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

by Mayhew, Henry

  They are often encouraged to commit these thefts by wretches in the low lodging-houses, who are aware of their midnight excursions.

  Number of felonies of linen, &c., exposed to dry in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 236

  Ditto ditto for the City 0

  236

  Value of property thereby abstracted in the Metropolis £ 150

  Robberies from Carts and other Vehicles.—There are many depredations committed over the metropolis from carts, carriers’ waggons, cabs, railway vans, and other vehicles. Many of those people have the appearance of porters at a warehouse, and are a peculiar order.

  At one time they may have been porters at warehouses, or connected with railways, or carmen to large commercial firms. Some have corduroy or moleskin jacket and trowsers, and cloth cap; others have a plain frock-coat and cap.

  Many of the robberies from carts are done by the connivance of the carters. They are sent by business establishments to dispose of goods over the metropolis; some of them are connected with the worst class of thieves. They connive with those men in stealing their employers’ property, and in rifling other carts, carry the booty away in their own, and always manage to secure a part of the prize.

  These carters take thieves occasionally to railway stations to assist them with their work, and when an opportunity occurs, carry off goods from the railway platform, such as bales of bacon, cheese, bags of nails, boxes of tin and copper, and travellers’ luggage, which they dispose of to marine-store dealers and at chandlers’ shops. The wearing apparel in the trunks they sell at second-hand shops, kept by Jews and others in low neighbourhoods, such as Petticoat-lane, Lambeth, Westminster, and the Borough of Southwark.

  Many carts are rifled by persons who represent themselves as hawkers or costermongers—men who have no steady industrious mode of livelihood, and are usually in the company of prostitutes and thieves of the worst description. The carter may have occasion to call at a city house, and to leave his horse and cart in the street, when they steal a whip, coat, or horsecloth, the reins from off the horse, or any portable article they can lay their hands on.

  Numbers of hay, straw, and store carmen frequently steal a truss of hay, or clover, or straw, from their employer’s cart, and dispose of it to some person who has a horse, or pony, or donkey, for a small sum of money. These dishonest practices are carried on to a far greater extent than the public are aware of, as it is only occasionally they are brought to public notice.

  Robberies from cabs and carriages are sometimes effected in the following way: They follow the cab or vehicle with a horse and cart, driving along in its wake—two or three thieves generally in the cart. One of them jumps on the spring of the conveyance while the driver is sitting in front of his vehicle, pulls down the trunk or box, and slips it into the cart, then drives away with the booty.

  At other times they run up, and leap on the spring of the conveyance while the driver is proceeding along with his back toward them; lower the trunk or other article from the roof, and walk off with it. These trunks sometimes contain money, silver plate, and other valuable property.

  These depredations are always done at night, by experienced thieves, and generally in the winter season. They are common in the fashionable squares of the West-end, at the East-end, toward the Commercial-road and St. George’s-in-the-East, at Ratcliffe Highway, the City, the Borough of Southwark, and Lambeth, along the docks, and at the railway stations around the metropolis.

  There are a number of laundresses residing at Chelsea, Uxbridge, Hampstead, Holloway, and other districts in the suburbs, who wash large quantities of clothes for the gentry and nobility in the fashionable streets and squares of the metropolis. After washing and dressing the linen, they pack it up in large wicker baskets, and generally convey it in their own carts to the residences of the owners.

  A class of people are frequently on the look-out for these carts to plunder them of their linen. The carts are under the management of a man or a woman. The thieves follow the vehicle to a quiet street, one puts his shoulder under a basket while the other cuts the cord which attaches it to the cart, when both make off with the stolen property.

  These thieves reside over London in low districts, such as St. Giles’s and Shoreditch, and are occasionally brought before the police courts.

  There is a class of robberies from gentlemen’s carriages about the West-end of the metropolis. In going to the Opera, West-end theatres, or other fashionable places of amusement, the gentleman frequently leaves his valuable overcoat or cloak in the carriage. These thieves follow the conveyance to some quiet street leading to the stables where the vehicle is to remain till the gentleman returns from his evening’s amusement. They let down the window of the carriage and carry off any article which is left. The theft is nimbly committed while the vehicle is on its way to the stables, or when it is returning to the Opera, and is done chiefly by young men, experienced thieves. They live in the low neighbourhoods already referred to.

  There is a good deal of this mode of thieving carried on in the West-end of London during the winter season.

  Number of larcenies from carts and other vehicles in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 286

  Ditto ditto, in the City 79

  365

  Value of property thereby stolen in the Metropolis £ 1075

  Ditto ditto, in the City 370

  £ 1445

  Stealing Lead from House-tops, Copper from Kitchens, and Workmen’s Tools, &c. in Dwelling-houses.—Of late this mode of thieving has been extensively carried on over the metropolis, chiefly at unoccupied houses. In some cases, a key is obtained by the thief, respectable in appearance, from the gentleman who lets the house, without his accompanying him to the empty dwelling, when he takes the opportunity of stealing the copper boiler from the washing-house, and the lead pipe from the butt or cistern. He passes the stolen property to some of his associates, and returns the key of the dwelling.

  This is a peculiar class who make a livelihood by going round empty houses in different districts on similar errands. They do not give their name and address, are strangers in the neighbourhood, and cannot be easily tracked out by the police.

  Lead is frequently stolen from the house-tops, by the loafing ruffians, we have before described, who lounge about public-houses, robbing drunken men, and occasionally by boys. Sometimes these robberies are committed by plumbers’ workmen and others engaged in repairing the houses.

  Lead in most cases is stolen from those dwellings which are under repair, or have been unoccupied for some time. When a house is repaired, it frequently happens the roofs of the adjoining occupied houses are stripped and carried off by unprincipled workmen.

  These depredations are often committed by the workmen themselves, or by their connivance. At other times they are done by persons climbing low walls, and clambering up spouts to the roof, and cutting up the sheet lead. This is usually done under night by two or more in company; sometimes, though rarely, by boys. One keeps a look-out to see there is no person near to detect them. This person is termed a “crow.” If any one should be near, the “crow” gives a signal, and they decamp. Before commencing their depredations, they generally look out for the means of escape, seldom returning the same way they mounted the roof. They make their way out in another direction. If hard pressed, they sometimes hide themselves on the roof behind chimneys, or lie down in gutters or cisterns or any other likely place of concealment. These felonies are often done by bricklayers’ labourers (Irish cockneys) during the winter, and in many cases, as we have said, with the connivance of the workmen engaged in repairing the houses.

  There is another class of persons who engage in lead-stealing from the roofs of houses. They were formerly in the service of builders, plumbers, or carpenters, but are out of employment. They go to their late employer’s customers, under the pretext that they were sent by him to repair the roof, and meanwhile plunder the sheet lead, which they generally roll up, convey down, and carry off by me
ans of their accomplices, who are hovering in the neighbourhood. They have the appearance and dress of industrious workmen, and may have been lately seen employed in houses in the neighbourhood, so that they are more likely to deceive the unsuspecting people who admit them into their dwellings. This kind of lead-stealing has been lately of very frequent occurrence in the metropolis.

  Copper is frequently stolen from the boilers in the kitchens and wash-houses by the same parties. Sometimes they enter by the area door or the window, which is left open. At other times they climb the garden wall at the back of the house, and enter by a window, left unfastened. They take the copper out of the brickwork in the wash-house, or from the kitchen, roll it up and carry it away. This is generally done in unoccupied houses. Sweeps employed cleaning the chimneys sometimes take away copper in like manner in their sootbags.

  In houses under repair, as well as in unfinished houses, they steal carpenters’ tools, planes, saws, ploughs, squares, hammers, &c., left by the workmen.

  They obtain access to the house by climbing over the wooden enclosure or over garden walls. This is generally done in the evening, between the hours of 9 and 12, and frequently by discharged workmen.

  In many cases they are stopped on the way with the tools in their possession. If a proper account is not given, it often leads to the detection of the robbery, which generally puts a stop for the time to such depredations in that neighbourhood.

  The stolen tools are taken to pawnbrokers or receiving-shops, and sold at an under price. In some cases the pawnbroker gives notice to the police, but in these other shops, this is seldom or never done.

  The thieves generally go to some house where no watchman is employed.

  The number of larcenies of tools, lead, glass, &c. from empty or unfinished houses in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 472

  Ditto ditto, in the City 22

  494

  Value of property thereby abstracted in the Metropolis £ 462 0

  Ditto ditto, in the City 7 10

  £ 469 10

  Robberies by False Keys.—There are many robberies committed in the metropolis by means of false keys, generally between the hours of seven and nine o’clock in the evening. After nine o’clock they would be considered burglaries. This class of robberies is generally committed by thieves of experience, and frequently, before depredations are committed, persons call at the house in the daytime, who take particular notice of the lock of the street-door, to know the key which opens it, whether a Bramah, Chubb, or other lock. These persons are termed “putters up of robberies,” and supply the thieves with the requisite information, when they come in the evening and enter the house. In many cases they get clear off with the booty.

  The houses entered are frequently respectable lodging-houses, or houses occupied by one family where there is likely to be no children about the upper rooms. In the case of entering these dwellings they make their way to the bed-rooms above, their chief object being to steal the jewellery and dressing-case left on the dressing-table, often of great value. They also take clothes out of the drawers, and other articles. On coming out they often put on some of the apparel, such as an overcoat, and fill the pockets with stolen property.

  In houses in the West-end, single gentlemen, such as government clerks, officers in the army, and others, are often out dining in the evening, or at the clubs; and as the servant is generally engaged down-stairs at this time, the thief is frequently not obstructed.

  To elude suspicion from the police constables in the street they often have a carpet-bag to carry off the booty. If they meet one of them near the house, they generally ask him some question, such as the way to some street, to take him off his guard.

  A case of this kind occurred early this year at the West-end, where four men were engaged in a robbery. On their arriving at the corner of the street where the felony was committed they found two policemen there. They stepped up to them, and conversed for some time, when the constables left, having no suspicion, from their respectable appearance. Two of the thieves crossed the street to a house opposite. Meanwhile their movements were narrowly watched by a keen-eyed detective, who knew the parties, three of the four being returned convicts. Having arrived at the door of the house, they endeavoured to gain an entrance, which, after trying several keys, they effected. The other two confederates had taken up a position opposite the house, being what is termed “look-out,” or outside men.

  In a short time the two who had entered the house came out and closed the door behind them. They were perceived to have some bulky articles in their possession. The other two men remained for a few minutes in their place on the opposite side of the street, when they followed their companions. When at a short distance from the house, they rejoined them, and the property was divided among them. This was done in the dusk in the quiet street.

  The detective officer saw two of the parties with Inverness capes, and carrying umbrellas in their hand they did not have before they entered the house. He went up to them, told them who he was, and arrested one of them; the other was captured a few yards off by another officer when in the act of throwing off the Inverness cape. The other two, meanwhile, escaped. On conducting the two men to the police-station the two capes were taken from them, and in their pockets were found a number of skeleton keys, a waxtaper, and silent lights, along with various small articles, evidently part of the robbery which had just been committed.

  Two hours after this a gentleman drove up in a cab to the police-station, and gave information of the robbery, when he identified the articles taken from the prisoners as his property. The two thieves were tried at the sessions, and sentenced to six years’ penal servitude. One of the two confederates who escaped was apprehended by the same detective, found guilty, and sentenced to the same punishment, which broke up a gang of thieves who had infested the neighbourhood for several months, and occasioned great alarm.

  Robberies from gentlemen’s houses by means of false keys are generally put up by some person acquainted with the house, and who may have frequented it under some pretext, such as by courting the servant girl, or by being acquainted with some of the men-servants. They rifle the valuables from wardrobes and drawing-rooms, such as watches, rings, purses, clothes, &c.

  Attic thieves chiefly aim at abstracting jewels from ladies’ bed-rooms, generally on the second floor; but this class of skeleton-key thieves frequently carry away bundles of stolen goods, and are not so fastidious in their choice.

  An instance of a skeleton-key robbery from a gentleman’s house occurred lately at the West-end of the metropolis. The two thieves had engaged a cab to carry off the stolen property (the driver of the cab being a confederate), and drove up to the house next door to where the robbery was to be committed. They were seen to leave the cab, to go up to the door of the house, to apply the key to the door, and to walk in. About ten minutes after, they left the house, and walked to the cab with large parcels in their hands, when it drove swiftly away.

  On that evening the butler of the house discovered that the whole of his master’s clothes had been stolen from his wardrobe, and his dressing-case, with costly articles, his gold watch and chain, and the whole of his linen. Information was given to a detective officer, who in two days after traced the robbery to two well-known thieves, one of them being singularly expert in the use of skeleton keys.

  The manner in which it was detected was very ingenious, and reflected high credit on the officer.

  On visiting a public-house near Tottenham Court-road, one Saturday night, he saw a middle-aged, intelligent man, like a respectable mechanic, conversing with a person at the bar over a pint of half-and-half. The sharp eye of the detective observed the former with a neckerchief which corresponded with one of the articles of this stolen property. The suspicion of the officer was aroused, and he followed him late at night, and saw where he resided. On the next morning he went with two officers to his house, and found him in bed with his paramour, and arrested him for the robbery. On searchi
ng his house a handkerchief was found marked with the crest of the nobleman to whom the property belonged. On a farther search a quantity of other articles were found belonging to this robbery.

  On his paramour getting out of bed she was perceived by the detective to conceal something under her petticoats. On being asked to produce it, she denied having anything. On being searched, another handkerchief was found on her person, bearing the nobleman’s crest. This man was afterwards identified as one of the two persons who were seen to enter the house where the robbery was committed, and to leave with the cab. He was tried at the Sessions, and sentenced to seven years’ penal servitude. This man had for some time been well known to the police, and was suspected of committing a series of large robberies, but he was so dexterous in executing his felonies that his movements had not previously been traced.

  Number of felonies in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 by means of false keys 247

  Ditto, ditto, in the City 17

  264

  Value of property thereby abstracted in Metropolitan districts £ 1,840

  Ditto, ditto, in the City 160

  £ 2,000

  Robberies by Lodgers.—Robberies are frequently committed by lodgers in various parts of the metropolis, in low as well as in middle-class localities.

  A great many of these are committed in low neighbourhoods, by abandoned women, frequently young. They commit depredations in their own room, or in other rooms in the house in which they lodge, by entering open doors, or by turning the key when the door is locked, while the parties are out. Many of these are done by prostitutes of the lowest order, who sometimes steal the linen, bedding, wearing-apparel, and other property, and pawn or sell it.