JOHN ROBBINS retells one of the World's Strangest Stories
THE MAN ALL LONDON HATED
T Wan 210 ordinary execution. The mob packed tight round Tyburn's "triple trße" were enraged and restless. "Hang- ma came the ingessant. call, do your office,"
tho
Fearful of his own safety, the hangman fixed halter round the neck of the miseridle, hall conscious man in the execution eurt- and did his othee,
on
spring # sunny morning in 1725 ender The life of Jonathan Wild., self. styled Thief-Catcher-General of Great Britain and
land, the minst hated and feared mun in 181h erntury Londen.
It was the tigest
JONATHAN WILD. THIEF- CATCHER GENERAL
venient place Than Wild went to The
who had tera andered and offered to rernver thede Jost properly
When for Was tuend to form they wer fitting eral
onis fro happy to pay a powerf dtable-crosser that vis sterelly larper sto in history. And an ironie a a 've en end for Wild had sent fingernda In the satie gallows.
Wild Ind his criminal life, according to one writer, with "an eTroniery. WIS nothing
thut M Chun
:1, thet
E3 1
onkvr
Wide nuntaist 4
it
1
Tu me shy attrist me any
self, andly he declicted rakent finiti
de
amerikanın
So great was he
genius.“ Ostensibly he was ofta
in the service of the justice scheit bo nez
godadd
THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1955.
THE FAMOUS PALAIS *SPHERE*
Ja
Geneva
1955
KHRUSHCHEV
Martyright by arzynatment with the Manchestre Guardia
access that
d not have to
ible win front
Fe to l
as a thief-taker, and then ve 1e vals alles respectable. recoverer
stolen property, Neally
dressed in green with
#
sword at his side, he carried
WILL Dad kuele ret et
Orpani el
a silver staff as a token of in toda his "authority."
of
But behind that Favale
respectability
whiris
h
il
memutar tod The he had not bined! In the age he pasted every ward
“If a subordinate dared to dis-
"Jer a
RENE MacCOLL, BACK IN MOSCOW, REPORTS
What A Change!
Muscow, round from behind In trested VEN before ruched glass to 4 me, in the frie, d.
Moserow in the smallest ert of way, that when
Wave the US.5.K, I shal prompted him to seek Free, chey or to shenk from murder,
hones ot the be able to take any rubies out dom of the City as n
morning T knew with me, Lad ytay 130 reward for his honesty, he haared him at the next assize,
and happily for him he had not that things would be dif- would have bothered to tell me.
single confederate whose neck ferent. of he might not put in the haller in when he ekose. Thus he pre- served the unto ot terity of his pent, punishing by judicial | Leningrad. murder the smallest ben dina
Was the undercover chief of the largest gang robbers and cut-throats London.
★
31
WILA
But Wild
not beyond The rewards paid to In- showing merry. Once, when he brought a confederte to formers allowed him to turn had
the dock at the Old Balley, he
his unique position into relented at the last moment and great profil. Highwaymen kept the prosecutor drunk until burglars and house-breakers the case was over could be "sold" for £40;
He suffere He was brave, many wounds while apprehend- fetched counterfeiters also
ing criminals When he arrested 140 if they dealt in gold or a man who had robber twn silver, only
if they peers he held on to the victim's
chin with his teeth. confined themselves to cop
ben.
£10
it was about this time thul he took to wearing a sword wespen with which he put Wild had no
empune one of peor Mary Müllner's ears "selling" the when the pewoket ht
committed who the crimes he himself
tion in
wretches
ganised.
Yet
Or-
engen
A
Was
at
stomy-faced goliceman appeared in our plane, collected all passports, We had a polite, but chilly. customs examination,
ول
1
while
honest arch oper Russians" were going to Geneva with the intention of doing everything to secure agreement, the Americans and British were "dragging their feet and had To real intration of trying to do their best,
That line was later completely dropped,
Black market
Even the policeman stationed Last year my first stop in outside the Amriten Enthrasy bas rrently begun to Amazo Soviet territory
American emelals by giving here a colute and an occasional mile as they pass, Smites for The Black Market has return-
Unheard of.
ed unexpectedly in Russia-and the Americans?
Better still
this now. in two unexpected commodities. was last here there was. They When
are jazz records and outside such towns os Moscow rooms at holiday resorts. But this year! My first stop and Leningrad, unbridled The official line with Jazz is Inside Russia was at Vilna in anti-Wester campaign I full that it is
by
deplorable and Litwonly. Nobody bothered us blast by means of etude erimir- decadent Western phenomenon in the plane, and as we came ed posters in the parts or publie which should be heavily dis-
down the ramp. We were met
of the smaller towns. couraged in Russia. smiling
Now
can be
But the young people said on the best Russia authority, that for it, these
squares
an
*t
pasters
of
have a sneaking liking
And so it comes about that if are either dis- you go to the "GUM," a huge appearing or deportment store in Red Square Bre consider and find nothing in the gramɔ-
except +bly tored phone department
of symphony orches- tros, violin concertos or massed West is choirs, you may find your sleeve
A being let plucked by furtive young
cordings
21
Philant
ma
፡፡
civilian clothes
who
Ve vach of
135
--
CIT
dividual greet- ing of American Master" inter- shy.
down.
The
not
mut
Customs? Of
VIT
course, my
just
frce scot
yet, but
Ion.
deny hallow. We would not digim
of troubling
you. This way
In 1715 Wild moved to new premiser
near the Old Bulley and gorn afterwards Fell with a confederate, a villainous
They
it took an Act of City Marshal valled Charles Parliament to bring this Hite
Hitchin.
abused cach pamphlets arch-rogue to justice, and other in scurrilous
and advertisements until 1liteln He was eventually hanged was suspended from office. for the comparatively venial Wisely he wrate a contrite letter offence of receiving money to Wild and they joined forces on false pretences.
Barn
again
Wild's villainy, however, dul in Wolverhampton not escape notice in bigh quar- about the year 1682, Wild ters. At the instigation of the Thomn- was apprenticed at the age Recorder, Sir William of 15 to a buckle-maker in son an Act was passed in 1716 ranking it a rapital offence for Birmingham. He was mar- anybody to lake a rtward under ried when he was 22, but the pretence of restoring stolen
excepting where two years later deserted his goods wife and young son to hitch-prosecuted the felons who had
hike to Lonton in search of fortune.
stolen them.
10 the dinner table. Vodka, wine, beer. We 1 regret,
have, to take a te of what foreign currency may have with You-but for- give the uoyance, please.
-
MacColl plotured looking at the Kremlin the last time, in 1054,
re-
lle leads you round the corner and up an alley. There, a friend the storm of walts and with great deal of pictorial abuse finger-on-lips stuff and anxious
isi the pro-
vinces is W271-
15.
Who are the
and
v Bains
of
sances towards the road they produce reai hot jazz records,"
The
Amazing
or
amazing thing about who the heroes, these under-the-counter discs--
to which cost 10 raubles each. axerding If c Russian nearly one pound at the inflated
rute
of exchange- public, evached by that they are made of old X-ray their official photographic flm material.
The tunes themselves arc press and radio? Morcow at 2.30 in the mora- In recent wecks there has obtained either from clandestine bands played in some cellar or ing. Smiles from the chauffeur bech a complete "lay-off" they
of the waiting car.
ny sors of criticism of Eisen- well-shuttered flat, or else they notice that he still keeps hower, He is treated with are recorded off foreign radio chifling into neutral. coasting, respect. His press conferences programmes,
The hove bren fully
And and unten-
now and re-engaging his gear.
for the lodging house racket. must dentiously reported. petrol saving campaign
He went to Geneva
It with
happens
and at Yalin still be on. A bit of sleep, and
other holiday resoria on the then up to have my Brst look Rutein ready to give him
Black Sea and Crimean coast. at this year's. Moscow,
The crowds accept the fierce hent and dress accordingly.
Exciting pity by a false
a while For
this
curtailed limp (it is said he could Wild's "business," but he was, dislocate his hip at will), quick to revive it, though with
more caution than before.
ind stolen
A
Ile
he easily obtained lifts in changed his operating methode south-bound earringes.
bought sloop to carry watches, rings, gold to snuff-boxen and plate across the Channel for sale on the Con- tinent.
At
own
first he sought make a living at his trade, but extravagant habits soon run him into Ifla downfall was brought debt. During four years in about by an informer, a publi
can called Tom Edwards. As n prison he learned
many result stolen property was found secrets
of the underworld in a warehouse owned by Will and met
called and he was arrested by Mary Milliner, who became High, Constable of Holborn his tutor in crime.
A woman
February 15, 1723.
The men
shirtsleeves, art in beach shirts, or simply ordinary shirts without fins. Women are in floweret dresses, loose fitting.
Big Difference
from
But the big difference last year. There is now never, a
the
my
on
surly face. The girl who takes telegrama-she is smiling and cheerful.
the (Last year scowl would never have been
He who eventually arraignedited for a moment.)
a crime he did not commit.
ures
*
1
Πιστο
AL
than fair hearing.
other end of the scale. At the
Knowland. Senator
of sending workers in of Call- pra the last year or so the fatnie, is the target of large groups, to the hellday anatori," where they must do nuuch abuse. Ho la severaly con- demned
numbers, has because of
of the recent everything United States Sennte rezolution concerning the "liberation
by been weakening. of This is because individual
all on
the Russian satelite nations." workers with more money in Duiles is sili! the subject of their pay-packet have been re- seme suspicion. He is
discovering the
loya et ah" generally garded as inversately anti- untrammelled hoilday Russlan and also of being their own, secretly in favour of "interven So, nowadays, near rallway tion" (a dead word in Russin, stations and taxi stands of the they recall 1910-19 when the holiday resorts, old ladies ling- British and Americans
And they, sidle up and out openly helped ihe anti-Bolshevik
กร
less
than
be
Was
of
cr.
of the corners of their mouths offer the incoming holiday- makers "nice rooms-not in the There are plenty of takers,
hciel,'
Two straws
at the Old Bailey on art indiet- The waiters in the restaurants armles). ment containing 11 counts, but pause to exchange a halting Eden, Hko Elrentower, in the According to the New managed to have his trial port-st. (Last year strictly bust subject of standstil" in
poned, At the next sessions ho ness.) Calendar, ahe had was gato
Infickibic the streets there are criticism. He is thought to convicled of feloniously "run round the whole circle receiving on March 10 while varicus portents of the new Churchill-and Eden lip rol
And now hero ore atrawa - In of vice, know all the He war in prison-the sum of relaxation. Instead of the glum like Churchill, the
ten guinea from
looks which 12 months ago sald, having been behind the old the wind-bad and good. Katharine a ways of the town, and most
Stethum
time intervenlicuisto, for the
foreigner-wo enri
Out in purpose of "You ne
But in
Trabkent, In Soviet of its felonious Inhabit apprehending the thieves of 80 leil It from your expensive Russian papers, sag of the Central Asia, an official orator
clothes-what yards of Inet. It was, it is sild, here?" I now see frank anta."
you dolag British preas (unlike the French in the rublly Park of Culture and press, which is praised) comos and Rest just the other day Togother they took a
measant expressions. This time in for some heavy blows. nddrerned a big crowd with aft public-house in Cock. Alley, On the morning of his exccu- if almost seems to add up to British newmapers are sold the old venom against the West. opposite Cripplegate Church, with a farge dose of laudanum.
tion Wild fried to kill himself "Welcome, stranger,"
to be "non-constructive" ៧ផ Hls words were inflammatory Last time, nobody would ever regards Geneva, And certain and wit, Hatred ran through which became a haunt for But it merely made him drowsy admit to understanding, much Eritieli journalists are accused all that he said. thloves. Wild quickly léurn, and he could hardly keep Fils less speaking, French or Eng of having "profabriented Ixions" Hero in Moscow the British ed their habits, applied eyes open.
1sh, or German, This time I about Soviet policy tucked and American military attaches blackmail and began to direct Probably as he tolled in the find, snatches of conversation, away in ihti lockers.
have been granted their own execution eart that Monday are becoming pamible
The Mönchester Guardian,' is privato driving licences, This their crimes.
morning, he hardly noticed the languages other than Russian. particularly, singled out over means that they can now go off Jhering crowds.
I go to the bank, to cash China,
in their own cam to any part He died "to a yell of universal ¦ traveller's choquen. The man- Unili recently 11. was foshion of the Soviet Unioneuxcept by."
oger himselt "comes charging able to my in Moscow that Banned Krogs:
As soon as a robbery was committed, Wild was informed and the busty hidden in a ton
Thank heavens I'm NOT
under 21
· LIFE GETS SO COMPLICATED
TMAGINE being under 21, advanced in 4 career to be
lovely to lock at, mod:rately absorized in it." intelligent and free? You think "Even financial independence It would be delightful? You are would make a difference," said wrong. It is really form of the blonde. "But at our age u suffering. Or so I gather from regular boy friend is vital." two young lovelies on the You may not be an angel," I begin to sing. "Ces angels are
threshold of their careers.
They both agreed that if He to faw. is es dificult after 21 as it is "But until the day when orie
before, living-
life is hardly worth romes along, "I'll string along
They seem convinced with you. that it is the same for mest girl They looked at me mourn of their age.
fully, as though I were not quito For reasons that will soon be playing the game. For "string" apparent, may not mention ing along" is casier sung tha their names; but one is blonde, done. The hero returns with the other brunette.
demands. TAL The blonds more exigent urged me to write about their raises the old, old question : 28 problem,
to how much a irl can take 1 promised to do my best. without giving anything In Their problem is as old an crea- return. How long will the kiss
Ita, of course, man.
LISA,
A 'stoady'.
If you are under 21 mnd pretty, ! the one essential to happiness EN O reguler boy friend- "alendy."
is a point of
This
AL the
same
by JILL CRAIGIE
to
pride. Nothing la zo humiliating on the sofa suffice? And might as wanting to go to the pictures not that other Aussy have fewer and having no one to take you. scruples. Clearly another and It reficels on your powers of at- more attractive "leady" rust tinetion. It undermines your be found without delay. self-confidence.
In the meantime "tringing time, it is equally necessary to along" means walking a tight- feel rufficiently free to go out горе. The "stcatly" must be with anyone else.
kept both close and at bay. He So far, so gozd. Any young must be seen often enough kwely CON manoeuvre herself keep him amused, but not 10 into this situation. But here's vften as to make other "dates" the rub. If the "steady" shows Impossible. Above all, he must is.mflar Inclinations life turns have no suspicions that anyone into a drams. If he actually vise is in the offing. Not unill oul with another sit, it sumcone far more devastating Secomes intolerable,
has been netted can he safely be The under-21 Rws through jet off the hook, agonles of Jealousy. She ass Unhappily, by this time it is that she cannot
be as attractive not so engy
to get rid of him. vanity can also be
as she imagined, She may even Masculine prave fucapable of holding a outraged. Letters, stormy
This mokes her terrilled scenes,
man
Interminable telephone
are
of losing the one she has got. conversations follow. The front: It is only one step from belley- door is banged on after mid-
Meals ing that she cannot live without right.
pecked at. libm. Worse
happens. This Hollow eyes store across the must, she tells herself, be LOVE. breakfast table.
Tents, letters, telephone
Such passion
Interminable conversations follow. Meals are pecked at. She arrives The girl is astonished to find hollow-eyed at
how much her "steady" cares. breakfast. Eventually the "steady" re- She had no idea he was capable turns, penitent. Не brings et such passion. She doubts if chocolates or flowers. Is this anyone could ever love her so Ure beginning of a beautiful much. She is Alled with remorse reconciliation? Not a bit of it, at hurting him.
Не
At the very instant of his return, In fact, it is all too compli- as though by magic, he loses
cated.
his attraction. He even seems "But why can't you be satis- dull. But there he is, on the tied with a number of escorts, door-step with a lovelorn look very of whom you take too in his eyes and a peace offering seriously?" I asked. "That surely in his hands,
would solve your difficulties.".
was wrong. The fellows are
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.