THE BOW STREET RUNNERS !!

Fans of Georgette Heyer's Toll Gate and Talisman Ring ... !

THE HISTORY:

Pringle, Patrick. Hue and Cry, The Story of Henry and John Fielding and Their Bow Street Runners. [London?]: William Morrow and Company, 1955.

Page 187 - 188:

It seems housebreakers had ben force to evolve a new technique for disposing of their loot, now that pawnbrokers and silversmiths had been drawn into the Bow Street Runners' anti-crime network!!

We read that this burglars, in John Fielding's contemporary 18th century terms, "now go to the Jews, who melt the plate immediately and destroy other things that might be evidence. They disfigure jewels by knocking them out of the sockets so that they cannot be sworn to."

Now, John Fielding was neither a fool nor a bigot, so wnat was he to do?

As the author tells us:

"The Jews J0hn referred to lived mainly in Duke's Place (now Duke Street, Aldgate) and Houndsditch, and he had been trying to root them out for years.

"Their numbers had recently [early 1770's, more than likely ] been swollen by refugees from pogroms in eastern Europe, who arrived in England without money or means of earning an honest living.

"With his usual good sense, John sought the co-operation of the leaders of the Great Synagogue in Duke's Place.

"It was given freely, for obvious reasons.

"Because some Jews were dishonest it was commonly inferred that they were dishonest because they were Jews, and this led to the further inference that all Jews were dishonest.

"Such reasoning, if it can be called that, is not unknown today."

Page 198:

Like the Texas Rangers a hundred years later, the reputation of the the Bow Street Runners was that they were bad guys to have hot on your trail, who knows?

Maybe their 'ole caballos could even swim!

As this short passage tells us:

"In 1777 information reached Bow Street that a thirteen - year - old heiress, Mary Max, was being abducted by two men.

"The runners chased them to Brighton, found the men under full sail for France, and took them at sea."