The “Flatcatchers” obtain what they want by false pretences; as swindlers, duffers, ring droppers, and cheats of all kinds.
The “Hunter” and “Charley Pitchers” obtain what they want by gaming; as thimblerig men, &c.
The “Bouncers” and “Besters” obtain what they want by betting, intimidating, or talking people out of their property.
The “Cadgers” obtain what they want by begging, and exciting false sympathy.
The Vagrants obtain what they want by declaring on the casual ward of the parish workhouse.
The Prostitutes obtain what they want by the performance of an immoral act.
Each of these, again, are unmistakeably distinguished from the rest. The “Flatcatchers” are generally remarkable for great shrewdness, especially in the knowledge of human character and ingenuity in designing and carrying out their several schemes. The “Charley Pitchers” appertain more to the conjuring or sleight-of-hand and blackleg class. The “Cadgers,” again, are to the class of cheats what the “Sneaksmen” are to the thieves, the lowest of all, being the least distinguished for those characteristics which mark the other members of the same body. As the “Sneaksmen” are the least daring and expert of all the thieves, so are the “Cadgers” the least intellectual and cunning of all the cheats. A “shallow cove,” that is to say, one who exhibits himself half naked in the streets as a means of obtaining his living, is looked upon as the most despicable of all, since the act requires neither courage, intellect, nor dexterity for the execution of it. The Vagrants, on the other hand, are the wanderers—the English Bedouins—those who, in their own words, “love to shake a free leg”—the thoughtless and the careless vagabonds of our race; while the Prostitutes, as a body, are the shameless among our women.
Such, then, are the characters of the voluntary non-workers, or professionally criminal class, the vagrants, beggars, cheats, thieves, and prostitutes—each order expressing some different mode of existence adopted by those who object to labour for their living. The vagrants, who love a roving life, exist principally by declaring on the parish funds for the time being; the beggars, as deficient in courage and intellect as in pride, prefer to live by soliciting alms of the public; the cheats, possessed of considerable cunning and ingenuity, choose rather to subsist by continual fraud and deception; the thieves, distinguished generally by a hardihood and comparative disregard of danger, find greater delight in risking their liberty by taking what they want, instead of waiting to have it given them; while the prostitutes, as deficient in shame as the beggars are in pride, prefer to live by using their charms for the vilest of purposes.
The exposition of the causes why the several species of voluntary non-workers object to labour for their living, I shall reserve for a future occasion; that they do object to work is patent in the fact that they might sustain themselves by their industry if they chose (for those who are unable to do so, and are consequently driven to dishonesty, have been purposely removed from the class).
The number of individuals belonging to the professional criminal class, we are not yet in a position to ascertain; but few dependable facts have been collected on the subject, and even these have been obtained so many years back that, with the increase of population, they have become almost worthless, except in a historic point of view. Such as they are, however, it will be as well to add them to this introduction to the class of voluntary non-workers, as the best information at present existing upon the subject.