The Difference between a Squib and a Puff

[probably to be taken with a pinch of salt, like all articles 'revealing' the true nature of the criminal underworld]

It appears by the Enquiry made by the Justices of the Peace for the City and Liberty of Westminster, that there are in the Parish of St. Paul's Covent-Garden twenty two Gaming Houses, some of which clear sometimes 100l. and seldom less than 40l. a Night.

The Gamesters have their proper Officers both Civil and Military, with Salaries proportionable to their respective Degrees, and the Importance they are of in the Service, viz.

A Commissioner or Commis, who is always a Proprietor of the Gaming Houses: He looks in once a Night, and the Week's Account is Audited by him and two other of the Proprietors.

A Director, who Superintends the Room.

The Operator, the Dealer at Faro.

Croupees, two who watch the Cards and gather the Money for the Bank.

A Puff, one who has Money given him to Play, in order to decoy others.

A Clerk, who is a Check upon the Puff, to see that he sinks none of that Money.

A Squib, who is a Puff of a lower Rank, and has half the salary of a Puff.

A Flasher, one who sits by to swear how often he has seen the bank stripped.

A Dunner, Waiters.

An Attorney or Solicitor.

A Captain, one who is to fight any Man that is peevish, or out of humour at the loss of his Money.

An Usher, who takes care that the Porter or Grenadier at the Door suffers none to come in but those he knows.

A Porter, who at most of the Gaming-Houses is a Soldier, hired for that purpose.

A Runner, to get Intelligence of all the Meetings of the Justices of the Peace, and when the Constables go upon the Search; his Fee half a Guinea.

Any Link-boy, Coachman, Chair-man, Drawer or other Person who gives notice of the Constables being up on search, has half a Guinea.

1. Daily Journal, 11 January 1722

A Proposal to put a stop to Street Robbing, 1728

To the Author of the London Evening Post ...

First, That an Order be directed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, and by the Justices in the Out-Parts, to the Constables of the respective Parishes, commanding them to be at their Watch Houses by Eight o'Clock in the Evening, from Michaelmas to Lady-Day, and by Nine o'Clock from Lady-Day to Michaelmas; and that they call over their Watch every Evening at the Time above-mentioned; and every Constable disobeying the said Order, for the first Office to forfeit 10l. the second Office 20l. and the third Offence 30l. and one Months Imprisonment, (the Money to go towards defraying the Charge of the Watch.) And that no Constable presume to go off of his Duty, or leave his Watch-house, unless on his Rounds, which he is to go once in an Hour, or two at farthest, under the abovementioned Penalties; there being nothing more common than for a Constable, after he has impanelled his Watch, either to go home to Bed, or else to the next Tavern, and leave the Care of the Inhabitants and the Watch to a drunken Beadle; by which Neglect in the Constable, many a House and Shop has been broke open, many a drunken Gentleman abused by the mercenary Beadles and Watchmen, by extorting Money from them to buy Drink, as well as many a Villain let go for a Bribe.

Secondly, That the Number of Watchmen in every Parish be doubled, and none younger than Twenty four, nor older than Forty-five at most employed, and their Pay doubled; That every Watchman be sworn to a due Observance of his Duty and the Orders which shall be given him in Print, at the Time of his Entrance, by the Constable, who should be authorized for that Purpose. And that no Constable discharge his Watch till Six in the Morning from Michaelmas to Lady-Day, nor before Five from Lady-Day to Michaelmas. And that each Constable discharge his Watch in his own proper Person at the Times abovementioned, under the Penalty aforesaid, and call them over at the Time of discharging them. That every Watchman be armed with a Brace of Pistols and a Hanger at the Parish Charege; (but as these are of dangerous Consequence, the Watchmen should be regulated according to a further Scheme printed in this Paper the 10th of October) that each be loaded every Night before the Constable with Powder and Ball, and drawn the next Morning at the Time of their Discharge, and left in the Care of the Constable till next Night. And that every Watchman be hired [....] Constable and Churchwarden and at the time sign an Instrument with a Penalty for his true and due Performance of his Duty for that Time, to prevent his leaving his Place on any Reprimand, or the like on Male-Behaviour. That no Watchmen beat his Round or call the Hour, it being very notorious that when a Villain is breaking open a House, the Watchman, by calling the Hour, gives Notice of his Coming, the Rogue has then nothing to do, but to conceal himself till the Watchman is gone by , and then he knows he has another Hour to work, in which Time he seldom misses to effect his Villainy; and by this Means most of te Shops and House are broke open in the Night, which, by the Watchman's going his Round silently would be prevented, and the Rogue often-times apprehended, by coming upon him unawares. That the Watch go their rounds every Hour, two together, without talking, unless upon a Challenge of Who's there? Who comes there? or the like. And every Watchman that shall come drunk up to his Watch, to be found so when upon it, or be absent at the Time of calling over either at Night or Morning, or otherwise neglecting his Duty, or disobeying his Orders, which as it will be Perjury so to do, shall for the first Offence be whipt and forfeit forty Shillings, and for the second Offence be pilloryed and discharged. These may seem to some very severe Injunctions and Impositions; but it is certain that our Watch have for many Years past been very negligent, (not to say any worse of them) and without a strict Regulation and Reform of THEM I dare undertake to say twill not be in that Power of human Prudence to prevent STREET ROBBERIES.

Thirdly, That every Street-Robber that shall be taken, whether Man or Woman, upon Conviction of the Fact, be executed in this Manner; if a Man Convict, as soon as he has received his Sentence, he shall have one hundred Lashes on his naked Back with a Wire Whip, and three Days afterwards be hanged in the same Street where the Robbery was committed. If a Woman as soon as convicted and Sentence past, she shall have a hundred Lashes in the same Manner as the Man, and be burnt the Fourth Day in Smithfield. Every convicting Prosecutor to receive the Reward allowed for such Conviction in open Court, as soon the Verdict is brought in, without any Fee or Reward whatsoever; and the Charge of such Prosecution to be sustained by the Parish where such Robbery was committed. Tho' this rigorous and severe way of Punishment may startle some at first, yet let such consider the Nature of the Thing, and the absolute Necessity there is for it; for is a base Set of Miscreants, who are so abandoned to Vice and Villainy will, in Defiance of all Laws Human and Divine, become the Pest of Society, and laugh even at the extremest Punishment which the Law has at present provided (HANGING) I think it highly reasonable and necessary, there should be some more severe Punishment constituted for them than at present, that DEATH might appear in his Ushering in more terrible, and the Execution more exquisite and dreadful; for it's Severity in the Punishment that must deter others from these Villainies: The unheard of Barbarities in these STREET-ROBBERS, do in strict Justice require as severe Punishments; and till they find it, all Efforts to suppress them will be useless and vain. I know very well none but the King and the Legislative Power can do this; and as the Sitting of the Parliament is near  approaching, I humbly and earnestly recommend it to the serious Consideration of our Worthy Representatives of this City, to think of the Heads of Bill to lay before that August Assembly, and heartily wish them Success in their Undertaking. For surely nothing can more redound to their Honour, than to excite themselves in the Defence of the Liberties of that City they represent, and which is now so villainously disturbed by a Set of Miscreants, that us Inhabitants with the utmost Hazard go about it, to transact their lawful Affairs, to the great Decay of the Trade of this NOBLE CITY.

Fourthly, if his Majesty at any time upon the Conviction of a Street-Robber whether Man or Woman, should (our of his Royal Goodness and natural Propensity to Mercy) be pleased to mitigate the Sentence of Death by Transportation, I wish it was humbly moved to his Sacred Person that the Offender might first be branded in the Forehead with these Letters (S.R.); and then transported for 21 years, under the Penalty of suffering as above on returning within the Time; then, like CAIN, all Mankind would know them.

I question not but if these four Articles (with the former inferred in this Paper) were strictly put in Execution, the Number and Mischiefs of these Miscreants would soon lessen./ For there's nothing more in it than to stop the Cause, and the Effect will naturally cease; and I believe the Articles with the former point out the Way in a good measure to it.

London Evening Post, 31 October 1728

Pigeon Thieves

Another piece of local crime from my neck of the woods ('South Hornsey' then being the name for some of modern Stoke Newington). Note the amount of money involved here ... "at least £200 worth of fowls, pigeons, rabbits &c." ... a substantial sum. Note also the mention of 'highwayman literature': youths were, it was supposed, encouraged to engage in criminality, by reading penny dreadfuls and idolising famous criminals.

CLERKENWELL. — EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES BY BOYS - HIGHWAYMAN LITERATURE - William Moore, 16 of 5, Wellington-street, Shacklewell; Arthur Noble, 18, of 16, Wellington-street, Shacklewell; Chas. Hayter, 15, of 40, Neville-road, South Hornsey; and Albert Brown, 14, of 21 Shakespeare-road, South Hornsey, were charged with being concerned togethez in stealing eight pigeons, the property of William Steel, of 25, Boughton-road, Stoko Newington. The prisoners further charged with being concerned together in stealing 32 pigeons, value 19l., the propaty of Samuel Tyzack, of 84, Stoke Newington-road. Detective,Baker, N division, informed the magistrate that the prisoners were believed to belong to a gang of youths and boys who had during the past few weeks stolen at least two hundred pounds' worth of fowls, pigeons, rabbits, &c., from the private gardets and outhouses in the neighbourhood of Stoke Newington and Islington. On Thursday night, having obtained a clue as to the identity of the robbers, he went to a disused house in Shakespeare-road, and on going to a cellar underneath he found the prisoners Hayter and Brown reclining on the ground on some shavings which they had brought for the purpose of making a bed. The prosecutor'e pigeons were all gathered together in a hamper, which was tied up ready for removal. On the officer entering Hayter turned a bull's-eye lantern upon him saving, "Oh, you've come, have you. All right." Baker then searched the prisonsrs, and found in their pockets four large coloured prints, the size of an ordinary newspaper, representing the deeds of highwaymen—"Brave Claud Duval," "Dick Turpin's Ride," &c. He took the prisoners into custody, and afterwards apprehended Moore and Noble, who in a defiant manner admitted having been concerned in planning the robbery.—Evidence was also given that the boys had on a previous date stolen the pigeons named in the second charge from the house in Stoke Newington-road. It was proved that they sold the pigeons to fancy dealers, and they now admitted the fact.—Mr. Hannay sentenced Moore and Noble to one month's imprisonmont with hard labour. Hayter and Brown he remanded for a week, in order to see if they could be sent to an industrial school.

Daily News 1884

Toll Rage

A random early-Victorian crime for you ... an incident of 'toll rage' reported in the Morning Post of 1 May, 1839:

WORSHIP STREET.—Yesterday the Duchess of Marlborough was summoned before Messrs. Codd and Mallard, a county magistrate, charged with having neglected to pay the toll of the Kingsland-gate ; and William Simpson, coachman in her Grace's employ, was also summoned on a charge of assaulting George Hawkins, the toll-collector.
    Mr. Simpson, superintendent of the collection of tolls under the commissioners of the metropolis roads, attended to support the case.
    James King, steward to the Duchess of Marlborough, stated the non-payment of the toll arose entirely from a mistake. In coming from Wanstead, where the Duchess had called upon a friend, the coachman came through the wrong gate, and her Grace was not aware that it was necessary to pay.
     Mr. Codd—Then as far as the Duchess is concerned she pleads guilty, and is ready to pay the toll?
    King said that he was ordered to pay.
     Mr. Codd—The charge against her Grace is then withdrawn, but that against the coachman is more serious, and we must proceed with that.
    The complainant stated that he was collector at the Kingsland gate on the 17th inst., between six and seven in the evening, when the defendant passed through with the carriage, which was drawn by two horses, and in which was her Grace and two children, he asked for the toll, when the defendant produced the Islington ticket. Complainant told him that it was not right. He then whipped his horses to go on. Complainant laid hold of their heads, and was carried about fifty yards, throughout which distance he, as well as the horses, was severely whipped. The coachman then showed the Dalsion-lane ticket, which complainant said was not right. The defendant again whipped his horses, which he continued doing for 30 yards. He then stopped, when her Grace, who was greatly frightened, offered complainant 10s. to compromise the alfair, which he refuoed to do.
    Mr. Codd—Are you sure that he struck you intentionally?
    Complainant—Yes, sir ; he cut my ears so that they bled most profusely.
    Mr. Wm. Fleetwood, Shacklewell-lane, stock-broker, said that he was in an omnibus when he saw the occurrence. The defendant whipped the complainant at least five-and-twenty times. The whipping was most severe and the conduct of the defendant was most shameful.
    By Mr. Codd—It appeared quite premeditated on the part of the defendant, and his conduct was most deliberate.
   Two other witnesses corroborated this statement, and who added that the complainant behaved very leniently.
    243 N said that he would have taken the defendant into custody but that the complainant objected.
    The defendant expressed his regret at his conduct, which he admitted was not to be justified, but he was very much excited. It was the first time that he had been through that gate, and it was entirely through error that he refused to pay. He was very sorry for the occurrence. He had been two years in the Marlborough family and had a wife and two children.
    Mr. Codd observed that, according to the act 4 Geo. IV. c. 95, he was liable to a penalty of 10l. He and his brother magistrate could scarcely make up their minds to reduce the fine; but it was only in consideration of his penitence, that he had a wife and family, and that he had been two years in his situation, that could induce a mitigation. Persons in his capacity must be taught that they would not be allowed to act with impunity; and if ever he should be brought to this office again, or should be taken to any other office another time, the full penalty would be levied. The defendant was fined 40s. and costs. The fine was paid.

The Unexpected Benefits of Corsets

Throughout the Victorian period, many people inveighed against corsets for damaging women's bones and bodies - 'tight-lacing' was recognised as a vice, although widely-practised. Corsetry, however, made of whalebone, had one advantage you rarely hear about  [my italics] ...

HATTON-GARDEN. ATTEMPTED MURDER. George Bailey, a youth about seventeen, was charged with having attempted to murder Mary Prendergast, a young woman, by stabbing her with a large knife. It appeared in evidence that on Thursday morning, last, about five o'clock, the Prisoner, who sells fish in a basket near Portpool-lane, Leather-lane, Holborn, was standing before his basket when the Prosecutrix asked him the price of his fish. He told her, and she refused to purchase, but laughed at him and jeered him.. . . . In the course of the evening the Prosecutrix was passing by, when the Prisoner rushed upon her with a knife which he uses to cut up the fish and, while in a great passion, he pluinged the knife several times at her heart, and the last thrust the point of the knife dug into her clothes, and would have entered her body had it not been that the bone of her stays prevented it ...  [Morning Post, 1833]

MARLBOROUGH-STREET. - AN UNNATURAL SON - Alfred Grant, a lad about nineteen years of age, of sullen aspect, was brought before Mr. Dyer, charged with having attempted to stab his own mother . . . James Grant, the brother of the prisoner, about sixteen years of age, said the prisoner came home to Grafton-street, Soho, on Monday afternoon, and some words having ensued between him and his mother, he seized a knife and made a stab at her. Fortunately the bone of his mother's stays turned the point of the knife ... [The Standard, 1837]

Catherine Connor, the person alluded to by the last witness, and who is in a state of pregnancy, deposed that she kept a fruit stall opposite to the Phoenix public-house and that on seeing the young man so savagely treated, she made use of the experssions just named, when Hill called her a --------, and kicked at her violently. Fortuantely for her she received two of the worse kicks aimed at her on the bone of her stays, otherwise they would, she had no doubt, have proved most serious to her from the situation she was then in. [The Morning Post, 1841]

Knifing cases involving corsetry are legion. Shootings, more rare - but you don't have to be a forensic scientist to suggest that, even in gun crimes, a corset might save your life:

Emil Fanselow, 24, a German waiter, was brought up on remand .... charged with shooting Clara Byford, his fellow-servant, at 1 Southwick-crescent, Hyde-park, with a revolver, and also with attempting to commit suicide . . . The injured woman was now in attendance for the first time, and, although the bullets have not been extracted from her body, she has almost entirely recovered . . . . On the evening of the 19th December she went into the prisoner's pantry for something, and he came up to her and kissed her, without a word being said. She said, "Be quiet, I am very cross with you," and went into the kitchen and laid the tea. A quarter of an hour after she went into the pantry to get some cups an saucers, and the prisoner came up to her, and she pushed him away. She was turning round to put some cups on the tray when he fired at her again [sic]. She heard the report and felt a pain in her side. She turned and looked at him, and he fired at her again. She said, "Oh, Emil, you have shot me!" He made no reply. She ran upstairs, and her mistress took her to the bedroom. She was conscious all this time. The stays produced were those she wore at the time. The two burns of them round the bullet-holes were made by the shots. [Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 1882]

So, ladies, if you live in a rough neighbourhood ... think whalebone!