Part 11 (2/2)
This plan, if pursued as steadily as that which already prevails in regulating Bakers, promises to produce very valuable benefits to the lower ranks of people at a very small expence.
VII. _Cheats and Swindlers who a.s.sociate together, and enter into a conspiracy for the purpose of defrauding Tradesmen of their goods._--One of these sharpers generally a.s.sumes the character of a Merchant;--hires a genteel house, with a counting-house, and every appearance of business.--One or two a.s.sociates take upon them the appearance of Clerks, while others occasionally wear a livery: and sometimes a carriage is set up, in which the ladies of the party visit the shops, in the stile of persons of fas.h.i.+on, ordering goods to their apartments.--Thus circ.u.mstanced, goods are obtained on credit, which are immediately p.a.w.ned or sold, and the produce used as a means of deception to obtain more, and procure recommendations, by offering to pay ready money,--or discount bills.
When confidence is once established in this way, notes and bills are fabricated by these conspirators, as if remitted from the country, or from foreign parts; and application is made to their newly acquired friends, the tradesmen, to a.s.sist in discounting them. Sometimes money and bills upon one another are lodged at the bankers for the purpose of extending their credit, by referring to some respectable name for a character.
After circulating notes to a considerable amount, and completing their system of fraud by possessing as much of the property of others as is possible, without risk of detection, they move off; a.s.sume new characters; and when the bills and notes are due, the parties are not to be found.
Offences of this sort, where an actual conspiracy cannot be proved, which is generally very difficult, are not easily punished; and it seems of importance that frauds and impositions of this sort, and others of the same nature, where the confidence of tradesmen and manufacturers is abused by misrepresentation and falsehood, should be defined, so as to render it difficult for the parties to escape punishment.
VIII. _Cheats who take genteel Lodgings, dress elegantly, a.s.sume false names_:--pretend to be related to persons of credit and fas.h.i.+on--produce letters familiarly written to prove an intimacy,--enter into conversation, and shew these letters to tradesmen and others, upon whom they have a design--get into their good graces, purchase wearing apparel and other articles, and disappear with the booty.
This species of offence would be very difficult to reach by any existing Law, and yet it is practised in various shapes in the Metropolis, whereby tradesmen are defrauded to a very considerable extent.--Some legislative guards would certainly be very desirable to define and punish these offences also.
IX. _Cheats, who have been formerly in the service of Milliners, Mantua-Makers, Taylors, and other Traders, who have occasion to send to shop-keepers and warehous.e.m.e.n for goods_;--These, after being discharged from their service, getting into the company of sharpers and thieves, while out of place, teach them how to personate their former employers; in whose names they too frequently succeed in obtaining considerable quant.i.ties of goods before the fraud is discovered.
It would certainly be a good rule at no time to deliver goods upon a verbal message; and it would be useful if all persons discharging servants, would give notice of it to every tradesmen with whom they deal.
X. _Cheats who personate Gentlemen's footmen_; These order goods to be sent to a genteel lodging, where the a.s.sociate is waiting, who draws upon some banker in a distant part of the town for the money; or, if the check is refused, a country bank-note (the gentleman just being arrived in town) is offered to be changed, which, although a forgery, often succeeds: if this should also fail, this mischievous cla.s.s of people, from habit and close attention to the means of deception, are seldom at a loss in finding out some other expedient; and before the fraud is discovered, the parties are off; and the master transformed into the livery-servant, to practise in his turn the same trick upon some other person.
XI. _Cheats who a.s.sociate systematically together, for the purpose of finding out and making a prey of every person from the country, or any ignorant person who is supposed to have money, or who has come to London for the purpose of selling goods._--It is usual in such cases for one of them to a.s.sume the character of a young 'Squire, just come to his estate; to appear careless and prodigal, and to shew handfuls of bank-notes, all of which are false and fabricated for the purpose.
Another personates the guardian of the 'Squire, while a part of the a.s.sociates pretend to sit down to play, and having won money of the young spendthrift, who appears extremely ignorant and profuse, the stranger's avarice gets the better of his prudence, and he is induced at length to try his luck,--the result is that he is soon left without a penny.
XII. _Cheats who prowl about in all the streets and lanes of the trading part of the Metropolis, where shopmen and boys are carrying parcels_: These, by means of various stratagems, find out where the parcels are going, and regulating their measures accordingly, seldom fail by some trick or other, (such as giving the lad a s.h.i.+lling to run and call a coach,) to get hold of the property.--Porters and young men from the country should be particularly cautious never to quit any property intrusted to their care, until delivered (not at the door) but within the house to which it is directed.
XIII. _Cheats who attend Inns, at the time that coaches and waggons are loading or unloading._ These by personating _porters_ with ap.r.o.ns and knots, or _clerks_ with pens stuck in their wigs or hair, and by having recourse to a variety of stratagems, according to the peculiar circ.u.mstances of the case, aided by their having previously noticed the address of several of the parcels, seldom fail of success, in the general hurry and confusion which prevails at such places. This proves how necessary it is at all times to have one or two intelligent officers of justice, who know the faces of thieves, in attendance, while goods are receiving and delivering.
XIV. _Cheats who go from door to door collecting money; under pretence of soliciting for a charitable establishment_, for the benefit of poor children, and other purposes. But the money, instead of being so applied, is generally spent in eating and drinking; and the most infamous imposition is thus practised upon the charitable and humane, who are the dupes of this species of fraud in too many instances.
XV. _Sharpers who are known by the name of Duffers._ These go about from house to house, and attend public houses, inns, and fairs, pretending to sell smuggled goods, such as India handkerchiefs, waistcoat patterns, muslins, &c. By offering their goods for sale, they are enabled to discover the proper objects, who may be successfully practised upon in various ways; and if they do not succeed in promoting some gambling scheme, by which the party is plundered of his money, they seldom fail pa.s.sing forged country bank notes, or base silver and copper in the course of their dealings.
XVI. _Female Sharpers who dress elegantly, personate women of fas.h.i.+on, attend masquerades, and even go to St. James's._ These, from their effrontery, actually get into the circle; where their wits and hands are employed in obtaining diamonds, and whatever other articles of value, capable of being concealed, are found to be most accessible.
The wife of a well-known sharper, lately upon the town, is said to have appeared at Court, dressed in a stile of peculiar elegance: while the sharper himself is supposed to have gone in the dress of a clergyman.--According to the information of a noted receiver, they pilfered to the value of 1700. on the King's birth-day (1795,) without discovery or suspicion.
Houses are kept where female Cheats dress and undress for public places.--Thirty or forty of these sharpers generally attend all masquerades, in different characters, where they seldom fail to get clear off with a considerable booty.
XVII. _Among the cla.s.ses of Cheats may be ranked a species of Female Bankers._ These accommodate barrow-women and others, who sell fish, fruit, vegetables, &c. in the streets, with five s.h.i.+llings a day; (the usual diurnal stock in trade in such cases;) for the use of which, for twelve hours, they obtain a premium of _six-pence_, when the money is returned in the evening, receiving thereby at this rate, about _seven pounds ten s.h.i.+llings a year_ for every five s.h.i.+llings they lend out!
The Author, in the course of his Magisterial duty, having discovered this extraordinary species of fraud, attempted to explain to a barrow-woman on whom it was practised, that by saving up a single _five s.h.i.+llings_, and not laying any part of it out in gin, but keeping the whole, she would save 7. 10_s._ a year, which seemed to astonish her, and to stagger her belief.--It is to be feared, however, that it had no effect upon her future conduct, since it is evident that this improvident and dissolute cla.s.s of females have no other idea than that of making the day and the way alike long.--Their profits (which are often considerably augmented by dealing in base money, as well as fruit, vegetables, &c.) seldom last over the day, for they never fail to have a luxurious dinner and a hot supper, with abundance of gin and porter:--looking in general no farther than to keep whole the original stock, with the _six-pence_ interest, which is paid over to the female banker in the evening; and a new loan obtained on the following morning, of the same number of s.h.i.+llings again to go to market.
In contemplating this curious system of Banking, (trifling as it seems to be) it is impossible not to be forcibly struck with the immense profits that arise from it. It is only necessary for one of these female sharpers to possess a capital of _seventy s.h.i.+llings_, or three pounds ten s.h.i.+llings, with fourteen steady and regular customers, in order to realize an income of ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS a year!
XVIII. _Cheats who pretend to tell fortunes._ These impose on the credulity of the public, by advertis.e.m.e.nts and cards; pretending a power, from their knowledge of astrology, to foretell future events, to discover stolen property, lucky numbers in the Lottery, &c.
The extent to which this mischief goes in the Metropolis is almost beyond belief; particularly during the drawing of the Lottery.--The folly and phrenzy which prevail in vulgar life, lead ignorant and deluded people into the snare of adding to the misfortunes which the Lottery occasions, by additional advances of money (obtained generally by p.a.w.ning goods or apparel) paid to pretended astrologers for suggesting _lucky numbers_, upon which they are advised to make insurances; and under the influence of this unaccountable delusion, they are too often induced to increase their risks, and ruin their families.
One of these impostors who lived long in the Curtain-Road, Sh.o.r.editch, is said, in conjunction with his a.s.sociates, to have made near 300. a year by practising upon the credulity of the lower orders of the people.--He stiled himself (in his circulating cards) an _Astronomer and Astrologer_; and stated, _That he gave advice to Gentlemen and Ladies on business, trade, contracts, removals, journies by land or water, marriages, children, law-suits, absent friends, &c._ And further, that _he calculated nativities accurately_,--His fee was half-a-crown.
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