Show 3 3 e r wi 3 I 1 WO T RON M 1 1 K 1 SO 1 Z 1 in L 1 1 g U 11 ll 4 7 X I 1 11 4 11 EICK japa ua ash I 1 I 1 every elvery trace of old london la is rapidly belag eula rem moved oved off the face of the earth and d soon nothing ing will de be left to remind as or of the good old days when over hanging leeg houses creaking sign boards ind projecting wa waterspouts water spouts po ats added to the e darkness and dangers of the na narrow r ughtred ill paved streets and when highway robbers an and d pi pick ck pockets carried led on their business with almost complete impunity while swaggering young min of the upper class ri them in the art of bullying and alarming the harmless passenger the two dueer old gabled houses in wych street which still stand a picturesque relic of that period have e just been loomed doomed to dOst destruction ruction by the reform tog ing hand of the london county council no voice has yet been raised fa to suggest S that they should be purchased for the nation and yet one of those houses was as the home for about six 6 years yea of his 1 life of a very famous character the notorious jack sheppard with the reat great name of jack sheppard we are ill gal more or less familiar jack sheppard the highwayman he be is often called but this is really a very incorrect description AL A study of his life as recorded in moral and im work the N eugate newgate cai calan en I 1 I 1 it C 11 I 1 I 1 i I 1 izez i 11 1 FN JI 11 I 1 1 I I 1 ij I 1 A 7 Q I 1 0 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 w I 1 J ia I 1 s 1 1111 ili t I 1 I 1 A 4 1 19 y P I 1 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 jack in prison from in an old print I 1 tar lar and in other memorials of famous criminals shows that though lack jack had no scrupulous objections to highway robbery if circumstances were convenient yet his principal occupation cu and that by which he made chiq living was the less romantic one of burglary or house breaking indeed his exploits on the highway were not attended with such brilliant success or such large profits as to lead him to follow that line of business exclusively for instance bif first attempt produced only the paltry sum of two shillings and sixpence he stopped a coach but a ladys maid was the sole occupant and half a crown all her worldly wealth and even this trifling sum mim he could obtain only by threatening the attendant footman with a pistol and thus putting an end to his gul gallant defense of the lady his second essay was not much more prosperous he stopped a gentleman on the hampstead I 1 road who was returning in a cheerful and elevated condition from some convivial party but 3 shillings shil lines was his sole reward even a stage coa coah coach h which he gallantly assaulted next day furnished fumi furni sned him with only 20 shillings the real genius of jack sheppard found no scope in the commonplace money or your life method cd at robbery 1 it was in burglary that his big war I 1 skill in breaking bolts and bars I 1 and picking locks had full play during 1 his residence in wych street where 1 he was apprenticed to a carpenter named wood he used often to stay out till a late hour drinking in neighboring taverns but bolts and bars were not nothing Eting to him and however carefully he be was shut out at night he was always I 1 found comfortably in bed next morning stepney bag the honor of being his bir lus his father died when he be was quite achild not however in the sudden and ignominious manner suggested by El harrlson arrison ainsworth for lie he was wab an honest and hard bard working carpenter jack went to school tor for a short time in Bishop gate street and was apprenticed to mr air wood through the kindness of a friend of his mother a mr kneebone a linen draper of drury lane there he maintained a good character tor about six years but in the last year of his bis apprenticeship be took to frequenting a disreputable ale house the black lion in drury lane this was a favorite resort of the thieving fraternity notably of members of jonathan wilds wild 9 formidable gang and there jack made acquaintance with such disreputable characters as joseph blake nicknamed Blu eskin and dowling james sykes more appropriately known as hell and pury fury there 1 here too he made friends with FAge edgeworth worth bess who became his companion in many of his robberies and assisted him in many of his escapes ile he soon imitated his big frienda in their business of plundering the public and took advantage of his admission into houses bouses as a carpenter to do repairs to carry cam off any portable property on which he co coald uld lay his hands bands the natural result was a quartel quarrel with his respectable masters master wood whom he be finally left ft ten months before his apprenticeship h was out he then took to i robbing right and I 1 left eft but it is not for his rOb robberies berles that he is celebrated but tor for bis bs marcelous mar relous escapes I 1 he first I 1 got ot into trouble lary larr in clarke street which he be had der taken in company wita va brother thomas who be 6 alon and imm house bi lack of cw carpentry pentry capt captured ared through the tra treacherous was of heu hen and jary ohp awed devices wun eating house ln tenial w skittles wes and U anensent deimit Pei MIt for to puy tv ue se nsf yram 0 ay I 1 1 of thi abc otma ain the aea ri 43 1 a gnes aich ach was 4 1 high bick maar dziak the ailiff tul st hd baa I 1 W ichaba AW stafa ai a azor aib fia of IV ad open 2 ja k W ika e f we ala 1 4 var av I 1 A A 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 10 04 g e I 1 1 I M I 1 1 1 ax tn tv T or M I 1 1 L 1 1 was vms not very long at 11 liberty stealing IL a gent lemans watch in leicester fields Fl elds he be was as stopped and captured though he was ingeniously aho ahmit it ing stop thief with all his might edgeworth bess was also arrested on suspicion and the two were place pla ce 4 tn in a trong strong ward of the new prison in Cler kenell the free and easy manner ta in which prison discipline was then I 1 conducted is apparent enough enouf h for jack I 1 was immediately supplied with the necessary I 1 implements to cottret efly ct his escape by friendly visitors alter after filing an ft iron bar from the window he and bess managed to let themselves down into I 1 the ahe court yard twenty five feet below and then to scale a wall more than twenty feet high A month or two latr with great in gratitude he broke op open en the house of mr kneebone Kue ebone the kindly tradesman who h had hini him when hen fie was a child and this robbery him back to jail gaii for kneebone Knee bun cini cilli of his bis loss to the all powerful jonathan wild at crice the greatest thief and the greatest thief taker of the time who carried carrid on on a very extensive grille amle the or of receiving and rei restoring torin stolen stien property deducting a ansi considerable ge for his trouble rpm fi iii hoth both the owner aud the thief ind ad d nan nc asis to tan evv pursued sheppard for his ungrateful r t to kneebone Knoo bone be and his companion Ulu Blu eskin had concealed the plunder in a stable near the horse ferry westminster ard and in a confiding moment they showed the place to an acquaintance william bield eld who promised prumis ed pl to take the stolen goods arx orx s off their hands tills this he be was kind ind enough to do by breaking opp open n the stable in the dight and carrying off the contents and then giving in formation ns as to their whereabouts to jonathan wild sheppard Shepp avd was immediately apprehended and committed to 1 eugate newgate and at the next qed session zion he was convie convicted ted and sentenced to death with the help hell however of bess and some ome other women he be sawed away one of the spikes of the door and managed to thrust himself through ali and escape though some pome of the keepers were actually in the lodge at the lime after a few days retirement in the country he returned to the familiar neighborhood of clare market and drury lane to which he be appears to have been partial perhaps on account of the ease with which he be could there carry on his business unmolested N nor or was this surprising for at a much later date the parish of st maryle mary le sl rand boasted only three watchmen and two constables on duty every othor other night while the watchmen of st clement danes were in the habit of spending most of their time drinking in a cellar near arundel street in safety therefore he went about and quite openly for he was recognized by many people who were however afraid to interfere with him he fie was finally captured by the keepers of newgate New gate on common in which retired spot be had bad just taken up his abode alarmed at the genius he be had shown in escaping the keepers placed him in a ward known as the esstle castle where he was as handcuffed and heavily ironed and his chains faltered fast faster ered ed to a staple in the floor on oct 15 at 2 the warden who came with w iab his dinner examined the handcuffs and chains and found them secure when be did his rounds next morning there was a pile of bricks and mortar in the room but no jack he had worked off his handgun cuffs s and with a crooked rail which he had picked up on the floor had opened the padlock which fastened the chain to the staple but the difficulties I 1 t ies n litch lie he had stil stiv to overcome might have billel with impair even a prisoner escaping for lis life his original plan was to gt up the chimney but the aperture was mocked d by an tro iron n bar so he was forced to pick the bricks and mortar until be hid bad made a hole int into the room beyond beyo nd even then lie he bad five or six st strong ro ng and bolted doors to break through before he could reach the leads and his progress ans w Is so slow that a great part of his work had to be done in the dark the leap from the lead ends to the dext house was so dangerous that b he L was vas v as forced to go tack lack to his cell and fetch his blanket alarik et which he be fastened t tu the wall by bv means of a spike lie he had broken off the chipel door he was thus able to descend d in safety and after waiting on the roof until midnight he slipped unperceived down the tb stairs and into the street this marvelous marve loua e escape cape unfortunate ly made him foolhardy he became quite rec kiess and on the night ot of oct ct 31 he went about abo t gaily from tavern to tavern in drury lane drinking until he h was vas finally taken incapable inea pable of making the smallest resistance his career was now near its dose close his petition for a pardon in which he alleged his astounding ingenuity OR a reason was disregarded and his last scheme for espe was accidentally discovered A friend had bad siren given him a penknife and this he kept in his pocket and pr proposed posed when riding in iii the ahe fatal cart to tyburn to cut the curd bat bound his hards ft then as le ie passed little he be hoped to leap out and escape by the help of the A crowd down tuat narrow passage where abee heom lon feers cers could not mot follow on an but the knife imire was found aw dahis wa pocket I 1 in the yard at newgate New gate e binaso his last chance was destroyed heres mm deml LF nor X 1 L I 1 1 ms his ti ahw 11 yead 1 an d I 1 was w aw I 1 r i 9 r 1 I 1 yr the fields the national gallery now stands his daring and eldell made him a hero to a very large class I 1 df e population 1 while his untimely I 1 al 4 became F M e a stock illustration for al all I 1 no DO pre preachers achem A qua quainter inte e 5 A PJ ale of this could hardly be found to a sermon e on preached prea ched at the time I 1 me dissenting sen g minister who 0 eed to his congregation oh h that yo ye were an all like jack heppard dL mistake not my tn brethren I 1 do not mean in a carnal but in ft 11 spiritual sense 0 let me exhort of you to open the locks of your hearts with the nail of repentance mount the chimney of hopes and tako taka from thence the bar of good resolutions break through the stone wall of despair raise yourself to the leads of divine meditation fix the blanket of faith with the spike of the church let yourself down to the house of resignation tion and descend the stairs of humility so go shall ye come to the door of deliverance from the prison of iniquity ity and escape the old executioner the tidevil devil who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he be may devour london sketch 0 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 AV I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 ig ma 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 I 1 F I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 k I 1 I 1 I 1 isle jack k z fro from from an old print |