The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-25
a THIEVES RATTLE.

Truly it is hard to understand, but it is an |
undoubted fact, that the criminal who in |
police nomenclature is slow thief (to dis |
tnguish him, it may be presumed, from ''the |
respectable thief') is without exception of all |
men the most comfortess and miserable; and
should the reader be so inquisive as to desire
to be informed of the grounds on which 1
arrive at this conclusion, beg to assure him
that l do not rely on hearsay, neither do |
depend on what thieves incarcerated for their
offences have told me. holding it to be hard
ly likely that a prisoner in prison would vaunt
his liking for crime and his eagerness to get
back to it. / have mixed with thieves at
liberty, an unsupported spy in their camp,
more than once. ! will quote an example
This was many years since, and as at the
time | published detailed account of the
visit, l may be excused from more than
briefly alluding to it here 1t was at thieves
rattle, held at u public-house in oneof the
lowest and worst parts of Westminster. l
was young in the field of exploration then,
and, from all that had heard and read,
made up my mind for something
very terrible and desperate. l
pictured to myself band Of rollicking des-
peradoes, staggering and insolent, with
plenty of money to pay for bottles of brandy
and egg-fip unlimited, and plenty OF brag-
ging discourse Of the doughty deeds OF the
past, and of their cold-blooded and desperate
lntentlODS Tor the future. llhcNlSC, my GA-
pectations of hope and fear included a rich
treat fin the shape of vocalization. 1t was
one fling to hear play-actors on the stage, III
their tame and feeble delineations of the
aneient game of ''high Toby and of the re-
donbtable doings of the Knights of the Road
SPOUT such soul-thrilling effusions as mix
nv Dolly Pals and Claude Duval, but
what must it be to listen to the same bold
Astayes out of the mouths of real roaring
Y boys, some of them, possibly the descend
ants of the very heroes who rode up Hol-
born Hill in a cart and who could not well
hear the good words the attendant chaplain
was uttering because of the noisy exchange
of boisterous ''chaf' taking place between
the short-pipe smoking driver, whose cart
seat was the doomed mans coffin, and the
gleeful mob that had made holiday to see the
fun!
But in all this was dismally disappointed.
I had procured ticket for the rattle from a
friendly police-inspector goodness only
knows how he came possessed OF them, but
he had quite a collection of similar tickets in
his pocket-bool), and, disguised for the occa-
sion, 1 entered the dirty little dram-shop,
and exhibited my credential to the landlord
at the bar SO far the business was promis-
ing. The said landlord was as il-looking a
villain as could be desired. He had broken
nose and a wooden leg, both of which
deformities were doubtless symptomatic OF
the furious brawls in which he occasionally
engaged with his ugly customers. AS | en-
tered he was engaged in low-whispered dis
course with three ruffians who might have
been brothers of his in similar way OF busl
ness, but bankrupt and gone to the dogs AS
advanced to the bar the four cropped Gaads
laid together in iniquity, separated suddenly,
and the landlord affected look of innocence.
and hummed harmless tune in a way that
was quite melOdramatic
/ intimated my business, and he replied
shortly, $50 on through, at the same time
indicating the back door by a jerk of his
thumb over his shoulder. Now for it! On
the other side of the back door discover ed a
stone-yard, at the extremity of which was
dimly visible in the darkness a long, low,
dilapidated building, with a light shining
through the chinks. This then, was the
robbers den!-a place to which desperate
men and women who made robbery and Outrage
the nightly business Of their lives resOrted t.
suuander in riot and debauchery their i'll
gotten gains 1t would not have surprised
me had found the doorleeper armed with
pair of ''trusty barlers, and every NAL
guest of the company with a life-preserve
sticking out at the breast pocket of his coat
The door was opened in response to my tai
at it. / gave the potman there stationed IN,
ticket and / entered. | must confess that m
first sensation, as | cast my eye carelessl
been induced to screw up my courage with 81
much pains for so small an occasion. Th
building I found myself in was a skittle
ground. furnished with forms and tables; an
there were present about thirty persons.
well as / can remember, of this number
third were women, young generally, one
two being mere girls Of sixteen or so. BIT
Jenny Diver was not there, nor Poll Maggo
nor Edgeworth Bess. No lady with ringle
curling over her alabaster shoulders found
seat on the knee of the gallant spark of hC
choice. No Captain Macheath was to be see
elegantly taking snuff out of a stolen damon
snutf-boX, or fiinging into the pink satin la
of his lady-love a handful of guineas to pa
for more brandy. Poor wretches the fema
shoulders there assembled spoke rather
bone than alabaster, while the washed-o
and mended cotton frocks served in place
pink satin, and hair of most humh
fashion surmounted faces by no meal
expressive either of genuine jollit
or even of a desperate determinati'
towards devil-may ay-careness and the drowniI
of care in the bowl There were no bow
even, as in the good old time, only vulg
pewter porter-pots, out of which the compa
thankfully swigged its foupenny. There W
no appearance of hilarity, or joviality eve
no more of brag and flourish, or of atfectat
of ease and freedom, than though every m
andwoman present were here lOckedup ''onl
mand, and any moment might be called o
to face that damning piece of kept-back e.
dence they all along dreaded was IN store
them. To be sure it was as yet early in t
evening, and though the company may ha
assembled mainly for the purpose of drowni
EEdull care " that malicious INN being but