The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-12 00:00:00

A MEETING OF LONDON THIEVE&

Last evening a gathering of a most peculiar
character took place in the neighbourhood of the Middlesex
Sessions-house, Clerkenwell-green, in accordance with an
advertised notice running thus :—" Thieves, thieves,
thieves, attend the public meeting in the Mission-house,
Turnmill-street, Clerkenwell, near to Hicks on Wed-
nesday evening next. Addresses will be delivered by •
returned convict and three convicted thieves. Doors open
at seven. Free admission." The building in which the
meeting was held ix part of rebuilt premises, No. 55,
Turnindl-street, immediately facing the wall of the
Metropolitan Railway, and used as the Cow-crass
Dinrict Mission-house. The large room originally
intended for the assembling of the fraternity is
nice and cleanly whitewashed, with comfortable seats
and a sort of platform or rostrum at the end facing the
entrance, and capable of accommodating about 100 or 350
persons when filled. In addition to the above, which was
advertised, a very pressing invitation was issued by Mr.
W. J. Cattlin, who acts as secretary to the minion, to all
the moat depraved characters in this notorious neighbour-
, hood, including, as it does, the purlieus of Cow-cross, West-
street, Saffron-hill, and the hundred-and-one adjuncts of
the Fryingpan-alley stamp. The thieves were visited
at their own homes, and in the quarters where
they were known by a privileged few to resort ; but
the result was that soon after the appointed hour the large
room was crammed to suffocation, and indeed at • subse-
quent period of the evening the demand of the crowd to
hear the various speakers was so vehement that it was
found necessary to despstch some of those down on the
list to speak to hold a second meeting in another part of
the building, and this was as speedily and as densely
crowded as the first, and still there were crowds of lin-
gerers outside who found it impossible to gain ad-
mission, and expressed their disappointment in no very
measured terms. Precisely at half-past seven the
proceedings commenced with Mr. Cattlin offering up a
suitable prayer, after which the assemblage, which up to
this time was composed about equally of males and females
j of nearly alleges and of • very quiet and respectful demea-
nour, commenced singing a hymn to the accompaniment of
a blind young woman on the harmonium, when a violent
rush was heard from the approaches from the street, and
I immediately the place was -besieged by a mob of men and
boys, who wore most indubitably the badge of the class to
which they belonged, and for whose especial benefit the
meeting had beencalled. Ineverydescriptionof dress, broad-
cloth coats, fustian suits, the seedy and shabby genteel, the
ragged shirt sleeve, unveeted, and a piece of string to
uphold the nether garment, with a majority of begrimed
flesh and suspiciously cropped hair ; this stream poured
into the place. The coarse sallies sod jests, and in some
few cases the condemnation of the atmosphere in language
not fitted for ears polite, completely drowned the sing-
ing and playing, and it was some time before
the efforts of the committee resulted in getting
this great influx properly stated, and restoring some-
thing like quiet. However, with all this apparent
rabble, the language uttered generally was not of
that character which might have been expected from
I that class. Beyond a slight admonition for laughing and
talking, there was nothing to complain of in the general
conduct of the closely-packed mass, unless it was the use of
such expressions as ` Come out, Jim, this is too hot for
! me," or" All right, Bill, I've sent out for a gallon of ale ;
let's have that." On the other hand, the majority paid
marked attention and respect to the addresses of the venous
speakers, and joined heartily in the singing of the hymns,
and in more than one case the tears could be seen running
I down the cheeks of some of the older thieves. One man, evi-
-1 dently approaching his allotted threescore and ten, sobbed
J audibly, on the expression of some well pointed moral,
j and wiped his eyes with his old cloth cap. Amongst the
juveniles the true character of Lord Shaftesbury's young
London Arab WAS plainly manifested. After singing the
64th Hymn, Mr. Cattlin delivered a short but impressive
address, introducing the " returned convict," and the
"converted thieves" to the meeting, and in doing so
spoke of his experience in the mission, and of the
, sorrow and misery of the thief, even in his best
I times, and their mental and bodily sufferings at
others. He pointed to the various scriptural texts which
were conspicuously platted in different parts of the room
in support of his exhortations to his hearers to repentance.
A young looking man, of foreign appearance (John F—),
j who was described as a converted billiard-marker and
, gambler, then offered a very long prayer, and some pot-
tions of the Scriptures were read. Jim 6 was then
introduced as one of the converted thieve*. He was
dressed in a suit of black, and appeared in • very anxious
mood to deliver his address. He traced the Watery of