“When Captain Jack first did this, he acted with so much art that he acquired a very great deal of reputation, not only from those who dealt with him, but even from people of a higher station, who, observing the industry with which he prosecuted malefactors, took him for a friend of justice, and, as such, afforded him countenance.
“He was constantly bringing men to the gallows, and, in order that he might keep up that character which he had attained in all his course of acting, not one man escaped him.
“When this practice of Jack became noted it produced not only much discourse but some inquiries into his behaviour.
“Jack and Bates also foresaw all this, and, in order to evade all evil consequences, they put, upon such occasions, an air of gravity, and complained of the evil dispositions of the times, which would not permit a man to serve his neighbours and his country without censure.
“‘For do not I,’ said Jack, ‘do the greatest good when I persuade people who deprived others of their property to restore it to them again for a reasonable consideration, and the villains who I have brought to suffer punishment, do not their deaths show how much use I am to my country? Why, then, should people asperse me?’
“Besides these professions of honesty, two great things there were which contributed to his preservation, which were these—
“First, the great readiness government always shows in detecting persons guilty of capital offences, in which cases it is common to offer not only pardon but rewards to persons guilty, provided they make discovery, and this Captain Jack was so sensible of that he did not screen himself behind the lenity of the supreme power, but made use of it also as an authority, taking upon him, as it were, the character of a minister of justice, which, however ill-founded, proved of great advantage to him in the course of his life.
“The other point which contributed to keep him from prosecution, was the great willingness of people who had been robbed to discover their goods, so that, provided for a small sacrifice they regained things very considerable, they were so far from bringing the offender to justice that they thought the premium as a cheap price to get off.
“Thus, by the lenity of the subject and the rigour of the magistrate, Captain Jack claimed employment.
“And, according as the case required it, the poor thieves were either trussed up to satisfy the just vengeance of the one, or protected and encouraged to satisfy the demands of the other.