It was not a distinguished troupe, which perhaps accounts for his having been so promptly given a leading part in it. It consisted of two runagate apprentices, a drunken farrier, a stage-struck milliner, two ladies whose characters it were well not to study too closely, the manager's wife, a journeyman cobbler, a little girl seven years of age, and a stage-keeper, who alternated his stage-keeping with acting and barbering.
The theatre was a decrepit and almost roofless barn, and the stage consisted of loose boards propped up on empty barrels; while the scenery and the curtains were chiefly dilapidated blankets. Barn-storming in such pitiful circumstances did not suit our high-minded hero, who soon made his way to Manchester, where he became a schoolmaster, and a leading member of a local club, where he read the papers and conducted himself with such a show of authority that the parson, the lawyer, and the apothecary, who had before his coming disputed for pre-eminence over their fellow-members, yielded before his masterful ways. He shortly became High Constable, and soon began to abuse the position by blackmailing innkeepers and forging small drafts upon them. The more timid and easy-going submitted for a while to this, but others resented it in the very practical way of taking steps to secure his arrest. George then obeyed the instinct of caution and disappeared.
About the year 1774 the brothers met at a fair in Warwickshire, where Joseph had been playing the game of "hiding the horse," and had hidden three so effectively from their owners that he was presently able to sell them, unsuspected, for over £70. They then had thoughts of purchasing a farm, and travelled to King's Lynn, where, in the name of Stone, they lodged some time with a farmer. Pretending to be riders (i.e. travellers) to a London distiller, they wormed themselves into the confidence of the farmer and appointed him local agent for the non-existent firm, showing him tricks by which he would be able to water down the spirits he was to receive, and so cheat the retailers. On the strength of these confidences, they borrowed over a hundred pounds, and then decamped, leaving only their "sample bottles" of brandies and rums behind.
They thought it wise to travel far, and so made their way into Scotland, and in the name of Gilbert took a small farm, where they remained for only a few months, leaving secretly and at night with all the movables, and with two geldings belonging to a neighbour.
Cumberland had next the honour of affording them shelter. In October 1776 they were apprehended on a charge of forgery at Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, and must have received an altogether inadequate sentence, or perhaps escaped, for they are next found in Ireland, in the following summer, at Baltinglass, county Wicklow. They were shortly afterwards at Dublin, frequenting the clubs under the name of Jones. There they met a noted plunger of that time, one "Buck" English, and fooled him in the highest degree; cheating at hazard, and obtaining money from him in exchange for forged bills and drafts. At length, after a fierce quarrel with English, who fought with George in the Dublin streets and wounded him in the right hand, the Westons left for Holyhead. Landing there with plenty of ready money, they toured Wales at leisure; Joseph as "Mr. Watson," and George as his valet.
In May 1778 they were at Tenby. On leaving the inn, where they had stayed and run up a bill of £30, they paid the landlord with a forged cheque and departed grandly with the change, in a post-chaise and four. They then visited Brecon and Bideford; George now posing as master, in the name of Clark, and Joseph acting as Smith, his valet. Next they are found at Sutton Coldfield, then on the Sussex and Kentish coasts, where they purchased a vessel and became known to the fishermen of Folkestone, Deal, and Dover as the "Gentlemen Smugglers," trading between those parts and Dunkirk. They did very well, too, until an interfering Revenue cutter chased them and forced them to run their craft ashore.
After this exciting episode, they made their way to London, and led a fashionable life, strongly flavoured with gambling and forgery. George took a house in Queen Anne Street, and the two "commenced gentlemen," as we are told; George passing for a wealthy squire of sporting tastes. Hounds and whippers-in were almost daily at the door in the morning, and at night the rooms were filled with callow young men about town, attracted by the brilliant card-parties given—at which, it is scarcely necessary to add, they were thoroughly rooked.
The brothers lived here in great style, on the proceeds of forgery and cheating at cards. They induced a lady next door to lend a sideboard full of valuable silver plate, on the pretence that their own had not arrived from the country, and sold it; and, advertising largely that they were prepared to purchase plate, jewellery, and annuities, did, in fact, make several such purchases, paying for them in worthless bills. A good deal of the property thus obtained was stored at a residence they had hired at Beckenham, in the name of Green.
At length warrants were issued against them, and they fled to Scotland. At Edinburgh they posed as merchants trading with Holland, and acted the part with such complete success that they secured a considerable amount of credit. After forging and cashing numerous acceptances, they left for Liverpool, where, in the guise of "linen merchants," they repeated their Edinburgh frauds; and then, transferring themselves to Bristol, they became "African merchants." There they did a little privateering with one Dawson, but that, being legalised piracy, did not appeal to these instinctive criminals, to whom crime was a sport, as well as a livelihood.
London called them irresistibly, and they responded.