Appendix No. 6. conceived to be a very lucrative profession when it is recollected how readily, under the circumstances of a push, a person may be stripped of his property. This game is so general, that few men of sporting notoriety pass through life without having their pockets turned inside out more than once. The swell mob may truly be said to receive the "honey without the gall" attending thieving; their system of picking pockets in mobs almost secures them from justice. They pursue other games besides picking pockets, as selling valueless articles as costly, obtaining money or goods under false pretences, cross gambling; when a man becomes a good gambler he discontinues all other games; the gambling chiefly carried on is, thimble and pea game, prick in the garter, and higher ones, as rouge et noir, roulette, une, deux, cinque, non à prise, French and English hazard. The game of reticule hunting is extensively practised by this class of thieves. At a race, the moment of suspense and anxious expectation created invariably when the horses, having rounded the distance post, are spurred by their riders, straining every nerve to come in, every eye is directed to the course, every attention is occupied by the all-engrossing scene, but amidst all, the thief is to be observed watching his prey; to him the turf yields no delight, but only as it contributes to aid him in the system of plunder he pursues. A lady is seen to carry a silk bag; a boy engaged by the swell mob, and smartly dressed, steals near her, and with his scissors cuts open the bag and extracts the small pocket-book generally carried by females in their silk bag or reticule; at another part of the course, the coach stands, you will see a thief, under pretence of an anxious wish to peep at the horses, raise himself by stepping upon the spoke of a carriage wheel; a single glance into the inside tells him where the gentleman's watch, spectacles, the lady's reticule and pocket-book lay, deposited as in a place of safety by their side, on the cushion; whilst their attention is wholly taken up in observing the coming in of the horses, the thief stretches forth his arm and takes what he sees. Much valuable property is stolen in this way; there are many who for years follow this species of thieving alone, making sufficient during the summer months to pass the winter comfortably. Some of this class of people combine the qualifications of pocketpickers and housebreakers ; they are distinct from common thieves, and look upon them with a scornful eye; they are seldom the inmates of a prison-house; a line of demarcation is also to be drawn between those of the swell mob who, having received a superior education, are enabled to mix in the higher circles of society, gaining a livelihood by practising on the credulity of mankind,—and that class who have gone through the degrees of thieving, of little or no education, able to assist in hustling a man for the purpose of robbing him, but not possessing the necessary qualifications to concoct and carry into execution a scheme upon an extensive scale; the man who is all-sufficient at robbery might be at a loss in politely offering to assist a lady over a street crossing for the purpose of stealing the dividend which she has been observed to receive at the Bank of England a few minutes before, and to deposit for security in her reticule. Thieves arrive at great perfection in picking pockets; one would suppose the following a fair specimen of consummate impudence, and it is of daily occurrence with thieves expert at their business. A thief passes a gentleman walking, turns round, sees a handkerchief in his coat pocket, goes up, steals it, looks if it is marked, if not, walks ahead, turns again, meets the gentleman and flashes the handkerchief before his eyes; this done, the thief walks away; if the gentleman follows, he has the double annoyance of receiving all manner of abuse, and of seeing his property in the hands of another; this sort of bravado often costs the thief three months' imprisonment. The same cause by which so many thefts are committed with impunity frequently operates in saving a thief from punishment: this applies more particularly to pickpockets; gentlemen are sometimes so adroitly robbed as not to perceive their loss, and when informed thereof, the very expertness with which the act was performed prevents a man of certain indefinite philanthropic feelings from prosecuting the offender. The swell-mob, generally speaking, are composed of men who have received education, some respectably connected, all well dressed; in society, except to their immediate associates, they appear and are considered as gentlemen. They frequent more particularly public-houses kept by right men, who have themselves lived by depredation, or are accredited right men by acting friendly to thieves; at these houses the landlords appropriate a room for their use; here they meet in a body the evening before any public ceremony or procession, to arrange their plans of working together on the following day. These are their houses of call; here they are to be found or heard of when one requires the aid and assistance of another in any concern he may have in hand: their apartment is occasionally held sacred by even the landlord himself; 'tis true the door is unlocked, but should a stranger by chance unfortunately walk in, the treatment he experiences from the taunts, gibes, titters, and continued stare, renders his situation truly irksome, and he is glad to take the earliest opportunity of quitting. The flashhouses are frequently changed; this occurs by the landlord having young thieves as customers, and allowing dancing and late carousings, by which means he soon loses his license. There is a house in the Strand which has been celebrated for years as turning out a first-rate swellmob; the landlord preserves good order and regularity, and therefore retains his license. Besides the habit of frequenting their houses of call, the swell-mob are to be found in the parlour of many respectable taverns or hotels. Their plan is to walk in, two together, and seat themselves apart from each other in the room; they call for their brandy and water, and engage in the common chit-chat of the day, till they perceive some well-lined pocket; this point gained, their victim is marked; when he leaves the room, the information is given by the one who perceived the booty, two keep him in sight, the others speedily follow, and on the first opportunity he is hustled as before shown. Any opposition is vain; should the gentleman by chance prove aware of them, the signal, being given, has an instantaneous effect, the attempt ceases, and the danger is over. Truman and Hanbury's collecting clerk was hustled a short time back, and dropped what cash he had about him; the job was put up, the thieves having had previous information. It Appendix No. 6, is matter of surprise and curiosity to know by what means this class of people obtain information respecting the money affairs of individuals, yet it is not the less true, for it is well known they either themselves, or through their agents, can gain what information they require upon any subject, and surprise must cease, when it is considered that in its present constituted state a well dressed and gentlemanly behaved man can gain access into any society. How do those extensive robberies from the person, and those schemes of aggrandizement we daily hear of, take place without a previous intimate circumstantial knowledge? this is readily attained by mixing in the necessary society. The forgery cases in which Roberts (notorious as having raised a mortgage on the Duke of Northumberland's property) was the means of first inducing clerks of banking establishments in town to aid him in committing, and whom he afterwards betrayed into the hands of justice, will be long remembered. How did he implicate these young men but by mixing in their society? A man is not necessarily obliged to be a man of great property to be privileged to enter the rotunda of the Bank of England, the drawing a very trifling dividend constitutes his business there; what more easy and more frequently practised than to take a stand and lounge there in business hours till an acceptable booty presents? The thief ever has an eye to business, he espies his prey, the confederates are at hand, and according to circumstances the method of plunder is regulated. Although for the most part a thief confines himself to the practice of one kind of thieving at any particular time, yet, as will be perceived, he can practise, as occasion may require, many different branches of the profession. [Although the modes already described are the principal descriptions of thieving, they are by no means all, the varieties are innumerable, many equally deserving of notice; stealing wet linen is a distinct game, dog stealing is another, but of all those minor depredating crimes undescribed, there is none so extensively carried on, and more manifestly injurious, than uttering bad money; this is a trade for the indolent, in which hundreds are constantly employed. The money passes through several hands: first there are the makers, silver is chiefly made in London, but gold at Birmingham; then we have the wholesale dealer, next the retail dealer, and last, the smasher or utterer, who, as usual, receives least of the "sweets" and most of the gall attending the prosecution of this game; most of the dealers are Jews, and from the maker to the utterer each has his profit, but as a general rule the retail dealer purchases £6 of base coin for £1 sterling. One individual has for some time supplied most of the town smashers; he meets them regularly every morning at an appointed house, and supplies each according to their means of purchase for that day's issue, the sovereigns at 4s., the crown at 10d., half-crowns at 5d., shillings at 24d. &c. To guard successfully against the above plunderers of society is a task of no little difficulty; we must allow experience to be a good guide. Pickpockets say, that if a handkerchief be carried in the inside coat-pocket, hat, or even pinned in the outer pocket, they are foiled. Shop thieves say, if a till be locked or a nail at the back part to prevent it drawing entirely out, they are balked. Pickpockets say, if they get a man into a push he must be robbed, unless he be aware of them, if so their cant words will save him; if he keeps out of a push, his cash in an inside pocket, his watch well guarded by a chain, or wears a cloak in the season, they are foiled. The house-breaker says, a plate of sheet-iron on the inside of the door foils him in his attempt at panelling, and that Chubb's lock gives a great deal of trouble in opening, but Bramah's has as yet defeated all their attempts. The thief who robs shop-windows says, wire gauze curtain inside the glass foils him. The thief who robs shops by "palming," that the shopkeeper must be aware of the game of palming to guard against his attacks. And the most notorious smashers say, that bad gold is known by its deficient standard weight, bad silver by its malleability and greasy feel. No. 7. The Watch Committee for the Borough of Liverpool, having now appointed and organized a In the Supplement to their Report of the 3d of February 1836, your Committee gave a general outline of the plan on which the operations of the New Police are to be conducted. The prevention of crime, which it needs no argument to prove is much more beneficial to society than its detection, was the chief object kept in view in framing that plan; and it is with the same object that your Committee now submit to the Council the following statements and remarks: The extent of crime will generally be found to be in proportion to the facility and advantage with which it can be committed: those, therefore, who afford facilities to the commission of crime, and those who hold out the means to the offender of deriving that advantage from his offence, the prospect of which allures him, ought to be vigilantly watched, and, when detected, should be visited with the utmost rigour of punishment. To this class of persons belong receivers of stolen property, keepers of brothels, and of public-houses, taps, and beer-shops of a disorderly description. Receivers of stolen property are the chief supporters of thieves; it is through them the thief is enabled to profit by his theft; it is not enough for him to steal, he must be able to dispose of the property he has stolen. There are some hundreds of these receivers in Liverpool, and it may perhaps be impossible entirely to eradicate them from so large and populous a place; but, under the constant observation of a well-regulated Police, with a Magistracy determined Appendix No. 7. Appendix No. 7. to enforce the laws, their mode of life would become so dangerous, difficult, and precarious, that it may be fairly calculated the great majority of them would abandon it. There can be no greater facility given to the commission of crime coming under the notice of the Police, than that which is afforded by disorderly public-houses, taps, beer-shops, and other places of licentious resort; and the statements your Committee have collected, on the correctness of which they can confidently rely, show an almost incredible number of these dens of infamy. It appears there are between three and four hundred public-houses in the borough (nearly one-fourth the whole number of licensed victuallers) that are habitually kept open until after twelve o'clock at night, and from nine hundred to one thousand that are open on Sunday mornings between four and six o'clock, and remain open until church hours. There are sixty to seventy taps, and several hundreds of beer-shops which are supported entirely by the worst of characters. In Williamson-square and its immediate vicinity there are upwards of twenty saloons, and other places of public resort, appropriated to thieves and prostitutes; and, independent of these, there are more than three hundred brothels in the town, in all of which wine and spirits can be procured; one hundred of them are in the neighbourhood of Williamson-square, and within a circuit of less than fifteen minutes walk in one street there are no less than twenty-two. To illustrate the effect of disorderly public-houses on the morals of the community, your Committee will narrate the following fact: The late Mayor, James Aspinall, Esq., in the early part of his mayoralty, issued a notice, ordering that all public-houses should be kept closed during the early part of Sunday. Previous to this order, the districts comprising Dale-street, Tithebarn-street, and Vauxhall-road, were the scenes of gross disorder, and the list of prisoners brought before the Magistrates on every Monday morning varied from one hundred to one hundred and twenty; the order was for a time obeyed, and the consequence was, that the streets were peaceable. The public prints complimented the Chief Magistrate, and the number of offenders on a Monday morning diminished from about one hundred and twenty to fifty! The law, however, did not support the Magistrate, the public-houses were re-opened, and the same disgusting scenes again desecrated the Sabbath! Another instance may be related as bearing with equal force upon the subject : A publican in Brick-street set the law at defiance, and kept his house open all night. The neighbourhood was in consequence kept in a state of tumult; watchmen were brought from their beats, and as many as twenty or thirty persons were, on a Saturday night, lodged in Bridewell. Brick-street obtained a disgraceful notoriety. This continued for months, until the officers succeeded in convicting the publican, and his license was withdrawn. The scene has since completely changed. Brick-street is comparatively orderly; it does not now send one offender before the Magistrates in cases in which it formerly furnished ten! The taps of disorderly public-houses are generally let off by the publicans at sums varying from one to two pounds per week, and are screened under the publican's license. The tendency of the saloons, where the excitement of the dance, the song, and comic recitations, is added to the effect of intoxicating liquors, is too obvious to require comment. Your Committee, considering that the indispensable preliminary to an attempt to remedy an evil is to ascertain the extent as well as the nature of it, have taken pains to procure information as to the number of thieves and prostitutes at present infesting this town. The result of their inquiries presents a frightful picture of human depravity; but, disagreeable as the duty is, the same consideration that prompted their inquiries compels them to place that result before you. The number of brothels has already been stated at upwards of three hundred. In nearly the whole of these are females, in some two, in others ten; on an average four; or in all, twelve hundred prostitutes; and it is estimated that more than double that number have their lodgings in other places. It is the opinion of those experienced in Police affairs, that a very large proportion of these do not subsist solely by prostitution, but are the companions and accessaries of thieves; and, in general, themselves thieves and pickpockets. The weakness and thoughtlessness of men give this class of thieves peculiar facilities. Being permitted, so long as they do not disturb the public peace, to walk the streets, they find no difficulty in coming in contact with persons who quit the public-houses late, and in a state of intoxication, and in leading them into places of robbery and plunder. In nine cases out of ten, even when detection ensues, the dread of exposure prevents prosecution, from which circumstance, and the frequent disinclination to commit on charges termed disorderly, and which are discreditable to the complainants, female thieves may be said to rob almost without fear of legal consequences. Their depredations are extensive: the robberies in one house alone, brought before the Magistrates in twelve months, involved no less a sum than one thousand pounds! These of themselves, therefore, form a grievous pestilence, but the evil they produce does not end with their individual depredations; to the extent of nearly one-third, each prostitute is connected with a man, who cohabits with her, lives on her plunder, or when she is unsuccessful, picks pockets and commits robberies himself, to which she is not unfrequently an accessary. Besides men attached to prostitutes, there are upwards of a thousand male thieves; there are five hundred more who work at intervals, but steal when the opportunity offers. To the list must be added nearly six hundred employed about or frequenting the docks, and upwards of twelve hundred thieves under 15 years of age, who are in general the tools of the adults. This mass of vice is maintained at an expense to society, the amount of which staggers belief. By the accounts placed in the hands of your Committee, it is estimated at upwards of SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS per annum, and, from the information your Committee have collected, they must declare their conviction that immense as this sum is, it is not exaggerated, on the contrary, it is much understated. A large proportion of this amount is obtained from strangers, but this furnishes no reason why the local authorities should not, to the utmost extent of their power, take measures for the diminution of so enormous an extent of crime, the baneful influence of which, on the morals and interests of the people, must be apparent to every reflecting mind. It must be presumed that such a state of things can only exist when the Police, or the administration of justice, is extremely inefficient. In the organization of the new Police your committee have anxiously endeavoured to frame for its government instructions which, when followed by a vigorous enforcement of the laws, will, they would hope, materially diminish the evil. Your Committee would now call upon the Magistrates, the Council, and the Public, to aid in the abatement of the intolerable nuisance which has been disclosed, and it is with this view that the present Report is submitted. And if, after every effort in the power of the Magistracy and Police, the laws should be found incapable of forcing the barriers behind which the evil has entrenched itself, surely the welfare of the community is of sufficient importance to demand that the defects be brought before the notice of the Legislature. By order of the Committee of Watch, JOHN HOLMES. Appendix No. 7. Town Hall, March 2, 1836. No. 8. LETTER to EDWIN CHADWICK, Esq., from Sir Baldwin Leighton, Bart., of Loten, near MY DEAR SIR, In a letter I received from you some time since, you expressed a wish that I should send you any information that I might have obtained on the subject of a rural police. Although I had at that time a very strong opinion of the necessity of an alteration in the present inefficient Constabulary Force, yet as I had no returns on the amount of crime, &c., to send you, I deferred answering your letter till I could obtain them. In the latter end of the year 1837, the magistrates of this hundred agreed to procure a constable whose whole time should be employed in the duties of his office. A small sum was raised among the gentry of the neighbourhood, and two of the magistrates agreed to insure the constable 17. per week in 'case the fees did not amount to that sum. I enclose several Returns, by which you may see the working of the measure in this district. Return A is an account of the old constables of the hundred; but although drawn up by the newly-appointed policeman, who may be presumed not to be very friendly towards the former system, is, to my knowledge, perfectly accurate. Every one, however, appears to consider the old plan quite unfit for the present period, and you may probably consider the abovementioned account quite superfluous. One of the principal objections to the establishment of a paid police I have always found to be the fear of expense. It is to show the fallacy of this opinion I have drawn up the Returns B and C. From the former you will perceive that this county is actually paying upwards of 8007. per annum to the present constables, besides the sums paid for bailiffs at the sessions, extra assistants required by the gaoler on the trial of prisoners, and several other offices which might be performed by a salaried police. I believe, if only these sums were reckoned, we could in this county maintain an efficient police at the same cost as is now paid for almost no police at all. But there ought to be counted, in addition, the diminution of the expenses of prosecutions and maintenance of prisoners, which, although they would increase during the first year, would afterwards lessen in a great degree; and also the greater security of property: the saving on this head it is almost impossible to form any estimate of. Return C shows, in a most satisfactory manner, the decrease of crime in the district, owing entirely to the exertions of our policeman; and it shows also an extent of depredation of which none of us were before aware; for as the tracing offenders occasioned formerly a great loss of time, and also, what the farmers thought more of, often an expenditure of money, for the parish constable had to be paid, they seldom took any steps to find out the offender, but quietly put up with their loss. One of the greatest checks on the commission of crime is the certainty of conviction, which does more to deter than severity of punishment. Formerly, in this district, if the thief was not taken in the fact, he generally escaped detection. Now, however, on a robbery coming to the knowledge of the constable, an immediate pursuit is made; and the farmers, being aware that they can apply to him without occasioning any expense, and at very little trouble to themselves, now generally send over to him on the commission of a robbery; and, in consequence of immediate information having been given, eight offenders were apprehended who, I am quite certain, would otherwise have escaped detection. The total number of offenders tried from this hundred during 1838 was 19: of these only five were acquitted, and the jury, in most of these cases, I verily believe, returned a verdict of not guilty owing to the small value of the property stolen; the offences being, stealing turnips, a vermin trap, one cwt. of coals, and a bundle of pea-rods. In none of these cases, however, was the policeman employed to collect evidence; whereas, in every case which he got up, a conviction followed. I mention this to show how necessary it is to employ constables, who can procure the necessary evidence, so that if the party is guilty a conviction may follow. There is one other subject to which I wish to call your attention, in case of the establishment of a rural police, and that is, that a magistrate's warrant should extend beyond the bounds of the county for which he acts, without the necessity of having it backed by a justice of the place where it is to be executed. Living on the borders of two counties, I constantly see the inconvenience arising from the present state of the law; and, in a case in which I 2 F Appendix No. 8. Appendix No. 8. committed the parties last year, I am certain they would have escaped had I not been a magistrate for both counties. In another instance, I issued a warrant as a Salop magistrate, and backed it for Montgomeryshire; but the offender went about seven miles off into an isolated part of Denbighshire, where the constable, as it was not a case of felony, dare not touch him, and he would have had to travel 20 miles before he could have obtained the signature of a Denbighshire justice; the consequence was, the offender escaped at that time, though subsequently he was taken. Believe me, &c. (Return A.) BALDWIN LEIGHTON. Observations upon the Petty Constables of the Hundred of Ford, County Salop, by W. Baxter, Police Officer. I find the petty constables, almost without exception, to be pot companions of the disorderly characters in their respective neighbourhoods, and to have been in the habit of stopping in the beershops until a late hour at night. Was called in after nine o'clock at night, during November, by a publican, to clear her house of about 30 colliers, who were acting riotously, and having done so, I was soundly lectured by the petty constable of the township, himself drunk, for laying hold of the men, and forcing them out of the house, and he complained bitterly that the landlady would not sell any more drink. In some cases publicans are appointed constables, as, for instance, B- -, of the who is constable of R- -. The impropriety of this is obvious. Richard R- -, petty constable of S, was drinking at a beer-shop till nine o'clock, with some of the worst characters in the neighbourhood, and upon being, with difficulty, turned out of the house, a pitch battle was fought in the presence of the constable, who indeed was one of the foremost in encouraging the combatants, and eventually I was sent for to put a stop to it. Since then I have taken two of the above party into custody, upon several charges of robbery, for which they now stand committed. It has been common with one of the township constables, to my knowledge, to take a bribe not to notice breaches of the peace. On the night of the 1st of January, 1838, there was a dance in a beer-shop at Pontesbury, and about nine o'clock there was a most tremendous fight among upwards of 20 men; the constable was drinking with them, and in the row he got upset, and, to make the matter up, he received 1s. 6d. from one man, and, I verily believe, sums also from others. (For this conduct he was fined by the magistrates.-B. L.) This man has been a constable for more than six years, and although the beer-shops have been in the habit of selling beer to their customers at all hours of the night, yet he has never laid an information against them, for he can have drink from them at any time without paying for it. He is an elderly man, and was appointed to that office in consequence of applying for parish relief; and it appears that, although he could not earn his living at cobbling, which is his trade, he was quite good enough for a parish constable. E. P constable of , constantly employs the most notoriously bad characters. At this time there is one man who worked for him in Montgomery gaol, convicted of stealing geese; and he has now in his employ a man who has been punished for dog-stealing, and whose house I have twice had occasion to search; and another labourer, in whose house I found stolen property, and who, there is no doubt, was aware of it, although he was not punished for it; and a third who he knows was concerned in poaching with a prisoner now in Salop gaol. Sometimes the constables can neither read nor write. For instance; at a petty sessions I attended in Montgomeryshire, the constable had served a summons upon a person for non-payment of poor-rates: the man did not appear, and the overseer pressed for a distress warrant; but the magistrates declined granting it, as the constable, from his inability to read, had not examined the summons and copy, and consequently was unable to prove that the summons he delivered was a copy of the one he held. (Return B.) Estimated Amount of Sums received by Petty Constables in the County of Salop, 1837. This estimate does not include the police of the boroughs having separate jurisdiction. |