Some commence their work at 8 and 9 in the morning, others do not rise till 11 or 12. They are generally seen about 11 or 12 o’clock—sometimes till dusk. Some work in the evening, and not during the day, while others are out during the day, and do nothing in the evening. In times of great public excitement, when crowds are assembled, such as at the late fire at London Bridge, when those great warehouses were burnt down—they are in motion from the lowest to the highest. They are generally as busy in summer time as in the winter. When the gentry and nobility have retired to their country-seats in the provinces, crowds of strangers and tourists are pouring into the metropolis every day.
They often travel into the country to attend races such as Ascot, the Derby at Epsom, and others in the surrounding towns. They go to the Crystal Palace, where the cleverest of them may be frequently seen, also to Cremorne, the Zoological Gardens Regent’s Park, the theatres, operas, ball-rooms, casinos, and other fashionable places of amusement—sometimes to the great crowds that usually assemble at Mr. Spurgeon’s new Tabernacle.
They also occasionally make tours in different parts of the United Kingdom and to Paris, and along the railways in all directions.
The most accomplished pickpockets reside at Islington, Hoxton, Kingsland Road, St. Luke’s, the Borough, Camberwell, and Lambeth, in quiet, respectable streets, and occasionally change their lodging if watched by the police.
They have in most cases been thieves from their cradle; others are tradesmen’s sons and young men from the provinces, who have gone into dissipated life and adopted this infamous course. These fast men are sometimes useful as stalls, though they rarely acquire the dexterity of the native-born, trained London pickpocket.
There are a few foreign pickpockets, French and others. Some of them are bullies about the Haymarket. There are also some German pickpockets, but the foreigners are principally French. As a general rule, more of the latter are engaged in swindling, than in picking pockets. Some of the French are considered in adroitness equal to the best of the English. There are also a few Scotch, but the great mass are Irish cockneys, which a penetrating eye could trace by their look and manner. Many of them have a restless look, as if always in dread of being taken, and generally keep a sharp look-out with the side of their eye as they walk along.
They differ a good deal in appearance. The better class dress very fashionably; others in the lower class do not dress so well. The more dexterous they are, they generally dress in higher style, to get among the more respectable and fashionable people. Some of the female pickpockets also dress splendidly, and have been heard to boast of frequently stealing from 20l. to 30l. a-day in working on ladies’ pockets. They are sometimes as adroit as the men in stealing ladies’ purses, and are less noticed lingering beside them on the streets, by the shop-windows, and in places of public resort.
Yet, though well dressed, there is a peculiarity about the look of most of the male and female pickpockets. The countenance of many of them is suspicious to a penetrating eye. Many of them have considerable mental ability, and appear to be highly intelligent.
The most dexterous pickpockets generally average from twenty to thirty-five years of age, when many of them become depressed in spirit, and “have the steel taken out of them” with the anxiety of the life and the punishments inflicted on them in the course of their criminal career. The restlessness and suspense of their life have the effect of dissipation upon a good many of them, so that, though generally comparatively temperate in the use of intoxicating liquors, they may be said to lead a fast life.
Some of them take a keen bold look, full into your countenance; others have a sneaking, suspicious, downcast appearance, showing that all is not right within.