The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 295: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE HANGMAN IN HIS GLORY AGAIN) 275 agents, and are themselves but seldom seen in the trans- actions. ‘‘ Another dangerous class of persons who profit by the crimes which they do not directly commit themselves are the putters-up of burglaries; and these are very often marine-store dealers, or else flashy-looking fellows frequent- ing public-houses. This latter class is specially dangerous; they get hold of servant girls who come to fetch the beer, pretend to court them, worm out of them the secrets of the houses to which they belong, and then give the requisite information to the cracksmen or burglars. Livery servants are frequently putters-up of burglaries. The cracksman or burglar generally dresses shabby, like a distressed trades- man; they remain all day in low public-houses or boozing- kens, drinking or playing at skittles. ‘‘ At the bottom of Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, is Capel Court; and there lives a blacksmith who makes house- breakers’ implements. Cracksmen go to him and give their orders; he tells them when the implements will be ready, and appoints to meet them at some boozing-ken, perhaps quite in another part of London. The sum agreed upon is paid at this interview; and the blacksmith hands over a brown paper parcel, containing all the implements, stating that the packet has just come up from the country.” Having thus afforded our readers a specimen of Mr. Larry Sampson’s diary, we will now return to the Hangman, whom we left busily engaged in consulting those entries and statements which specially regarded himself and the members of the gang to which he belonged. He was still deep in his somewhat unpleasant though interesting studies, when the thought suddenly floated to his mind that he was incurring a great risk of detention by prolonging his intrusion in the privacy of the officer’s sanctum. He therefore resolved to beat a precipitate retreat; and closing the book, he stole forth from the room, shut the door behind him, relocked it by means of the skeleton key which had ere now opened it, and then crept stealthily down-stairs into the breakfast-parlour. Fortunate indeed was it that he took this step just at the moment; for scarcely had he seated himself in the parlour, when Dame Margery made her appearance. ‘““Mr. Sampson,” she said, ‘‘ has this moment sent up Com | an | ELO@O) SS (CO) im