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65 - Mysteries of London Vol I part 1 by George W M Reynolds · Mysteries of London Vol. I part 1

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Speaker 1: By George Reynold's Chapter sixty two. I was born thirty
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Speaker 1: eight years ago near the village of Walmer, in Kent.
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Speaker 1: My father and mother occupied a small cottage, or rather hovel,
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Speaker 1: made of the wreck of a ship upon the sea coast.
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Speaker 1: Their ostensible employment was that of fishing, but it would
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Speaker 1: appear that smuggling and body snatching also formed a portion
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Speaker 1: of my father's avocations. The rich inhabitants of Walmer and
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Speaker 1: Deal encouraged him in his contraband pursuits by purchasing French silks, gloves,
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Speaker 1: and the scents of him. The gentlemen, moreover were excellent
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Speaker 1: customers for French brandy, and the ladies for dresses and perfumes.
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Speaker 1: The clergyman of Walmer and his wife were our best
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Speaker 1: patrons in this way, and in consequence of the frequent
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Speaker 1: visits they paid our cottage, they took a sort of
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Speaker 1: liking to me. The parson made me attend the National
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Speaker 1: School regularly every Sunday, and when I was nine years
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Speaker 1: old he took me into his service to clean the
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Speaker 1: boot and knives, brush the clothes and so forth. I
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Speaker 1: was then very fond of reading, and used to pass
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Speaker 1: all my leisure time in studying books, which he allowed
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Speaker 1: me to take out of his library. This lasted till
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Speaker 1: I was twelve years old, when my father was one
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Speaker 1: morning arrested on a charge of smuggling and taken to
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Speaker 1: Dover Castle. The whole neighborhood expressed their surprise that a
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Speaker 1: man who appeared to be so respectable could turn out
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Speaker 1: such a villain. The gentleman who used to buy brandy
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Speaker 1: of him talked loudly of the necessity of making an
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Speaker 1: example of him. The ladies, who are accustomed to purchase gloves, silks,
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Speaker 1: and eau de cologne, wondered that such a desperate ruffin
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Speaker 1: should have allowed them to sleep safe in their bed.
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Speaker 1: And of course the clergyman and his wife kicked me
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Speaker 1: ignominiously out the door. As all things of this nature
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Speaker 1: create a sensation in a small community. The parson preached
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Speaker 1: a sermon upon the subject on the following Sunday, choosing
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Speaker 1: for his text render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
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Speaker 1: and unto God the things that are God's, and earnestly
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Speaker 1: enjoining all his congregation to unite in deprecating the conduct
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Speaker 1: of a man who had brought disgrace upon a neighborhood
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Speaker 1: until then famed for its loyalty, its morality, and its
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Speaker 1: devotion to the laws of the country. My father was
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Speaker 1: acquitted for want of evidence and returned home after having
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Speaker 1: been in prison six months waiting for his trial. In
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Speaker 1: the meantime, my mother and myself were compelled to receive
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Speaker 1: perish relief. Not one of the fine ladies and gentlemen
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Speaker 1: who had been the indirect means of getting my father
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Speaker 1: into a scrape by encouraging him and his illegal pursuits
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Speaker 1: would notice us. My mother called upon several, but their
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Speaker 1: doors were banged in her face. When I appeared at
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Speaker 1: Sunday school, the parson expelled me, declaring that I was
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Speaker 1: only calculated to pollute honest and good boys, and the
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Speaker 1: beadle thrashed me soundly for daring to attempt to enter
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Speaker 1: the church. All this gave me a very strange idea
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Speaker 1: of human nature and set me a thinking upon the
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Speaker 1: state of society. Just at that period of baronet in
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Speaker 1: the neighborhood was proved to be the owner of a
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Speaker 1: smuggling vessel and to be pretty deep in the contraband
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Speaker 1: business himself. He was compelled to run away and exit
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Speaker 1: checker process. I think they call it issued against his property,
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Speaker 1: and everything he possessed was swept away. It appeared that
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Speaker 1: he had been smuggling for years, and he had defrauded
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Speaker 1: the revenue to an immense amount. He was a widower,
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Speaker 1: but he had three children, two boys and a girl
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Speaker 1: at school in the neighborhood. Oh, then what sympathy was
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Speaker 1: created for these poor dear, bereaved little ones, as the
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Speaker 1: parson called them in a charity sermon which he preached
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Speaker 1: for their benefit. And there they were marshaled into the
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Speaker 1: parson's own pew by the beadle, and the parson's wife
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Speaker 1: wept over them. Subscriptions were got up for them. The
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Speaker 1: mayor of deal took one boy, the banker another, and
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Speaker 1: the clergyman's wife took charge of the girl. And never
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Speaker 1: was seen so much weeping and consoling and compassion before. Well.
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Speaker 1: At that time my mother had got so thin and
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Speaker 1: weak and ill through want and affliction, that her neighbors
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Speaker 1: gave her the name of Mummy, which she has kept
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Speaker 1: ever since. My father came home and was shunned by everybody.
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Speaker 1: The baronet's uncle happened to die at that period an
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Speaker 1: left his nephew an immense fortune. The baronet paid all
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Speaker 1: the fine, settled exchequer matters, and returned to Walmer. A
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Speaker 1: tromphul reception awaited him. Ball's parties, concerts the routes took
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Speaker 1: place in honor of the event, and the mayor, the banker,
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Speaker 1: and the clergyman and his wife were held up as
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Speaker 1: the patterns of philanthropy and humanity. Of course, the baronet
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Speaker 1: rewarded them liberally for having taken care of his children
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Speaker 1: in the hour of need. This business again set me
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Speaker 1: a thinking, and I began to comprehend that birth and
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Speaker 1: station made an immense difference in the views that the
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Speaker 1: world adopted of men's actions. My father, who had only
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Speaker 1: higgled and figgled with smuggling affairs upon a miserly small scale,
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Speaker 1: was set down as the most atrocious monster unhung because
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Speaker 1: he was one of the common herd. But the baronet,
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Speaker 1: who had carried on a systemic contraband trade to an
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Speaker 1: immense amount, was looked upon as a martyr to tyrannical
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Speaker 1: laws because he was one of the upper classes and
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Speaker 1: possessed a title. So my disposition was soured by these
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Speaker 1: proofs of human injustice at my very entrance upon life.
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Speaker 1: Up to this period, in spite of the contemplation of
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Speaker 1: the lawless trade carried on by my father, I had
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Speaker 1: been a regular attendant at church and at the Sunny School,
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Speaker 1: and I declare most solemnly that I never went to
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Speaker 1: sleep at night, nor commenced my mourning avocations without saying
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Speaker 1: my prayers. But when my father got into trouble, the
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Speaker 1: beadle kicked me out of the church, and the parson
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Speaker 1: drove me out of the school. And so I began
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Speaker 1: to think that if my religion was only serviceable and
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Speaker 1: available as long as my father remained unharmed by the law,
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Speaker 1: it could not be worth much. From that moment I
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Speaker 1: never said another prayer, and never opened a Bible or
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Speaker 1: prayer book. Still, I was inclined to labor to obtain
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Speaker 1: an honest livelihood, and I employed my father upon my
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Speaker 1: knees not to force me to assist in his proceedings
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Speaker 1: of smuggling and body snatching, to both which he was
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Speaker 1: compelled by dire necessity to return. The moment he was
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Speaker 1: released from jail, he told me I was a fool
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Speaker 1: to think of living honestly as the world would not
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Speaker 1: let me, but he added that I might make the
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Speaker 1: trial pleased with this permission, and sincerely hoping that I
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Speaker 1: might obtain some occupation, however menial, which would enable me
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Speaker 1: to eat the bread of honest toil, I went round
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Speaker 1: to all the farmers in the neighborhood and offered to
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Speaker 1: enter their service as a plowboy or stable boy. The
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Speaker 1: moment they found out who I was, they won, and
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Speaker 1: all turned me away from their doors. One said like father,
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Speaker 1: like son. Another asked if I was mad to think
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Speaker 1: that I could thus thrust myself into an honest family.
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Speaker 1: A third laughed in my face. A fourth threatened to
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Speaker 1: have me taken up for wanting to get into his
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Speaker 1: house to commit in felony. A fifth swore that there
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Speaker 1: was gallows written upon my countenance. A sixth ordered his
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Speaker 1: men to loosen the bull dog at me, and a
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Speaker 1: seventh would have had me ducked in his horse pond
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Speaker 1: if I had not run away. Dispirited but not altogether despairing,
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Speaker 1: I returned home. The following day. I walked into Deal,
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Speaker 1: which almost joins Walmer, and called at several tradesmen's shops
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Speaker 1: to inquire if they wanted an errand boy. My reception
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Speaker 1: by these individuals was worse than which I had met
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Speaker 1: at the hands of the farmer's. One asked me if
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Speaker 1: I thought he would run the risk of having his
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Speaker 1: house indicted as a receptacle for thieves and vagabonds. He
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Speaker 1: second pointed to his children and said, do you suppose
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Speaker 1: I want to bring them up in the road to
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Speaker 1: the gallows. A third locked up his till in affright
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Speaker 1: and threatened to call a constable, and a fourth lashed
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Speaker 1: me severely with a horse whip. Still I was not
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Speaker 1: totally disheartened. I determined to call upon some of those
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Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen who had been my father's best customers
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Speaker 1: for his contraband articles. One lady, upon hearing my business,
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Speaker 1: seize hold of the poker with one hand, in her
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Speaker 1: salts bottles with the other. A second was nearly fainting
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Speaker 1: and rang the bell for her maid to bring her
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Speaker 1: some Eau de cologne, the very eau de cologne which
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Speaker 1: my father had smuggled for her. A third begged me,
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Speaker 1: with tears in her eyes, to retire, or my very
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Speaker 1: suspicious appearance would frighten her lapdog into fits. And a fourth,
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Speaker 1: an old lady who was my father's best customer for
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Speaker 1: French brandy, held up her hand to heaven and employed
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Speaker 1: the Lord to protect her from all sabbath breakers, profane swears,
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Speaker 1: and drunkards. Finding that I had nothing to expect from
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Speaker 1: the ladies, I tried the gentleman, who had been accustomed
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Speaker 1: to patronize my father previous to his misfortune. The first
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Speaker 1: swore at me like a trooper, and assured me that
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Speaker 1: he always prophesied I should go wrong. The second spoke
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Speaker 1: civilly and regretted that his excellent advice had been thrown
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Speaker 1: away upon my father, whom he had vainly endeavored to
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Speaker 1: avert from his wicked courses. It was for smuggling things
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Speaker 1: for this gentleman that my father had been arrested. And
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Speaker 1: the third made no direct answer, but shook his head
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Speaker 1: solemnly and wondered what the world was coming to. I
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Speaker 1: was now really reduced to despair. I, however, resolved to
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Speaker 1: try some of the very poorest tradesmens in the town.
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Speaker 1: By this miserable creatures, I was received with compassionate interest,
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Speaker 1: and my case was fully comprehended by them. Some even
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Speaker 1: gave me a few halfpence, and one made me sit
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Speaker 1: down and dine with him, his wife and his children. They, however,
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Speaker 1: one and all, declared that they could not take me
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Speaker 1: into their service us, for if they did, they would
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Speaker 1: be sure to offend all their customers. Thus was it
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Speaker 1: that the overbearing conduct and atrocious tyranny of the more
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Speaker 1: wealthy part of the community compelled the poorer portions to
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Speaker 1: smother all sympathy in my behalf. A sudden thought now
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Speaker 1: struck me. I resolved to call next day upon the
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Speaker 1: very baronet, who had himself suffered so much in consequence
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Speaker 1: of the customs laws. Accelerated by the new hope awakened
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Speaker 1: within me, I repaired on the following morning to the
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Speaker 1: splendid mansion which he now inhabited. I was shown into
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Speaker 1: a magnificent room, which he received me lounging before a
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Speaker 1: cheerful fire. He listened very patiently to my tale, and
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Speaker 1: then spoke, as nearly as I can recollect, as follows,
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Speaker 1: My good lad I have not the slightest doubt that
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Speaker 1: you are anxious to eat the bread of honesty, as
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Speaker 1: you very properly express it. But that bread is not
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Speaker 1: within the reach of everybody and if we were all
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Speaker 1: to pick and choose in this world, my God, what
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Speaker 1: would become of us? My dear young man, I occupy
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Speaker 1: a prominent position amidst the gentry in these parts arts,
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Speaker 1: and I have also what duty to fulfill towards society.
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Speaker 1: Society has condemned you, unheard, I grant you. Nevertheless, society
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Speaker 1: has condemned you. Under these circumstances, I have no alternative
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Speaker 1: but to decline taking you into my service. And I
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Speaker 1: must moreover request you to remember that if you are
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Speaker 1: ever found loitering upon my grounds, I shall have you
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Speaker 1: put in the stocks. I regret that my duty to
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Speaker 1: society sun spots me thus to act. You may conceive
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Speaker 1: with what feelings I heard this long tirade. I was
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Speaker 1: literally confounded and retired without venturing upon a remonstrance. I
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Speaker 1: knew not what course to adopt. To return home and
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Speaker 1: inform my parents that I could obtain no work was
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Speaker 1: to lay myself under the necessity of becoming a smuggler
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Speaker 1: and body snatcher at once. As a desperate resource, I
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Speaker 1: thought of calling upon the clergyman and explaining all my
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Speaker 1: sentiments to him. I hope to be able to convince
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Speaker 1: him that although my father was bad, or supposed to
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Speaker 1: be bad, yet I have poor advice in all its shapes,
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Speaker 1: and was anxious only to pursue honest courses as a
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Speaker 1: Christian minister. He could not imagine be so uncharitable as
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Speaker 1: to infer my guilt and consequence of that of my parent.
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Speaker 1: And accordingly to him did I repair. He had just
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Speaker 1: returned to his own house from a funeral and was
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Speaker 1: in a hurry to be off on a shooting excursion,
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Speaker 1: for he had on his sporting garb beneath his surplice.
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Speaker 1: He listened to me with great impatience and asked if
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Speaker 1: my father still pursued his contraband trade. Seeing that I
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Speaker 1: hesitated how to reply, he exclaimed, turning his eyes up
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Speaker 1: to Heaven. Speak the truth, young man, and shame the devil.
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Speaker 1: I answered in the affirmative, and he then said, carelessly, well,
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Speaker 1: go and speak to my wife. She will act in
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Speaker 1: the matter as she chooses. Rejoiced at this hopeful turn
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Speaker 1: in the proceeding, I sought his lady as I was desired.
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Speaker 1: She heard all I had to say, and then observed,
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Speaker 1: not for worlds could I receive you into my house again.
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Speaker 1: But if your father has any silks and gloves, very
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Speaker 1: cheap and very good, I do not mind purchasing them.
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Speaker 1: And remember, she added, as I was about to depart,
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Speaker 1: I do not want these things. I only offer to
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Speaker 1: take them for the purpose of doing you a service.
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Speaker 1: My motive is purely a Christian one. I returned home, Well,
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Speaker 1: said my father, What luck this morning? None, I replied,
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Speaker 1: And what do you mean to do? Lad to become
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Speaker 1: a smuggler, a body snatcher, or anything else that you choose,
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Speaker 1: was my reply. And the sooner we begin, the better,
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Speaker 1: For I am sick and tired of being good. So
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Speaker 1: I became a smuggler and a resurrection man. You have
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Speaker 1: heard perhaps that deal is famous for its boatsmen and pilots.
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Speaker 1: It is also renowned for the beauty of the sailor's daughters.
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Speaker 1: One of those lovely creatures captivated my heart, for I
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Speaker 1: can even talk sentimentally when I think of those times.
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Speaker 1: And she seemed to like me in return. Her name
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Speaker 1: was Catherine Price, Kate Price, as she was called by
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Speaker 1: her acquaintance, and a prettier creature the sun never shone upon.
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Speaker 1: She was good and virtuous too, and she alone understood
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Speaker 1: my real disposition, which, even now that I bad embarked
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Speaker 1: in lawless pursuits, still panted to be good and virtuous.
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Speaker 1: Also at this time I was nineteen and she was
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Speaker 1: one year younger. We loved in secret, and we met
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Speaker 1: in secret, for her parents would not for one moment
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Speaker 1: have listened to the idea of our union. My hope
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Speaker 1: was to obtain a good sum of money by one
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Speaker 1: desperate venture in the contraband line, and run away with
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Speaker 1: Kate to some distant part of the country where we
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Speaker 1: could enter upon some way of business that would produce
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Speaker 1: as an honest livelihood. This hope sustained us. At this
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Speaker 1: time there were a great many six sailors in deal hospital,
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Speaker 1: and numerous funerals took place in the burial ground of
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Speaker 1: that establishment. My father and I determined to have up
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Speaker 1: a few of the corpse, for we always knew where
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Speaker 1: to dispose of as many subjects as we could obtain
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Speaker 1: by these means. I proposed to raise enough money to
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Speaker 1: purchase in France the articles that I meant to smuggle
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Speaker 1: into England, and thereby obtained the necessary funds for carrying
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Speaker 1: out the plans upon which Kate and myself were resolved
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Speaker 1: good luck attended upon my father and myself in respect
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Speaker 1: to the body snatching business. We raised thirty pounds, and
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Speaker 1: with that we set sail for France in the boat
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Speaker 1: that we always hired for our smuggling expeditions. We landed
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Speaker 1: in calass and made our purchases. We bought an immense
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Speaker 1: quantity of brandy at tenpence a quart, gloves at eightpence
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Speaker 1: a pair, and three watches at two pound ten each,
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Speaker 1: and some Odie cologne, proportionately cheap. A thirty pounds we
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Speaker 1: calculated would produce as one hundred and twenty. We put
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Speaker 1: out to sea again in about ten o'clock at night.
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Speaker 1: The wind was blowing stiff from the northeast, and by
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Speaker 1: the time we had been an hour at sea, it
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Speaker 1: increased to a perfect hurricane. Never shall I forget that
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Speaker 1: awful night. The entire ocean was white with foam, but
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Speaker 1: the sky above was as black as pitch. We weathered
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Speaker 1: the tempest until we reached the shore about a mile
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Speaker 1: to the southward of Wilmer, a place called Kingston. We
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Speaker 1: touched the beach. I thought everything was safe. A huge
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Speaker 1: bellow broke over the stern of the lugger and in
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Speaker 1: a moment, the boat was a complete wreck. My father
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Speaker 1: leapt on shore from the bow. At the instant this
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Speaker 1: catastrophe took place, I was swallowed up along with the
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Speaker 1: ill fated bark. I was, however, an excellent swimmer, and
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Speaker 1: I combat it and fought and struggled with the ocean
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Speaker 1: as a man would rustle with the savage animal that
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Speaker 1: held him in his grasp. I succeeded in gaining the beach,
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Speaker 1: but so weak and enfeebled was I that my father
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Speaker 1: was compelled to carry me to our hobo close by.
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Speaker 1: I was put to bed. A violent fever seized upon me.
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Speaker 1: I became delirious, and for six weeks I lay tossing
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Speaker 1: upon a bed of sickness. At length I got well,
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Speaker 1: but what hope remained for me we were totally ruined.
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Speaker 1: So was the poor fisherman whose boat was wrecked. Upon
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Speaker 1: that eventful night, I wrote a note to Kate to
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Speaker 1: tell her all that had happened, and to make an
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Speaker 1: appointment for the following Sunday evening that we might meet
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Speaker 1: and talk over the altered aspect of affairs. Scarcely had
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Speaker 1: I dispatched the letter to the care of Kate's sister
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Speaker 1: in law, who was in our secret and managed our
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Speaker 1: little correspondence. When my father came in and asked me
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Speaker 1: if I felt myself well enough to accompany him on
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Speaker 1: a little expedition that evening, I replied in the affirmative.
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Speaker 1: He then told me that a certain surgeon for whom
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Speaker 1: we did business and who resided in Deal, required a
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Speaker 1: particular subject, for which had been buried that morning in Walmertchurch.
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Speaker 1: I did not ask my father any more questions, but
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Speaker 1: that night I accompanied him to the burial ground between
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Speaker 1: eleven and twelve o'clock. The surgeon had shown my father
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Speaker 1: the grave in the afternoon, and we had a cart
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Speaker 1: waiting in the lane close by. The church is in
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Speaker 1: a secluded part, surrounded by trees and some little distance
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Speaker 1: from any habitations. There was no danger of being meddled with. Moreover,
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Speaker 1: we had often operated in the same ground before. To work.
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Speaker 1: We went in the usual manner. We shoveled out the soil,
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Speaker 1: broke open the coffin, thrust the corpse into a sack,
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Speaker 1: filled up the grave once more, and carried our price
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Speaker 1: safe off to the cart. We then set off at
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Speaker 1: a round pace toward Deal. And arrived at the back
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Speaker 1: door of the surgeon's house. By two o'clock he was
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Speaker 1: up and waiting for us. We carried the corpse into
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Speaker 1: the surgery and laid it upon a table. You are
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Speaker 1: sure it's the right one, said the surgeon. It is
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Speaker 1: the body from the grave that you pointed out, answered
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Speaker 1: my father. The fact is, resumed the surgeon, that this
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Speaker 1: is a very peculiar case. Six days ago, a young
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Speaker 1: female rose in the morning in perfect hell. That evening
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Speaker 1: he was a corpse. I opened her and found no
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Speaker 1: traces of poison, but her family would not permit me
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Speaker 1: to carry the examination any further. They did not wish
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Speaker 1: her to be hacked about. Since her death came. Some
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Speaker 1: love letters had been found in her drawer, but there
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Speaker 1: was no name attached to any of them. I began
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Speaker 1: to feel interested. I scarcely knew why, but this was
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Speaker 1: the manner in which I was accustomed to write to Kate.
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Speaker 1: The surgeon continued. I am therefore anxious to make another
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Speaker 1: and more searching investigation than on the former occasion into
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Speaker 1: the cause of death. But I will soon satisfy myself
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Speaker 1: that this is indeed the corpse. I mean with these
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Speaker 1: words the surgeon tore away the shroud from the face
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Speaker 1: of the corpse. I cast an anxious glance upon the pale, cold,
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Speaker 1: marble countenance. My blood ran cold, my legs trembled. My
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Speaker 1: strength seemed to have failed me. Was I mistaken? Could
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Speaker 1: it be the beloved of my heart? Yes, that is
17:50
Speaker 1: miss price, said the surgeon coolly. All doubt on my
17:53
Speaker 1: part was now removed. I had exhumed the body of her,
17:57
Speaker 1: whom a thousand times I had pressed to my sorrowful breast,
18:01
Speaker 1: whom I had clasped to my aching heart. I felt
18:04
Speaker 1: as if I had committed some horrible crime, a murder,
18:07
Speaker 1: or some other deadly deed. The surgeon and my father
18:11
Speaker 1: did not notice my emotions, but settled their accounts. The
18:14
Speaker 1: medical man then offered us each a glass of brandy.
18:17
Speaker 1: I drank mine with avidity, and then accompanied my father
18:20
Speaker 1: from the spot. Uncertain whether to rush back and claim
18:22
Speaker 1: the body or not, but I did not do so.
18:26
Speaker 1: For some days I wandered about, scarcely knowing what I did,
18:29
Speaker 1: and certainly not caring what became of me. One morning,
18:32
Speaker 1: I was roving immense the fields when I heard a
18:34
Speaker 1: loud voice exclaim, I say, you, fellow, there, open the gate,
18:39
Speaker 1: will you? I turned round and recognized the baronet on horseback.
18:42
Speaker 1: He had a large hunting whip in his hand. Open
18:45
Speaker 1: the gate, said I, and whom four? Whom four repeated
18:49
Speaker 1: the baronet. Why for me to be sure, fellow, Then
18:51
Speaker 1: open it yourself, said I. The baronet was near enough
18:54
Speaker 1: to me to reach me with his whip, and he
18:56
Speaker 1: dealt me a stinging blow across my face. Madden with
18:59
Speaker 1: pain and soured with vexation, I leapt over the gate
19:02
Speaker 1: and attacked the baronet with a stout ash stick, which
19:05
Speaker 1: I carried in my hand. I dragged him from his
19:07
Speaker 1: horse and thrashed him without mercy. When I was tired,
19:10
Speaker 1: I walked quietly away. He roaring after me that he
19:13
Speaker 1: would be avenged upon me as sure as I was born.
19:16
Speaker 1: The next day I was arrested and taken before a magistrate.
19:19
Speaker 1: The baronet appeared against me, and, to my surprise, swore
19:22
Speaker 1: that I had assaulted him with view to rob him,
19:25
Speaker 1: and that he had the greatest difficulty in protecting his person.
19:28
Speaker 1: Watch I told my story and showed the mark of
19:31
Speaker 1: the baronet's whip across my face. The justice asked me
19:34
Speaker 1: if I could bring forward any witnesses to character. The
19:37
Speaker 1: baronet exclaimed, how can he? He has just been in
19:40
Speaker 1: Dover Castle for smuggling. Never, I cried emphatically, well your
19:45
Speaker 1: father has then said the baronet. This I could not deny.
19:49
Speaker 1: Oh that's just the same thing, cried the magistrate, and
19:51
Speaker 1: I was committed to jail for the trial of the
19:53
Speaker 1: next Maidstone Assizes. For three months I lay in prison.
19:57
Speaker 1: I was not, however, completely hard and yet, nor did
20:00
Speaker 1: I associate with those who drank and sang and swore.
20:04
Speaker 1: I detested vice in all its shapes, and I longed
20:06
Speaker 1: for an opportunity to be good. It may seem strange
20:09
Speaker 1: to you, who know me now to hear me speak thus,
20:12
Speaker 1: but you were not aware of what I was. Then
20:15
Speaker 1: I was tried and found guilty. The next two years
20:18
Speaker 1: of my life I passed at the hulks at Woolwich,
20:20
Speaker 1: dressed in dark gray and wearing a chain round my leg.
20:23
Speaker 1: Even then I did not grow so corrupted, but that
20:26
Speaker 1: I sought for work. The moment I was set at
20:28
Speaker 1: liberty again, I resolved not to return home to my parents,
20:32
Speaker 1: for I detested the ways into which they had led me.
20:35
Speaker 1: Turned away from the hulks. One fine morning at ten o'clock,
20:38
Speaker 1: without a farthing in my pocket nor the means of
20:40
Speaker 1: obtaining a morsel of bread, my prospects were miserable enough.
20:44
Speaker 1: I could not obtain any employment at Woolworth. Evening was
20:47
Speaker 1: coming on and I was hungry. Suddenly I thought of enlisting.
20:50
Speaker 1: Pleased with this idea, I went to the barracks and
20:52
Speaker 1: offered myself as a recruit. The regiment stationed there was
20:56
Speaker 1: about to embark for the East Indies in a few
20:58
Speaker 1: days and wanted men. Although certain of being banished, as
21:01
Speaker 1: it were, to the most unhealthy climate for twenty one years,
21:04
Speaker 1: I preferred that to the life of a vagabond or
21:07
Speaker 1: criminal in England. The sergeant was delighted with me because
21:10
Speaker 1: I could read and write well, but the surgeon would
21:12
Speaker 1: not pass me. He said to me, you have either
21:15
Speaker 1: been half starved for a length of time, or you
21:17
Speaker 1: have undergone a long imprisonment, for your flesh is as
21:20
Speaker 1: flabby as possible. Thus was this hope destroyed? Now what
21:24
Speaker 1: pains had the law taken to make me good? Even
21:27
Speaker 1: supposing that I was really bad at the time of
21:29
Speaker 1: my condemnation. The law locked me up for two years,
21:32
Speaker 1: half starved me, and yet exacted from me much more
21:35
Speaker 1: labor as a strong, healthy man could have performed. Then
21:38
Speaker 1: the law turned me out into the wide world, so weak, reduced,
21:41
Speaker 1: and feeble, that even the last resource of the most wretched,
21:44
Speaker 1: namely enlisting in the regiment bound for India, was closed
21:47
Speaker 1: against me. Well that night I wandered into the country
21:50
Speaker 1: and slept under a hedge. On the following morning, I
21:53
Speaker 1: was compelled to satisfy the revenous cravings of my hunger
21:56
Speaker 1: with Swedish turnips plucked from the fields. This food lay
21:59
Speaker 1: so cold upon my stomach that I felt ready to
22:02
Speaker 1: drop with illness, misery, and fatigue. And yet in this
22:05
Speaker 1: Christian land, even that morsel against which my heart literally heaved,
22:10
Speaker 1: was begrudged me. I was not permitted to satisfy my
22:13
Speaker 1: hunger with the food of beasts. A constable came up
22:16
Speaker 1: and took me into custody for robbing the turnip field.
22:19
Speaker 1: I was conducted before a neighboring justice of the peace.
22:22
Speaker 1: He asked me what I meant by stealing the turnips.
22:25
Speaker 1: I told him that I had faceted for twenty four
22:27
Speaker 1: hours and was hungry nonsense. Hungry, he exclaimed, I'd give
22:31
Speaker 1: five pounds to know what hungry is. You kind of
22:34
Speaker 1: fellows eat turnips by way of luxury you do, and
22:37
Speaker 1: not because you're hungry. I assured him that I spoke
22:40
Speaker 1: the truth. Well, why don't you go to work, he demanded.
22:43
Speaker 1: So I will, sir, with pleasure, if you will give
22:46
Speaker 1: me employment, I replied, me give you employment, he shouted.
22:49
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have such a fellow about me if he'd
22:52
Speaker 1: work for nothing. Where did you sleep last night under
22:55
Speaker 1: a hedge, sir? Was my answer? I thought, so, exclaimed
22:59
Speaker 1: a rug and of vega. Evidently, and this excellent specimen
23:02
Speaker 1: of the great unpaid committed me forth which to the
23:05
Speaker 1: treadmill for one month as a rouke and vagabond. The
23:09
Speaker 1: treadmill is a horrible punishment. It is too bad even
23:12
Speaker 1: for those that are really rogues and vagabonds. The weak
23:16
Speaker 1: and the strong take the same turn without any distinction.
23:18
Speaker 1: And I have seen men fall down fainting upon the platform,
23:22
Speaker 1: with the risk of having their legs or arms us
23:24
Speaker 1: smashed by the wheel through their sheer exhaustion. Then the
23:28
Speaker 1: miserable fare that one receives in prison renders him more
23:31
Speaker 1: fit for a hospital than for the violent labor of
23:34
Speaker 1: the treadmill. I had been two years at the hulks
23:37
Speaker 1: and was not hardened. I had been a smuggler in
23:39
Speaker 1: a body snatcher, and was not hardened. But this one
23:42
Speaker 1: month's imprisonment and spell of the treadmill did harden me,
23:46
Speaker 1: and harden me completely. I could not see any advantage
23:49
Speaker 1: in being good. I could not find out any inducement
23:52
Speaker 1: to be honest. As for a desire to lead an
23:54
Speaker 1: honorable life, that was absurd. How I laughed the idea
23:58
Speaker 1: to scorn, and I swore with it myself that whenever
24:01
Speaker 1: I did commence a course of crime, I would not
24:03
Speaker 1: be an unsparing demon at my work. Oh how I
24:07
Speaker 1: then detested the very name of virtue. The rich look
24:10
Speaker 1: upon the poorest, degraded reptiles that are born in infamy,
24:13
Speaker 1: and cannot possibly possess a good instinct. I reasoned within myself.
24:17
Speaker 1: Let a rich man accuse a poor man before a justice,
24:20
Speaker 1: a jury, or a judge, and see how quick the
24:23
Speaker 1: poor wretch is condemned. The aristocracy hold the lower classes
24:27
Speaker 1: in horror and abhorrence. The legislature thinks that if it
24:30
Speaker 1: does not make the most grinding laws to keep down
24:32
Speaker 1: the poor, the poor will rise up and commit the
24:34
Speaker 1: most unheard atrocities. In fact, the rich are prepared to
24:37
Speaker 1: believe any infamy which is impuded to the poor. It
24:40
Speaker 1: was thus that I reasoned, and I looked forward to
24:43
Speaker 1: the day of my release with a burning, maddening, drunken joy.
24:47
Speaker 1: That day came, I was turned adrift as before, without
24:50
Speaker 1: a shilling, without a crust. That alone was as bad
24:53
Speaker 1: as branding the words rogue and vagabond upon my forehead.
24:56
Speaker 1: How could I remain honest, even if I had any
24:59
Speaker 1: longer been inclined to do so, When I could not
25:02
Speaker 1: get work, and had no money, no bread, no lodging.
25:05
Speaker 1: The legislature does not think of all this. It fancies
25:07
Speaker 1: that all its duty consists in punishing men for crimes,
25:11
Speaker 1: and never dreams of adopting measures to prevent them from
25:14
Speaker 1: committing crimes at all. But I now no more thought
25:17
Speaker 1: of honesty. I went out of prison a confirmed ruffian.
25:21
Speaker 1: I had no money, no conscience, no fear, no hope,
25:24
Speaker 1: no love, no friendship, no sympathy, no kindly feeling of
25:27
Speaker 1: any sort. My soul had turned to the blackness of hell.
25:31
Speaker 1: The very first thing I did was to cut myself
25:33
Speaker 1: a good tough ash stick with a heavy knob at
25:36
Speaker 1: one end. The next thing I did was to break
25:38
Speaker 1: into the house of the very justice who had sentenced
25:40
Speaker 1: me to the treadmill for eating a raw turnip. And
25:43
Speaker 1: I feasted jovially upon the cold fowl and ham which
25:46
Speaker 1: I found in his larder. I also drank success to
25:49
Speaker 1: my new career in a bumper of his final wine.
25:52
Speaker 1: This compliment was due him, he had made me what
25:54
Speaker 1: I was. I carried off a small quantity of plate,
25:57
Speaker 1: all that I could find, you may be sure, and
25:59
Speaker 1: took my departure from the house of the Justice. As
26:02
Speaker 1: I was hurrying away from this scene of my first exploit,
26:05
Speaker 1: I passed by a vine large barn, also belonging to
26:08
Speaker 1: my friend the magistrate. I did not hesitate a moment
26:11
Speaker 1: what to do. I owed him a recompense for my
26:14
Speaker 1: month at the treadmill, and I thought I might as
26:16
Speaker 1: well add incendery to my other titles of rogue and vagabond. Besides,
26:21
Speaker 1: I longed for mischief. The world had persecuted me long
26:24
Speaker 1: enough the hour of retaliation had arrived. I fired the
26:27
Speaker 1: barn and scampered away as hard as I could. I
26:30
Speaker 1: halted at a distance at about a half a mile,
26:32
Speaker 1: and turned to look. A bright column of flame was
26:35
Speaker 1: shooting up to heaven. Oh I how happy did feel
26:38
Speaker 1: at that moment? Happy this is not the word. I
26:40
Speaker 1: was mad, intoxicated, delirious with joy. I literally danced as
26:45
Speaker 1: I saw the barn burning. I was avenged on the
26:47
Speaker 1: man who would not allow me to eat a cold
26:49
Speaker 1: turnip to save me from starving. That one cold turnip
26:53
Speaker 1: cost him dear. The fire spread and communicated with his
26:56
Speaker 1: dwelling house, and there was no adequate supply of water.
26:59
Speaker 1: The barn, the stacks, the out houses, the mansion were
27:02
Speaker 1: all destroyed. But that was not all. The only daughter
27:05
Speaker 1: of the justice, a lovely girl of nineteen, was burnt
27:08
Speaker 1: to death. I read the entire account in the newspapers
27:11
Speaker 1: a few days afterwards, and the upper classes wondered that
27:14
Speaker 1: there are so many incindeary fires. My only surprise is
27:17
Speaker 1: that there are so few all. The lucifer match is
27:20
Speaker 1: a fearful weapon in the hands of the man whom
27:22
Speaker 1: the laws of aristocracy in the present state of society
27:25
Speaker 1: had ground down to the very dust. I felt all
27:28
Speaker 1: my power. I knew all my strength. I was aware
27:31
Speaker 1: of all my importance as a man. When I read
27:34
Speaker 1: of the awful extent of the misery and desolation which
27:36
Speaker 1: I had thus caused. Oh, I was singly avenged. I
27:40
Speaker 1: now bethought me of punishing the baronet in the same
27:43
Speaker 1: manner he had been the means of sending me for
27:45
Speaker 1: two years to the hulks at Woolwich. Pleased with this idea,
27:48
Speaker 1: I jogged merrily on towards Walmer. It was late at
27:51
Speaker 1: night when I reached home. I found my mother watching
27:54
Speaker 1: by my father's death bed, and arrived just in time
27:57
Speaker 1: to behold him breathe his last My mother spoke to
27:59
Speaker 1: me about decent interment for him. I laughed in her face.
28:03
Speaker 1: Had he ever allowed anyone to sleep quietly in his grave? No?
28:07
Speaker 1: How could he then hope for repose in the tomb?
28:10
Speaker 1: My mother remonstrated. I threatened to dash out her brains
28:13
Speaker 1: with my stout ash stick, and on the following night
28:16
Speaker 1: I sold my father's body to the surgeon who had
28:18
Speaker 1: autonomized poor Kte Price. This was another vengeance on my part.
28:23
Speaker 1: Not many hours elapsed before I set fire to the
28:25
Speaker 1: largest barn upon the baronet's estate. I waited in the
28:28
Speaker 1: neighborhood and glutted myself with a view of the conflagation.
28:32
Speaker 1: The damage was immense. The next day I composed a
28:35
Speaker 1: song upon the subject, which I have never since forgotten.
28:38
Speaker 1: You may laugh at the idea of me becoming a poet,
28:40
Speaker 1: but you know well enough that I received some trifle
28:43
Speaker 1: of education, that I was not a fool by nature,
28:46
Speaker 1: and that in early life I was fond of reading
28:48
Speaker 1: The lines were these the incendiary song? The lucifer match.
28:53
Speaker 1: The lucifer match tis a weapon for us to wild.
28:56
Speaker 1: How Bonniley burns up rick and thatch and the crop
28:59
Speaker 1: just house from the field. The proud may oppress, the rich,
29:03
Speaker 1: distress and drive us from their door, but they cannot
29:06
Speaker 1: snatch the lucifer match from the hand of the desperate poor.
29:09
Speaker 1: The perch prout squire and the terrant peer and keep
29:12
Speaker 1: their game laws still, and the very glance of the
29:14
Speaker 1: overseer may continue to freeze and kill. The wealthy and
29:18
Speaker 1: great in the chiefs of state may tyrannize more and more,
29:20
Speaker 1: but they cannot snatch the lucifer match from the hand
29:24
Speaker 1: of the desperate poor. Oh give us bread is a
29:27
Speaker 1: piteous wail that is murmured far and wide, and echo
29:30
Speaker 1: takes up and repeats the tale. But the rich man
29:32
Speaker 1: turns aside. The Justice of peace may send his police
29:36
Speaker 1: to scour the country ore, but they cannot snatch the
29:39
Speaker 1: lucifer match from the hand of the desperate poor. Then Hurrah, hurrah,
29:44
Speaker 1: for the lucifer match tis the weapon of despair. How
29:47
Speaker 1: bonily blays up barn and thatch, the poor man's revenge
29:50
Speaker 1: is there, for the worm will turn on the feet
29:52
Speaker 1: that spurn, And surely a man is more. Oh, none
29:56
Speaker 1: can e'er snatch the lucifer match from the hand of
29:58
Speaker 1: the desperate poor. The baroness suspected that I was the
30:01
Speaker 1: cause of the fire, as I had just returned to
30:03
Speaker 1: the neighborhood, and he had me arrested and taken before justice.
30:07
Speaker 1: But there was not a shadow of proof against me,
30:10
Speaker 1: nor a pretense to keep me in custody. I was
30:13
Speaker 1: accordingly discharged with the admiration to take care of myself,
30:16
Speaker 1: which was as much to say, if I can find
30:18
Speaker 1: an opportunity of sending you to prison, I will. Walmer
30:22
Speaker 1: and his neighborhood grew loathome to me. The image of
30:25
Speaker 1: kpe Price constantly haunted me, and I was more overshunned
30:29
Speaker 1: by everyone who knew that I had been at the Hulks.
30:32
Speaker 1: I accordingly sold off all the fishing tackle on other
30:35
Speaker 1: traps and came up to London with old Mummy. I
30:38
Speaker 1: need say no more. And there's enough of your history
30:41
Speaker 1: to set a man of thinking, exclaimed the waiter of
30:43
Speaker 1: the boozing Kin. There is, indeed, ah, I believe you,
30:47
Speaker 1: there is observed the cracks man draining the pot which
30:50
Speaker 1: had contained the egg flip. The clock struck midday when
30:53
Speaker 1: Holford entered the parlor of the boozing Kin. End of
30:56
Speaker 1: Chapter sixty two, recording by Judy Guynin Some You don