The large cells have been converted into two or more separate ones, and
the total number of solitary cells which the jail could afford would be about
four hundred and thirty.
Thieves are very annoyed at this system, and the swell mob have taken
the alarm ;—they are a peculiar race of thieves, perfectly different from the
lower classes. Since the silent system has been rigidly enforced the recom-
mitments have been less frequent.
Lieut. Tracy informed me that the women prefer Coldbath Fields to the
Westminster Bridewell discipline. I saw no material difference, unless at
the former gaol they sat in company knitting in one day-room. At Bride-
well they have no treadwheel, therefore the discipline there must be severer
than Cold-bath Fields with labour.
The labour of the treadwheel can be easier endured by agricultural men
than by London felons. The prison discipline is lighter to them. They
even fatten under it, while the Londoner falls away and sinks in health. To
the boys it is scarcely a punishment.
Sunday is considered by the prisoners as a most irksome day. The la-
bour of the wheel breaks the monotony, and it is a question whether absti-
nence from labour would not be a greater punishment, especially than long
fines, as the constitution would be less worn and no indulgence would be
requisité.
The religious instruction does no good. I asked, “ does it benefit one in
ed
ce
cla
hord

111
one thousand ?" " That is about the proportion,” said Mr. Chesterton. Mr.
Wontner, also, a rigid sectarian, was convinced that it did no good, and
challenged Mrs. Fry to point out five persons whom she might have
reclaimed.
Mr. Chesterton observed that children brought up in low neighbourhoods
had no chance of being honest, vice being taught them in their very infancy
and not looked on as a crime.
WESTMINSTER BRIDEWELL.
Lieut. Tracy explained to me numerous instances in his adopted discipline
to prove that trifles, not severity, produce good behaviour.
He has Rosamond in prison, the head of the swell mob, also his asso-
ciate, Thompson.
A boy, eight years old, stole a watch from a mantel-piece when going
round begging for Christmas boxes, which he took to a pawnbroker, and
got 70s.
Information obtained from the following convicts there :-
1. D. Ward,
4. J. Kennedy,
7. J. Templar,
2. G. Smith,
5. J. Foster,
8. No. 17,
3. C. Fowey,
6. E. Lawrence,
9. W. Holland.
D. Ward, aged 17, No. 8 on the prison list, a young burglar, four times
in prison before.
Is in prison for breaking a window with an intention to steal; has been
a thief ever since he was 10 years old; works with men who take the pro-
perty he steals, they always go together. About three years ago, he stole
a piece of raw silk out of a carriage, the men fenced it for 601., his share
was 191., the money lasted about a fortnight. He went to the Pavilion
Theatre and had a regular “ spree” with it, played at skittles at the Old
Crown, Finsbury, for ll. a game, and a pot of half-and-half, lost three or
four games, never won one. Four years ago was tried for his life, for
stealing silk crape shawls, was condemned, but got off with a year at Cold
Bath Fields.
He never takes a handkerchief, the men who go with him take watches
sometimes, to take a man's watch is to “ flimp him,” it can only be done
in a crowd, one gets behind and pushes him in the back, while the other
in front is robbing him. They frequently bawl out at the time to divert
the person's attention—it is quite easy to take one out of a waistcoat
pocket, they will unbotton the coat to get at it--it is safest in a twisted fob.
Jews are always on the alert, walking about Rosemary and Petticoat
Lanes, to buy the property. Ward never fenced, the men attend to
that.
Some thieves abstract handkerchiefs by means of a bent wire, inserted
through the bolt hole of a shop window; he was detected starring a
jewellers window, at Hoxton, had about 2001. worth of goods in his hand
when seized, the men escaped. He uses the White Lion, Bethnal Green.
th

112
This boy is not likely to reform, the praise he has had for his success
will be a complete bar.
G. Smith, No. 12, aged 12.
Steals check braces from carriages, for which he gets ls. a pair ; can get
three or four of an evening, takes them to Buckeridge Street, St. Giles,
where he meets a man who buys them, or any other article of saddlery--
the man has a bag and loiters about the street, he is a short dark man.
Smith has asked him where he lives, his reply is a long way off, but I am
always here to buy.” An older boy told him of this man.
He has been three times in prison before.
Cornelius Fowry, No. 10, aged 16.
Has been a thief some time, steals fruit in Covent Garden, and sells it
to boys in the street, frequently gambles for it with his customers--he has
been twice before in prison.
This boy is the leader of his peculiar gang.
J. Kennedy, a pickpocket, 17 years old, in once before.
Does not steal handkerchiefs, they are not worth his notice; other
boys take them : he only takes purses; he works for Nelson; three go
together ; two " stall” while the other “ buzzes;” they share and share
alike; if he finds any “ finnips” (51. notes) in the skin or purse,
he gives
them to Nelson to fence. Nelson gets from 41. to 41. 10s. for them; the
richest purse he ever took was 201.; after a good haul, a boy can afford to
Jay by for a day or two; the time to work is from 1 to 6 o'clock.
He would rather live upon skilly and smiggen for seven years than go
abroad. Mr. Wilson asked him if he should thieve when he went out.
No.” I said, “ You cannot leave off as long as you remain with Nelson.”
He replied, “ I could leave it off, though in spite of Nelson ; nobody
could make me thieve if I chose to be honest."
Kennedy only begun last winter ; made at least 1001. this season ; a day
before he was taken this last time he picked a person's pocket of a purse
with 131. ; he bought his father a suit of clothes, and himself a coat.
His father lives in G: is a brass founder.
He gets 41. for old 51. notes ; they are dangerous on account of the
number of names ; gets 41. 10s. for new ones.
He makes at least 61. a week; tosses and plays skettles ; stakes a sove-
reign, seldom less, if he has as much in his pocket, which is generally
the case.
Bagmen at the Blue Posts, * Monmouth-street, get awful drunk; six
will drink 20 or 30 glasses of brandy and water.
He had made a wound in his thigh to avoid the tread wheel, by tying
up the flesh, and rubbing the benumbed part with soap and lime.
This lad was very hardened ; spoke of his dishonesty with the most
cool indifference, and will go to work again when he gets out.
John Foster, No. 7, 12 years old, says old iron shops buy any thing ;
he has been in prison before.
Edward Lawrence, No. 3, aged 12, says he was in Dean-street work-
house ; he was a bad boy, and removed from the others, and put into a
66
This nest is closed.
113
in
class, which associated with men. That the men taught him all sorts of
vice, gaming and swearing.
No. 21. Same list; gave the same evidence concerning the workhouse.
J. Templar, aged 15, No. 15. He has been twice in prison ; eight
months “on the cross,” that is thieving; his father drives vans; he is a
drunkard.
He picks pockets in company with Harris, who is an old hand about
18 years P-
old; his parents live in P-; the father a lame man. Templar
hands the property to Harris, who fences it, and gives him his “ regulars”
or share ; gets 9d. or a ls. for his share of a silk handkerchief; he meets
Harris at " warm corner,” and go away together. Harris is always well
dressed; frock coat, guard, chain, and rings.
No. 17, aged 16, was the fag for an older thief named Jones ; the
same as Templar is for Harris, or Kennedy for Nelson. Jones has left
off thieving; he is about 20, and now works as a porter in Covent-garden
market; used to meet his fag, at Seven Dials.
The hạndkerchiefs were generally pledged at P- and S-, pawn-
brokers, L-
William Holland, No. 16, aged 17, has been in prison six times before.
He has been a pickpocket three years; frequently lodges at M-,
St. Giles's ; it is frequented only by young thieves of both sexes. Boys
and girls do not sleep in the same room ; Mrs. M- -, at the public
house, is not a general fence. She will buy if it is an article she wants ;
but does not purchase to sell again. Thieves leave property in her care,
if it should be too late to fence it that night. She was taken up for
having plate in her possession ; but was acquitted. Mrs. T---- will
buy any thing, no matter what is offered.
The thieves live up in that quarter; the cadgers lower down.
No cracksmen live in St. Giles's; they reside in Westminster with their
jomens” or girls.
The principal fences that he (Holland) uses, are—Mrs. D—, Belson-
street, gives 41. 10s. for a 51. note.
R—, in Bell-yard, stick shop, gives 41.
A Jew, in Monmouth-street, - from the Broadway, gives 41.
R---, brother to the above, lives in Coach and Horses-yard, Drury-
lane, is a stick maker; buys plate and jewellery.
of Berwick-street, a pawnbroker, takes the greatest number of
silk handkerchiefs; knows them to be stolen ; gives a good price for them,
even the worst, to insure customers ; never less than 1s. 6d. up to 2s. 3d.,
38.; generally 2s. ; banters the boys when examining the goods, and says,
Cheapside ones, eh !”
The first four fences take notes and silver snuff boxes ; they allow 4s. 6d.
per oz., and buy the boxes by weight.
It is dangerous to keep a stolen note in possession, and they get rid of
it as quickly as possible. Gold they keep, as it cannot be identified.
Some of the girls at Milberry's, pick pockets. at night, while one talks
to the man, the other robs him; but they are not dexterous, they pull it
out all of a flare. The boys will not teach them ; they would lose their
trade if the girls were to become expert. He never trusts to girls ; they
ought not to be trusted, if a thief wishes to be safe.

<<
I

114
He knows the warm corner and the Cock; the Cock is frequented by
cracksmen.
He has worked for Nelson ; quarrelled with him about a share of booty.
Nelson is the most expert pickpocket about town. Works in Regent-street,
Bond-street, Piccadilly, and St. James's-street; he took one day in Picca-
dilly, between the hours of 1 and 6, purses containing to the amount of
251.
He is generally, indeed always attended by younger boys, who rob
whilst he screens them, or calls off attention. He was once pursued, and
swallowed three sovereigns.
Nelson watches at Granger's, and similar shops, to see where gentlemen
put their purses; then gives a signal to his underling across the street,
who comes over to do his work, under the shelter of Nelson, who he says
has followed the line 10 years.
He considers Harris the next in adroitness ; but he is getting too tall,
because stooping may attract notice : he seldom works, but attend others;
a little fellow of the name of Templar works with him daily.
Pickpockets watching at Granger or Farrances, say to each other, when
they observe a man whom it is likely they can rob, is that's my man,” or
“ that's your man,” taking it by turns to follow a person ; these thieves
are the swell mob, and excite no suspicion ; the dirty “ fag” being out of
sight.
Sometimes they watch a gentleman to his club house, hotel, or dwelling.
house. Holland and Parsons watched a French gentleman at Farrance's ;
they robbed him the moment he came out, and then followed him home to
Fențum's hotel, in order to watch for and rob him again. Within a week
these fellows robbed him three times :-
1st
£6 4 6
2nd.
2 4 6
1 2 6
They watched him then go out of town, and looked out for his return.
Parsons was after him again every day at 4 o'clock, when he went out to
walk.
Skins," i. e. purses are the easiest to steal if put in the coat pocket;
they drop in to the hand when the pocket is well lifted.
Holland said money was flying about like dirt up at the Seven Dials in
fine weather. “ We all go for skins now; handkerchiefs are seldom
touched. We must go back to them in winter."
He has been to public-houses where there is music, never saw any
indecency there ; has heard rather smutty songs, but only at those houses
where young thieves and their girls frequent, such as the B-- in Wind-
mill-street, or Fancy's, Eton-court, R---street; at some of the houses,
such as S -—'s, in Compton-street, he has seen most respectable men
and women.
One of the flash songs begins-
A cross cove is in the street for me,
And I a poor girl of a low degree;
If I was as rich as I am poor,
Ye never should go on the cross no more.”
3rd.
66
CHORUS.
He's a right down chap, a chickle-a-leary chap, and a loving cove."
115
He has been to a penny theatre in Short's-gardens; saw the drunken
combat as an interlude, between the Dumb Maid of Genoa and the merry
Playactor ; the company of performers were about nine; one of them
beats the drum, and dances at shows and fairs; he does not think them to
be cross coves ; they know flash very well. Boys, girls, and all sorts of
thieves and w-s, all go to them; there is bad language before the
curtain draws up; but he has never seen or heard any thing bawdy on the
stage: the most so was a drunken soldier, who put the candle out, and
run after the maid, saying, “ Now, my dear, now is the time," when the
other characters come in with candles.
Night is the best time for handkerchiefs ; he never makes less than 30s.
a week, from that to 61., and sometimes much more. This was his first
season at purses, and he could always be sure of obtaining as much as 81.
a week by them.
He used to work with T. Smith, a cracksman. The other boys made
him spend a great deal of money ; bigger boys urged him on; it was,
“Come on Bill this, or come on Bill that.
The new term for handkerchiefs is a Billy, for which pickpockets have
peculiar terms known only in the trade.
BLOOD RED FANCY, all red.
BLUE BILLY, which is a blue with white spots.
YELLOW MAN, all yellow, if twilled, worth 2s. 6d.
WATERSMAN, sky-coloured, worth 3s.
RANDLESMAN, green, with white spots, 2s.
YELLOW FANCY, yellow, with white spots, 2s.
BELCHER, a cross striped pattern, 2s.
CREAM FANCY, white ground, with pattern, 3s.
GREEN King's Man, green ground, with pattern, 5s.
Holland gave us the following account of -
COINING. ---Queen's metal is poured into a plaster of paris mould through
a tobacco pipe, with a very short shank, to prevent the metal cooling ; a
MAKER casts more than is ordered, eight or ten score, perhaps ; it is hidbe-
hind a brick in the chimney, sometimes behind a cupboard. B-- makes
in the first floor, No. 9, U——C——; the house looks
C-- ; the house looks up the court: there
is no thoroughfare; his girl watches at the door, or upon the steps or stairs
he is not to be caught; the girl is so true, and the situation so good ;
she has been with him two years.com
В. is always at the tap room of the King's Head, utterers who re-
quire base coin meet him there, and he brings to them whatever they may
require; this house is the corner of the Court, and has a side door, he has
been a coiner upwards of six years—his prices are :-
5s.
10d.
lid.
2s. 6d.
5d.
if cut and charged
5 d.
ls.
2d.
2 d.
6d.
1d.
1 d.
There are not above two pickpockets in Westminster, Bill Anderson,
aged 19, is the best; and "Bil! Kings, aged 17; he knows Anthony
Churchill, firmly believes he shot Mr. Richardson.
Young thieves sometimes drink hard, has frequently seen Nelson very

piece is
Lif cut and charged
I 2
116
drunk, and fetched away by his girl, he uses the Blue Posts, in M---
Street, is a jolly fellow, and frequently gives two or three sovereigns to a
cross fellow, who has been unlucky. He is known by the term of Bobby,
he goes daily to the Seven Dials, from 11 to 12 o'clock, where those who
wish to speak to him meet him, he lives with his girl in Short's Gardens,
she is a very pretty woman, dresses neatly, and is rather fond of drink.
He will not give her much money. Holland observed, “ If I could get as
much money as Nelson does, I would learn a trade."
They play cards and skittles, and toss at the Blue Posts, generally the
stake is a sovereign. Young thieves do not like to have their girls at the
Blue Posts, they have their talk to mind, instead of being bothered with
women,
Each thief generally goes home to dinner at about 6 o'clock, they do
not get up till 10 or 11 o'clock. In the evening, they take a turn round
Regent Street, watch for foreigners at Verey's, and then adjourn to Mon-
mouth Street.
Jem the Baker, goes “ fogle” hunting, with little young Ben King, who
is about 15, the baker has been known to be a thief for six
years.
Some
times joins some of the parties who frequent the house, on a burglarious
expedition; he asks leave of his master to go out for the night.*
There are club rules and regulations in mother Milberry's kitchen, at the
lodging-house.
Shirt pins are drawn out by the little finger, under the hand.
Superintendent Lowry confirmed this, who was stopped by a genteel
looking man one evening, who begged the favour of a light for his cigar,
and while lighting it as Lowry smoked, he drew his diamond pin, thanked
him and wished him “ good night.”
Holland, in concert with Jones, found access through a stable to the
back premises of a paper hanger, who lives nearly opposite to Adam Street,
they made frequent visits to it, and sold the rolls in Petticoat Lane, this
little nest egg would have lasted some time longer, but they imparted the
secret to another, who went and was pursued. His escape was not men-
tioned to them by the other thief, and when they went the following even-
ing, two men sprang out upon them. Holland and Jones jumped down
from the loft and escaped. Holland bruised his leg, and left his shoes
behind him, a reward of 201. was offered for their detection.
It will never do for a thief to think about a prison or a ducking, when
he goes to work.
Young thieves drink hard, and spend much money in gaming.
Upon being asked, whether he had ever heard any of his pals speak of
their trade, he replied “ Yes, often,” wished me to get something to do.
I have heard them tell little boys, who have come to lodging houses, and
hooped it” from home, that they had better go back whilst they had a
home to go to.
This lad cried bitterly when his parents were mentioned, said he had
nobody to look after him, or he should not thieve; wished to God he could
get a ship, or be taken away from his associates. The slightest allusion to
his parents or forlorn condition instantly threw him into tears, and his
utterance quite stopped by convulsive sobs.

* He is pot-boy to M-—, the F-- house in St. G-
--, named in a former part of this work.
117
His manner was open and straightforward, he said if he had but a
friend to keep him from starving, he never would thieve again.
He went to sea, his ship outward bound was wrecked on the French
coast.
He gave us the following account of one of his trading expeditions :
About a year ago, he and Parsons were both confined in Cold Bath
Fields together, when they planned a thieving journey, to take place
directly on their liberation.
They built a dog cart, stole two dogs from Smithfield, bought hardware,
brooms, &c. at a shop near Farringdon Street, for 178., while they were pur-
chasing the articles two of their companions stole for them, one and a half
dozen of hand brooms from the door, which they valued at 5s., and four
being concerned, it was making 1s. 9d. each. Parsons and Holland paid
them 2s. 6d. they also took with them 10 shillings and 20 sixpences bad
money, which were concealed in a false bottom of the cart; thus equipped
Holland with 58. and Parsons with 15s. 6d. they started off, about 12 at
noon, in the beginning of Winter, or end of Autumn.
At Wandsworth they sold a broom for 1s. 4d. and a mat for 11d.; went
on to Wimbledon, to a public-house there, and had a pint of beer, for
which they gave a bad 6d., the landlady served them and then went into
the inner bar and continued serving. Holland reached round and took
four silver spoons which were on a shelf, he would have taken the salt
cellers, but was afraid they might soon be missed; they decamped, bought
some bread and cheese, and hastened out of the town, in about five minutes
after the robbery.
At Kingston they went to a traveller's house and sold the spoons to the
landlord, who gave them board and lodging for the night and next day,
and 5s. for the bargain.
They proceeded on their journey, and about half-past ten a coach passed
them on the road. "A small trunk was fastened outside behind the seat.
Parsons ran after the coach, climbed up and cut off the trunk. It contained
a quantity of papers and nothing else; they tore the papers into shreds, and
broke the box into pieces, which they hid. It was subsequently advertised,
with a reward of £50.
At the next town (they could not recollect the names of all the places)
about 11 or 12 miles beyond Kingston, they went to a public-house. It
was market day. Holland made cloth caps, and in the course of the evening
he sold one dozen and a half, at ls. 6d. each to the countrymen in the tap-
room ; they stole a great coat that belonged to one of the customers, and
hid it in the false bottom of their cart. There was a hue and cry given -
some suspected them ; but the landlady said she would be answerable that
the poor lads were innocent. Having proceeded next day on their route
they sold it to a passing countryman for three shillings. He considers it to
have been worth about seven shillings.
For three weeks they lived entirely on the produce of what they sold
and ultimately arrived at Kidderminster, where they put up for a short,
time at a travellers' house. Houses of this kind are in every town, price
3d. or 4d. a night—they have a common kitchen where the trampers cook
and live. Prime confirmed this, and stated there was a girl to cook and
attend on the better sort, who paid 6d.
At every lodging-house on the road they met plenty of trampers, and


118
they did not see a face they had not observed at St. Giles's. They were, in
their turn, recognized by others, with whom they compared notes; some
were hawkers, some were going half naked, some as ballad singers, and
some with false letters, others as tradesmen, old soldiers, and shipwrecked
sailors, and every night they told each other of good houses. They all lived
well, never ate any broken victuals, always had meat breakfasts, good din-
ners, hot suppers, and frequently ended by going to bed drunk; not one
spent less than five shillings a day, many a great deal more; they
sometimes made five shillings, always three shillings and sixpence a day.
Some frequently got a sovereign where humane people resided-(all this
was confirmed by others.)
Parsons having been employed at a carpet manufactory before he came to
London went to visit his old friends, and was soon able to introduce Hol-
land. Every day the two boys stole balls of twine and string from this
place. They went there daily to take whatever they could lay their hands
upon; they have brought out two or three dozen balls a day in their great
coat pockets. They found a ready market for their plunder in the rag
shops; the first lot they sold was worth about twenty shillings, for which
they got ten shillings and sixpence. They did not dispose of any stock in
trade while in town, but lived by plundering the manufactory, or picking
pockets in the streets. Some of the property they pawned, some they sold
to trampers at the lodging houses. Parsons and Holland were always very
punctual in their attendance at church, where they always robbed: they
took three watches, one was pawned for fifteen shillings, the other two for
twenty shillings a piece. Parsons is very clever at « easing a yokel of a
thimble.” Went to a fair at about fifteen miles from Kidderminster, leaving
the dogs and the cart about two miles from the same ; Parsons, who can
play "prick in the garter,” soon got a mob and soon found betters; he al-
lowed them to get nearly all the money he had at first, but soon won it back
again with double interest. In the meantime Holland, who never appeared
to know Parsons, was very busy rifling the farmers of their money bags.
He minutely described the bags, as being to him a matter of great singu-
larity in a traveller's memorandums. He took eight bags in a short time;
the richest of the whole was only worth fifteen shillings; he also took
seven handkerchiefs. ay mo
One of the party having lost a bet felt in his pocket, and missed his
purse, a row ensued, and every one felt in his pocket. The robbed and the
swindled gave vent to their anger, and having secured Parsons took him to
a pond and ducked him. Holland decamped as the row was brewing, as
he had all the bags and property about him. This occurred at about four
o'clock in the afternoon, and about nine o'clock, Parsons having concealed
himself after the ducking, joined Holland at the public-house, and off they
set in their vehicle.
They left the neighbourhood and shaped their course for London. On
their journey back they entered a gentleman's farm-house, at about seven or
eight o'clock one evening; it stood upon a hill, and was to let. They
opened the kitchen window and rummaged all over the house for about one
hour; they took away a great coat, some glass decanters, and a hearth-
rug On entering the next town, which was about ten miles off, (they
travelled in the night after this robbery) they told the landlord they had
something to sell, His wife went out and returned shortly after with a
119
man who bought the lot for twenty-five shillings and sixpence, but Holland
remarks “ The fellow swindled us, for the decanters were worth the money,
but we were glad to get rid of them at any price.”
At some distance from this town they came near a large village, and saw
several persons advancing towards them. Parsons put down the table for
the
garter story.” Holland began betting, and the people when they
came up stopped to see the fun. Shortly they began to play, and Holland
began to thieve, they got exasperated at their losses by Parsons. Holland
had retreated, and having packed away the property in the dog-cart, was
moving off when the storm broke out, and Parsons again got into a scrape
-he was severely thumped and beaten. Holland was accused of being an
accomplice, and they were both locked up in the cage till next day, when
the magistrate acquitted them, remarking that guilty or not Parsons had re-
ceived severe punishment, and as for Holland, there was no charge against
him. It remained a mystery as to what had become of the stolen property,
for neither of the boys had been out of their sight, yet nothing was found on
either of them, or in the cart—they never suspected the false bottom.
About thirty miles on they stopped at a public-house and became friendly
with some soldiers, who were billeted on the house, on a march with their
regiment. While the soldiers were telling these youngsters their deeds of
arms they were attending to deeds with their fingers, and during the even-
ing they got a booty of two pounds from their military friends. The next
morning the alarm was given; that unlucky rascal, Parsons, was the scape
goat. Holland bolted and hid the purses here and there about the stable or
grounds as soon as possible. Some he threw down the privy, which were
found by one of the soldiers there. The landlady, in this instance, took part
with the boys, and as no other person had been in the company, the soldiers,
seeing there was no proof, had no alternative but to suspect the boys or
one of their own comrades. However, the boys got clear off.
When at about 20 miles from town, they stopped at a gentleman's house
to hawk some things, and while the servant went up stairs with some
hearth brooms, Parsons stept into the parlour and brought out a watch and
a silver egg stand. The servant bought about 5s. worth of things on her
return, when they made the best of their way from the premises. In five
days afterwards they were in London ; but they added a pair of silver salt
cellars to their plunder from the gentleman's house, which they stole from
a public-house where they had slept. This plunder they brought to Lon-
don; the silver was sold at 3s. 5d. per ounce, and the watch for 151.
This narrative establishes incontestably the facts that travellers' houses,
being the undisturbed rendezvous of the worst of characters, are highly in-
jurious.
There is great mischief, also, in rag-shops and pawnbrokers.


CITY BRIDEWELL.
The following persons were confined in this prison, from whom the in-
formation under the several names they are placed was elicited; they are-
1. Conner,
4. J. Smith, No. 4. 7. Walker,
2. Hay,
5. J. Smith, No. 8. 8. Macnamara,
3. John Miles,
6. Elijah Jowel, 9. Lynch.
120
Conner, a pickpocket, 17 years old, his father died when he was two
years old, his mother is a charwoman, his step-father a bricklayer's labourer,
living in the neighbourhood of Gray’s-inn-lane. The rough usage of his
father-in-law drove him from home, and he has been a thief 12 months,
during which time he has been five times in prison ; his first committal
was this day 12 months (Sept. 14), about a fortnight after he had com-
menced thieving
He says he cannot reform now; he thought of it when he was in Cold
Bath Fields,—had been out 14 days,—was ill for a week, when he got
stronger,—he went to his old companions who recommenced thieving, -
did not try to get work, -he dreads transportation, the very mentioning it
brought tears in his eyes,—he supposes it must be his ultimate fate.
Boys talk in a prison, they get up into a corner of the cells at night;
but it is dangerous work.
He has taken frequently five handkerchiefs a day for his own share,
sometimes only two, some days are very unlucky; many boys make 10s.
a day. The property is sold to costermongers and old clothes-men.
Pawnbrokers give the best price, but he (Conner) is afraid of them; he has
no girl to employ for the purpose of selling them.
He dines at cook-shops, pays about 6d., it consists of beef, vegetables,
and bread.
Hay, 24 years old, is an impudent vagabond, pretends to the greatest
innocence; he made the following remark, but would give no information:
"what am I to do? nobody will give me ls. to buy victuals ; nobody cares
about me; nobody will give me a character, and, consequently, nobody
will employ me ;- now, what am I to do? why, I cannot starve, so I make
1s. when I can get it.”
This fellow has been to sea for three years; he says it is less difficult to
thieve than get a ship.
John Miles, horridly ugly, 14 years old; he has been thieving five
months,-began thieving when he had neither money nor food,-knew
some boys who were thieves, and they asked him to go out with them,-
he was hungry when he went, and the first thing he took was a quartern
loaf. After a short time he attacked the pocket and took handkerchiefs,
he never made more than 6s. or 7s. a day,—was satisfied if he could get
that sum, -three handkerchiefs, if good ones, were quite enough for him
in one day. When he could get work he went to it,-generally was wood
chopping, can make 6s. a week at it, but cannot always get work, and
then he thieves.
Sells to costermongers, &c., same as Conner's evidence.
He is fond of hard drinking--prefers good eating,—the beggar-boys
drink so hard that they do not care about victuals, --his daily expenses
were as follows:-

Breakfast.—Pint of coffee, 2d. ; loaf of bread, 2d.; butter, 1d. Os. 5d.
Dinner.—Beef, 3d. ; potatoes, 1d.; bread, 1d. ; beer, 2d. 07
Tea.- Half-pint tea, 13d.; toast, 3d.
0 41
Supper.-Leg of beef, 3d. ; bread, id. ; potatoes, 1d.; beer, 2d. 0 7
Gin and water ls. ; bed 4d.
1 4
3 31
121
He has always four meals a day and a glass or two of gin and water, -
goes to bed at 12 or 1,-visits about from one public-house to another,
meeting associates,-gambles like the rest of his companions; tosses for
the “ odd man;" plays for 6d. or 1s. a toss; has frequently seen skittles
and toss for a sovereign a stake.
Never made less than 4s. a day, sometimes more, just as it might happen.
If he cannot get work he must go thieving; he never thinks of prisons
when he is out of them,—when in them he thinks it would be better to get
honest work if he could.
He does not like transportation, but cannot help it, he says, if it comes.
J. Smith, No. 4, City Bridewell list, aged 15, three times previously in
prison.
Sells his stolen property to a man who walks about Wentworth-street ;
he has large pockets all round a large fustian shooting-jacket. The boy
always met him in the streets; the man walks up and down the street or
lounges against a post, looking out for whatever any boy may bring him.
J. Smith, No. 8, City Bridewell list, aged 14, in prison twice before,
commenced by stealing apples at stalls, then got to be fond of tossing, -
used to pull hay out of carts and sell it to donkey-men in the streets, in
order to get money for gaming - by degrees took things of greater value,
--the Jews in Petticoat-lane buy the coats of him.
Confirmed by Campbell, No. 14 same list, aged 14.
Elijah Jowell, No. 10 on same list, a young Jew, 17 years old, he has
been four times in prison.
Says he was forced to crime by the cruelty of his step-mother, who,
when his father died, about a year ago, turned him out of the house. This
boy purposely scalded his foot, to avoid the labours of the tread-mill; he
told me the weather was so warm, he was induced to scald himself, as the
wheel was then much harder work.
Walker, 20 years of age, of a very communicative turn, was on board a
man-of-War, the Vulture, Capt. Rowley, when paid off could obtain no
employment,—turned thief,—would go to sea again, perhaps,-has some
idea of leaving off his evil courses if he could obtain money by industry, -
knew distress before he turned thief-has never known what it is to want
since,--thinks the most easy and profitable line of thieving is picking
pockets,-other robberies require time and confederacy, and confederacy is
dangerous,-picking a pocket is done in a inoment. He works by himself,
--thinks it the best and safest plan,-nobody can get him into trouble,
and all he gets is his own. The temptation is so great, he thinks he could
not leave it off while in London," it is such an easy shilling,"—he thinks,
nay, he is sure, 30s. per night might be made by handkerchiefs,has made
it himself. He once took 35 in one evening in half an hour he can
- comes
always steal enough for any immediate meal. He generally works for one
hour, and in this time he obtains sufficient for the 24 hours, —sometimes, if
he wishes to have money for gaming, or to treat his girl, he works two
hours. Sometimes he is unlucky, and has not obtained the requisite Cas
amount for two hours,—does not wonder that boys never reform when they
have once begun and been in the least successful; “ for look here, sir, the
charm of it is, it comes so easy and it goes so light, that it is sweeter than
hard work to them.'

sony,
L
list
122
He lived with his girl, and paid 4s., sometimes 58., a week rent: he
separated from her about a week ago and went to his parents. His father
is a collier. He always could get money enough to live comfortably with
his girl ; he always found the money somehow or other,—does not like a
woman to support a man-not proper she should. He never trusts a fe.
male with any more secrets than is requisite; he never trusts a male com-
panion, certainly not a female. They are never allowed to pick pockets;
if he should see a girl attempting it, he would send her away; they may do
what they like with drunken men.
Thieves are very good to each other ; in Whitechapel they make up a
purse to give a fellow after he comes out of trouble, do not do it so much
now as formerly-hardly at all. (The prisoner endeavoured by his manner
to retract the observation, but by subsequent enquiries which I made in
Whitechapel, I have every reason to credit the statement.)
There is no school, no figure dressed up, with bells hung round the
pockets, to train pickpockets, -no such thing that he knows of. A school
would be of no use, “it's here how they learn ; this is the best school: a
prison teaches best, and trains a young one, who is sure to 'larn' a trick or
two from the old 'uns,'” – is sure that he is correct in his opinion of that
subject,-—"I remember,” he said, "the first pocket I ever saw picked; I
thought I should never have got out of bed again. I had just returned
from sea, father had sent me out for some beer, and I had seen it done the
other side of the way just as I was going in--it was done as clean as a
whistle; but, Lord, how ill it made me, to be sure. I little thought I
should be in that line myself. I was at it though in about a month after
myself, that I was;” it made him ill- he was always thinking of what he
had witnessed, and he could not rest till he had tried it himself.
Thinks perhaps he shall go to sea,--he intends it at present,-- does not
know how he shall feel when he gets out,—he must get away from London
if he means to be honest.
Thieves use a gibberish; prisoners in Cold Bath Fields have a means of
communicating with each other.
Macnamara, 18 years old, has been at least five years a pickpocket, -is
considered more dexterous than Walker, -has been 17 times in prison,-
has been 20 out of the last 25 months in gaol, -—"can't help it, must put
up with it when one is unlucky,”—business is getting down with him every
month now, because he is too well known, and he is taken up constantly on
suspicion the moment he makes an attempt. It would be much better if
the gentleman seized him instead of the officer.
Young thieves say it is a merry life while it lasts.
life while it lasts. No boy makes less
than 10s. a day, but it will not satisfy him. They all drink very hard :
they think they have better luck when half drunk, because they have better
heart. They all gamble, sometimes for halfpence, frequently for a sove-
reign. They never think of a gaol, or the old house (Bridewell). The
general gambling ground is at the back of the Cross Keys, in Wentworth-
street. The man who formerly kept this house is named West,—now
keeps the B—-0—---, in G-m, Whitechapel,—told me he drew 40
butts of beer in a month in that house.
He always has plenty of money,—takes 14 or 15 handkerchiefs a day,—
all the money goes in the course of the night,--the handkerchiefs fetch
from 1s. 6d. to 2s., sometimes 5s. a piece.

123
Summer time is the harvest time, -the chances are greater, because there
is a greater number of persons about, and coats are worn open.
He shall go thieving again when liberated,—can get ls. in a few minutes
at any time.
Love of drink induced him to thieve-he never goes to bed sober,--got
into tow with some young fellows, who always treated him, and as he knew
them to be thieves, he resolved to try his own luck,-cannot say what he
first took, it's so long ago,-he now takes anything he can lay his hands on.
A fence to whom a thief is known gives 41. 10s. for a 51. note, 4s. 6d.
per oz. for a silver snuff-box, and 31. 15s. per oz. for a gold one.
He worked about the Exchange at four o'clock,-once robbed a foreigner
of a silver cut-work fancy article, with a gold handle, and sold it for 67.,-
he took it opposite the Mansion House door.
Passers of bad coin go to fairs and races.
Much money is made at races by watching carriages in which there are
ladies, and who, in the excitement of the moment, when the horses are
passing, jump up and leave their reticule on the seats"; this is called
culing.
He knows a thimble-man, named Hall, who made 1001. at the last Ascot
Heath races.
Lynch, aged 17, a pickpocket,-father and mother have talked to him
about his evil courses till he has almost cried about it, -has consented to
go to sea, but could never make up his mind to embark,—thieving is much
easier work—"comes easy, goes easy,"--considers 15s. to be a middling
days' work.
Has never tried to be industrious since he first began thieving,—could
not give his mind to it,-has no character now,-cannot starve in the
streets, and must do something to get a morsel.
Hears young thieves talk of reforming when they are in trouble,-has
heard the old ones talk more of reform than the young-it is new and
pleasant to them, – thinks many would work if they had some employment
out of London.
Each thief when at liberty never thinks that it will be his turn to be in
prison,--they are worse after they have been in prison-it hardens them,
-having been there once, they do not care about it, —it is no odds to
them whether a prison is severe or not, they never think it will be their
chance,—as for its being a misfortune, a fellow must go through what he
is born to,-supposes he shall be transported in his turn.
He always makes as much money as he wants,—he never has been
obliged to borrow Is.,-he drinks very hard,—goes about from one public-
house to another till two or three in the morning, -gets up at about nine
o'clock, and then goes to skittles,-frequently stakes a sovereign, or tosses
for that amount. He never saves any money,-on the contrary, makes
haste to spend it, and then goes out for more,--no use to keep money to
look at it, he spends at least 15s. a day, very frequently as much again.
He dines about one, at Robinson's cook-shop, opposite to Whitechapel
church,-plate of beef, potatoes and greens, for 6d., and a pint of beer
between two.
Thieves do not like the girls to work, -it is better that they mind their
own trade,-should not like to go abroad, --does very well here,—knows
Walker.

124
He gets 41. 10s. for a 51. note,-a stranger, perhaps, would not get
more than 21.

BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL,
There were confined in this establishment, during the months of January,
February and March, from 50 to 60 prisoners on the male side, a number
considerably exceeding that for which the establishment was erected to
accommodate.
Of these there were from 15 to 20 not exceeding 17 years
of age, and nearly half as many more who did not exceed 22 or 23.
Several of both these averages had been committed for the same descrip-
tion of offence two, three, and in more than one instance, four times; thus
decidedly seeming to prove that they were naturally and intuitively addicted
to crime, or that the species of punishment adopted towards them was not
sufficiently efficacious, or so fashioned as to create in them a terror sharp
enough to curb their headstrong will, and equivalent to the destruction of
their unfortunate passion for loose and disorderly or vicious occupations.
Nor is it attempted to be argued that, situated as they were, any exertion
on the part of the superintendent of the hospital and the officers under him
could reform these results, since they strongly maintained and assiduously
kept in practice the prescribed routine of the prison discipline, were sedu-
lous in detecting that which was amiss and applauding that which was
exemplary, yet still the same regretted result was found almost invariably
to follow, and a brief interval from one period of confinement to another
was all that justice could grant to that which approached incorrigible delin-
quency. The will to grapple for a dangerous resistance by the commission
of injurious acts and ruinous disobedience was as tenaciously clung to as
ever, so that the remedy would seem but to have excoriated the surface,
without reaching the depth of the wound; hence their conduct would seem
to argue that the following causes, amongst others, probably may be ad-
duced as so many likely reasons of their ill-conditioned dispositions, so
many incentives to their early rushing into habits which demoralize, and a
course of conduct which, if not effectually reformed, must inevitably destroy.
The causes alluded to are-
1. Want of due care and sedulous training on the part of the parent
towards their offspring.
2. And consequently the neglect of not being brought up to a regular
employment, or attention to employment when placed in any.
3. The absence of religious and moral instruction and the influence of
bad company, particularly with reference to those houses kept by designing
and mercenary people, for lodging and boarding those who have wilfully
left their homes, and discarded the hope of leading a life of industry and
praiseworthy exertion.
4. Misapplied or not sufficiently well apportioned correctives and pun-
ishment.
5. A natural disposition, one nearly, if not quite, unconquerable by
moderate means, for theft, idle habits, and dissolute behaviour.
125
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Each and all of these causes can be readily supplied with examples from
among the present inmates of Bridewell Hospital.
There are at the present date no less a number than 20 prisoners not
exceeding 16 years of age, every one of whom is confined for actual pil-
fering, or being reputed thieves.
Of these, 10 can neither read nor write; and of the remaining 10, six
only can both read and write; whilst of the whole, scarcely any seem to
have been either at home or at school, instructed in or taught to nourish a
predeliction for a desire to imbibe religious and moral feelings. But it is
worthy of remark, that those who are the best taught, have been the most
frequent in delinquency, and the soonest led astray by the indolent in well
but the active in evil doing, thus practically proving that whether we are
intended for useful or pleasing occupation, the first requisite is a religious
and moral knowledge of right and wrong; for, as an eminent writer has
shrewdly said, we must be busy about good or evil, and as our inculcations
and impressions are wholesome or the contrary, so shall we select the
narrow path of virtue or the broad and, perhaps, the alluring road-way of
vice.
The want, therefore, of due care and sedulous attention in their fragile
years has been the first cause of plunging so many youths into early im-
prisonment, deserved privation, and chastisement.
Again, all evidence sufficiently attests that of these objects of early de-
pravity but a comparatively small number have been by their parents
brought up to a regular employment, or, it would seem, were sufficiently
corrected when they commenced and grew sufficiently neglectful of those
employments any of them might have adopted for a while; consequently
the want of a due moral restraint threw the energies of these boys into a
worse channel, where they were very soon borne away by the current of
evil example; and hurried onwards, as waters to the sea, into the wider
expanses of wicked cunning, and, in the majority of cases, constitutional
depravity. Their homes were soon left, and houses of call* for practised

* Houses of call.—Of these houses the following document, drawn up by the Go-
vernor of the City Bridewell, from the admissions of one who had been amenable to the
avarice and bad preceptorship of their proprietors, is a sufficiently convincing proof of
their bad existence and deplorable character. The observations which precede it are
worthy of serious attention.
The number of juvenile mendicants that continually infest our streets, and who are
generally and easily led from vagrancy to this commission of crime, by their association
with other boys of the same grade, the younger of whom receives instruction from the
older and more practised ones, and by whose means regular gangs of pickpockets are
formed, has ever been matter of very serious thought to every reflective mind. It ap-
pears that these boys, many of whom have no friends, together with others who have
friends, and who had respectable situations, but soon lost them, from the temptations
arising from a life of vagrancy, resort in numbers to various houses, kept for the pur-
pose of their reception, where they are lodged by the night, at so much per head, and
every facility afforded them, by instruction and otherwise, for carrying on their depre-
dations against the public. Should their solicitations for aid prove ineffectual, they are
advised and taught to steal, which they are more readily induced to do from the appre-
hension of being obliged to sell or pawn their wearing apparel, to pay for food and
126
thieves, and lodging-houses for nightly wanderers, adopted instead, and
thus from hearing the bad deeds of others, told as so many triumphs, and
witnessing the dissipation earned by thefts, they become anxious to imitate
and participate in them, and soon, by their actions and their fate, to prove
that where a disposition for idleness exists, where religious and moral in-
lodging, that is, in the event of the want of success in begging render them unable to
pay without it.
These reflections have arisen from the examination of a boy, rendered a cripple from
a deformity in his left foot, and an inmate in this hospital, in prison, having been com-
mitted by the lord mayor, for one month, for begging. The facts detailed by him were
of so shocking a nature, and so demoralizing, that they call loudly for the interference
of the magistracy, in removing a nuisance which has existed for some years in St. Giles's.
It appears that in Church-lane lives a Mrs. H-- whose houses are the continual re-
sort of numerous boys, frequently exceeding 12 in number, many of whom often return
home with silk handkerchiefs and silver snuff-boxes, which are purchased by her. The
boy states that he has been in the habit of paying 3d. a night for his lodging; that his
receipts from the charity of the public averages 3s. per diem ; that Mrs. H-- has taught
him to exhibit his deformed foot, and strictly forbade him to use any covering for it.
That the usual practice is for these boys, on their return in the evening, to hand over
the profits of the day to the woman who acts as caterer, supplying them with food, gin,
porter, and tobacco. He further stated, that an attempt was made to introduce music
and dancing, but that the parish authorities interfered and prevented it.
This woman (H--) has a young man of fashionable appearance living with her, who
has no visible honest means of subsistence.
It appears quite evident, from the communications of this boy, whose age is not more
than 14 years, that the inducement to vagrancy is very great. The fact of his averaging
38. a day, from the charity of the public, of itself speaks volumes, and accounts in a
great measure for the numerous instances we have of boys, whose friends are respect-
able, leaving good situations, without any apparent cause, and preferring a life of vag-
rancy, or worse, the temptations to which, as above remarked, are very great, and
which, with very few exceptions, ends in the commission of crime. To prevent this
state of things ought, therefore, to be an object with every feeling mind. The new po-
lice might lend very powerful aid, were they instructed to search for and report to the
magistracy all houses and coffee-shops kept as receptacles for vagrants; but even this
would be doing an insufficiency of good, unless the public would assist. Could they be
brought to refuse the giving of alms in every instance, however small, in the streets,
and in lieu thereof, to give tickets, on the plan similar to the one adopted by the Men-
dicity Society, where the case of every applicant would be enquired into, and relief ad-
ministered according to the exigency of the case, with a power reserved to the com-
mittee to send any applicant, whose conduct they may deem deserving of it, before a
magistrate for vagrancy, the production of the ticket to the society to be good evidence
of such act. This would strike at the root of the evil—the deserving and necessitous
would be relieved, and the undeserving would be punished. The funds to be raised by
subscription.
This plan may by some be deemed inconvenient, but surely an effort ought to be
made to prevent the increasing number of beggars that continually infest our streets,
levying contributions on the public to an amount which, if properly applied, would be
found sufficient to support all the deserving paupers in the metropolis, and in a great
measure to destroy the present demoralising system of begging-a thing so ruinous in
its effects, that the major part of the delinquents, with which our prisons are filled, owe
their progress in crime to the encouragement given to idle habits by the false feeling of
charity acted on by the public, in the promiscuous dispensation of alms to those who
are seldom, if ever, deserving of them. Among the older vagrants it is well known
that children are let out to hire, and exposed in the streets in the most inclement sea-
sons, in order that the sympathy of the public may be acted on with greater certainty.
They are taught to cry and complain of hunger, and the seeds of vice and infamy are
sown in their minds at a time when they are most likely to make lasting impressions.

с E

127
struction have gained no foundation on the mind, corrupt company is more
infectious than corrupt air, and that, however easy it is to slide into evil,
they must be well-applied medicines and correctives, indeed, to raise us
from its influence again ; one false step may precipitate the incautious
suddenly down the hill of life, but how many must he take to ascend to
its brow again.
And this induces, naturally, a few observations upon the nature of the
employment and punishment, adopted and enforced in Bridewell Hospital,
and those who are now in this place of royally-endowed and superin-
tended establishment, even if too circumscribed and insufficiently calcu-
lated to reclaim the vicious and profligate, and give labour to the unem-
ployed.
Of those who can neither read nor write, and consequently the least
intelligent, the majority have been in confinement, two, three, and four
several times in this prison alone, as the following statements and refer-
ences will unquestionably testify. It may be borne in mind also, that the
probability is, the records are rather below than above the standard of
truth, being gathered from the confessions of the prisoners themselves.
William Deacon was committed to Bridewell when between 14 and 15
years old, as a reputed thief, for one month; he then states himself to be
an orphan, but subsequently admitted that his father was alive and em-
ployed as a hackney coachmen. He was discharged June 15. On No.
vember 17, same year, an interval of five months, he was again committed
for three months' confinement.
On the 18th of April, year following, another interval of five months
from his last committal, and only two months from his release, he was
sentenced, third time, to confinement in the same prison.
This time he was sentenced to a term of two months, and assumed the
name of William Jones.
Not deterred by the repetition of retributive chastisement, he was, the
following July, only having been at liberty one month, detected in again
endeavouring to pick a pocket, and was, consequently, once more com-
mitted, the fourth time, as a reputed thief, with the sentence of three
months' incarceration. He, upon particular enquiries being put to him,
stated as the first cause of leaving home, the severity of his father towards
him, and the harshness of his master, a shoemaker, to whom he was ap-
prenticed; but neither of these statements are believed by the superinten-
dent keepers, and to these incentives he added, bad advice given him when
tired of work, by those who enticed him into the streets, and became his
acquaintances. He affirms, also, that he soon formed intimacies in prison
with professed and confirmed thieves, though belonging to the same class
or grade whose encouragement induced him to accompany them in the
hours of unrestraint) as he was light and active, as their “ provider,” so to
speak, when a plant (thus he expressed himself, with reference to a person
marked out for plunder) was to be made on the handkerchief or property
of
passers by, so that he soon became a very expert and well-known
pilferer.
William Mansfield.—This is another of those young delinquents upon
whom the repetition of the punishment to which they are sentenced appear
to have wrought no reformation. He was first committed for an assault,

128
28th of October, for 14 days, and it was stated of him then, that he was
frequently found with other idle boys, insulting and assaulting the women
employed in Fleet Market.
On November 17, same year, thus quick on his discharge, he was again,
as a reputed thief, committed for three months' confinement and labour,
during which period his father called and stated he had, for more than
three months previous, sought in vain for his son, and at last only heard of
him through the medium of others, as being nearly constantly at a rendez-
vous in Fleet-market, where the most abandoned characters were in the
habit of associating and assembling.
September 3 following, he was once more sent to this prison, as a pilferer
(two months term) and was, in less than five months, confined for a fourth
time, apparently callous to the labour of the wheel to which he was sub-
jected. He also plainly showed, by his sentiments and actions, that the
common conversation within, and the society and example of older thieves
without doors, have gone far to fix a love of those bad habits, at all events
a dislike to actively industrious ones, which have so often led him into
trouble, and continue him in an abandoned course of life.
William Gardiner.—This boy, now little more than 13 years of age,
appears to have commenced his career of idleness very early in life, as pre-
vious to his committal here, on suspicion of pilfering, December 17, he had
been confined in the House of Correction. He was in Bridewell one month
and discharged, January 16, but on 15th of February following he was
again placed in custody and sent here, under the name of John Jones, for
one month. He also seems to prove that former punishments and disci-
pline are or were not sufficiently severe to awaken a sense of duty or deter
him from repetitions of delinquency.
John Antony.—This prisoner, aged 14 years, is a convincing proof of
the ill effects and imminent danger arising from a total want of instruction
and an utter absence of moral and religious inculcations. His father is a
noted beggar, who has for years existed and procured a good living by
awaking the compassion or obtaining the credulency of the street passen-
ger, which his appearance, that of a cripple dragging himself, with great
apparent exertion, along on a board, and to the eye a painful occupation,
is well calculated to excite: to follow the father and lead from his infancy
a life of like delinquency has been the entire education of the son ; to this
he was trained, not “in the way he should go.” The natural effect has
been, a constant series of pilfering and frequent imprisonment, he having
been four times in Bridewell, for various terms, also, in Tothill-fields, and
very probably in other receptacles for the destitute; indeed, he was appre-
hended for stealing shoes in company with a young thief and street-walker
of the other sex.
He stated, also, that solitary confinement had many, but the wheel few,
terrors for him.
Stephen Darling.--The same causes which operatedto the destruction of
good feelings in Mansfield, namely, the society of the idle and depraved ;
led this youth to his acquaintance with prisons and punishment. It ap-
pears that some part of his family is respectably connected, but that his
conduct naturally estranged their kindlier feelings from him.
These instances, unfortunately without research or difficulty, might im-
whitury

129
mediately be multiplied to a melancholy extent; but as from the conduct
of some, that of the many may be estimated, enough have been exhibited
to prove, that without an early initiation into the mind of religious consi-
derations, the duty of moral ordinances and the salutary influence of
good example, even a well constituted mind, will not only gradually suffer
its feelings to slide down into carelessness, and a weakly constituted one
to apathy in doing well, but it will also cause it to imbibe a greedy anxiety
to work for evil, so at least argues one (Dr. Johnson,) who was well calcu.
lated to express such an opinion, and Sir Philip Warwick's words are “that
there is no security in evil society, where the bad are often made worse,
the good seldom better,” are fully borne out by such evidence. *
Having stated the probable causes which in part actuated the cause of
the delinquents, whose present fate and histories have been given ; and
recorded the facts of their various imprisonments, some observations created
by contemplating the effects of certain restraints and corrections, thereby
showing what, in all probability, would be most efficacious, may be neither
useless nor impertinently offered in this place.
First impressions either of terror or delight, incite and sink the deepest
into the human mind, and if these can be permanently fixed, the mind
itself will be rendered malleable for good or evil during life; whereas, on
the other hand, familiarity with objects of a forbidding character, or a con-
stant contemplation of such as are comely, will soon teach the imagination
to forget the chilling influences of the former, or those constituting the
outward delights of the latter. Then it cannot be doubted, that the dis-
proportions of absurdity grow less and less visible, as we are reconciled by
degrees to the deformity of a mistress; and just as falsehood by long use
is assimilated to the mind, or poison is to the body.
And this is abundantly exemplified, not alone from the confession of the
young, but from witnessing, and particularly noting their feelings when
first committed to confinement, their conduct and expressions a short time
afterwards.
Thus upon his primary introduction to the prison-and any one prison
will pretty well more or less apply to every other establishment of the
same nature throughout the country-upon his primary introduction to the
prison, and more especially the monotonous silence of a solitary cell, he
endures all those terrors and sicknesses of heart which a change from
freedom to-restraint, and the consequent absence of the social fellowship
of the world, are assuredly calculated to create; but bring him, after a few
hours' compulsory communion with his own thoughts, into the society of
C
Plity
Cou
* Fencing is a great cause of evil; a great encouragement to the continuance of a life
of petty pilfering, is held out to those young thieves, by the ready purchasers they find
for their stolen goods, since such characters will not only buy the handkerchiefs and
other property purloined, as soon as captured, but actually make advances of money to
those who supply them with feloniously-obtained stock for their shops—nay when in
confinement, the prisoner consoles himself with the knowledge, that he shall not want
a few shillings to commence trade upon, for he will compel the regular receivers to ad.
vance them, or he will do no more business with that party, such is the usual language of
young prisoners.
A Mrs. B-of Field Lane, that notorious resort of determinedly had characters, is
A very famous patroness with the handkerchief pilferers.
K

130
a
е E
rooms full of delinquents of various grades and ages; they from whom habit
and time have filed away the terrible rarity of confinement, let him mingle
with the hardened and listen to the inconsiderate, to the flippant boastings,
the almost inexpressibly loose language of his giddy companions; and rival-
ling their conversation, imitating their conduct, he very soon forgets the
terror of the past in the confusion and bad daring of the present; so that.
full of the false pride of not being ontdone by his fellows, in what he terms
fortitude and courage, he soon becomes one of them, and thus attests in his
own person and fate, how true it is, that in a prison the awe of the public
eye is lost, and the power of the law is spent. There are few fears, no
blushes, the lewd inflame the lewd, the audacious harden the audacious,
every one fortifies himself as he can against his own sensibilities, and en-
deavours to practise on others those arts which are practised on himself,
and he gains the kindness of his associates by similitude of manner.
Thus, then, it would seem strongly to appear, that solitary confinement
is not only more deaded, but much more efficacious to the future welfare
of the prisoner, than the discipline which admits of a general association
with that class of his fellow captives. A shorter period of punishment, in
the event of the former being adopted, would, in the opinion of the writer,
be far preferable to an extended term of three months upon the mill, which
leaving the disputed assertion of its injurious effects upon the constitution
of those compelled to tread it, out of the question, has ceased to be
deemed by the majority sentenced to that employment, so peculiarly degrad-
ing as it was once imagined—nor is the labour to the young, the light, or
the active, apparently considered as painful or irksome, for it is beyond
dispute, that the boys in Bridewell Hospital, go to their mill as to an em-
ployment calculated to kill time rather than to depress spirits; and come off
again with no more show of toil, than as though they had gone through
some common employment, or been engaged at a game demanding some-
thing like energy and exertion, but the heavy men do feel it much more
grievously.
That a short solitary confinement, can in many instances make imprison-
ment what it ought to be, so irksome, as to create in the feelings of the
incarcerated an indelible impression of terror, we may instance the case of
Anthony Young,* and other boys, who eagerly embraced the offer of being
admitted into the Refuge for the Destitute, at Hoxton, the majority of
whom, it will be seen by the Report, are doing a credit to the considerate
kindness of the authorities of this Hospital, who were the primary means
of sending them to that institution.
* The terror of this boy, when he was first brought into the prison, was very great,
and apparently, proceeding from motives of sincerity ; it continued with considerable
force several days after he was secured in his solitary cell, so that there is little doubt
had he, at the expiration of a week been liberated, with a threat of a whipping on a
repetition of his fault, but that he would have turned from the early error of his ways,
and have sinned no more; even with him, howerer, the distress he at first exhibited,
gradually from use, commenced to appear weaker, and had he not been humanely and
wisely transferred to the House of Refuge, but more especially, if he had been admitted
to the “ day room” of young thieves, it is feared, that his contrition before the expira-
tion of his two month's sentence, would have been of little depth and of short duration.

131
Whe
The following boys, who are now in confinement, it is imagined and sug-
gested, may be worthy the like consideration, that is of being removed from
the communion of the more hardened, ere, like them, they become callous
to the punishment awarded to their faults. · The statement of their cases -
will also bear out the tenor of the observations hazarded in the preceding
pages, and which would inculcate the sensible remarks of the author of
Cir
“ Observations on the Penetentiary System in the United States," Mr. free
Buchanan, namely, “the object of punishment should be the prevention of
crime, either by deterring others, or by reforming the offender, or by de- vo
priving him of the power of injuring the person or property of others.
Thomas Williams.--This lad, whose age is not yet 16, expressed him-
self apparently with much sincerity, as fully sensible of the degraded and
dangerous nature of the occupation he had been tempted to practise with
other boys, and that awakened to a sense of duty by the confinement to
which he had subjected himself, he was most anxious to obtain a renewal
of his former employment, that of a labourer or server in the brickfield, or
some other by which he could maintain himself, and
Henry Pearce in like manner answered the interrogation put to him, fully
professing his determination to lead an honest course of life; since he knew
that one crime would lead to another, and thieving end bad at last.
Both these prisoners concurred in assuring the writer that they consi-
dered the punishment, on the whole, much more endurable than being
locked
up, and this is the general feeling of more than two-thirds of the
delinquents at present confined.*
Whipping has been mentioned, and from the dread of it expressed by
incarcerated offenders, there can be no doubt but that it would have much
effect in deterring, the young at all events, from that reckless repetition of
crime they now, with little hesitation or remorse, immediately upon regain-
ing their freedom, once more plunge into. Still the indiction of this pun-
* In contradistinction to the case of these two boys one occurs while this is being
penned, which painfully evinces the demoralizing character of these “lodging-houses,"
kept by covetous parties for the resort of idlers and dissolute characters. ROBERT
NewBy, aged 15, was committed by Sir Peter Laurie for pilfering. He was never taught
by his friends the value of industry and the advantages those who do well ultimately
possess over those who follow a contrary course of conduct. Although he went to a
school, the lack of a due subordination at home rendered the small instruction he re-
ceived of little avail, and consequently an idle life was soon his choice. He selected
Smithfield as the scene of his early depredations, and soon came to know a Mrs. Coles”
as the convenient “Receiving House,” for such as himself. Here he paid fourpence a
night for his bed, and was thrown among that society whose bad influences increased
his depravity and purchased his punishment.
On a day or two following also was committed WILLIAM SIDES, ten years old, for pil.
fering. The case of this boy also proves the ruinous and evil effect of a want of atten-
tion and wholesome inculcations on the parts of the parents, both of whom lived at
service till within a couple of years since, leaving the children out at nurse or keep.
This boy, W. Sides, commenced his career by taking a pair of shoes from a lodger in
his father's house, and finding the facility with which he could obtain money for them,
he subsequently took trousers, boots, and his own blankets. He was in the habit of
leaving his own home, and sleeping in Leadenhall Market, accompanied by a boy named
Hasbury, and it is feared that although young in years he is old in crime.
Would not the terrors of a whipping operate to save such a character as this from
sinking deeper into the torrent of depravity?
1
K 2

132
ishment might, in many cases, be threatened with effect, rather than be put
in practice, and, when applied, it may be so applied as to maintain all the
terrors of the ordeal, yet be divested of excessive torture.* This may be
objected to by many; still, where the young, by the fear of endurance of
a short, if severe castigatory correction, may be saved from the commis-
sion of crimes, which, by their greater degree of criminality, would subject
them to more terrible retributions, surely solicitude and sympathy may be
pushed too far when they would not save the patient from a disinclination
to apply the knife to the wound. That is the truest philanthropy which by
well-timed and considerately applied correction causes a repentance of past
crimes, and a firm determination to forego their repetition.
CITY WORKHOUSE,
In 1649 a workhouse was erected by Act of Parliament on the west side
of Bishopsgate-street, for the relief and employment of the poor and pun-
ishment of vagrants and disorderly persons in the City and Liberties of
London,
BRIXTON LIST.
James Griffiths, No. 1, aged 17, once before in prison, sells his stolen
property to Mrs. R., rag shop, Gravel-lane, Borough, makes about thirteen
shillings a day.
F. Foot, No. 22, aged 16, twice in prison; lodges at the Red House in
the M--, kept by Stevens. Two men or boys sleep in each bed, price
threepence per night.
J. Roach, No. 11, fifteen years old ; in prison before; used to earn one
and threepence a day chopping wood.
J. Williams, No. 17, aged 17, lodges at Mr. Thompson's, George Yard,
Whitechapel ; pays threepence a night, three in a bed--sometimes only two;
four beds in the room, which is just large enough to hold the beds, and al-
low about two feet between them, and about six feet at foot.
BOROUGH COMPTER, MILJ, LANE.
Bad, dirty, and positively vicious, a pulpit is in the sleeping-room of the
debtors, which is used as a chapel.
* I much differ from the author of the Report in his opinion of corporal punishment.
Practical facts have proved to the contrary, no instance of its having reclaimed being on
record; while there are but too many instances where it has hardened and made worse,
and this is also the tenor of all evidence on the subject. Another and more serious fault
would be to threaten without acting. If once a thief discovered that the threat were to
be an idle one, and it would not take long to expose it, there would then be an end not
only to the terrors of this but of every other threat.--Ed.

133
The senior debtor (that is the man who has been longest in confinement)
is captain, and has the privilege of selling beer to his companions, obtaining
a profit of a halfpenny a pot.
HULKS Woolwich.)
A Scotch convict, on board the Euryalus remarked to me, that threatening
a prisoner with flogging and not giving it, was only making a fool of him.
A convict under seven years' sentence, and who had been five years at the
Hulks, was promised a pardon, but having smoked a pipe the superin-
tendent revoked the kindness. The convict, who is named Beaumont, and
is of respectable connexions at H ---, sent for his wife, who arrived in
London, expecting his release in August, on receiving a refusal of the pro-
mised indulgence, he made his escape, but was so dreadfully bruised he was
not expected to live. He was apprehended the day following his escape.
CONFESSION OF WARE, (Of the Euryalus Hulk).
He sent me a paper, of which the following is a copy :-
Bought from Henry Ware by T— H- who lives at -- Place,
Friars-mount, back of Shoreditch Church, gold watches, silver watches,
gold rings and coins, seals and pencil-cases, to the amount of four or five
hundred pounds, well knowing them at the same time to be stolen property,
and also by James G—, a well-known housebreaker, who keeps a public-
house in Brick-lane, Spitalfields, has bought handkerchiefs, and silks and
shawls, and gown pieces, to the amount of three hundred pounds and up-
wards, and George S-— has bought gold snuff-boxes and rings, and dia-
mond rings, and pins, and spectacles, and brooches, and ribbons, who lives
at Little Nichols-street, back of Shoreditch church, who has bought to the
amount of seven hundred pounds, and also B--, who lives in Barbican,
clothes dealer, has bought a quantity of clothes to the amount of one hun-
dred pounds, and also C- who lives in Shoreditch, a pawnbroker, a
receiver of stolen property.”
PRISONERS.
In the two years of 1831 and 1832, the enormous number of ONE
HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE
persons passed through the prisons of England and Wales, exclusive of
Debtors.
POLICE INFORMATION.
B. Division Westminster.
Inspector S-observes, that men were formerly thieves, but now he
considers the greatest proportion to be boys under 20 years old, generally
of Irish extraction.

134
The children have no regular means of subsistence, he considers them
to be outcasts from their own homes, and the parents send them out to
thieve.
Has known Irish women appear before the magistrates, when their child-
ren have been apprehended, to get them into the Refuge, or to have them
by any means taken off their hands. Considers the source of crime to be
the neglect of parents, who do not care what becomes of their offspring,
provided they bring home money at night.
Thieves are not habitual hard drinkers, but tailors and shoemakers are.
Prostitutes do not follow pocket-picking as a trade.
Old women go
with the boys and screen them, or stall, particularly about dividend time,
at the Bank.
He thinks that it would be decidedly advantageous, if prisoners were
not to be in their prison dress, when the police inspect them.
He stated the return of dealers in Marine Stores, 27th July, 1835, to
have been:
Wholesale and retail by the same parties
Retail only, also rag and bottle vendors
34
Rag and bottle shops...
11
v
1
O
.
Total
46
Superintendent L, was glad to hear that the subject of thieves
and their habits had been taken up-he heard of it by a minute, mention,
ing my name, at Scotland Yard. He has been on the force since the com-
mencement.
He considers Westminster a hot bed for thieves; vice of parents the.
chief cause of young delinquents.
When asked if he considered it to be vice and poverty, he remarked to
me, I will not say poverty, when I see people eating hearty, drinking hard,
and looking healthy; considering their excesses I cannot say poverty, but
probably the means for these excesses and good living may be derived
from plunder; at any rate, I should not say they were in a state of destitute
poverty.
Thieves steal from one another; he has remarked, that a thief suddenly
appeared well dressed, (he presumes, that he has obtained the means from
some successive plunder), in a short time he becomes seedy and shabby;
and ultimately, he has known that man to be brought up by another thief,
on a charge of plunder.
Some cracksmen live in his division. They generally appear as low
mechanics, spend their time in drinking, card playing, and smoking ; he
does not consider them fond of skittles, except for occasional relaxation,
they prefer cards. They are to be seen lounging about at corners of
streets, and if they see a countryman or a drunken person, they send a
woman after him to rob him, and they divide the plunder.
Union Court, Jeffrey's Buildings, and the Almonry, are full of thieves
and prostitutes of all ages and descriptions.
Men in this neighbourhood have their women in common, they main-
tain each other, and always find means, either by prostitution or thieving.
The superintendent considers the prostitutes to be so numerous, that
Wine

135
they exceed the demand, and consequently live by plunder; they watch
for drunken men after the public-houses are closed, entice them to some
low lodging-house, for they are all brothels, and there rob them ; he has
known men to have been stupified, and then robbed to their shirts; it is a
frequent occurrence.
A girl of the town confessed that they all thieve and live by that means ;
one-third of them would be enough for the demand.
There are several brothels where only the young people congregate.
Almost all the houses in the neighbourhood are low brothels, the prices
of the apartments vary according to the appearance of the customer ;-they
ask 3d. 6d. sometimes 2s., they get money from the men and then escape.
If the man complains, he is beaten and turned out; a bully is always in at-
tendance. A prostitute told the superintendent, that they have not con-
nection with one half of the men who take them into brothels, they escape
through drunken impotency, or by getting the money.
Fences in this neighbourhood are in a very small line of business, they
are chiefly in Orchard Street; they do not deserve the name of fences,
they buy kandkerchiefs and minor things, no plate is brought here, it is
generally carried to the city, where wealthy men are fences; he is certain
that Jews buy property, has watched the houses of reputed fences, but could
not detect the bringers of property. He thinks they take premises, where
communication can be carried on by means of other adjoining houses, they
have more than one entrance; they generally give about one-third the
value. It is not certain, but most probable, that the Jews send the goods
of value out of the country-low publicans are in the habit of fencing.
Dealers in marine stores fence smaller things, they are too poor to take
property of value, thieves would not trust them. Children fence at these
shops; he cannot say what a thief would get for a 51. note, the price
varies according to time, place, and means of getting it, also to confidence
in the party who may bring it.
Men dressed as sailors, and who pretend to be smugglers, asking per-
sons in the street to buy handkerchiefs and mercers goods, are the barkers
of thieves, and that the property is most frequently stolen.
The most experienced thieves make the best prisoners.
Low lodging-houses are common in this division, vagrants and beggars
sleep in them, paying 4d. a night, many in a room. Reilly, of St. Giles,
says, several of these belong to a person of the name of Scott.
L- -- says, that he thinks penny theatres a great mischief, and that he
has routed several. The Westminster Theatre belongs to an undertaker
named G-–, a rich man, corner of Broadway, he lets it for 40s, a week;
it is frequented by young idle vagabonds, chimney sweeps, and street
thieves with their girls. The mischief arises from its temptation to child-
ren to steal, in order to obtain the means of gratifying their fondness for
this species of amusement; on one occasion the police entered, and seized
actors and all, including the receipts of the night, which amounted to the
sum of 21. 3s. all in copper. There is another theatre called the Orange,
in Queen Street, Pimlico, he has watched the pernicious effects of this
house, in training up young girls to be prostitutes.
He is of opinion that silence and seclusion would be beneficial; it is not si Cerice
possible to reform, if offenders communicate with their old associates; they
28eclisin

136
delight in recounting their old exploits, and the oftener a young thief has
been in prison, the greater man he is considered; he thinks children to be
so precocious, that he observed “ there are no children in these days, they
are all men and women."
Juvenile thieves do not drink to excess, they spend their money in
tobacco, fruit, sweets, and above all at the theatre; they hold horses in
the street, and some sweep the crossings, an ostensible mode of living, but
are always on the alert for plunder.
He does not believe there is any school for teaching how to pick pockets,
the story of a large figure, &c. is all chimerical ; but they teach each other
in the public rooms or kitchens of the lodging-houses, or learn by seeing
their associates rob in the streets, they generally go in leashes or pairs.
Prostitutes came to this division for a short time, not more than eight
or twelve months on an average, they then disappear, and others constantly
succeed.
It has often puzzled him to make out what becomes of the immense
shoals of these women-it is not by death in his division, as the mortality
is comparatively little.
Superintendent L- — told me, that a fellow named Cummins, is the
greatest ruffian and thief of the old school in his district, he is the com-
panion of Horbery Churchill, who is now in Westminster Bridewell, com-
mitted for a drunken assault, thinks this was a blind, and that he was
concerned in the Chipstead robbery. S. Lowry has been lately attacked
in the street, by a fellow named Lucas.
C. division, superintendent B-, the oldest officer on the force.
Low lodging-houses not very numerous in this division. There are some
in Peter-street, near Berwick-street, mostly inhabited by Irish labourers,
price about 4d. a night; they sleep four or five in a room.
In a private
lodging-house two or three families sleep in the same apartment.
There are low brothels in Milk-alley and in Falconberg-court, near Sut-
ton street, also five contiguous houses in Whitcome-street. Girls, especially
very young ones, entice drunken men into them and rob them. Flower girls
are the worst and most dangerous of prostitutes; they are kept by young
thieves, boys of about 14 years old.
He considers penny theatres to be the cause of much crime, owing to
the congregating with the worst of characters, and also to the great tempta-
tion for children to thieve, in order to attend these exhibitions.
There is one in Windmill-street, price 6d. to the boxes, no money taken
at the doors; it is called the Circus.
Opposite to this is a public-house called the B—-, frequented by thieves
and prostitutes, and in it are nightly concerts, admittance at the door of
the room ld.
Free concerts are held in different houses; one is kept by a man named
Sheldon, in Compton-street, Soho; another at the Horse and Dolphin,
Macclesfield-street,--all classes are admitted.
The superintendent does not consider thieves to be a drunken set ;
they enjoy themselves when lucky, but they are too cautious to be habitual
drunkards. After a successful adventure they alter their clothing, but
never drinks to excess. Their dress varies according to their luck—a thief
can be told if he has been at work by the alteration of his dress; above all
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137
by that of the woman, their fancy women. They must attend to their wo-
men's demand for money, to ensure their silence. Their general appearance
is seedy, excepting the swell mob, who dress very well. Thieves do not
much reside in the C. division, but they come to it by day, in order to
work. They watch the club houses for purses and handkerchiefs ; they
also peep in at shop windows, where ladies deal, to watch if they carry
purses in their reticules. They go in gangs of three, two young and an
older one, their coat cuffs are turned back upon their sleeves; a young
man named Nelson is the most expert and impudent of the class. He is
about 23 years old, of excellent address and manners, he has been trans-
ported and been many times in prison. He (the superintendent) has
heard many persons say that he makes 101. a day, and he believes it to be
true. The officers at Marlborough-street say that he makes more than
any other of the swell mob; lie never commits burglaries; he has been
recently liberated from the House of Correction, where he was committed
for a robbery. When taken he was accused by a gentlemen in St. James's-
street of stealing his purse, containing nine sovereigns. The property had
been immediately handed off to another, so that nothing was found upon
his person, and the gentleman was apologising for the mistake,” while
Nelson was affecting the greatest indignation that a gentleman of his
family and respectability should be even suspected. Superintendent Baker
arrived at the time and caused his boots to be removed; in one was a
purse with four sovereigns, in the other were three sovereigns. Since his
release Wontner, son of the late governor of Newgate, has legally demanded
restitution of this property. Magistrates referred the case to the police
commissioners, and the property is in the possession of Mr. Baker.
This boy, Nelson, is the pavement Macheath of the day; he was com-
mitted (9th Sept.) to the Westminster Bridewell, in company with two of
his associates, for bail, which he procured immediately for himself, and left
his friends in trouble. Fourteen days after he was detected picking a Rus-
sian or Pole's pocket, in Fleet-street, of 101. and silver in a purse; he made
for the country, and after a hard fight and violent defence made by him
with a life preserver; he was taken into custody and committed to New-
gate, under the name of Woolley.*
Dealers in marine stores buy trifling things of boys or others.
not so common as 20 years ago, and that class fence goods. Sneaks creep
into shops on their hands and knees. These fence shops are in Peter-
street.
The large fences are eastward, among the Jews ; he suspects they have
a constant communication with the continent, for the shipment of valuable
swag stolen property.
Old clothes-men in the street will buy anything of young
thieves (con-
firmed by Mr. Hartley): they get into a corner or dark entry, give the
money, and deposit the purchase in their bags. When young thieves are
apprehended and asked concerning the disposal of property, they reply
that they sold it to a Jew in the streets.
SNEAKS
* Hone, No. 99, F. told me that Nelson had left off thieving for some months, and
that he worked very steadily at his old trade, which is boot closing. He can always
earn 103. a week at it.

138
Refiners buy of thieves.
The only flash house or noted resort for thieves in this division is the
C--, in N-S--, Broad-street. The superintendent does not be-
lieve the landlord to be a fence.
He also says boys are much more hardened and cunning after they have
been in gaol; he thinks the silent system annoying to them.
Cracksmen are a different sort; they are more mature and desperate;
they lounge about by day, or idle their time in public-houses, playing
cards or dominoes, which they prefer to skittles. They keep their women,
or rather live with women who are prostitutes; their abodes are in courts
or alleys, where others of the same class reside ; also their dress is most
frequently like a mechanic, shabby, with no attempt to be stylish. Some-
times a jacket and apron, at others like costermongers; they are idle and
listless. Churchill is a noted cracksman.
This superintendent also says there is no school for teaching to pick-
pockets from a figure; the old teach the young.
D. division, Mary-le-bone lane. Superintendent - has been in
the police 16 years.
No. 4, D. Thomas H. T, called in : about 11 years in the police,
was in the Bow-street department.
In this division, Lisson-grove is the haunt of thieves. Street thieves, ,
sneaks, swell mob, Petermen, the last, men who cut trunks, &c. from car-
riages, cracksmen, in short, the worst and of all sorts, were about Lisson-
grove; but they spread themselves over London by day, in order to work.
(i. e. thieve). The neighbourhood is swarming with youth of both sexes,
from eight to 20 years of age--all thieves.
He thinks they fence the property in the Grove: a man named W—
a one-legged shoemaker, who has been twice convicted of burglary, is a
fence; also a Christian clothes dealer, who was in the service of C
a Jew salesman. C- was transported for fencing notes, the servant
set up for himself,
He now lives in a shoe-shop, Kelso-place.
T- thinks notes would fetch about half their value, -cannot say
exactly.
Dealers in marine stores fence according to their means--in general are
too poor to do so largely. He thinks the chief fences are the Jews, about
Cutler-street, Houndsditch, and east end of the city. Cannot positively
say whether they send property abroad, -thinks some jewellers and silver-
smiths at the west end fence.-Has a strong suspicion of Wigmore-street,
-has seen suspicious people enter the house,—the shop goes back to a
great extent, and he could not watch their proceedings from the window.
Jews travel to country towns, and receive orders, which they duly attend
to. The property supplied is stolen and forwarded from the stores of the
London fences.
A fence who deals largely lives in Mary-le-bone-lane, named D--;
he has been twice fined for fencing.
He does not consider Jew bag-men to be itinerant fences,—has stopped
many of them and searched their bags, but never found anything in them.
Thieves, when not at work, generally pass their time in drinking and
cards, as well as at other games. There are two classes, the higher and
lower sort, they never associate. The lower class sit about, play skittles,

139
1
dominoes, pitch at the mott, and shove halfpenny; the higher class he
calls swell mob, race-men, thimble-men, and cracksmen.
Of cracksmen there are two grades; the higher class attempt for larger
plunder--the inferior class get into houses of tradesmen and small dwellings,
watch when families leave the house to go to church, and then enter by
means of skeleton keys. The dress and general appearance of higher
cracksmen is good-flashy in manner, and swaggering in their walk. The
under class of them dress in flannel jackets, or with a coat and apron, like Plan
t
Det e
working men. Many are mechanics, such as plasterers and carpenters;
;
siders the trade gives them facilities, if employed as journeymen in gentle-
, oth an
Family men and people are the bye words for thieves, it is the term they
apply to each other.
B
Countrymen who are thieves attend fairs and races, also Jews; but they
never mix.
No. 4, (this informant) took a countryman at Greenwich fair,--saw him
rob a gentleman on his way to the station,-he offered any money to be
released, stating that if deprived of going the summer circuit, it would be
as good as losing 5001.
Low brothels.—There are two of this description,—No. 15 and 22, Ste.
phen-street, Lisson-grove. The rooms are let to young thieves and pros-
titutes, who let their apartments out to couples, and these pay their rent
as well as make a profit.
Two young girls, about 14, rent two kitchens in a house in William-
street, which they convert into bawdy rooms.
Similar houses, kept by and frequented by very young persons, are in
Charles-street. Convict Johnson says Little James-street is very bad.
Lodging-houses.—A person from St. Giles's has lately opened some
cadgers' lodging-houses in Gee's-court. Cadgers and thieves use it.
Cadgers are not in general thieves. The premises are over some stables,
and the entrance by a ladder,—the kitchen is the public room. Men and
women sleep in separate apartments, 3d. a night.
Juvenile thieves are frequently trained by their parents to crime. He
knows a family of the name of s-, consisting of mother, three boys,
and two girls; the mother lives by their plunder, and she makes them go
out to thieve,--all the boys are now transported. He knows another
family, who send the children out to thieve. Also, in Westminster dis.
trict, in Jeffrey's-buildings, a family named M-- is extremely notorious;
the parents send the boys out to thieve, and the daughters were on the
town, each before she was 12 years old. He considers the greatest pro-
portion of juvenile delinquents to be Irish or half-bred Irish. Boys are
more hardened than men-girls more so than women, and women more so
than men.
Is of opinion that a young practised London thief is irre-
claimable.
Young S--, the person named above, has been repeatedly flogged, -
tried to leave off thieving, but said he could not, the temptation was too
strong,—thinks that flogging hardened him, says he did not care for it.
George Arnold, an associate or pal of S--, was about 13
-years old
when sent to the hulks for seven years; his good conduct obtained his re-

140
sto
lease at the expiration of six years and four months; he had been home
six months, and was a thief again; his father is much grieved at the rooted
evil in his son's disposition, and considers him to be much worse'; he has
been obliged to turn him out of his house.
Penny theatres are very mischievous,-tend to bring girls to early pros-
titution. Some of them only 13 years old have commenced in evil ways,
and been seduced after leaving these houses. The actors are the most
dissolute; they make about 8s. to 12s. a week.
The women are in common with the men; if a fancy man is sent to pri-
son, she goes to somebody else, as a matter of course.
Dress.—The wary thief will not alter his dress for 10 days or a fort-
night after a robbery; they dress their women out.
No. 4, (the present informant) heard that a person was robbed in a low
brothel ; the girls were described, and the next day No. 4 met them in
ribbons and feathers, so he took them into custody.
Young apprentices in mercers' shops are enticed by prostitutes to steal
ribbons and silk, which they receive instead of money in return for their
favours.
The silent system has broken down T---L--, a marine store dealer,
G-court; he said he would rather be transported than have three
months at Cold-bath Fields; he says it almost killed him.
Police, No. 14, has heard a fellow say, when committed, that he can
sleep the time out.
Inspector M-- stated that he was five years in the force,-only three
months in this division, -he is mostly acquainted with the N. division,
(Hoxton) superintendent Johnson.
He is of opinion that thieves do not work in their own neighbourhood, --
cannot say the price given for fenced property. The Jew fences he con-
siders the greatest purchasers,- dealers of marine stores buy of boys. A
woman who lived at Hoxton was transported for fencing, -used to buy
gold watches for a trifle.
Low lodgings are in Calmet-buildings, Oxford-street, inhabited by low
Irish, four or five families in a room. Men, women, and children, 4d.
a night. They are not used as brothels,-considers the people hard-
working men. In this court, however, there are two classes, namely,
the industrious and the idle, which are distinguished by titles peculiar to
this court, and which are often the cause of serious party fights; the par-
ties are the clock makers, i. e. the hard-working people, and the watch
makers, who are the most dissolute
persons
and
young prostitutes.
Does not know any gaming house in the district, nor flash house. A
free dancing house has been lately opened in Church-street, Lisson-grove,
which is much frequented by bad characters.
There is a penny theatre in Lisson-grove, frequented by low thieves ; he
took two boys there, for stealing a shawl.
A cracksman, who goes for plate and jewellery, lives in Nightingale-
lane; his woman was recently sent to the House of Correction.
Cato-street is full of bad characters.
The thieves complain of the silent system, and say it is harsh.
E. division, St. Giles's.--Superintendent G-- has been in the force
since its commencement.
linat
ilding
tos

141
The lowest grade of thieves and dissolute people live in the immediate
neighbourhood of the station-house (George-street, late Dyott-street) worse
even than there are at Westminster.
The children of the low Irish are brought up from early infancy to
thieve or beg,—their parents daily send them out for that purpose, and
beat them severely, unless they return at night with a specified sum of
money, from 6d. to 25., according to the talent of the child, and the vicious
cupidity of the parent.
At least one-third of the London beggars live in St. Giles's. They use
a house called the R---H--, kept by a widow named B—-. It is
called the cadgers or beggars' house; they have hot suppers, smoke, drink,
and play cards, or other games, and expend 38., 4s., or 5s. per diem; they
sleep in the low lodging-houses, price as usual, 4d. per night for a bed;
many
in the same room.
Beggars hire children at 4d. a day, a deformed child is worth double
that sum.
Women who have been confined at the same time club and hire
their infants out as twins.
Beggars are very orderly, but jovial at night.
Low brothels.-Prices of apartments, 2d. to 2s. ; they ask as much as
they think they are likely to get from their customers.
Cummins has two houses in George-street. There are 13 rooms in the
two houses; they are farmed out one at 10 guineas the week, the other at
five guineas. The walls are blackened with candle smoke and dirt, the
furniture a sort of bed and a chair. These are the best houses in St. Giles's,
and robberies are very seldom committed in them, they were formerly used
by more respectable persons,—they are accommodation houses.
There are also houses where very young prostitutes and boys go together.
Mrs. Slatford (whose husband is a bargeman) keeps the most notorious
house of this description; it has 15 rooms. There is a passage through
the house, and in the yard at the back are four small houses, of two rooms
each, filled with young prostitutes, who take men to Mrs. Slatford's, but
have their fancy men at home. The police sergeant has seen elderly wo-
men take mere boys to Slatford's, and very properly interfered.
He considers there are more prostitutes than the wants of men require.
Many are called prostitutes, who pick up drunken men, in order to plunder
them, but who have no connection with their victims.
Prostitutes are kind to each other in distress.
Juvenile thieves are much more hardened than adult offenders and equally
dissolute; they spend their hours of idleness and the profits of their plunder
with young prostitutes. Boys of 14 keep their girls, and if unlucky, the
girls keep them by prostitution and robbery. The superintendent considers
rag shops and pawnbrokers buy stolen property of young thieves, also the
Jews, who traverse the streets with bags.
He considers many fences live in St. Giles's,—suspects the chandlers'- .
shop keepers and low public-houses in the neighbourhood buy property,
especially M—'s house, corner of L---. The clerk of this division
thinks every publican, except two, in St. Giles's are fences,-a wo-
man named T keeps a chandlers'-shop, which is frequented by thieves.
She lets her room to young prostitutes ; she is worth 3,0001. to 4,0001.
He thinks that in this neighbourhood a fence would not give more than
20s, for a 51, note.
sell pure only he
20
In

142
About two months ago a Welshman, named Thomas Griffiths, was in-
veigled into a low brothel, and was robbed of his clothes and money, which
amounted to 1461., chiefly 51. notes. The notes were sold to a Jew in
Liquorpond-street, named I--, and he gave 20s. for a 51. note.
Fences for large amounts are city Jews, there are many in the D.
division, in Mary-le-bone-lane, many in the neighbourhood of Houndsditch,
and Whitechapel, and Clerkenwell.
He thinks that refiners buy stolen plate. He suggests that the police
should have access to the premises of dealers in marine stores.
The police have difficulty in detecting publicans who are fences, as the
houses have double or side entrances, and persons are always on the watch
for the approach of the police--generally children.
He does not think duffers sell stolen property, but though they may be
connected with young thieves, they do not act as their agents.
He believes there are no penny theatres; there was one, but it is removed.
It is not the neighbourhood for cracksmen. Tom Juger lives about
here; he was a burglar, but the police think he has left it off; he was seen
the other day, and looked rather seedy and shabby; he does petty robberies.
Thieves generally pass their time in gambling; they are fond of cards
and dominoes; they lounge about the corners of streets with their women,
or in public-houses. The lower classes play at skittles, pitch at the mott,
that is a pipe placed in the ground, or shove halfpenny.
He has heard the opinion of thieves concerning the silent system in
Coldbath Fields; they dread it very much. Has heard some who have en-
dured it say that it will be the death of them.
Burglars are constantly endeavouring to form acquaintance with servants
gentlemen's families. A man named H- journeyman tailorresiding
in Conduit-street, was a putter-up of burglaries, though he never commit-
ted any; he seeks out servant maids, learns the secrets of the houses, and
gives information to the cracksmen. He lives by the profits of his villanies.
Livery servants, of dissolute character, resort to a house kept by Fancy,
in Eton Court, Regent-street,* where thieves meet them and plan rob-
beries. Another house is in Duke-street, Manchester-square; a third is
the -, Portland-street, kept by
AMD-
The grand gala-house for thieves, prostitutes, and livery servants, both
in and out of place, as well as apprentices and shop boys, is the “ Mogul,"
in D--, where there is a penny concert every night. The room holds
300 people—there is a large organ in it.
A.
route
on lo
MARLBOROUGH STREET.---M. DIVISION.
Inspector T-—, formerly on the E. (St. Giles) informs me that low
lodging houses, in Kent-street, are very numerous, price fourpence a
night, men and women sleeping in the same room, different couples in ad-
joining beds. There are many low brothels in the division,—he has seen
girls of about ten to twelve years old enter them with men.
There are
many flash houses in the district; thinks landlords of low public-houses
buy stolen property sometimes. The Swell Mob frequent a house in the
London Road; thinks they make a common purse for the means of obtain-
12 Jan
* Now closed.

143
ing legal assistance when in trouble. A man named Edwards is their chief
adviser; he is every day about Union Hall.
The swell mob thief dresses in the height of fashion. The burglar dresses
shalby, like a distressed tradesman; sits all day in public houses, drinking
and playing skittles—all thieves fond of skittles, it is their favourite amuse-
ment. In the evening they gamble.
Inspector thinks great evil arises from Twopenny Theatres. They are
frequented by children from ten to fourteen years old. He has known
children commit felonies to obtain money for admission to them. There are
many in various parts of London, one in Liverpool-street, King's Cross, of
a better sort, admission to the boxes being sixpence.
The Concerts and Balls are very common in some public houses in low
neighbourhoods, and are generally frequented by thieves and their women.
The Mogul, in Drury-lane, is a notorious house of that kind.
Inspector T-- continued, that St. Giles abounds with low lodging-
houses. The most notorious are kept by Grout. He is a rich man, and has
elegant private houses at Hampstead, and the lowest sort of lodging-houses
in every part of London. He generally visits these dens daily,-- keeps his
horse and gig. Price of these houses, as all others, fourpence a night in
a room with a score or two of other people. Men and women sleep toge-
ther anyhow. A man and woman may have a place screened off, which
they call a room, for eightpence a night, but they are seldom so delicate.
is Arun ko
A man named Cummins has brothels in St. Giles, exclusively for couples. hton
N
this description are called Accommodation Houses. Cummins lets these
houses at seven guineas a month; they contain many rooms, for the pre-
mises are extensive,- he thinks 15 or 18 in a house.
The St. Giles's prostitutes commit many robberies upon drunken coun-
trymen whom they entice to those places, and either bully or hocuss them.
The last is to stupify them with opium or laudanum in their drink. Girls
club, and keep a man between them. Inspector, has known instances of
girls robbing men even of their clothes. In one case the victim had been
deprived absolutely of his shirt, because it was a good one ; this man the
inspector carried home in a policeman's great coat.
He does not think that so much as 41. 10s. or 41. can ever be obtained
for 51. notes from fencers.
The officers told me that whenever boys are committed the mothers and
friends come to the back of the office and cheer them up, calling out to them
in their cell “Never mind, Bill (or Jack), it is only for two months, and the
time will soon be over." Each boy is generally attended by a girl, and a
girl by a boy.
A Penny Theatre is in W-- S--t:* opposite to it, or nearly so, is a
public-house called the Black Bull, where thieves (especially street thieves)
assemble at a nightly singing assembly, called the “free and easy." +
He cannot say if publicans are fences. Understand they give about 15s.
in the pound for notes.
* Closed by order of the Lord Chamberlain.
f For a description of this flash-house, see p. 136.

144
QUEEN SQUARE.
olen
E-- the chief officer has heard that some fences give half the value for
property.
He has frequently known a young boy, when brought before the magis-
trate, to half confess his plans of crime, but if remanded to a prison, come
up as bold as an old offender, and will even contradict the very statements
he had made before.
Has heard prisoners say they dislike the silent system. He thinks it will
be highly beneficial.
A case was heard at this office lately of a man who took a woman to a
brothel, paid threepence for the room, was there three-quarters of an hour,
when the woman of the house demanded threepence more, and on being re-
fused took the shawl off the woman who accompanied the man.
The case
was dismissed.
City JEALOUSY.--Inspector W--, C Division, remarked that great jea-
lousy existed between city and county officers, or any other officers of justice.
It is to be regretted that there is not a system of recognition between the
Houses of Correction, in the public offices, and Newgate, for the punish-
ment of offenders who go by so many names, that cognomens are useless,
as in the case of Nelson.
BOW STREET.
B—-, considers one of the great causes of juvenile crime to be the
immense number of young prostitutes. As long as these young W~~S
are tolerated, so long will there be young thieves.
With regard to the value given for stolen property, it greatly depends
upon the thief who offers it, the risk incurred, and other circumstances.
He has known 401. to be given for a 501. note.
The fences, especially if they can only get possession of the property,
force the thief to their own terms. If they can send it out of the house,
on pretence of sending it to another party, in order to get the money, the
thief is then frequently told to get out of the house, even without his
money
Two thieves stole some plate, and among it was a very valuable silver
inkstand, which having mutilated, one went to a Jew with it, whilst the
other remained in the street. The Jew examined it, saw that it was stolen,
en made two or three demurs about it, then, handling it about very sus-
piciously, he put it into his desk, which he locked, to the astonishment
of the thief, who was still more surprised when Moses said, " he vosh a
yong man vot he greatly reshpectded, an derefore advished him to be off
vile he vos shafe.” The thief went to the street to confer with his asso-
ciate, when they agreed to re-enter the house and demand restitution of
their property. The Jew denied the transaction, opened the desk to prove
it, and, lo! it was gone; he accused one of the thieves of deceiving his
companion, and the quarrel led to a discovery.
Thieves, when robbing a house, will sometimes cheat each other, if they
can lay their hands upon some valuable portable property, and slip it into
f

145
their pocket, unseen by the others. Such things frequently lead to quarrels
and disclosure.
When a thief happens to beat a woman, she frequently informs against
him.
He does not consider PENNY PLAYS to be so much the cause of crime as
they are the receptacles of those who are already bad or badly disposed,
a considerable number of young thieves, their girls, and young apprentices
assemble at the Mogul, in D-h;
B--, the beadle of G-S----hill, gave the following informa-
tion:
He hardly knows an instance but where the children of the Irish are
brought up in such a way that the boys mostly become thieves and the
girls prostitutes.
Flash houses. --The Thatched House, Earl of Moira, Horse-shoe and
Magpie.
Low brothels.—Brewhouse-yard, Greyhound-court, The Terrace, White's-
yard, Coxe's house, Chick-lane.
CM's daughter, only 16 years old, was a prostitute four years ; she
used to patronize her father's house.
A fence in Field-lane was open all night. The upper part of the door
is set up as a ledge, in day-time being hung on a swivel, and in the night
it is loose, so that if you see a person with a bundle, he will throw it in,
and the door will swing back.
Fences' houses have two or three inner doors, to prevent an easy or
sudden entrance.
The calculation of stolen property in his neighbourhood is supposed to be
501. a day; he (B——-) made his estimate thus : he made a calculation
of the number of thieves and prostitutes, asked the publicans what they
spent at their houses, and found it was from 5s. to 78. a day, and that
brought him to the conclusion of 501.
per
diem.
Henry Clarke Prime lives in P-~--H---yard, a hawker, and
one who occasionally goes about with begging letters. He is very com-
municative to any one who can talk flash with him, considering such per-
sons as “one of us.
False characters, great mischief arises from them, it being the means of
a man's getting into service, and robbery is sure to be the result.
A street-sweeper at the bottom of Portland-place was noticed by a gen-
tleman, he got a false character, and after he had been in the gentleman's
service, he robbed him,—his name is C. H. Stone.
A writer of false characters lives at No. 7 or 8, Church-lane, and makes
his living by it---gets 6d. a letter,—gives references, if required, to houses,
where the woman and her children are put up to the deception, and show
the greatest misery, when any one calls to make enquiries—the fellow
who sent them is concealed in a cupboard or under the bed. The booty is
equally divided. They watch because they cannot trust each other.
Another writer of false characters calls himself Byng, because he lived
with a lady of that name. He goes about Brompton very often, selling
wax ornaments for candles. He is the only man who sells them about the
streets, and it was he who gave Stone the letter.
>
La

146
This time of the year (September) the rookery is empty, the people have
gone hopping, many on begging excursions, during which they commit
several robberies.
Mitchell, a thief, about 20 years old, (intimate with him) went last year
into Kent, worked at a farmer's, named Shearman, fed pigs, and made
himself useful. He courted the servant maid, watched his opportunity, and
took 361. from under a folding paliasse. He was drunk in London for six
weeks.
Barlow and his brother Frederick are begging-letter men. Barlow was
a clergyman, is about 50 years old, and has lived 15 years by his present
system ; has an excellent address, and has lost his front lower teeth; he
spends a fortune, but is always drunk if he has ls. in his pocket; he is now
at Brighton,-goes where the nobility frequent; he told Prime he made
301. a week. Lady Brougham's brother gave him 171. one morning, -
regretted he had no more. He (Prime) went into a house with Barlow
one morning and treated him to a pint of beer; while there Barlow read
the
papers
and saw a Sir Charles (he forgets the surname) had come
to town ; B-borrowed 1d. of him, saying “it will get a sovereign pre-
sently;" he bought a sheet of paper and wrote his letter, — he did get a
sovereign. The same gentleman a short time before sent him 51.
Barlow has travelled all over England; he knows every house in the
country—all the good ones--and tells others of them, and also the bad
ones.
He sometimes takes drawings with him, which he presents to the ladies,
leaving the reward to their generosity. He frequently bribes gentlemen's
servants. Lord Rous gave him 51. ; the housekeeper of Lord Rous told
Prime that he had 36 begging letters in one week.
Going the high-fly is playing the part of a broken-down gentleman, with-
out selling anything.
A fellow with a white jacket and laine foot was met by Prime at Clerken-
well; he had hired Mrs. Smith and her three children, of Clane, St.
Giles's,—says he can get more among the lower or middling neighbour-
hood, from working people and small tradesmen, than in the squares.
There is more commiseration among working men towards a man singing
with his wife and three small children.
He works in company with " Common-garden,” a fellow about
30 years old, who has been transported twice,—the first time he was only
seven years old.
He lodges at Grout's,—won't tumble over anything ; that means, will
thieve every thing that comes in his way.
A young fellow, very genteelly looking, dresses in a frock coat, light
trousers, and always a good shirt on his back,-- has a lame foot, —sits on
door steps, mostly in Oxford-street and Bond-street,—has the knack of
contracting his hand, as if palsied, yet he can use it as well as I can; he
makes a good sum every day. Prime has frequently seen him spend 5s. of
a night.
Knows a young chap who used to sell laces, braces, &c., and met him in
the country with his parcel. A few weeks afterwards he saw him almost
naked," what have you done with your swag ?” i. e. your bundle or roll,
asked Prime ; "that be dd,” was the reply, “I have a better rig than

147
that, I go upon the shallow," that is, half naked. He makes 10s. or 15s.
a day by the sale of the old clothes given him by compassionate persons.
There is not a tradesman in London who makes so much as a hawker.
Prime showed me a pair of knit cotton braces, with yellow silk edges; he
buys them at 6 d. each, asks ls. 2d., frequently gets it, generally 1s.,-
puts the half-pence on for the purpose of deducting. India-rubber braces
cost 12s, a dozen ; he sells them at 2s. a piece, --can buy steel pens as low
as 4d. a gross.
Cadgers never eat broken food, they take it and sell it. They live on
the best of every thing, and drink hard ; after food, all the surplus goes in
drinking
A fellow, pale-faced, with sandy whiskers, named Charles Smith, sells
rag stable mops, which he gets rid of at the stables or mews; he steals
brushes, buckets, or anything; he has a bag with him ; he gets the best
price in Petticoat-lane.
A flower man happened to pass at the time, Prime caught sight of him
through the window, and cried out “look there! how can that man make
enough by those flowers to live honestly—is it likely? They get into
houses when bargaining, see how they are constructed, and the doors fas-
tened, which information he gives to burglars.
He pointed out another fellow, dressed in a cloth shooting jacket, with
a muffin cap on his head and a strap in his hand. “There, that fellow
is a rookery bird ; he is now out as a pot-boy; they go in all sorts of dis-
guises; he watches for old men leaving town, follows them home, gets
them into a sly corner, and robs them. His cousin is an 'out and out'
bad one.”
He considers the conduct of parents to be the ruin of children. Coster-
mongers, cross-coves, &c. never marry. When children are old enough
to go out with matches, they are turned out, and must bring home money
at night, or else are cruelly beaten. Prime was at the Red Cow, at
Ware, a costermonger, his wife and child were also there, the child about
nine years old, a very pretty little chit. One morning the father beat the
little urchin cruelly, gave him some matches, d-d and b-d him,
and told him not to come home unless he brought back ls. 6d. at night.
In the afternoon the boy was crying near the New River, having had no-
thing to eat all day. He told Prime he dreaded to go home, as he had
only got 9d., and he was nearly starved. Prime said he would go home
and intercede with the father. The parents were inexorable, swore they
would beat him well the moment he came home, and in the evening the
boy did return, with what ?-why a gold watch! He never would say how
he got it. The parents caressed and fondled him. Prime expressed his
regret at the circumstance : "you be d-d,” said the woman, “here it
is, and he is a rare good little fellow."
The woman went out with it, sold it, and shortly returned. This was
on a Monday evening. Neither of the parents went out for the rest of the
week, but were drunk the whole of the time. The father and son were
subsequently transported for this very robbery.
Costermongers in London fence in the streets, and so they do in the
country.
Jews fence in the streets : he saw a young fellow sell a silver hunting
L 2

148
watch, double cases and engine-turned covers, to a Jew in Portland-place,
for 25s.
Petticoat-lane is the great place for fences. No. in the Lane, as it
is called, is a fence house for anything. It is an old clothes shop, walk
through, speak to nobody, go into the back parlour, the door is closed by
some one, near the window is a small batch door, tap at it, it opens, no-
body is seen, put the property in, the door closes; generally a bit of paper
with the price marked on it is handed out, if agreeable to the parties it is
given back, when the door opens and the money put out; if the paper is
not pushed back, the door opens and the property is returned ; if the swag
is too large and is not put immediately into the hatch, the side door opens
inwards, a hand appears, which takes the parcel, the door shuts, and the
hatch presently after opens with the paper and price on it as before named ;
so there is no bargaining, no person is ever seen, and all is done with
impunity. Mitchell told Prime of this.
COINERS.
Old Smith,t now in Cold-bath Fields Prison, lived in P- court,
Gray's-inn-lane,-frequents and supplies the -Leather-lane; he
had a hiding place under the flooring of his room; he showed it to Prime;
he moved the bedstead, and underneath the leg was a small nail hole ;
he pulled up, by means of a nail, a small piece of the flooring, large
enough to admit his hand; the string of a small bag was fastened to the
under part, and he pulled out about 61. in bad money. He had a false
mantel-piece in his former lodgings, but he was obliged “ to bolt.”
Process of preparing, done by the utterer.-The money is done up in
packets, and Smith gives written directions in the package, it is this-
“take a hot iron, put coin upon it, when colour changes then shake it in
a bag of bran, after which pass it through a piece of cheese; this gives
it a dull silvery appearance; it must not be rubbed much, and the warmer
it is kept the better.” The accomplished utterer has a stock (neck-cloth)
made with a division at the back of the neck, wherein he conceals the
false coin; sometimes in a bag in his boot, holding five or six.
Smith is so clever at it, that he defies any body to find his money out.
Prime saw Smith pass five half-crowns, bad ones, at Thompson's in one
hour. He brags of what he can do; his coin rings well.
The price of his coin is 5s. in the pound.
Smith, in order to ring the changes, has a peculiar sort of waistband,
wherein is concealed the bad money; he changes it so dexterously that
no one can see it ; he showed Prime, in his own room, who could not
discern how he made the change.
Snaggling is driving geese into a corner in a stubble field, then getting
into a ditch, and throwing out a line and hook, with a worm at the end.
Prime knows a man who brought 16 geese in his bag by those means
from Romford a short time since. The poulterer in High-street buys.
3
* Mitchell is named at the beginning of this information, p. 146.
† For further particulars of this man, see p. 106.

149
Mother Thompson, who keeps a bad house in the rookery, had two boys
who constantly did this. One was transported for it, the other now works
at a potato warehouse in High-street. The lad is steady at his business,
but-thieves after dark.
Up a court leading into Wentworth-street, No. —, next to a chand-
ler's-shop, is a kidsmun—a man who boards and lodges boys, and trains
them to be thieves. This fellow has 20 boys, the older ones practising
with the younger, who are not permitted to go out until perfect; it is
a regular school for them. Bartlett knows and visits the fellow.
Charles Simmonds told Prime that he took 36 handkerchiefs one evening,
between Holborn-hill and Whitechapel.
The swell mob use a house in Bear-street. They call themselves the
“ Friendly Society," and the leaders are called the “clerks” of it;
they go on the parade and rob; they frequent the cellars of a public-
house in Charing-cross, where the coaches go from. Bartlett uses it.
Thieves are good to each other ; they mess five or six in a room-
the woman of one of them cooks. This room is where they put their
plunder, keep their tools for house-breaking, &c. &c. They club to pay
the rent.
Thieves very seldom reform--hardly ever, he should think ; he never
knew an instance, when the fellow has been bold and daring: one, indeed,
he knew, but too faint-hearted to be a good thief; he is frequently perish-
ing with hunger, but dreads to steal ; his name is Clarkson, a bricklayer's
labourer, now out of work, but is very willing to do it if he could find em-
ployment; he has been 12 months on the cross; saw him putting up the
show at Bartholomew Fair.
R—- passed 501. of bad money during the four days of one_Bar-
tholomew Fair. Mrs. Watson, the wife or woman of the man who plays
at the fair told Prime.
care
The wax-work show opposite pays more than the rent, which is 41. a
week, by bad money. The worst of rascals are on this establishment.
HOUSE-BREAKING.
At the bottom of Red-lion-street, C
court, lives a black-
smith, who has his forge. Burglars go to him and give their orders.
The man says when they shall be ready, and appoints a meeting at a public-
house, perhaps one mile off. The money is paid at this interview, and the
purchaser goes into another room, by direction of the blacksmith, who tells
him there is a parcel in such a corner, which came from the country. The
blacksmith, when on this work, shuts his doors, and does it by himself;
he only works at night.
Thieves bribe the city officers; there are not so many as in the county.
Turner, a noted pickpocket, frequently gives 10s. He works between
Temple-bar and St. Paul's in the busy time. On his return, when the
streets are clear, he treats the officers, who look another way when he is
at work.* Walker told the same story.
« Old hands become corrupted.
* All is not to be taken as gospel that this fellow says, about bribing the officers;
but there are too many officers to whom it will apply, both in the city and county.—ED.

150
66 the
The officers about St. Giles's search boys at the posts, transfer the pro-
perty to their own keeping, and let the boys free. They cannot buy
watches out of their wages, and the old established ones have them,
said Prime. The thieves treat them. Bartlett has often given 5s.
A policeman discharged from the K. has been on the cross two years.
The difference of wages in the low neighbourhoods, is made up by thiev-
ing ; a boy walked off with a string of crabshells, (shoes) worth 6s. a pair,
from a shop door, in open day light; the policeman saw him, and next day
asked him what he had done with the shoal.
Burglaries not half so common as about ten years ago.
Thieves when told of the hard treatment of the convicts at Sidney, say
that Government only give that out to frighten them.
Thieves never trust women more than they can help,
Petty priggs make a stranger pay his footing, or drive him off the beat.
Does not think thieves to be hard drinkers, they get out of the way in
the day time; they like to be in private, sitting in public-houses by the
hours together, and ready to treat any person.
Boys are much more daring than men, nothing daunts them,
young monkeys like running a risk.'
Women, if well managed, will be very communicative.
Knows an Irishwoman in the rookery who keeps three thieves.
The cadging thieves, bargemen and their women, will drink gin as a
cow does water, they may be seen in bushels at the top of Crown Street.
Thieves are greatly addicting to gaming, staking gold often, 5s. a corner
at whist is common; he once saw a game of pitch at the mott, played for
five sovereigns. Reilly's skittle grounds are occupied all day by thieves,
he wonders where the devil so much money can possibly come from.
Old hats in passages, are exchanged by cadgers for new ones.
Bad notes can be easily passed in France. Scott thought of it when he
was in Paris, and came over to this country to supply himself, he took
2001. over with him, and speedily passed that amount.
No man is thoroughly honest, every man has some weak point.
If a flash word is known to a policeman, it is altered directly, and in the
course of the next day, a new vocabulary is published.
He knows a man in Wentworth Street, who has been a thief fifteen
years.
After a little more conversation about the flash language, Prime was
dismissed.
John Pike.—He was a journeyman shoemaker in London, had been con-
victed three times in eight years, for being in company with housebreakers,
and having house-breaking implements in his possession. When he was
discharged from prison he got work, but was forced to quit his employer,
on account of the remarks made by his fellow labourers, when they dis-
covered he had been in prison.
He could not get on board an East India vessel, on account of an injured
instep, he therefore, frequented flash houses, and associated with men
whom he had met in Cold-bath Fields prison, and was taken up with them
for burglary.
He does not consider but a man must be the worse for having been con-

151
Bry
2
fined in prison, even under a state of classification; he thinks short terms
of solitary confinement would be most dreaded.
The ruin of many of the youths may be ascribed to penny rooms, flash
houses, and evening concerts, drinking, and gambling. Nineteen out of
twenty prisoners in Newgate, do not think they shall be transported.
He (Pike) worked with a man named Norman, who keeps a cab, and gave
evidence at the Mendicity office; he discontinued his way of life on account
of the vigilance of the police, he wished to emigrate, but now drives a cab.
He (Pike) worked with Jack Vandewell, who was transported. His informa-
tion is, that the average price given by fences for plate, is 4s. 3d. to 4s. 6d.
per ounce; 51. notes, from 41. to 41. 10s. a piece; 101. notes, in the same
proportion, the difference in price arises from the risk; notes by house-
breakers are more dangerous, wearing apparel and made up jewellery fetch
very little more than one fourth of their value.
The Jews are the principal fences, even some who live in respectable
houses who are rich men, and they are backed by other wealthy persons,
for whom Pike has carried goods for sale—the Jews, when the amount was
high, send out to borrow.
The largest booty he (Pike) ever made was 1,4001.- he could not say
how much he spent a-year.
He had money from his friends, and thinks
he plundered from 2001. to 3001. per annum.
Dealers in marine stores, are in general too poor to be large purchasers,
publicans are generally in the habit of buying stolen property, but they sell
it again ; and all that is stolen, mostly finds its way into the hands of the
Jews. The Christain fence is but a second rate man, there is a constant
communication kept up by the former and the continent, who frequently
send over stolen property.
Some of the Jews travel from town to town, and sell to country dealers
the plunder of the metropolis. The thief, unless he is well known and can
sell at once to the Jew, gets very little value for the property, as it has to
pass through four or five different hands, who all make some gain by the
transaction. Some jewellers and silversmiths buy property of thieves, it is
a common thing with refiners, they never ask questions. But the Jews
are the greatest: traffickers, they have agents and are themselves but seldorn
seen in the transaction, some of the inferior ones will buy property of
young thieves.
Professed thieves keep public-houses, in those neighbourhoods they have
frequented.
Guest, a notorious thief, kept a muffin shop in T Court Road.
He (Pike) thinks the first part of imprisonment is the worst for boys,
say a month or so; after that period, it begins to become habitual; if boys
were turned out when the inconveniences of punishment was fresh upon
them, they probably might reform.
FLASH HOUSES AND FENCES.
The police have broken up two flash houses, the Angel, in Angel Alley,
Bishopsgate Street, was the house where burglars planned their robberies.
There is a similar house in Camomile Street.

152
Those in B- Street, are used by the swell mob, as well as the Blue
Anchor, Westminster, and several Cellars in Charing Cross.
The HS-, in Tottenham Court Road, and some in Cow Cross
Street, are frequented by all sorts.
Ben. C—, a master builder, of the H- Blackman Street, will buy
jewellery or any valuable property, not cutlery.
Ben L- alias Flood, of the
SA Wych Street, is a noted
house of resort for thieves-- cards are always on the table; a man named
Jem B- who kept a brothel New Boswell Court, near Clement's
Church, was in partnership with L-, for the sale of stolen property, he
had the goods taken from Lady Nelson.
G. N— lives near Windsor Terrace, City Road, deals largely in
jewels. He uses the Black Boy, in W-Street; it is the house used
by cracksmen.
Cummins was an Irishman, he had two elegantly furnished houses in
Norfolk Street, which were let out in apartments; he also kept the cele-
brated crack brothel in Charing Cross, called the “ Rummers,” now
abolished. He has been dead some time.
LOW LODGING HOUSES.
Grout's lodging houses, are the most extensive premises used as “ lodgings
for travellers,” which are, in St. Giles, belong to Grout, whose ground
landlord is N.
He has two establishments, the largest of which, is at the corner of
Lawrence Lane, these premises are called the Rents, not an inch of ground
is lost, there are passages and stairs innumerable; and the place is like a
rabbit burrow. Young Thomas Grout, who is extremely obliging, gave
the following information :-
The price paid by each person is 4d. the money paid before they go to
bed.
The premises contain 90 rooms, which are :-
90 beds.
25 ditto.
couples, sleep ...
68 ditto.
For men....
Women
.
183
The beds, with the exception of those in the rooms for couples, are too
narrow to admit of more than one in each.
Independent of these, Grout has elegant villas at Hampstead, which he
lets to genteel and fashionable families.
Grout keeps many lodging-houses, when the last censuş was taken, he
returned in the list, 140 slept at one of his houses in Lawrence Lane. It
is the largest of the kind-never less than 50 or 60 sleep in it, price 4d.
a night. Thieves, vagrants, and prostitutes-sexes sleep in different rooms
six or eight in one apartment.

153
LOW LODGING HOUSES IN DRURY LANE.
A man of the name of S-has many in Charles Street, Nos. 8 & 9,
containing 24 rooms, with 39 single beds for men, and 24 double beds for
women. Thieves, cadgers and drunken journeymen use them. No. 2, 3, &
4, also belong to S- which make up 40 beds.
Thomas K -- is the deputy in Charles Street, and offered me any
in-
formation.
Charles Street, Nos. 23 and 24, make up 37 beds; and No. 45, con-
taining 12 rooms with 11 beds ; it is also a chandler's shop; these belong
to E
Short's Gardens, Nos. 8 and 9, make 30 beds ; belong to Lucky Dick.
Shas No. 11, in New Court, Cow Cross, Smithfield, makes up
30 beds.
He has five houses in Mitre Court, St. John Street, with about 50 beds,
and two houses in Turnvile Street, making up 16 double beds for Italian
boys.
RECAPITULATION OF S_'S LOW LODGING HOUSES.
Each night
Single Double
beds. beds.
Nos. 8 and 9, Charles Street
39
24 Total 87
Nos. 2, 3 and 4, Do.
0
0
40
7 Houses, Saffron Hill..
70
0
70
5 Houses, St. John Street, Mitre Court .... 50
0
50
No. 11, New Court, Cow Cross, Smithfield 30
0
30
Turnville Street, Italian vagrants
0
16
32
Total 309
Castle-street, Long Acre, Nos. 23, 24, 25 make up 60 beds, belonging to
T- -, who lives in -— street, Borough, where he has similar houses.
He has also property in Buckridge, and 100 beds, already noticed.
Penny Theatres at Rotherhithe produce mischief; one was opened when
Inspector Stevens was on that division, and he remarked the increase of
larceny committed by juvenile thieves. Boys sent by parents on errands
to chandler shops used to buy inferior articles in order to pocket the differ-
ence for the sake of the penny plays; bits of rope, and other depredations
began to be committed all along the river soon after the penny theatre
was opened. He considers them injurious to the morals of young folks.
A boy who used to enact the part of a monkey at some of these penny
theatres, gave the following history of his life :-
I used to go to fairs and races, and picked up money by holding horses,
minding a gig, and steal the whip, or anything, and when the horses used
to come in, I picked pockets.
I have travelled about the country, prigging and begging, and some how
or another always got enough to live.

154
To return to lodging-houses, there are cheap ones in all towns, most of
them have two sorts of kitchens. The labourers and hawkers live in a bet-
ter room, and pay fourpence a night for their bed, halfpenny for coals, half-
penny for use of plates and hot water, and halfpenny for the cooking ap-
paratus. Regular beggars, the low sort of cadger fellows, live in the other
kitchen, and pay halfpenny for coals, and have nothing found them.
The beggars go on very bad at night in the lodging-houses. They can
make 3s. a day in the country by begging, let alone what they make by
thieving. They never think of work, unless they can contrive to carry
something in hopes of an opportunity to slip off with it.
There is no difficulty in selling things in any town that ever I was in,
they all say.
PAWNBROKERS.
It gives a great temptation when the knowledge is obtained how easily
goods can be instantly converted into money. In a case of felony sent from
one of the police offices for trial at the Old Bailey a little girl, just twelve
years of age, was proved to have made twenty pledges at one shop, within
two months, of articles she had stolen, without any enquiry on the part of
the pawnbroker, whether she had been sent by the owner, although the
place of address she gave was close to his shop.
Mr. Limbird, of the Strand, heard two old clothesmen ask a countryman
who had a parcel in his hand, if he had anything for sale, remarking, whe-
ther it was his own or not it made no difference to them if he wanted the
money
THIMBLEMEN.
Thimblemen conceal the pea under the nail, it never is under any
thimble, so that all money betted is theirs. There are four or five confe-
derates at one table, called nobblers, who lift the thimble slily while the
other looks away, show the pea as an inducement to bet, but take it away.
A man named Hall cleared 1001. last Ascot Heath races.
Thimblemen make a great deal of money; they are in general burglars
and pickpockets.*
Dogcart-men are almost all of them thieves.
Piemen, who toss and gamble for cakes and nuts, are most injurious, in-
asmuch as they encourage vice in boys, and often tempt them to steal that
*In the preliminary part of this work it is noticed, that several of the words now used
as the slang of the thief are traced to belong to the ancient eastern languages, and that
they are pure, in every respect. This is not the only thing which has descended to us
from those times. The play of the thimble ring or cups and ball being known to the
ancient Egyptians.
Conjuring appears to have been known to them, at least the game of cups, in which
a ball was put, while the opposite party guessed under which of the five it was concealed.”
-Vide ROSELLINI in Egypt; also WILKINSON's Manners and Customs of Ancient
Egyptians, v. 2, p. 435.
1

155
they may have money to gamble for nuts, &c. A fat fellow of this kind
named Harris, was brought before the magistrates at Marylebone on the
19th of July, and committed to prison. His stock in trade was 84 cakes
and 23 brandy balls.
Itinerant umbrella makers and repairers pass shoefell, i. e. bad money,
and are called mushroom fakers,
GIPSEYS.
Gipseys are great utterers of bad money, but never sell it-they make it
in their tents at night,-stow it up in stockings, and pass it through a raw
potato before they utter it. They can be more secret than other coiners,
and being among themselves, and living under hedges, they are not gene-
rally suspected.
Gipsey men are seldom in their tents at night. They live in clans; there
are the Coopers, Stanleys, Bucklands, Borslams, &c.; they call each other
brother and sister, and support one another, but are never good save to
their own people,-a gipsey is never in distress. They are not habitual
drunkards
Old Borslam wears silver buttons to his coat, as large as half-crowns.
Farmers are afraid to molest them, they think they bewitch the poultry.
They drop something in the farm yard, which makes the poultry or the pigs
jump about, roll over, and topple one another about, so that the people
think they are bewildered, and are glad to give them away to the gipseys,
who are on the watch for the opportunity, and come in, as if by chance, to
beg. They never work on Sundays.
Rag gatherers generally go in pairs, and are called the school of paper
makers. They call at, old rag shops and represent themselves as agents
or labourers for some mill, which has been destroyed, and that in this or
some other invented emergency, they are sent forward to collect
rags,
and
while one is bargaining with the shopwoman, the other walks off with the
bundle, stating that the master is close behind him, and leaving his com-
panion in pledge, who nearly always contrives to “bolt,” without “ “paying
a stiver,” or he satisfies the woman by chalking characters on the door-
posts, which he says is to tell the master the sum he has to pay for the
rags, and he is allowed to depart. The booty is taken to a marine store
dealer, or it is swopped away at a paper maker's, for paper, which they
dispose of to shops in little villages.
Old rag shops will buy all sorts of metal.
TRAMPERS.
Most of the trampers live in St. Giles's and go round the country in the
summer season, to fairs, &c., which they say helps them through ; for at
that time nothing is to be done in London, as the quality is out of town.
They are connected with the servants. These fellows travel very far; they
live by prigging, and the women by prostitution in the evening, but they
sleep together at nights, and live in great luxury; they also pass bad
money

156
Before they start for the country, they arrange their circuits.
There are men pretending to be doctors, who drop printed bills at houses
and call again. They sell decoctions of anything they pick from under the
hedges. It is in small bottles ; they take any price they can get for it ; there
are instances of getting 10s. a bottle. I knew a poor woman, who lived in
a cottage, on Wanley Common, who absolutely gave 10s. for one bottle.
A chymist told me it was merely salt and water. They go decently dressed,
and are called crocusses. They seldom come to London. Some of these
men make a great sum from the credulity of the country people.
There is a man, whose soubriquet is Lawyer Bob; he was brought up a
lawyer, and practised at Ipswich; he is divorced from his wife, lives in an
infected state, and draws up fakements for the high-fly, at the padding
kens. He gets ls. for them. He is now a spunk-fencer, (match seller,)
mostly in Essex.
Another fellow, called Captain Moody, goes about, saying he has lost
his ship. He is a short man, about five feet high, dark hair ; he travels
about in every county and makes a good deal of money. He also draws
up fakements. He has been on the town for the last 23 or 24 years.
Young thieves tell me that they watch till the policeman passes, and
then they are safe in their robberies for the next 10 minutes.
The glazed hats of the policemen are much admired by the boys.
Boys in the prisons where silence is enforced are more apt to show re-
pentance and cry, when examined, than those from prisons where conver-
sation and intercourse are allowed.
An officer at Bow-street heard a boy, about 13 years old, tell, in a pri-
vate conversation to some other thieves, that he always made about 77.
a week.
The gait of a young thief is supple. They practise cutting or doubling
sharp round a corner, like a rat; they stoop the inwards shoulder, and
pop in from one door to another, like lightning.
A young fellow, who had just returned from transportation, I believe
only a fortnight, was taken and committed to Newgate, for stealing a
trunk out of a waggon. He made a most desperate resistance, but
having measured strength and finding himself certain of being overcome,
he consequently resigned himself and behaved most quietly. He frequently
regretted that he had no knife, “not to cut the officers,” he said, but to
have cut himself to pieces," for a man had better be hung than transported.”
This man had the greatest dread of this punishment, and speaks with
horror of the sufferings endured by convicts. The new system is beginning
to work; but the thieves are not yet generally brought to believe in such
a change having taken place.
When prostitutes turn against their men, they are the most, willing
witnesses.
The boys generally date the cause and commencement of their criminal
career from their playing at buttons in the streets; they begin with that,
then get to playing games for halfpence, and so on to a Jarger stake.
The late P. Holdsworth, who was many years city marshal, used to say
he was convinced that the practice of having out-door apprentices was very
pernicious, and invariably tending to contamination.

157
Would-be reformation of a thief.--A policeman brought a man before
Mr. Chambers, for loitering about Hanover-square, under suspicious cir-
cumstances. The policeman said he knew him to be a bad character; he
had been transported and once tried since his return. The prisoner said,
“Vell, your worship, if I was a thief once, it's no reason I should always
be one; I've reformed myself, and now get a very honest livelihood.”
Mr. Chambers.—" What do you work at ?”
Prisoner.—“I belong to Astley's, and go on in different pieces.
Mr. Chambers.—" I suppose you walk on in one of the Elephant's legs,
or some such thing ?”*
Prisoner.-—"No, your worship; I act soldiers and constables.
Mr. Chambers.-Well, I should be sorry to send you to prison, if you
really do get your living honestly, but take care I do not see you here
again.
The prisoner was discharged.
A boy was brought into the Counter, for passing a bad shilling at Bar-
tholomew Fair. A letter from his father was found in his pocket, by which
it appeared he was a very bad boy, but I do not believe yet criminal. The
maxims which concluded the letter were very good, but the boy could not
repeat them to me, so little impression had they made on him; they
were-
1. Beware of slothfulness.
2. A lie disgraces a man.
3. Be cleanly in person.
4. Never forget God, and He never will forget you.
5. Study to make friends.
6. Drunkenness is the root of evil.
The letter was dated from Pakefield, Suffolk.
The boy has a brother, who is a traveller for Messrs. E-S-
A remarkable fact was stated to me, by two of the resident magistrates
of the same hundred that it seldom occurred that a man on the scale
allowance, ever surrendered himself to prison, if fined for any offence; but
that on the contrary, he always found means to pay the fine and expenses.
Mr. Owen, another magistrate, in confirmation of this, said that he had
lately fined three paupers, (all of whom were on scale allowance) 51. another
40s. and the third 10s. with costs, and that all of them paid the fine.
Beggars divide into companies, subdivide into walkş, and change their
routs daily.
They eat no broken food, but live upon the best. Forty or fifty sleep in
a house, they are locked in at night, and let out in the morning, when they
agree upon their route.
Carrying matches evades the vagrant act.
Their average receipts are from 3s. to 5s. per diem, they are supposed
to spend 2s. 6d. for supper at night, and 4d. for bed
* Here is one of those attempts at wit, complained of in the preliminary remarks.
Why should any attempt be made to raise a laugh at the expense of the prisoner, as
was evidently done in this instance ? To say the least, it shows exceedingly bad
taste. -ED.

158
A fellow, in an apparent state of destitution, applied for relief at the
Mendicity Office, Taunton, on whose person was found no less than 93
counterfeit half crowns, with directions for silvering the base metal, and
the address of the person from whom they were to be obtained.
DRUNKENNESS OF PAUPERS.
On the 17th of September, a pauper named Mary Brown, was brought
before the magistrate in Lambeth Street, for creating a drunken riot in the
workhouse. It appeared that some time since, she was allowed to go out-
she is a cripple, with a wooden leg, and walks upon crutches; the love of gin
came over her, and she got a screw loose by unscrewing her timber leg,
which was sent to the pawnbroker's shop for 38.; the parish set her on
her legs again, ly the redemption (not of her soul) but of her wooden leg.
A second time she was allowed the indulgence of a day's enlargement, and
again she pawned her wooden leg for 1s., and having lost her understand-
ing by the use of gin, she kicked up no small riot, for which the magistrate
gave her twenty-one days.
Drunken women especially, if they have ever been committed to prison
for the vice, have never been known to reform.
Gambling houses are famous places for getting rid of stolen bank notes.
Disparity of diet.--The weekly cost of feeding a man in Hereford, is
3s. 4d. to 3s. 7d.; at Preston, 1s. 11 d.
Some parishes pay 5s. 3d. a week to farmers, for boarding, lodging and
clothing.
The injury of travellers' houses, as they are termed, is substantiated,
being the undisturbed rendezvous of the worst of characters--all such houses
as have beds for 6d. per night and under, should be licensed under certain
regulations and restrictions.
Rag shops and pawnbrokers should be put under surveillance, the latter
should not be allowed to recieve goods from children under 16 years
of
age; they should be compelled to keep an inventory of all advertized lost
property; and serjeants of police should have the liberty of searching be-
hind their counters.
Bagsmen ought to be licensed, and liable to be searched by a serjeant of
police.
The Mendicity Society should publish circulars in country papers, at the
time when the St. Giles's impostors emigrate.
Policemen, well acquainted with thieves, should travel in different rural
districts.
Prisoners should be in their usual dress, perhaps with the exception of
trowsers, as the difference of appearance between that and the prison dress,
is calculated greatly to deceive.
Education is not carried to a sufficient extent.
It is to be regretted that there is not a system of recognition, between
the Houses of Correction, the public offices and Newgate, for the punish-
ment of offenders, who go by so many names, that cognomens are useless.
I shall conclude by giving some extracts from a letter of J. Montgomery,
late adjutant in the 63rd Regiment, on the state of the boys' ESTABLISH-

159
MENT AT POINT PIER, PORT ARTHUR, VAN DIEMAN'S LAND, of which
he is the superintendent. The letter is dated Point Pier, Dec. 21, 1834.
He observes, “ Happy would it have been for many of the unfortunate
creatures, had England adopted such measures as this institution affords for
reclaiming these unhappy youths. I am sure that their efforts would have
been crowned with the greatest success; but it is deeply to be lamented,
that such was not the case, but quite the reverse-crowded together in that
abominable of all dens, the Euryalas Hulk, where vice was nurtured in the
lap of infamy; crime of every description there struck its root deeply,
and was suffered to grow and strengthen, till all virtue and morality had
drooped away
Many of them were there incarcerated from two to three years, and
very few of them for a shorter period than 18 or 12 months, prior to
their exportation to this colony—they were then ripe for any crime or
undertaking, dangerous to civilized society, in short I seriously believe that
previous to their imprisonment in that accursed hulk, they were, compara-
tively speaking, innocent.
He then remarks, “ strict and close observance of regulations is enforced
without severity, and a visible good effect has already been the result.
“ They rise at half past 5, roll up bedding--attend prayers-go to agri-
cultural pursuits till quarter past 8--breakfast and inspection—at half past
9, go to their respective trades--done at 1-work from 2 till 5 o'clock,
then supper-–6 to 8 o'clock, school, then prayers, and at 9 o'clock to bed.
Boys are allowed to choose their trade as follows:---
Carpenters of which there are
26
Shoemakers
27
Sawyers
24
Tailors
23
Nailers
20
Labourers
41
.
22
>
Total boys, 161
“ There is an inspector to each of the trades, and an overseer to the
labourers.
“ Rations, three meals a day.
“ BREAKFAST, pint Scotch coffee, 14 ounces of bread.
“ DINNER, pea soup with meat, on alternate days; on the other days, a
dlb. of pudding with meat; vegetables every day such as one pound of
potatoes.
SUPPER, same as breakfast.
“ Clean linen twice a week.
“ Bathing, daily.
“ Gait and salute military.
- No sickness.
“ Subordination excellent.
Thirty acres have been cleared, two are in cultivation.
“ The building, with the exception of part of the barracks, is the work
of the boys."

A
DICTIONARY
OF THE
FLASH OR CANT LANGUAGE;
KNOWN TO EVERY THIEF AND BEGGAR.
Those words which are marked thus * are peculiar to the Scotch ; those marked thus + to
the Gipseys; and words marked thus I are only used in Calmet's Buildings, Oxford...
street ; they are Clockmakers and Watchmakers,-mention of it is made at page 140.
To Blow it to inform.
Blower-a girl; a contemptuous
Alderman-half-a-crown.
name in opposition to jomer.
Blue Billy-silk pocket handker-
B.
chief, blue ground with red spots.
Ball-- prison allowance, six ounces Booked.--caught, taken, disposed of.
of meat.
Boozing ken-drinking shop.
Beaker Hunter-poultry stealer.
To Bouncerto cheat of one's share*
Dua
Belcher-a silk pocket handkerchief
Bouncer-one who contrives to steal
of a close striped pattern
while bargaining with the shop-
* Billy—a silk pocket handkerchief.
keeper.
To Blew it-to inform.
It Bounetter-one who entices an-
Bloak—a gentleman.-Fancy Bloak
other to play.
-a fancy man.-Swag Chovey Breaky leg—a shilling.
oveo
Bloak—a marine store dealer,
Bull—a crown piece.
who buys stolen property.
Buttoner-one who entices another
Blood-red Fancy-red silk pocket
to play.
handkerchief.
To Buzz—to pick pockets.
* See phrases at the end.
T Silk pocket handkerchiefs have names according to their pattern.
at the end of this dictionary.
A list is given
BS
M
162

C.
Croakers-beggars.
Cadger--a beggar.
Crocusses-men who travel about
Cadging—begging.
the country, pretending to be
Cant of togs-gift of clothes.
doctors; they sell their medicine
Case-a house, also a bad crown
always a panacea, sope, &c.
piece.
On the Cross—thieving.
Half a case-bad half-crown. Cross Cove-a thief.
Cat--a muff:
Crow, see Sneak.
*Chattry feeder-spoon.
Culing-snatching reticules from
Chovey—a shop.
the seats of carriages at races
To Christen a Yack to alter the
while the attention of the ladies
maker's name in a yack, 1. e. is absorbed by the looking at the
watch, to avoid detection,
horses coming in,
To Church a Yack-to have the
D.
works of the watch put into an-
other case to prevent detection.
Deaner—a shilling, (country phrase.)
+ Deea pocket-book.
Clockmakers-industrious people liv-
ing in Calmet's buildings, Ox-
Dookin—fortune-telling.
* Doss-a bed.
ford-street.
Downer-a sixpence.
Clout -a cotton handkerchief.
Cocum-very cunning and sly. To
Drag - a coach.
fight cocum, to be wary.
Dragsman-one who cuts trunks
from the backs of carriages. They
To come it-to inform.
Cooter—a sovereign, 20s.
have a quick horse and a little
cart, and drive off with their
Copbusy-to hand over the booty
to another at the time to prevent
booty in an opposite direction.
its being found on him if given
They are mostly about New
in charge, or to give over the
Cross, or any neighbourhood
badly lighted, or where there
booty merely
are several cross-roads.
Crabsm-shoes.
Duffer-a man who hawks things.
Crabshells-ditto.
Dummie -- a pocket-book.
To Crack-to break into.
To Crack a Case— burglary.
Durrynakin, begging.
Cream fancy Billy-silk pocket
E.
handkerchief,
coloured To Ease-to rob.
ground, any pattern.
To Ease a Bloak-to rob a gentle-
Criba house.
Gatot nesca
VIDEO
cream
man.
163
K.
Everlasting Staircase -- the treadmill.
H.
F.
The Highfly--beggars, with letters,
Fakement—a begging letter.
pretending to be broken-down
Family men-thieves.
gentlemen, captains, &c.
Family people - ditto.
Hip Inside-inside coat pocket.
Fan-a waistcoat.
Hip Outside-outside ditto.
Fawney-a ring.
To Hocus—to stupify a person by
Feeder-a spoon.
putting opium or some other drug
Fenced_sold.
in his liquor, and when he is
Fences—buyers of stolen property. asleep robbing him.
Finnips -- five pound notes.
To Hoop it--to run away.
Double Finnips--ten pound notes.
To Flash-to show or exhibit.
J.
Flash-the cant language.
* Jagger-a gentleman.
Flesh-meat.
Jomer-a fancy girl,--term of
To Flimp—to hustle, rob.
friendship, as opposed to blower.
Fogle—a handkerchief.
Foonts—sovereigns, 20s.
Kicksters—a pair of breeches.
To Free-to steal.
Kidden-boys' lodging-houses.
To Free a Prad-to steal a horse.
Kidding on-to entice one on.
G.
Kidment-a pocket handkerchief,
Gaffing--tossing
pinned to the pocket with a
On the Game-thieving.
corner hanging out to entrap
To Gammon-to deceive, cheat.
thieves.
Gammy--bad.
Kidsman-one who boards and
Gammy stuff-spurious soap or me-
lodges boys, training them to be-
dicine.
come thieves.
Glaze-a window.
Starring the Glaze-breaking the
L.
window quietly by means of a Lagged-transported.
diamond or nail.
Leary-cunning.
Spanking the glaze-break a win-Legged-in irons.
dow with the fist.
Lobb-a till.
Gonnoff--a thief.
To pinch a Lobb-to rob a till.
Green King's Man-silk pocket- | Long-tailed ones — large bank notes.
handkerchief, green ground, with Lord of the manor-sixpence.
any pattern.
Lowr-coin.

M 2
164

Gammy Lowr--bad coin.
Paper Makers-a nickname for beg-
+Lunan-a girl.
gars who pretend to belong to a
Lush Cove-public-house.
paper mill, or that they are agents
Lushy-drunken.
to collect rags.
Pash—a stiver, price of money.
M.
Patent coat -inside skirt coat
Marking-watching, observing.
Milky ones—white linen rags.
pocket.
.
To Patter--to talk.
Mill Tog-a shirt.
+ Moak-a donkey.
*Peg--a shilling
Peterman-a man who cuts trunks
Mobs-companions.
from the back of carriages. They
Working with mobs. Robbing
with companions.
have a quick horse in a little cart
#Moll--a girl.
which they drive off with the
*Mollsack-reticule.
booty in an opposite direction.
Motta woman.
New Cross neighbourhood, bad-
+Mumper--a beggar.
ly lighted, and where there are
Mushroom Fakers - itinerant um- several cross roads are the places
brella makers and repairers.
of their resort.
Pigma
N.
a person, or sixpence.
To Pinch-to rob.
Nailing--stealing:
Plant—to mark a person out for
* Narp—a shirt.
plunder, also to deposit in some
Nobblers-confederates of the thim-
secret or settled place.
ble-men, who appear to play to
To Poll-to cheat of one's share.*
induce others to do the same.
Posh-a stiver, lowest price of
On the Nose-to watch, look out
money
P.
Prad-a horse.
Pad-bead or a walk.
To Prigg—to thieve.
*Padden Crib-boys' lodging-houses Prigg-a house thief,
Padding Ken-trampers' lodging-
To Pull down-to steal from shop
houses,
doors.
Pall-an associate.
Pudding Snammer-one who steals
Palming-robbing in shops by pairs,
from a cook shop.
one bargains as with intent to
R.
purchase, while the other watches
his opportunity to steal. Raclan-a married woman.
* See phrases at the end.
165

Randlesman--silk pocket handker- Smasher--a passer of bad
money.
.
chief, green ground with white *Smashfeeder-a silver spoon.
spots.
Smiggins--nickname for a soup
Reader --a pocket book.
given on board the hulks.
Redge-gold.
Snaggling--driving geese into a
Regulars -share.
corner in a stubble-field; the man
Roll of Snow-piece of Irish linen. then gets into a ditch and throws
Ruin--gin.
among them a line with a hook
S.
and a worm at the end ; the
Sailors ---turnpike sailors, beggars goose swallows it, is pulled away
who
go
about disguised as sailors.
and bagged.
Sawney-bacon.
To Snam to snatch.
Schofel--bad money.
Sneaks-boys who creep into houses,
Schofels Pitchers--paper of bad down areas, or into shops, &c. to
money.
enter the premises, while another,
Scranning—begging.
who is called a crow, watches.
Screws--housebreaking implements. Sneezer—a snuff-box.
To Shaketo rob.
*Snid-sixpence.
Shaker--a shirt.
* Snooze-a bed.
Shakester-a lady.
*Snot-a gentleman.
Shalers-girls, (country phrase).
Snow-dropping-stealing linen off a
Shallow Coves, --fellows who
hedge.
go about the
Soot-bag—a reticule.
Shallow Fellows, ) country,
half-
To Speel—to run away.
naked, with a Guernsey jacket, To Split-to inform.
but no hat, shoes, nor stockings. Sprat-sixpence.
*Sheen-bad money.
Spunks-matches.
Shickster —a lady.
Spunk-fencers-match sellers.
Shofel--bad money.
On the Square-honest, fair.
Shop Bouncing-shoplifting.
Squeeze-silk.
Sinker—bad money.
To Stag-to watch.
Skilley—-nickname for a broth given To Stall-to screen a robbery while
on board the hulks,
it is being perpetrated.
Skin-a purse.
Stalsman-an accomplice.
Slash-outside coat pocket.
The Steel-the tread-mill.
* Slick a Dee-pocket-book.
Swag--stolen property, also a por-
Slippery-soap.
tion, a quantity of.
Slumming-passing bad money.
or
166

* Peg
1s.
Swag-chovey Bloak-marine store
Yokel-a countryman.
dealers, who buy stolen goods.
Swell-well-dressed person.
FLASH TERMS FOR MONEY.
T.
Lord of the Manor
Tats--old rags.
Pig
Milky Tats - white rags.
Sprat -
6d.
The Things-base coin.
Downer
To Tip—to pay.
* Snid -
Toggery-clothes.
Breaky-leg
Togs-clothes.
Deaner (country phrase)
To Tout-to watch.
Travellers--thieves who travel from Twelve
place to place.
Twelver
Turkey Merchants—purchasers of Alderman--2s. 6d.
plundered silk, from the weavers, Half-case-a bad ditto.
who rob the over-weight.
Bull-5s.
Turnpike Sailors-see sailors. Case-a bad ditto.
Twelve—a shilling
Cooters
20s., sovereigns.
Twelver-ditto.
Foonts
W.
Finnips-51. notes.
Watchmakers—the idle and disso- Double Finnips--101. notes.
lute, who live in Calmet’s-build- | Long-tailed ones - large notes.
ings, Oxford-street.
Watersman—a sky-coloured silk
FLASH NAMES FOR SILK POCKET
pocket handkerchief.
Wedge—silver.
Billy-is the general term for silk
Wedge-feeder-silver spoon.
pocket handkerchiefs of all sorts.
Wild—a village.
Belcher-close striped pattern.
To Work—to rob, or act in any way
Blood-red Fancy--- all red.
according to the divers occupa-
Blue Billy-blue ground, with white
tions of thieves, &c.
spots,
Work the Bulls-get rid of bad 5s.
Cream Fancy-any pattern on a
pieces.
Y.
white ground.
Yack-a watch.
Green King's-man—any pattern on
Yellow Fancy-silk pocket handker- a green ground.
chief, yellow, with white spots. Randle's-man-green, with white
Yellow-man-yellow silk pocket spots.
handkerchief.
Water’s-man-sky-coloured.
HANDKERCHIEFS.

167
Yellow Fancy-yellow, with white
spots.
Yellow-man-all yellow.
SUNDRY PHRASES.
Tied up prigging -- given over
thieving.
TO go on the shallows-to go half-
naked.
Gadding the hoof-going without
shoes.
To fly a window-to lift a window.
To
go the jump—to steal into a
room through the window.
To Speel the drum ---to run away
with the stolen property.
To put a fellow up to his arm-pits, or,
To make him swim for it, or,
To be put in the hole-
mthese three
mean, to cheat a companion out
of his share of plunder.
To poll a fellow, or,
To bounce him—these two are ap-
plied to fences, who get hold of
property and then refuse to pay
for it.
To stun him of his regulars—to win
a confederate's share of booty.
SPECIMENS OF FLASH.
Ī buzzed a bloak and a shakester of a reader and a skin. My jomer
A cross-cove, who had his regulars, called out “cop bung," so as
a pig was marking, I speeled to the crib, where I found Jim had been
pulling down sawney for grub. He cracked a case last night and fenced
He told me as Bill had flimped a yack and pinched a swell of
a fawney, he sent the yack to church and got three finnips and a cooter for
the fawney.
the swag.
TRANSLATION.
I picked the pocket of a gentleman and lady of a pocket-book and a
purse. My fancy girl stood near me and screened me from observation.
A fellow-thief, who shared with me my plunder, called out to me to hand
over the stolen property, so as somebody was observing my maneuvres, I
ran away to the house, where I found James had provided something to
eat, by stealing some bacon from a shop door. He committed a burglary
last night and
had disposed of the property plundered. He told me that
Bill had hustled a person and obtained a watch; he had also robbed a well-
dressed gentleman of a ring. The watch he sent to have the works taken
out and put into another case, (to prevent detection,) and the ring realized
him three five-pound notes and a sovereign,
168
ANOTHER SPECIMEN.
Bob is gone a durrynackin.
The padding ken of Sally Ricks, called Tiger-face, of Wisbeach, is full of
prigs and shallow chaps and fellows on the high-fly.
Lawyer Bob draws fakements up; he's tipped a peg for each.
The paper makers get the tats and never tip the motts a posh, but fence
the milky ones with some swag chovey bloak.
The crocusses pad through every wild, to fence the gammy stuff, whilst
schofel pitchers work the bulls and gypsies make and plant the gammy-
lowr swags.
Shallow fellows gad the hoof, and fence their cant of togs, whilst fawney
droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in.
The slippery and the spunks are fenced by leary-coves all day, and
cocum gonnofs flash by night the cooters in the boozing kens, and send
their lushy shicksters out to bring the ruin in.
TRANSLATION,
Robert has gone begging.
The beggars’ lodging-house belonging to Sally Ricks, nick-named Tiger-
face, of Wisbeach, is full of thieves who rob houses, and the beggars who
go about half naked, on their thieving excursion.
Lawyer Bob * makes out begging letters; he gets ls. a piece for them.
Those thieves who pretend to belong to paper mills get the rags and
never pay the women a farthing, but sell the white rags to some dealer in
marine stores, who buys them.
The beggars pretending to be doctors walk through every village to sell
spurious soap and medicines, while the disposers of base coin get rid of
bad 5s. pieces, and gypsies make and hide their base coin and booty.
The fellows who go about with hardly anything on their backs, and go
without shoes, sell such clothes as are given them through charity, while
ring droppers take in the countrymen.
Soap and matches are sold by cunning chaps all day, and the sly rogues
at night exhibit their sovereigns at their drinking rooms, and send their
tippling girls out to get them gin.

aloe * Lawyer Bob is a noted beggar, and named in the work.
u grama
els
auf dem Bodi lo
siguin test
buddostoale bude ugosta a fondo sobre
e o tremea pe at
ideas on the to
Printed by Shaw and Sons, 137 & 138, Fetter-lane, London,
M
film
bu