The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-04-24
A LONDON CRIMINAL.
THE FOG THIEF AND HOW HE PLIES
HIS PECULIAR TRADE.

lie Operates Boldly Both In the City
and on thc Thanes-Carries OF His
PIunder From Vans and Cabs
shrouded In the Dense Gloom.
Thousands Of thieves long for fog
with great longing. Incredible as it
may seem, property worth tens OF thou
sands of pounds is every year stolen
from vans and lorries alone in London
streets. Quite nine-tenths Of this prop
erty disappears during fogs.
The leaders OF the fog thief gangs
usually have some little capital to
start with. One Of them affects to be
q carriage contractor on small scale.
He takes very quiet premises that have
a high boarding round and that are
not overlooked II he has plenty Of
cellarage, all the better. He has at
least one smart trap and horse and
two and sometimes three rogues to go
with it
1t is during the late foggy afternoons
and early evenings Of winter that the
hauls are made Streets with ware
houses-and not shops that are lighted
brilliantly and early-on each side and
that are often congested with traffic
are mostly chosen The small and
smart though dingy and inconspicuous
looking trap plunges into the thick Of
the traffic. It soon. in the gloom and
murk, places itself Immediately behind
van or lorry piled with packages of
various kinds.
The men in the quick trap are all on
the alert. One Of them, man chosen
for his immense physical strength, goes
to the head Of the pony on some pre-
text. He soon has a package down
from the van in front. He is provided
with sharp cutting instruments, and he
has powerful piece Of strap with q
hook at one end. If there is boy sit
ting behind the van, the men in the
trap contrive to get him down by di-
verting his attention. Even with
view to distracting the possible atten-
tion Of carriers, the thieves generally
get up an alteration, or barney,
among themselves or with others. They
are men Of colossal impudence and
powers Of abuse, and all attention be-
comes riveted upon them. In one case
not far from rarringdon street last De-
cember they carried off one parcel of
furs worth f7Q0. the van boy being
temporarily blinded. as alleged. by a
lad with the thieves blowing some
snuff into his face from pea shooter
and then disappearing.
One Of the most notorious Of these
fog thieves was a 1.-THE young fellow
who crept along the back OF a pony to
its head. American jockey fashion, and
hooked what he could from out Of the
van in front.
The great hauls Of these men are
when they follow cabs and private car
riages from railway station. In such
cases they generally use two traps and
horses. A cab is marked that has ap-
parently valuable luggage on the top.
This is followed till some dark street
is reached where tie way is narrow or
con~estcd: then the driver Of one OF
the traps. that has 4 very swift pony
laraesSed to it. deliberately drives
across the head OF the cab or carriage
horse
Of course there IS an angry alterca-
ton. and while this is going cn the
thieves cn the other trap have got into
the immediate rear OF the luggage Ia
den vehicle. One Of the thieves goes
along his horses back and lifts the lug
gage down.
one Of the hau!s effected last winter
IN this way was worth $4,000 and was
the property OF Mr. de Silva. an Arsen-
tina millionaire. The robbery took place
not far fro., st. Pancras' church just
before the shops were lighted Up.
AS the summer sun brings forth
n,yriads Of living creatures. so does
Thames fog bring out upon the dark
anu apparently deserted river vast
horde Of thieves At least dozen OF
the wharf and lighter owners complain
of losing from their respective wharves
as much as from one to six hundred
pounds worth of coal alone every year.
The reader can learn at any river
side house frequcnted by tugboat men
that there are scores. literally scores. Of
tugs on the river that have never
bought 4 pennyvorth Of coal for great
numbers Of years. The Thames police
would tell that same reader that men
have retired on completeness who have
been reported to have made their whole
fortune out Of coal stolen with i'm
punity en- the river.
The police arc helpless over the vasE
e.panSe OF river anG in the labyrintb
ine backwaShcs II they raid one os
the pirate boats III the gloom and dark
ness. the spell is turned OFT 10 the
bottom OF the river in a tree II this
sort OF thing can be done To such an
extent with commodity like s-,ai. II
NAV be imagined what befa!ls other
valuable property on wharves or IL
lighters.
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