Catch "Bob the Wheeler" If you Can

I read the interesting tale of “Bob the Wheeler,” and his gang. Most all in Bob’s gang arrived here from England and The West Indies; however, he did have one American, John Reed. Bob’s specialty, it seems, was his muscle—he was a pugilists in England, but here in the land of freedom, he ran a beer shop called “Darby and Joan," where all the nefarious criminals met. "Darby and Joan," according to various sources, refers to the unassuming old couple who does not lead an exiting life and who would never harbor criminals in their place--the power of suggestion perhaps? One gang member, the American John Reed, possessed acids “which were capable of extracting from paper any name or figure" in ink. Thus these men began stealing canceled checks and erasing the cancelation marks. This narrative tells me that there were two ways to cancel a check—to mark through them with ink or to cut them up. The marked checks were targeted by the gang so that they could erase the inked cancelation marks. They stole them from businesses.


The Con: James Holdgate, an English Pewterer, would dress up in fine gentlemen’s clothes, arrive at the bank and cash the fraudulent check (one was for $7,500), and then he would hurry back to his shop and change back into his dirty work clothes--an no one's the wiser. Then another man would take the thousand dollar bills from Holdgate to various banks and have them broken into smaller bills (or notes). The men knew that they must gain the “confidence” of bank tellers—they must sell themselves, and so always appeared nicely dressed and confident. In one case, a check was suspected as fraudulent, but since Holdgate appeared confident and innocent, the teller shrugged off his suspicions and cashed it. In another case, a teller from another bank came in and warned another teller to be aware of anyone changing a 5,000 dollar note because they just cashed a counterfeit check. One gang member overheard the conversation and boldly walked up to the teller to ask what it was about. They teller conveyed his suspicions that there was a forgery and then the gang member confidently presented the $5,000 bill to be changed into smaller notes—bold as brass.

It’s all about confidence—all about selling it. This story really reminded me of that movie Catch Me if you Can.  Act like you have a right to be there, and no one will doubt it.

The Meta-Narrative: I also noted how the National Police Gazette printed the story like a serial—with installments and chapter divisions. The writer even inserted meta-narratives explaining why he detailed history of characters, like his “rascal hero,” before the events. This writer knew his audience and titillated them with sensational verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. I jotted down a few for examples:

shutters carefully closed
doors locked, and every crevice and keyhole stopped
villainous quartette
cautious whisper
bold responsibility (in presenting the checks to tellers)
stealthily withdraw
industrious apprentices
honest labor (with irony)
daring swindler
damning and audacious crime
“he has an alibi in his fist that the devil himself can’t trip up”
gentlemanly garb
sprang from the vehicle

I thought of Bakhtin’s architectonics when the writer referred to the gang committing “the most artful, profound and skilful depredations that perhaps ever was committed . . . [with a] degree of cool and audacious intrepidity that excites [with] mingled amazement, horror, and admiration.” This quote shows the architectonic push and pull felt by the reader and even the writer. The citizens are drawn to the crime—they want to know all the gory details with a sensational flavor (hence the audacious word choices above). Yet at the same time, the readers knows crime is wrong, they don't want to be defrauded themselves or defraud others, but they seem to enjoy living vicariously through the narrative. The writer puts the readers “in the now,” allowing them to see it in the mind’s eye. The whole while I read it, I wondered how the writer knew what was said and when. What the writer told, he told with realism and sensationalism--playing with the readers' feelings of irresistible curiosity and moral repulsion.


Flash Language: I was delighted to hear the flash language referenced. I recall reading Susan Branson’s book about Dangerous Women and laughing at a particular scene. When the judge uses the word “bootle” in a question during court, Ann Carson quips from her seat, “I see your honor is up to the slang” (Branson 120) (she’s such as smart-ass; I just love her. I wonder if this is when Mary Clarke tries to gag her :). Slang is important for con men and women because it *disguises* the truth in a code language. The thieves could be in a coffee shop (like in this “Bob the Wheeler” tale), and in speaking in code, they can speak freely. Like the disguises (masks) that all them use to move freely amongst the respectable folk, the slang allows a certain amount of freedom in its guise. Henry Tufts has a long list of *flash language* in his book on page 316, but I could not locate the words in there that are printed in the National Police Gazette. The "Bob the Wheeler" writer makes a direct reference to “flash slang of thieves” and refers to a thief as a “crossman.” When one of the members changed his names, he is said to have changed his “chant” (In this case, the person went from being the bastard son of King George the III to the Lord Henry Erskine, Esq. the son of Lord Erskine; if you’re going to go, go big I guess). A first-class man is called a “family man,” and “passing the soft,” refers to cashing the forgery (I think) or breaking the bigger bills up. When a policeman came to arrest Holdgate, he told him he was “washed,” which I took to mean what we call today “washed-up”—his crime spree is at an end, in other words "the gig is up."

Sex, Murder and Humor: And like all sensational narratives, the purpose is to entertain. The counterfeiter Stevens is good with the “dark-eyed beauties” and manages to con a few out of a great deal of money. He later befriends two brothers who coincidentally commit suicide together after they arrive with him in New York. And when Stevens arrives in Philadelphia, he writes the owner of the warehouse he robs of $3,000 worth of merchandise “to spare themselves any trouble and expense in searching after their goods, as they had already been disposed of, and the money for them obtained.”

Works Cited:
“The Lives of the Felons.” No. 1, Robert Sutton, alias “Bob the Wheeler.” The National Police Gazette (1845-1906); Oct 16, 1845; 1, 1-2-3-4; American Periodicals Series Online.