The London Underworld in the Victorian Period: Authentic First-Person Accounts by Beggars, Thieves and Prostitutes: v. 1

by Mayhew, Henry

  Such cases frequently occur, and are brought before the police-courts.

  These persons sometimes steal flat-irons for ironing clothes at the brokers’ shop-doors, which they carry to other pawnbrokers if not detected. At other times they take them to the leaving-shop of an unlicensed pawnbroker. On depositing them, they get a small sum of money. These leaving-shops are in the lowest localities, and take in articles pawnbrokers would refuse. They are open on Sundays, and at other times when no business is done in pawnbrokers’ shops.

  These shops are well known to the police, and give great assistance to these Sneaks in disposing of their stolen property.

  A considerable number of depredations are committed at the doors of shoemakers’ shops. They are committed by women of the lower orders, of all ages, some of them very elderly. They come up to the door as tho’ they were shopping, attired generally in an old bonnet and faded shawl. The shoes are hanging inside the door, suspended from an iron rod by a piece of string, and are sometimes hanging on a bar outside the shop.

  These parties are much of the same order of thieves already described, possibly many of them the mothers and some the grandmothers of the ragged boys referred to. The greater number of them are Irish cockneys. They come up to the shop-door generally in the afternoon, as if to examine the quality of the shoes or boots, but seldom make any purchase. They observe how the articles are suspended and the best mode of abstracting them. They return in the dusk of the evening and steal them.

  The shops from which these robberies are committed are to be found in Lambethwalk, New-cut, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, Tottenham Court-road, Westminster, Drury-lane, the neighbourhood of St. Giles’s, Petticoat-lane, Spitalfields, Whitecross-street, St. Luke’s, and other localities.

  Small articles are occasionally taken from shop windows in the winter evenings, by means of breaking a pane of glass in a very ingenious way. These thefts are committed at the shops of confectioners, tobacconists, and watchmakers, &c., in the quiet by-streets.

  Sometimes they are done by the younger ragged-boys, but in most cases by lads of 14 and upwards, belonging to the fraternity of London thieves.

  In the dark winter evenings we may sometimes see groups of these ragged boys, assembled around the windows of a small grocery-shop, looking greedily at the almond-rock, lollipops, sugar-candy, barley-sugar, brandy-balls, pies, and tarts, displayed in all their tempting sweetness and in all their gaudy tints. They insert the point of a knife or other sharp instrument into the corner or side of the pane, then give it a wrench, when the pane cracks in a semicircular starlike form around the part punctured. Should a piece of glass large enough to admit the hand not be sufficiently loosened, they apply the sharp instrument at another place in the pane, when the new cracks communicate with the rents already made; on applying a sticking-plaster to the pane, the piece readily adheres to it, and is abstracted. The thief inserts his hand through an opening in the window, seizes a handful of sweets or other goods, and runs away, perhaps followed by the shopman in full chase. These thieves are termed star-glazers.

  Such petty robberies are often committed by elder lads at the windows of tobacconists, when cigars and pipes are frequently stolen.

  They cut the pane in the manner described, and sometimes get a younger boy to commit the theft, while they get the chief share of the plunder, without having exposed themselves to the danger of being arrested stealing the property.

  The number of felonies of goods, &c., exposed to sale in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 1671

  Ditto ditto in the City 133

  1804

  Value of goods thereby stolen in the Metropolitan districts £ 1487

  Ditto ditto in the City 35

  £1522

  Stealing from Children.—Children are occasionally sent out by their mothers, with bundles of washing to convey to different persons, or they may be employed to bring clothes from the mangle. They are sometimes met by a man, at other times by a woman, who entices them to go to a shop for a halfpenny or a penny worth of sweets, meanwhile taking care they leave their parcels or bundle, which they promise to keep for them till they return. On their coming out of the shop, they find the party has decamped, and seldom any clue can be got of them, as they may belong to distant localities of the metropolis.

  In other cases they go up to the children, when they are proceeding on their way, with a bundle or basket, and say: “You are going to take these things home. Do you know where you are going to take them?” The child being taken off her guard may say, “She is carrying them to Mrs. So-and-so, of such a street.” They will then say, “You are a good girl, and are quite right. Mrs. So-and-so sent me for them, as she is in a hurry and is going out.” The child probably gives her the basket or bundle, when the thief absconds. A case of this kind occurred in the district of Marylebone about six months ago.

  A girl was going with two silk-dresses to a lady in Devonshire-street, when she was met by a young woman, who said she was a servant of the lady, and was sent to get the dresses done or undone, and was very glad she had met her. The woman was an entire stranger to the lady. The larceny was detected on the Saturday night, and the lady was put to great inconvenience, as she had not a dress to go out with on the Sunday. Robberies of clothes sent out to be mangled, and of articles of linen are very common. Milliners often send young girls errands who are not old enough to see through the tricks of these parties prowling about the metropolis.

  These larcenies are generally committed by vagrants decently dressed, and too lazy to work, who go sneaking about the streets and live in low neighbourhoods, such as St. Giles’s, Drury-lane, Short’s-gardens, Queen-street, and the Borough. They are in most cases committed in the evening, though sometimes during the day.

  Child Stripping.—This is generally done by females, old debauched drunken hags who watch their opportunity to accost children passing in the streets, tidily dressed with good boots and clothes. They entice them away to a low or quiet neighbourhood for the purpose, as they say, of buying them sweets, or with some other pretext. When they get into a convenient place, they give them a halfpenny or some sweets, and take off the articles of dress, and tell them to remain till they return, when they go away with the booty.

  This is done most frequently in mews in the West-end, and at Clerkenwell, Westminster, the Borough, and other similar localities. These heartless debased women sometimes commit these felonies in the disreputable neighbourhoods where they live, but more frequently in distant places, where they are not known and cannot be easily traced. This mode of felony is not so prevalent in the metropolis as formerly. In most cases, it is done at dusk in the winter evenings, from 7 to 10 o’clock.

  Number of larcenies from children in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 87

  Ditto ditto in the City 10

  97

  Value of property thereby stolen in the Metropolitan districts £ 65 0

  Ditto ditto in the City 5 10

  £ 70 10

  Stealing from Drunken Persons.—There is a very common low class of male thieves, who go prowling about at all times of the day and night for this purpose.

  They loiter about the streets and public-houses to steal from drunken persons, and are called “Bug-hunters” and “mutchers.” You see many of them lounging about gin-palaces in the vicinity of the Borough, near St. George’s church. We have met them there in the course of our rambles over the metropolis, and at Whitechapel and St. Giles’s. They also frequent the Westminster-road, the vicinity of the Victoria Theatre, Shoreditch, and Somers Town. These low wretches are of all ages, and many of them have the appearance of bricklayers’, stonemasons’, and engineers’ labourers. They pretend they are labourers out of work, and are forward in intruding themselves on the notice of persons entering those houses, and expect to be treated to liquor, though entire strangers to them.

  They are not unfrequently so rude as to take the pewter-pot of another person from the bar, and pass it round to their comrades, till
they have emptied the contents. If remonstrated with, they return insulting language, and try to involve the person in a broil.

  You occasionally find them loafing about the tap-rooms. They watch for drunken people, whom they endeavour to persuade to treat them. They entice him to go down some court or slum, where they strip him of his watch, money, or other valuables he may have on his person. Or they sometimes rob him in the public-house; but this seldom occurs, as they are aware it would lead to detection. They prefer following him out of the public-house. Many of these robberies are committed in the public urinals at a late hour at night.

  These men have often abandoned women who cohabit with them, and assist them in these low depredations. They frequently dwell in low courts and alleys in the neighbourhood of gin-palaces, have no settled mode of life, and follow no industrious calling—living as loafers and low ruffians.

  Some of them have wives, who go out washing and charing to obtain a livelihood for their children and themselves, as well as to support their brutal husbands, lazzaroni of the metropolis.

  This class of persons are in the habit of stealing lead from houses, and copper boilers from kitchens and wash-houses.

  There is another class of thieves, who steal from drunken persons, usually in the dusk of the evening, in the following manner: Two women, respectably dressed, meet a drunken man in the street, stop him and ask him to treat them. They adjourn to the bar of a public-house for the purpose of getting some gin or ale. While drinking at the bar, one of the women tries to rob him of his watch or money. A man who is called a “stickman,” an accomplice and possibly a paramour of hers, comes to the bar a short time after them. He has a glass of some kind of liquor, and stands beside them. Some motions and signs pass between the two females and this man. If they have by this time secured the booty, it is passed to the latter, who, thereupon slips away, with the stolen articles in his possession.

  In some cases, when the property is taken from the drunken man, one of the women on some pretext steps to the door and passes it to the “stickman” standing outside, who then makes off with it. In other cases these robberies are perpetrated in the outside of the house, in some by-street.

  Sometimes the man quickly discovers his loss, and makes an outcry against the women; when the “stickman” comes up and asks, “what is the matter?” the man may reply, “these two women have robbed me.” The “stickman” answers “I’ll go and fetch a policeman.” The property is passed to him by the women, and he decamps. If a criminal information is brought against the females, the stolen goods are not found in their possession, and the case is dropped.

  These women seldom or never allow drunken men to have criminal connection with them, but get their living by this base system of plunder. They change their field of operation over the metropolis, followed by the sneaking “stickman.”

  Some of these females have been known in early life to sell oranges in the street.

  The “stickman” during the day lounges about the parlours in quiet public-houses where thieves resort, and the women during the day are sometimes engaged in needlework,—some of the latter have a fair education, which they may have learned in prison, and others are very illiterate.

  Though respectable in dress and appearance, they generally belong to the felon class of Irish cockneys, with few exceptions.

  They are to be found in Lisson-grove, Leicester-square, Portland-town, and other localities.

  Females in respectable positions in society occasionally take too much intoxicating liquor, and are waylaid by old women, gin-drinkers, who frequent public-houses in low neighbourhoods. They introduce themselves to the inebriated woman as a friend, to see her to some place of safety until she has recovered from the effects of her dissipation,—she may have been lying on the pavement, and unable to walk. They lift her up by the hand, and steal the gold ring from her finger.

  At other times they take her into some by-court or street in low neighbourhoods, where doors may frequently be seen standing open; they rob her in some of these dark passages of her money, watch, and jewellery, and sometimes carry off her clothes.

  If seen by persons in the neighbourhood, it is winked at, and no information given, as they generally belong to the same unprincipled class.

  There is another low class of women who prowl about the streets at midnight, watching for any respectable-looking person who may be passing the worse of liquor. If they notice a drunken man, one comes and enters into conversation with him, and while thus engaged, another woman steps up, touches him under the chin, or otherwise distracts his attention. The person who first accosted him, with her companion, then endeavours to pick his pockets and plunder him of his property. A case of this kind occurred near the Marble Arch in August 1860.

  They have many ingenious ways of distracting the attention of their victim, some of them very obscene and shameless.

  They take care to see that no policeman is in sight, and generally endeavour to find out if the person they intend to victimize has something to purloin.

  They may ask him for change, or solicit a few coppers to get beer, or inquire what o’clock it is, to see if he is in possession of a watch or money. They abstract the money from the pocket, or snatch the watch from the swivel, which they are adroit in breaking.

  Such persons are often seen at midnight in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury and Oxford-street, the Strand, Lower Thames-street, and other localities.

  The most of those engaged in this kind of robbery in Oxford-street come from the neighbourhood of St. Giles’s and Lisson-grove.

  The number of felonies from drunken persons which occurred in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 were 221

  Ditto ditto in the City 10

  231

  The value of property thereby stolen in the Metropolitan districts £ 867

  Ditto ditto in the City 40

  £ 907

  Stealing Linen, &c. exposed to dry. This is generally done by vagrants in the suburbs of the metropolis, from 7 to 11 o’clock in the evening; when left out all night, it is often done at midnight.

  Linen and other clothes are frequently left hanging on lines or spread out on the grass in yards at the back of the house. Entrance is effected through the street-doors which may have been left open, or by climbing over the wall. In many cases these felonies are committed by middle-aged women. If done by a man, he is generally assisted by a female who carries off the property; were he seen carrying a bundle of clothes, he would be stopped by a vigilant officer, and be called to give an account of it, which would possibly lead to his detection.

  These felonies generally consist of sheets, counterpanes, shirts, table-covers, pinafores towels, stockings, and such-like articles.

  When any of them are marked, the female makes it her business to pick out the marks, in case it might lead to their detection. Such robberies are often traced by the police through the assistance of the pawnbrokers.

  They are very common where there are gardens at the back of the house, such as Kensall Green, Camden Town, Kensington, Battersea, Clapham, Peckham, and Victoria Park.

  The clothes are generally disposed of at pawnbrokers or the leaving-shops, commonly called “Dolly Shops.” They leave them there for a small sum of money, and get a ticket. If they return for them in the course of a week, they are charged 3d. a shilling interest. If they do not return for them in seven days, they are disposed of to persons of low character. These wretches at the leaving-shops manage to get them into the hands of parties who would not be likely to give information—the articles, from their superior quality, being generally understood to be stolen.

  These felonies are also committed by the female Sneaks who call at gentlemen’s houses, selling small wares, or on some other similar errand. When they find the door open and a convenient opportunity, they often abstract the linen and other clothes from the lines, and dispose of them in the manner referred to.

  They are also stolen by ragged juvenile thieves, who get into the yards by c
limbing over the wall. This is occasionally done in the Lambeth district, in the dusk of the evening, or early in the morning, and is effected in this way:—Some time previously they commence some boyish game, about half a dozen of them together. They then pretend to quarrel, when one boy will take the others’ cap off his head and place it on the garden wall. Another boy lifts him up to fetch it—the object being to reconnoitre the adjacent grounds, and see if there are any clothes laid out to dry, as well as to find out the best mode of stealing them.

  When they discover clothes in a yard, they come back at dusk, or at midnight, and carry them off the lines.

  They take the stolen property to the receiver’s, after having divided the clothes among the party. Some will go off in one direction, and others in another to get them disposed of, which is done to prevent suspicion on the part of the police.

  The receiving-houses are opened to them at night, as these low people are very greedy of gain. Sometimes they convey the stolen property to their lodgings, at other times they lodge it in concealment till the next day. These clothes are occasionally of trifling value, at other times worth several pounds, which on being sold bring the thief a very poor return—scarcely the price of his breakfast—the lion’s share of the spoil being given to the unprincipled receiver.