The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
In chapter two of the present volume I brought down the record of crime
to the second decade of the present century. I propose now to continue
the subject, and to devote a couple of chapters to criminal occurrences
of a more recent date, only premising that as accounts become more
voluminous I shall be compelled to deal with fewer cases, taking in
preference those which are typical and invested with peculiar interest.
It is somewhat remarkable that a marked change soon comes over the
Calendar. Certain crimes, those against the person especially,
diminished gradually. They became less easy or remunerative. Police
protection was better and more effective; the streets of London were
well lighted, the suburbs were more populous and regularly patrolled.
People, too, were getting into the habit of carrying but little cash
about them, and no valuables but their watches or personal jewellery.
Street robberies offered fewer inducements to depredators, and
evil-doers were compelled to adopt other methods of preying upon their
fellows. This led to a rapid and marked increase in all kinds of fraud;
and prominent in the criminal annals of Newgate in these later years
will be found numerous remarkable instances of this class of
offence--forgeries committed systematically, and for long periods, as in
the case of Fauntleroy, to cover enormous defalcations; the fabrication
of deeds, wills, and false securities for the purpose of
misappropriating funds or feloniously obtaining cash; thefts of bullion,
bank-notes, specie, and gold-dust, planned with consummate ingenuity,
eluding the keenest vigilance, and carried out with reckless daring;
jewel-boxes cleverly stolen under the very noses of owners or
care-takers. As time passed, the extraordinary extension of all
commercial operations led to many entirely novel and often gigantic
financial frauds. The credulity of investors, the unscrupulous
dishonesty of bankers, the slackness of supervision over wholly
irresponsible agents, produced many terrible monetary catastrophes, and
lodged men like Cole, Robson, and Redpath in Newgate.
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