1756. Narrative of the THIEF-TAKER S. 303

31. Tho. Cobbe, of Bedford-street, upholsterer.-Ifaac Worthington, of Mac clesfield, thrower.

June 5. George Howlett, of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, flax-dreffer.

8. Sam. Morris, of Norwich, grocer. 12. William Aufter, of Birmingham, threadman.

15. Edmund Lord, jun. and Lawrence Afhworth, jun. of Hundersfield, in Lancafhire, clothiers and partners.

A

Some extracts from Mr. Cox's Narrative of the thief-takers, alias sbief-makers, MacB daniel, Berry, Salmon, Gahagan, Mary Jones, and others.

very short and proper in

Atroduction, Mr. Cox gives us an ac

Count of these thief-makers practices, as follows:

bery on any person that shall come in his way, fometimes with, and fometimes without the knowledge of him, or them who are to be sworn against; the robbery being done, the confederate draws his companion to a certain place, (if in Black Boy-alley the better, that spot being famous for thieves at that time) or to fome lodging, as before agreed on, where the rest of the thief-takers at proper time come and apprehend them together, their own confederate and all; to whom they appear to be entire ftrangers, and they are all carried before a juftice, where they have art enough to get their own compa. nion admitted an evidence, and the next feffions, which is generally in a day or two, he, they, and the prosecutor, whom they take care to find out, convicts the unhappy wretch; and the evidence confederate comes in for part of the reward, and then fets up for a thief-taker himself, Cand employs others in the poft he has gone through; this is quite a different derivation of a thief-taker to that which fome people deduce them from, and indeed different from what fome of them really are; for on enquiry, I find, that feveral of those who were tried and found guilty of the rescue at the Gatehoufe, and fentenDced to undergo three years imprisonment in Newgate (where no doubt they received a good education) did, after their times were expired, set up for themselves, and follow the trade of thief-taking.

But to proceed. In tracing their tranfactions, I find, that various have been the projects by them made use of to accomplish their defigns; and fometimes they have been hardy enough to fwear a robbery against one or more lads, who never were near the place they fwore them to be at; as was the cafe of Alexander and Pritchard, and of Baily and Swannick, the one being almost twenty years ago, the other eight, which will be inferted in the courfe of this narrative; but as Berry and his companions were then detected, it made them more wary, and they found it neceffaryalways to get thevictims totheplace under fome pretence or other, and then they could swear the robbery whether any was done or not. In order thereto.they ufed to employ a perfon of fome art and a confederate of theirs, to introduce himself E into the company of thofe unfortunate and thoughtless creatures (defperate and artful villains they feldom meddling with) and who had been tried for fmail offences at the Old Bailey, and acquitted.

At this place it was, that the thiefMakers conftantly attended, that they might have an opportunity of fixing their eyes upon and becoming perfectly acquainted with their mark, the wretch whom they had pointed out for deftruction; whence well might it become a faying, when one of thofe poor creatures was difcharged from the Old-Bailey, that they should be fure of him in a fettions or two, for it was impoffible to escape the fnares laid for them': The mark fixt, this G agent, or confederate of the thief-takers or thief-makers, which you please to call them, being well inftructed, gets himself into the unhappy creature's company, treats them with victuals and drink, and afterwards they take an airing together in the evening, and himself commits a rob

But to proceed. I find many inftances where fometimes two, three, or four boys have been drawn in to be present at a fham houfe-breaking, and then apprehended by the thief-takers; the confederate (as is agreed turns evidence) convicts the others of a burglary, and gets forty pounds apiece for the number of convicts; and this he does with such artfulness as to deceive the court, to whom they all ap pear to be strangers.

Some of these unhappy creatures have been trepanned by remarkable goods being put in a window, fome by a pocketpiece, or other pieces of money being mark'd and put in a till; to either of which the decoy-duck, as I may call him, leads his companion, takes the goods, and then carries him to an appointed place to dif ofe of the things ftolen, where he knows they are to be stopt. And in order to lay this contrivance under a still Atronger covering, the apprehender advertifech, in fome one or more of the publick papers, fuch and fuch goods, with fuch marks, topt; in order, as he would have it thought, to come at the owner, tho' himself, and the goods, and the owner were all perfectly well acquainted before.

See Seffions Paper, Feb. 1750.

This

304

Artifices of the THIEF-TAKERS.

This hath generally had the effect defired, viz. to make the cafe of him who has ftopt the goods appear clear and fair in the eyes of the court. And in order

more furely to prevent a difcovery of fuch
wicked machinations, thofe exploits were
generally pertormed a day or two before
the feffions or affizes (as I have juft now A
noticed) which made it next to impoffible
for the friends of thofe victims (if they
had any) to discover the contrivance, until
too late. As for what the poor creatures
themfelves faid, it ftced for nothing, al-
tho' they loudly declared their innocence,
and with their dying breath would ac-
knowledge they ought to die for the fins
of an ill fpent life, but protefted their be- B
ing innocent of the fact for which they
fuffered.

I find likewife, as they advanced in their practice, they made improvements, and as it fometimes became a difficulty to get an agent or decoy-duck that would venture to put his life in the power of the law, for fear that after the robbery was done (which at firft was done on a ftranger) fome other persons, not in the fecret, might apprehend them first, and then the agent might be hanged for company; and another inconveniency attended it, which was, that the profecutor, or perfon robbed, came in for part of the reward; therefore to remedy that, one of their own confe

June

be fo much good conduct, diligence, refolution, and publick fpirit, that he de ferves, and it is to be hoped, will meet with fome confiderable reward from the government; for he had no call but from public fpirit to intermeddle at all in the affair, and could expect nothing but trouble, expence and danger in the profecution of it; in which, if he had not ufed great art as well as caution, he could never have come at a difcovery, much lefs at the apprehending and convicting the principal criminals, but for an account of this we must refer our readers to the book itself, as it would take up much more room than we can spare in our Magazine, and cannot admit of being abridg. ed. Therefore we shall only in general obferve, that from the account he has given, we may be furprized to fee how long thefe villains, with their confederates, have carried on thefe practices, without a difcovery; for he fhews, that they were begun near twenty years ago : And from the fame account we may fuppofe they have been the cause of a great many trapanned creatures being put to death for crimes they were either altogether innocent of, or led into with a defign that they might be apprehended, convicted, and hanged; for he obferves, that within the year 1749, there were no lefs than forty-five perlons convicted of Drobberies within the county of Middlesex only, the rewards for which amounted to 6300l. Whereas from August 15, 1754, when there practices were brought to light, to this prefent time, being almost two years, no more than fifteen have been convicted within the county of Middlefex; from whence we may judge, that above thirty-five of those poor creatures convicted in 1749, were trapanned by thefe villains, or iuch as thefe; one of whom, Gahagan, has already met with condign purifhment from the mob in Smithfield, and Macdaniel, Berry, and Jones, now ftand convicted upon an indictment for the murder of J. fhua Kidden; but their execution ftands ufpend Fed by a doubt in law; for tho' their heing maliciously the cause of his death was fully prov'd upon the trial, a doubt arofe, whether the tacts prov'd against them amounted in law to murder, which doubt is to be argued before the judges, and it is a doubt which could not have arifen in any other country where the Roman law is allowed to have any weight; for by that law it is exprefly declared, that witneffes who by a falfe and malicicus teftimony proce e an innocent man to be capitally condemed, thall be deemed guilty of murder .

derates was to be the perfon robbed, and
the agent was to draw in one, two, or
more to take a walk under different pre-
tences, and then to rob his acquaintance,
who was placed there on purpose, with
fome remarkable goods; this done, the
thief-takers were to apprehend those 1-at
were to be hanged for it, but the agent
was to escape: And whether thofe thus E
decoyed, confented to the robbery or not,
it was fufficient that they were prefent,
and the thief-takers could fwear the rest.
And it was always agreed, that if the a-
gent or decoy duck was taken up by any
information of the others in cuftody,
which indeed they took the best care they
could to prevent, for the faid agent never
let his companions know the right place
he liv'd at, but if by chance it did fo hap
pen, then the profecutor, on being fent
for, was to declare upon oath (if needfu)
that he was not the person that robhed
him, and therefore he must of course be
difcharged, and the perfon who accused
him incur an increafe of apparent guilt,
for accusing an innocent man; all that he
could fay to the contrary gaining no be-
lief.

He then gives us a very natural and appa. rently genuine account of the methods how he difcovered and apprehended these pro Agate villains, in which there appears to

G

Quive falfum teftimonium dolo malo dixerit, quo quis publico judicio rei capitalis damnan petur. Digest. Lib. 48. Tit. 8. $1.

The LONDON MAGAZINE:

Or, GENTLEMAN's Monthly Intelligencer. For JULY, 1756.

To be Continued. (Price Six-Pence each Month.)

Containing, (Greater Pariety, and more in Quaniity, than any Monthly Book of the same Price.

1. Life of General Blakeney.

II: Advices from Byng and Spry.

III. Fort St. Philip capitulates.
IV. Articles of the Capitulation.
V. Mathematical Pieces.

VI. Account of the Sugar Cane.
VII. The JOURNAL of a Learned and Poli-
tical CLUB, &c. continued: Containing
the SPEECHES of C. Popilius Lænas and
1. Vitorius Philo, on the Motion for tak-
ing off the Duties from Foreign Linen
'Yarn, &c.

VIII. Minutenefs of Seeds of Mofs,

IX. Analysis and Ufes of Peat.

X. Ufes of Dung in Vegetation.
X1. Difea'es of the Glands.

XXH. Labourers in their Vocations.
XXII. The Oftentatious old Batchelor.
XXIV. Affair of Mr. Bower.
XXV. Of the intermediate State.
XXVI. POETRY: Ode to Mr. Spencer; to
the Memory of a Gentleman and his Sifter;
to Amicus, on his Monitory Address; Re-
ply to the disappointed Lover; to Sallin-
da; a Ballad, on a late Promotion; Byng
to Cleveland verified; Epigram; Rebus;
a new Song fet to Mufick; a Minuet,

&c. &c. &c.

XXVII. The MONTHLY CHRONOLOGER:
Sheriffs elected; Motions and Exploits of
our Fleets and Cruizers; Byng and Fowke
fent home; Seffions at the Old Bailey;
French Fort taken; Whale Fishery; En-
couragement for Captures; Cambridge
Commencement; Meeting at Oxford;
Turtle at Penzance; &c. &c. &c.
XXVIII, Promotions; Marriages and Births;
Deaths; Bankrupts,

XXIX. Alterations in Lift of Parliament.
XXX. Prices of Stocks for each Day.
XXXI. Monthly Bill of Mortality.
XXXII. FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
XXXIII. A Catalogue of Books.

With a FINE HEAD of the Gallant Lieutenant-General BLA KENEY, beautifully

engraved on Copper, by a celebrated Hand.

MULTUM IN PARVO,

LONDON: Printed for R. BALDWIN, at the Rofe in Pater-Nofter-Row Of whom may be had, compleat Sets from the Year 1733 to this Time, neatly Bound, or Stitch'd, or any fingle Month to compleat Sets.

We are greatly obliged to A. Z. of Difs, for his kind offer; but muft defer bis firft favour to
our next. Britannia's elegy, the pindarick to Harke, the lines to Liberty, and the verses on the
abfence of a favourite lady are received, and will be inferted. The life of Calia cannot be ap-
proved of.

We have omitted any account of the fiege of Fort St. Philip, as nn English one has yet
been published, the French accounts are not to be depended upon, and a journal is expected from
proper bands,

THE

LONDON MAGAZINE.

For JULY, 1756.

ANECDOTES of General BLAKENEY, the brave Defender of St. Philip's Caille, in the land of Minorca, With Eis HEAD Curiously engraved.

L

B

IEUTENANT general William Blakeney, is of Irish extraction, and ve- A ry early entered into the fervice of his country, in which he behaved with diftinguished conduct and courage, and rofe, thro' the feveral military degrees, to the rank of colonel. In March 1743, he was conftituted a brigadier-general of his majesty's forces, and in March 1744, was appointed quarter-mafter general of the troops in Scotland. In April 1745, he was conftituted a major-general, and in February 1746, was made lieutenantgovernor of Plymouth. In the fame year he was appointed commander in chief of the forces in Scotland, and in Sept. 1747. Lieutenant-governor of the island of Minorca. In October 1747, he was conftituted a lieutenant-general of his majesty's forces, and about the year 1753, governor of Fort St. Philip, and is alfo colonel of the 27th regiment of foot, which is on the Irish establishment. On Aug. 21, 1745, foon after the breaking out of the rebellion, he fet out to join his regiment in Scotland, where, on October 27, he at- D

tacked the rear of a detachment of the
rebels, who were convoying ftores, &c.
at Alloway, and took from them a great
booty of cows, horfes, baggage, arms,
and fome money. Being, foon after,
made governor of that important fortress,
Stirling-caftle, he was beleaguered by the
rebel army, but made fo continual a fire

upon them, that he foon demolished the E
works they had begun to ere&t. To the
Pretender's fon's fummens to the caftle
to furrender, general Blakeney's answer
was, "That he had always been looked
upon as a man of honour, and the rebels
July, 1756.

fhould find he would die fo." He put
arms into the townfmen's hands, and ex-
pected they would have acted with vigour
in the defence of the place, but the pro-
vost and some of the council being inti-
midated, foon made a capitulation with
the rebels, in which they promised to
harm no one in the town, not even those
who bore arms, and that they would pay
for what they had. Upon advice of these
hameful proceedings, the general came
down to the town and went round all the
guards, exhorting them in these words,
"Gentlemen, Be true to your religion,
king and country, and defend your posts
to the last extremity; and if you are
overpowered by the rebels, make a hand-
fome retreat, and I will keep an open
door for you." This fpeech highly infpi-
rited the townfmen, who in general re-
folved to defend themfelves; but the pro-
voft and bailies being still bent upon de
livering up the town, a letter was fent
from the council to the general, with the
terms of a fecond agreement, to which,
justly incensed at their meanness and per-
fidy, he only returned this laconic an
(wer.
Jan. 8, 1746.
• Gentlemen, I received yours. Deli-
ver me up my arms and ammunition.
Your humble forvant."

Upon this the conveener, with the captains of the volunteers, fent again to the general, telling him, That if he would aid them with the militia, as formerly, and head them, they would ftand out the fiege till the army came up, &c. &c."! To which he return'd answer; 'Gentlemen, As your provoft and baillies think the town not worth their notice, to take care of it, neither can I. I will take care of the caftle.'

The next evening the town was fur rendered, and the minute they entered they broke the capitulation, by pillaging, &c. The general had reason to be greatly chagrined at this conduct of the magis frates; for, by lus care, the walls of the