PICKPOCKETS AND SHOPLIFTERS. (continued 2)

“In the early part of 1849, when I was not able to go out and do anything, Sally, who cohabited with me, went out along with another girl and commenced stealing in omnibuses. She was well-dressed, and had a respectable appearance. I did not learn her to pick pockets, and was averse to it at first, as I did not wish to bring her into danger. I think she was trained by my pals. She was very clever, and supported me till I was able to go out again. I had to walk with a crutch for some time, but gradually got better and stronger. Some time after that I got into a row at the Seven Dials, and was sent for a month to Westminster prison for an assault.

“When I came out I was sorry to find that Sally was taken up and committed for trial for an omnibus robbery, and had got six months’ imprisonment at Westminster. This was in 1850. I succeeded very well during the time she was in prison in picking ladies’ pockets during the time of the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park.

“When she came out, I had nearly 200l. by me. I did not go out for some time, and soon made the money fly, for I was then a cribbage player, and would stake as much as 2l. or 3l. on a game.

“In the end of the year 1851 I was pressed for the first time to have a hand at a crack in the City along with other two men. I was led through their representations to believe they were experienced burglars, but found afterwards, if they were experienced they were not very clever. Though they got a plan, they blundered in the execution of it in getting into the place, and went into the wrong room, so that they had to get thro’ another wall, which caused us to be so late that it was gray in the morning before we got away; and we did not find so much as we expected.

“At the back of the premises we cut our way into the passage, and, according to the directions given to us in the plan that had been drawn, we had to go up to the second floor, and enter a door there. We found nothing in the room we had entered but neckties and collars, which would not have paid us for bringing them away. We then had to work our way through a back wall, before we got into the apartment where the silks were stored. They cut through the brick wall very cleverly. We had all taken rum to steady our nerve before we went to the work.

“We had gone up the wrong staircase, which was the cause of our having to cut through the wall. There was only one man that slept in the house, and he was in a room on the basement. We at last, after much labour and delay, got into the right room, pressed the bolt back, and found we could get away by the other staircase. We got silks, handkerchiefs, and other drapery goods, and had about 18l. each after disposing of them—which was about two-thirds of their value. We had a cab to carry away the things for us to the ‘fence’ who received them.

“We went to another burglary at Islington, and made an entrance into the house, but were disturbed, and ran away over several walls and gardens.

“We attempted a third burglary in the City. As usual we had a plan of it through a man that had been at work there, who put it up for us. This was a shop in which there were a great many Geneva watches. We got in at this time by the back window, and went upstairs. We were told that the master went away at 11 o’clock. On this occasion he had remained later than usual, looking over his business books. On seeing us, he made an outcry and struggled with us. Assistance came immediately. Two policemen ran up to the house. In the scramble with the man in the house, we tried to make for the door. The police could not get in, as the door was bolted. We were determined to make a rush out. I undid the chain and drew back the bolt. I got away, and had fled along two or three streets, when I was stunned by a man who carried a closed umbrella. Hearing the cry of ‘Stop thief!’ he drew out the umbrella, and I fell as I was running. I was thereupon taken back by one of the police, and found both of the others in custody. We were committed for trial next day, and sent to Newgate in the meantime for detention.

“My former convictions were not brought against me. My two companions had been previously at Newgate, and were sentenced the one to ten years’ and the other to seven years’ penal servitude, while I got eighteen months’ imprisonment in Holloway prison. I was the younger of the party, and had no convictions. I never engaged in a burglary after this. At this time I was twenty-two or twenty-three years of age.

“I came out of prison in 1853, and was unnerved for some time, though my health was good. This was the effect of the solitary confinement.

“When I came out, I wrote home for the first time since I had been in London, and received a letter back, stating that my father was dead after an illness of several years, and that I was to come home, adding that if I required money, they would send it me. Besides, there were several things they were to give me, according to my father’s wishes.

“I went home, and had thoughts of stopping there. My mother was not in such good position as I expected, the property left by my grandfather having gone to a distant relative at my father’s death. She was and is still in receipt of a weekly sum from the old Wesleyan fund for the benefit of the widows of ministers.

“I went home in the end of 1853, and had the full intention of stopping there, though I promised to Sally to be back in a few weeks. I soon got tired of country life, though my relations were very kind to me, and after remaining seven weeks at home, came back to London again about the commencement of 1854, and commenced working by myself at stealing watches and breast-pins. I did not work at ladies’ pockets, unless I had comrades beside me. I went and mingled in the crowds by myself.

“In the end of 1854 I got another six months’ imprisonment at Hicks’s Hall police court, and was sent to Coldbath-Fields, and was told that if I ever came again before the criminal authorities, I would be transported.

“I came out in 1855, and have done very little since; acting occasionally as a stall to Sally in omnibuses, and generally carrying a portmanteau or something with me. I would generally sit in the omnibus on the opposite side to her, and endeavour to keep the lady, as well as I could, engaged in conversation, while she sat on her right hand. She got twelve months for this in 1855, and during the time she was in Westminster prison I first commenced pattering in the streets. I did not again engage in thieving till the time of the illumination for the peace in 1856. In Hyde Park on this occasion I took a purse from a lady, containing nine sovereigns and some silver; and was living on this money when Sally was discharged at the expiry of her sentence.

“When she came out, I told her what I had been doing, and found she was much altered, and seemed to have a great disinclination to go out any more. She did not go for some time. I made a sufficient livelihood by pattering in the streets for nearly two years, when I got wet several times, and was laid up with illness again. She then became acquainted with a woman who used to go on a different game, termed shoplifting. While the one kept the shopman engaged, the other would purloin a piece of silk, or other goods. At this time she took to drink. I found out after this she often got things, and sold them, before she came home, on purpose to get drink. News came to me one day that she had been taken up and committed for trial at Marylebone police court. I paid the counsel to plead her case, and she was acquitted.

“I then told her if she was not satisfied with what I was doing as patterer, that I would commence my former employment. So I did for some time during last year, till I had three separate remands at the House of Detention, Clerkenwell. The policeman got the stolen property, but was so much engrossed taking me, he had lost sight of the prosecutor, who was never found, and I got acquitted.

“On this occasion I told Sally I would never engage in stealing again, and I have kept my word. I know if I had been tried at this time, and found guilty, I should have been transported.

“I have since then got my living by pattering in the streets. I earn my 2s., or 2s. 6d. in an hour, or an hour and a half in the evening, and can make a shift.

“For six or seven years, when engaged in picking pockets, I earned a good deal of money. Our house expenses many weeks would average from 4l. to 5l., living on the best fare, and besides, we went to theatres, and places of amusement, occasionally to the Cider Cellars, and the Coal Hole.

“The London pickpockets are acquainted generally with each other, and help their comrades in difficulty. They frequently meet with many of the burglars. A great number of the women of pickpockets and burglars are shoplifters, as they require to support themselves when their men are in prison.

“A woman would be considered useless to a man if she could not get him the use of counsel, and keep him for a few days after he comes out, which she does by shoplifting, and picking pockets in omnibuses, the latter being termed ‘Maltooling.’

“I have associated a good deal with the pickpockets over London, in different districts. You cannot easily calculate their weekly income, as it is so precarious, perhaps one day getting 20l., or 30l., and another day being totally unsuccessful. They are in general very superstitious, and if anything cross them, they will do nothing. If they see a person they have formerly robbed, they expect bad luck, and will not attempt anything.

“They are very generous in helping each other when they get into difficulty, or trouble, but have no societies, as they could not be kept up. Many of them may be in prison five or six months of the year; some may get a long penal servitude, or transportation; or they may have the steel taken out of them, and give up this restless, criminal mode of life.

“They do not generally find stealing gentlemen’s watches so profitable as picking ladies’ pockets, for this reason, that the purse can be thrown away, some of the coins changed, and they may set to work again immediately; whereas, when they take a watch, they must go immediately to the fence with it: it is not safe to keep it on their person. A good silver watch will now bring little more than 25s., or 30s., even if the watch has cost 6l. A good gold watch will not fetch above 4l. I have worked for two or three hours, and have got, perhaps, six different purses during that time, the purses I threw away, so that the robbery may not be traced. Suppose you take a watch, and you place it in your pocket, while you have also your own watch, if you happen to be detected, you are taken and searched, and there being a second watch found on you, the evidence is complete against you.

“The trousers-pockets are seldom picked, except in a crowd. It is almost impossible to do this on any other occasion, such as when walking in the street. A prostitute may occasionally do it, pattering with her fingers about a man’s person when he is off his guard.

“I believe a large number of the thieves of London come from the provinces, and from the large towns, such as Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool; from Birmingham especially, more than any other town in England. There are no foreigners pickpockets in London so far as I know. The cleverest of the native London thieves, in general, are the Irish cockneys.

“I never learned any business or trade, and never did a hard day’s work in my life, and have to take to pattering for a livelihood. When men in my position take to an honest employment, they are sometimes pointed out by some of the police as having been formerly convicted thieves, and are often dismissed from service, and driven back into criminal courses.

“I am a sceptic in my religious opinions, which was a stumbling-block in the way of several missionaries, and other philanthropic men assisting me. I have read Paine, and Volney, and Holyoake, those infidel writers, and have also read the works of Bulwer, Dickens, and numbers of others. It gives a zest to us in our criminal life, that we do not know how long we may be at liberty to enjoy ourselves. This strengthens the attachment between pickpockets and their women, who, I believe, have a stronger liking to each other, in many cases, than married people.”