It has been remarked by many who have a pretty good knowledge of characters of this description that without receivers there would be no thieves, but we do not quite agree with this hypothesis. Thieves it is not possible to eradicate, but certainly the receivers offer every inducement for men to pursue dishonest courses, and it is most remarkable how few are ever brought to justice.
One of the most celebrated men of his time was a Jew, named “Ikey Solomons.”
He flourished some forty or fifty years ago, and his transactions with thieves of every description were of a magnitude which appeared at the time to be almost incredible and are said to have rivalled those of the famous Jonathan Wild.
When quite an old man “Ikey” came to grief. He had up to the time of his capture followed his nefarious calling for over half a century, and had managed some how or other to escape detection.
He was tried at the Old Bailey, but was, to the best of our belief, acquitted.
It has been said that Dickens drew his character of Fagin, in “Oliver Twist,” from the celebrated Ikey Solomons, but we are not disposed to give credence to this statement, as Ikey was, beyond the fact of his being a Jew “fence,” in every way dissimilar to Dickens’s hero.
When the name of Charles Peace was in every human mouth public interest was awakened by the spoils of a receiver of stolen property falling into the hands of the police.
The following paragraph, from a newspaper of the period, will, perhaps, interest the curious and inquisitive reader. It runs as follows:—
“There is at present, at the Bethnal-green Police-station, under the charge of Inspector Wildey, of the Criminal Investigation Department, attached to the K division, and Detective-sergeants Rolfe and Wallis, about one of the most extraordinary collections of stolen property ever seen in this metropolis.
“The goods are laid out in the library and reserve-room of the station, and consist of articles of almost every conceivable kind—at least as far as things of a portable nature are concerned.