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

by Mayhew, Henry

  We select a few illustrations of various modes of swindling which prevail over the metropolis.

  A young man calls at a coffeehouse, or hotel, or a private lodging, and represents that he is the son of a gentleman in good position, or that he is in possession of certain property, left him by his friends, or that he has a situation in the neighbourhood, and after a few days or weeks decamps without paying his bill, perhaps leaving behind him an empty carpet bag, or a trunk, containing a few articles of no value.

  An ingenious case of swindling occurred in the City some time since. A fashionably attired young man occupied a small office in White Lion Court, Cornhill, London. It contained no furniture, except two chairs and a desk. He obtained a number of bracelets from different jewellers, and quantities of goods from different tradesmen to a considerable amount, under false pretences. He was apprehended and tried before the police court, and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

  At the time of his arrest he had obtained possession of a handsome residence at Abbey Wood, Kent, which was evidently intended as a place of reference, where no doubt he purposed to carry on a profitable system of swindling.

  Swindlers have many ingenious modes of obtaining goods, sometimes to a very considerable amount, from credulous tradesmen, who are too often ready to be duped by their unprincipled devices. For example, some of them of respectable or fashionable appearance may pretend they are about to be married, and wish to have their house furnished. They give their name and address, and to avoid suspicion may even arrange particulars as to the manner in which the money is to be paid. A case of this kind occurred in Grove Terrace, where a furniture-dealer was requested to call on a swindler by a person who pretended to be his servant, and received directions to send him various articles of furniture. The goods were accordingly sent to the house. On a subsequent day the servant called on him at his premises, with a well-dressed young lady, whom she introduced as the intended wife of her employer, and said they had called to select some more goods. They selected a variety of articles, and desired they should be added to the account. One day the tradesman called for payment, and was told the gentleman was then out of town, but would call on him as soon as he returned. Soon after he made another call at the house, which he found closed up, and that he had been heartlessly duped. The value of the goods amounted to 58l. 18s. 4d.

  Swindling is occasionally carried on in the West-end in a bold and brilliant style by persons of fashionable appearance and elegant address. A lady-like person who assumed the name of Mrs. Gordon, and sometimes Mrs. Major Gordon, and who represented her husband to be in India, succeeded in obtaining goods from different tradesmen and mercantile establishments at the West-end to a great amount, and gave references to a respectable firm as her agents. Possessing a lady-like appearance and address, she easily succeeded in obtaining a furnished residence at St. John’s Wood, and applied to a livery stablekeeper for the loan of a brougham, hired a coachman, and got a suit of livery for him, and appeared in West-end assemblies as a lady of fashion. After staying about a fortnight at St. John’s Wood she left suddenly, without settling with any of her creditors. She addressed a letter to each of them, requesting that their account should be sent to her agents, and payment would be made as soon as Captain Gordon’s affairs were settled. She expressed regret that she had been called away so abruptly on urgent business.

  She was usually accompanied by a little girl, about eleven years of age, her daughter, and by an elderly woman, who attended to domestic duties.

  She was afterwards convicted at Marylebone police court, under the name of Mrs. Helen Murray, charged with obtaining large quantities of goods from West-end tradesmen by fraudulent means.

  A considerable traffic in commercial swindling in various forms is carried on in London. Sometimes fraudulently under the name of another well-known firm; at other times under the name of a fictitious firm.

  A case of this kind was tried at the Liverpool assizes, which illustrates the fraudulent system we refer to. Charles Howard and John Owen were indicted for obtaining goods on false pretences. In other counts of their indictment they were charged with having conspired with another man named Bonar Russell—not in custody—with obtaining goods under false pretences. The prosecutor Thomas Parkenson Luthwaite, a currier at Barton in Westmoreland, received an order by letter from John Howard and Co. of Droylesden, near Manchester, desiring him to send them a certain quantity of leather, and reference was given as to their respectability. The prosecutor sent the leather and a letter by post containing the invoice. The leather duly arrived at Droylesden; but the police having received information gave notice to the railway officials to detain it, until they got further knowledge concerning them. Howard and Russell went to the station, but were told they could not get the leather, as there was no such firm as Howard and Co. at Droylesden. Howard replied that there was—that he lived there. It was subsequently arranged that the goods should be delivered, on the party producing a formal order. On the next day, Owen came with a horse and cart to Droylesden station, and asked for the goods, at the same time producing his order.

  They were delivered to him, when he put them in his cart and drove off. Two officers of police in plain clothes accosted him, and asked for a ride in his cart which he refused. The officers followed him, and found he did not go to Droylesden, but to a house at Hulme near Manchester, as he had been directed. This house was searched, and Howard and Russell were arrested. Howard having been admitted to bail, did not appear at the trial.

  On farther inquiries it was found there was no such firm as John Howard and Co. at Droylesden, but that Howard and Russell had taken a house there which was not furnished, and where they went occasionally to receive letters addressed to Howard and Co., Droylesden. Owen was acquitted; Howard was found guilty of conspiracy with intent to defraud.

  A number of cases occur where swindlers attempt to cheat different societies in various ways. Two men were tried at the police court a few days ago for unlawfully attempting to cheat and defraud a loan society to obtain 5l. The prisoners formed part of a gang of swindlers, who operated in this way:—Some of them took a house for the purpose of giving references to others, who applied to loan societies for an advance of money, and produced false receipts for rent and taxes. They had carried on this system for years, and many of them had been convicted. Some of the gang formerly had an office in Holborn, where they defrauded young men in search of situations by getting them to leave a sum of money as security. They were tried and convicted on this charge.

  There is another heartless system of base swindling perpetrated by a class of cheats, who pretend to assist parties in getting situations, and hold out flaming inducements through advertisements in the newspapers to working men, servants, clerks, teachers, clergymen, and others; and contrive to get a large income by duping the public.

  A swindler contrived to obtain sums of 5s. each in postage stamps, or post-office orders, from a large number of people, under pretence of obtaining situations for them as farm bailiffs. An advertisement was inserted in the newspaper, and in reply to the several applicants, a letter was returned, stating that although the applicant was among the leading competitors another party had secured the place. At the same time another attempt was made to inveigle the dupe, under the pretence of paying another fee of 5s., with the hope of obtaining a similar situation in prospect. The swindler intimated that the only interest he had in the matter was the agent’s fee, charged alike to the employer and the employed, and generally paid in advance. He desired that letters addressed to him should be directed to 42, Sydney Street, Chorlton-upon-Medlock. He had an empty house there, taken for the purpose, with the convenience of a letter-box in the door into which the postman dropped letters twice a day. A woman came immediately after each post and took them away.

  On arresting the woman, the officers found in her basket 87 letters, 44 of them containing 5s. in postage stamps, or a post-office order payable to the swindler h
imself. Nearly all the others were letters from persons at a distance from a post office, who were unable to remit the 5s., but promised to send the money when they got an opportunity.

  On a subsequent day, 120 letters were taken out of the letter-box, most of them containing a remittance. This system had been in operation for a month. One day 190 letters were delivered by one post. It was estimated that no fewer than 3000 letters had come in during the month, most of them enclosing 5s.; and it is supposed the swindler had received about 700l., a handsome return for the price of a few advertisements in newspapers, a few lithographed circulars, a few postage-stamps, and a quarter of a year’s rent of an empty house.

  Another case of a similar kind, occurred at the Maidstone assizes. Henry Moreton, aged 43, a tall gentlemanly man, and a young woman aged 19 years, were indicted for conspiring to obtain goods and money by false pretences. The name given by the male prisoner was known to be an assumed one. It was stated that he was well connected and formerly in a good position in society.

  At the trial, a witness deposed that an advertisement had appeared in a Cornish newspaper, addressed to Cornish miners, stating they could be sent out to Australia by an English gold-mining company, and would be paid 20l. of wages per month, to commence on their arrival at the mines. The advertisement also stated that if 1s. or twelve postage stamps were sent to Mr. Henry Moreton, Chatham, a copy of the stamped agreement and full particulars as to the company, would be given.

  The prisoner was arrested, and 41 letters found in his possession, addressed to “Mr. H. Moreton, Chatham:” 25 of the letters contained twelve postage stamps each and some of them had 1s. inside. It was ascertained the female cohabited with him. It appeared that he had pawned 482 stamps on the 14th February, for 1l. 15s., 289 on the 21st, for 1l., and 744 on another day.

  Eighty-two letters came in one day chiefly from Ireland and Cornwall.

  On searching a box in his room they found a large quantity of Irish and Cornish newspapers, many of them containing the advertisement referred to.

  He was found guilty, and was sentenced to hard labour for fifteen months. The young woman was acquitted.

  The judge, in passing sentence, observed that the prisoner had been convicted of swindling poor people, and his being respectably connected aggravated the case.

  We give the following illustration of an English swindler’s adventures on the Continent.

  A married couple were tried at Pau, on a charge of swindling. The husband represented himself to be the son of a colonel in the English army and of a Neapolitan princess. His wife pretended to be the daughter of an English general. They said they were allied to the families of the Dukes of Norfolk, Leinster, and Devonshire. They came in a post-chaise to the Hotel de France, accompanied by several servants, lived in the style of persons of the highest rank, and run up a bill of 6000 francs. As the landlord declined to give credit for more, they took a château, which they got fitted up in a costly way. They paid 2500 francs for rent, and were largely in debt to the butcher, tailor, grocer, and others. The lady affected to be very pious, and gave 895 francs to the abbé for masses.

  An English lady who came from Brussels to give evidence, stated that her husband had paid 50,000 francs to release them from a debtors’ prison at Cologne, as he believed them to be what they represented. It was shown at the trial that they had received letters from Lord Grey, the King of Holland, and other distinguished personages. They were convicted of swindling, and condemned to one year’s imprisonment, or to pay a fine of 200 francs.

  On hearing the sentence the woman uttered a piercing cry and fainted in her husband’s arms, but soon recovered. They were then removed to prison.

  The assumption of a variety of names, some of them of a high-sounding and pretentious character, is resorted to by swindlers giving orders for goods by letter from a distance—an address is also assumed of a nature well calculated to deceive: as an instance, we may mention that an individual has for a long period of time fared sumptuously upon the plunder obtained by his fraudulent transactions, of whose aliases and pseudo residences the following are but a few:—

  Creighton Beauchamp Harper; the Russets, near Edenbridge.

  Beauchamp Harper; Albion House, Rye.

  Charles Creighton Beauchamp Harper; ditto.

  Neanberrie Harper, M. N. I.; The Broadlands, Winchelsea.

  Beauchamp Harper; Halden House, Lewes.

  R. E. Beresford; The Oaklands, Chelmsford.

  The majority of these residencies existed only in the imagination of this indefatigable cosmopolite. In some cases he had christened a paltry tenement let at the rent of a few shillings per week “House”; a small cottage in Albion Place, Rye, being magnified into “Albion House.” When an address is assumed having no existence, his plan is to request the postmaster of the district to send the letters, &c., to his real address—generally some little distance off—a similar notice also being given at the nearest railway station. The goods ordered are generally of such a nature as to lull suspicion, viz., a gun, as “I am going to a friend’s grounds to shoot and I want one immediately”; “a silver cornet”; “two umbrellas, one for me and one for Mrs. Harper”; “a fashionable bonnet with extra strings, young looking, for Mrs. Harper”; “white lace frock for Miss Harper, immediately”; “a violet-coloured velvet bonnet for my sister,” &c., &c., &c., ad infinitum.

  A person, pretending to be a German baron, some time ago ordered and received goods to a large amount from merchants in Glasgow. It was ascertained he was a swindler. He was a man of about forty years of age, 5 feet 8 inches high, and was accompanied by a lady about twenty-five years of age. They were both well-educated people, and could speak the English language fluently.

  A fellow, assuming the name of the Rev. Mr. Williams, pursued a romantic and adventurous career of swindling in different positions in society, and was an adept in deception. On one occasion, by means of forged credentials, he obtained an appointment as curate in Northamptonshire, where he conducted himself for some time with a most sanctimonious air. Several marriages were celebrated by him, which were apparently satisfactorily performed. He obtained many articles of jewellery from firms in London, who were deceived by his appearance and position. He wrote several modes of handwriting, and had a plausible manner of insinuating himself into the good graces of his victims.

  He died a very tragical death. Having been arrested for swindling he was taken to Northampton. On his arrival at the railway station there, he threw himself across the rails and was crushed to death by the train.

  There is a mode of extracting money from the unwary, practised by a gang of swindlers by means of mock auctions. They dispose of watches, never intended to keep time, and other spurious articles, and have confederates, or decoys, who pretend to bid for the goods at the auctions, and sometimes buy them at an under price; but they are by arrangement returned soon after, and again offered for sale.

  We have been favoured with some of the foregoing particulars by the officials of Stubbs’ Mercantile Offices; the courtesy of the secretary having also placed the register of that extensive establishment at our service.

  Number of cases of fraud and conspiracy with intent to defraud in the Metropolitan districts for 1860 325

  Ditto, ditto, in the City 51

  376

  Value of property thereby abstracted in the Metropolitan district £ 3,443

  Ditto, ditto, in the City 2,429

  £ 5,872

  BEGGARS AND CHEATS

  INTRODUCTION

  IN primitive times beggars were recognised as a legitimate component part in the fabric of society. Socially, and apart from state government, there were, during the patriarchal period, three states of the community, and these were the landowners, their servants, and the dependants of both—beggars. There was no disgrace attached to the name of beggar at this time, for those who lived by charity were persons who were either too old to work or were incapacitated from work by bodily affliction. This being t
he condition of the beggars of the early ages, it was considered no less a sacred than a social duty to protect them and relieve their wants. Many illustrious names, both in sacred and profane history, are associated with systematic mendicancy, and the very name of “beggar” has derived a sort of classic dignity from this circumstance. Beggars are frequently mentioned with honour in the Old Testament; and in the New, one of the most touching incidents in our Lord’s history has reference to “a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at the rich man’s gate.” Nor must it be forgotten that the father of poetry, the immortal Homer, was a beggar and blind, and went about singing his own verses to excite charity. The name of Belisarius is more closely associated with the begging exploits ascribed to him than with his great historical conquests. “Give a halfpenny to a poor man” was as familiar a phrase in Latin in the old world as it is to-day in the streets of London. It would be tedious to enumerate all the instances of honourable beggary which are celebrated in history, or even to glance at the most notable of them; it will be enough for the purpose we have in view if I direct attention to the aspects of beggary at a few marked periods of history.

  It will be found that imposture in beggary has invariably been the offspring of a high state of civilization, and has generally had its origin in large towns. When mendicancy assumes this form it becomes a public nuisance, and imperatively calls for prohibitive laws. The beggar whose poverty is not real, but assumed, is no longer a beggar in the true sense of the word, but a cheat and an impostor, and as such he is naturally regarded, not as an object for compassion, but as an enemy to the state. In all times, however, the real beggar—the poor wretch who has no means of gaining a livelihood by his labour, the afflicted outcast, the aged, the forsaken, and the weak—has invariably commanded the respect and excited the compassion of his more fortunate fellow-men. The traces of this consideration for beggars which we find in history are not a little remarkable. In the early Saxon times the relief of beggars was one of the most honourable duties of the mistress of the house. Our beautiful English word “lady” derives its origin from this practice. The mistress of a Saxon household gave away bread with her own hand to the poor, and thence she was called lef day, or bread giver, which at a later period was rendered into lady. A well-known incident in the life of Alfred the Great shows how sacred a duty the giving of alms was regarded at that period. In early times beggary had even a romantic aspect. Poets celebrated the wanderings of beggars in so attractive a manner that great personages would sometimes envy the condition of the ragged mendicant and imitate his mode of life. James V. of Scotland was so enamoured of the life of the gaberlunzie man that he assumed his wallet and tattered garments, and wandered about among his subjects begging from door to door, and singing ballads for a supper and a night’s lodging. The beggar’s profession was held in respect at that time, for it had not yet become associated with imposture; and as the country beggars were also ballad-singers and storytellers, their visits were rather welcome than otherwise. It must also be taken into account that beggars were not numerous at this period.