Cannibals all! or, Slaves without mastersFitzhugh, George
General
Cannibals all! or, Slaves without masters
Fitzhugh, George
Slave labor; Slavery -- Justification; Slavery -- United States; Working class
The begging population of England, existing and increasing in spite of
municipal police, and notwithstanding the penalties of the vagrant act,
is divided into several classes; and we now propose to draw upon a
little pamphlet, mentioned at the head of this article, which has been
recently published at Birmingham, and which contains very accurate
details of the mendicant population--written by one who long frequented
the haunts of the vagrant community. The portion of the community to
which his details extend, belong principally to the hereditary and
professional class of beggars.
The writer of this family thus proceeds with his descriptive details:
'In order fully to explain each individual character, I shall
begin with those vagrants who generally obtain the most, and are
considered of the _first class_, and are by some termed 'Silver
Beggars,' but by travelers LURKERS.
'LURKERS are persons who go about with briefs, containing false
statements of losses by fire, shipwrecks, accidents, &c. The seals
and signatures of two or more magistrates are affixed to those
briefs, and they are so well written, that thousands of persons
are daily imposed upon by them. As there are so many different
ways used by these persons, it will be necessary to explain each
of them separately.'
The writer then enters into details as to '_the Fire-Lurkers_,' or
those, 'who go about begging for loss by fire.' They have false briefs,
pretended to be signed by two magistrates and the clergyman of the place
where the fire is alleged to have taken place. The documents are
accompanied by a sham subscription-book, and the brief is called, in the
mendicant's parlance, 'a sham,' whilst the subscription-book they name
'a delicate.' With this 'sham and delicate' the 'lurkers,' or beggars,
proceed all over the country; and the author states that one man, with
whom he was acquainted, 'had been a fire-lurker for fourteen years, and
had travelled through every county in England, and the greater part of
Wales.'
Then there is,
'_The Shipwrecked Sailor's Lurk._--Persons who go on this lurk,
generally represent themselves as captains or masters of merchant
ships, which have been wrecked, and they have, of course, lost all
their property; and their pretended loss always amounts to many
hundred pounds, sometimes even to thousands. This class of
impostors are very respectably dressed, having moustaches, gold
chains, &c.; they have either a well-written brief, or one partly
printed and filled up with writing and the seals and signatures of
two or three magistrates are placed at the bottom. I have seen
briefs of this description from almost every part of the kingdom.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account