Defoe on Sheppard and Wild: The True and Genuine Account of the Life and Actions of the Late Jonathan Wild by Daniel Defoe

Viz.

His robbing the Shop of Mr Bains in White-Horse-Yard of 24 Yards of Fustian. Of his breaking and entering the House of the said Mr Bains, and stealing in Goods and Money to the Value of 20l. Of his robbing the House of Mr Charles in May Fair of Money, Rings, Plate, &c. to the Value of 30l. Of his robbing the House of Mrs Cook in Clare-Market, along with his pretended Wife, and his Brother, to the Value of between 50 and 60l. Of his breaking the Shop of Mr Philips in Drury-Lane, with the same Persons, and stealing Goods of small Value. Of his entering the House of Mr Carter, a Mathematical Instrument Maker in Wytch-Street, along with Anthony Lamb and Charles Grace, and robbing of Mr Barton, a Master Taylor who lodged therein, of Goods and Bonds to the Value of near 300l. Of his breaking and entering the House of Mr Kneebone, a Woollen-Draper, near the New Church in the Strand, in Company of Joseph Blake alias Blewskin and William Field, and stealing Goods to the Value of near 50I. Of his robbing of Mr Pargiter on the Highway near the Turnpike, on the Road to Hampstead, along with the said Blewskin. Of his robbing a Lady’s Woman in her Mistress’s Coach on the same Road. Of his robbing also a Stage Coach, with the said Blewskin, on the Hampstead Road. Likewise of his breaking the Shop of Mr Martin in Fleet-street, and stealing 3 silver Watches of 15I. Value. ALSO

A particular Account of his rescuing his pretended Wife from St Giles’s Round-House. Of the wonderful Escape himself made from the said Round-House. Of the miraculous Escape he and his said pretended Wife made together from New-Prison, on the 25th of May last. Of his surprizing Escape from the Condemn’d Hold of Newgate on the 31st of August. Together with the true manner of his being retaken; and of his Behaviour in Newgate, till the most astonishing and never to be forgotten Escape he made from thence, in the Night of the 15th of October. The Whole taken from the most authentick Accounts, as the Informations of divers Justices of the Peace, the several Shop-Keepers above-mention’d, the principal Officers of Newgate and New Prison, and from the Confession of Sheppard made to the Rev. Mr Wagstaff, who officiated for the Ordinary of Newgate.

LONDON: Printed and Sold by JOHN APPLEBEE in Black-Fryers, J. ISTED, at the Golden-Ball near Chancery-Lane in Fleet-street, and the Booksellers of London and Westminster. (Price One Shilling.)

TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON AND WESTMINSTER (#ulink_fd7ace65-9847-5318-8219-897859a34f85)

Gentlemen, — Experience has confirmed you in that everlasting maxim, that there is no other way to protect the innocent but by punishing the guilty.

Crimes ever were, and ever must be, unavoidably frequent in such populous cities as yours are, being the necessary consequences either of the wants or the depravity of the lowest part of the human species.

At this time the most flagrant offences, as burning of dwellings, burglaries, and highway robberies, abound; and frauds, common felonies, and forgeries are practised without number; thus not only your properties, but even your very lives, are every way struck at.

The legislative power has not been wanting in providing necessary and wholesome laws against the evils, the executive part whereof (according to your great privileges) is lodged in your own hands. And the administration hath at all times applied proper remedies and regulations to the defects which have happened in the magistracy more immediately under their jurisdiction.

Through the just and salutary severities of the magistrates, public excessive gaming has been in a manner suppressed, and some late examples of divine vengeance have overtaken certain of the most notorious lewd prostitutes of the town, which, together with the laudable endeavours of the great and worthy societies, has given no small check to that enormous and spreading vice.

But here’s a criminal bids defiance to your laws and justice, who declared and has manifested that the bars are not made that can either keep him out or keep him in, and accordingly hath a second time fled from the very bosom of death.

His history will astonish; and is not composed of fiction, fable, or stories placed at York, Rome, or Jamaica, but facts done at your doors, facts unheard of, altogether new, incredible, and yet uncontestable.

He is gone once more upon his wicked range in the world. Restless vengeance is pursuing; and, gentlemen, ‘t is to be hoped that she will be assisted by your endeavours to bring to justice this notorious offender.

THE LIFE OF JOHN SHEPPARD, &c. (#ulink_f316f35d-4f21-5735-8908-54af7e13a79a)

This John Sheppard, a youth both in age and person, though an old man in sin, was born in the parish of Stepney, near London, in the year 1702, a son, grandson, and great-grandson of a carpenter. His father died when he was so very young that he could not recollect that ever he saw him. Thus the burden of his maintenance, together with his brother’s and sister’s, lay upon the shoulders of the widow mother, who soon procured an admittance of her son John into the workhouse in Bishopsgate Street, where he continued for the space of a year and a half, and in that time received an education sufficient to qualify him for the trade his mother designed him, viz., a carpenter. Accordingly, she was recommended to Mr Wood, in Wych Street, near Drury Lane, as a master capable of entertaining and instructing her son. They agreed, and bound he was for the space of seven years. The lad proved an early proficient, had a ready and ingenious hand, and soon became master of his business, and gave entire satisfaction to his master’s customers, and had the character of a very sober and orderly boy. But, alas, unhappy youth! before he had completed six years of his apprenticeship he commenced a fatal acquaintance with one Elizabeth Lyon, otherwise called Edgworth Bess, from a town of that name in Middlesex, where she was born, the reputed wife of a foot-soldier, and who lived a wicked and debauched life; and our young carpenter became enamoured of her, and they must cohabit together as man and wile.

Now was laid the foundation of his ruin. Sheppard grows weary of the yoke of servitude, and began to dispute with his master, telling him that his way of jobbing from house to house was not sufficient to furnish him with a due experience in his trade, and that if he would not set out to undertake some buildings, he would step into the world for better information. Mr Wood, a mild, sober, honest man, indulged him; and Mrs Wood with tears exhorted him against the company of this lewd prostitute. But her man, prompted and hardened by his harlot, d—n’d her blood, and threw a stick at his mistress, and beat her to the ground. And being with his master at work at Mr Britt’s, the Sun Ale-house, near Islington, upon a very trivial occasion fell upon his master, and beat and bruised him in a most barbarous and shameful manner. Such a sudden and deplorable change was there in the behaviour of this promising young man. Next ensued a neglect of duty, both to God and his master, lying out of nights, perpetual jarrings, and animosities; these and such like were the consequences of his intimacy with this she-lion, who by the sequel will appear to have been a main loadstone in attracting him up to this eminence of guilt.

Mr Wood having reason to suspect that Sheppard had robbed a neighbour, began to be in great fear and terror for himself, and when his man came not home in due season at nights, barred him out; but he made a mere jest of the locks and bolts, and entered in and out at pleasure; and when Mr Wood and his wife have had all the reason in the world to believe him locked out, they have found him very quiet in his bed the next morning, such was the power of his early magic.

Edgworth Bess having stolen a gold ring from a gentleman whom she had picked up in the streets, was sent to St Giles’s round-house. Sheppard went immediately to his consort, and after a short discourse with Mr Brown, the beadle, and his wife, who had the care of the place, he fell upon the poor old couple, took the keys from them, and let his lady out at the door, in spite of all the outcries and opposition they were capable of making.

About July 1723, he was, by his master, sent to perform a repair at the house of Mr Bains, a piece-broker in Whitehorse Yard; he from thence stole a roll of fustian, containing twenty-four yards, which was afterwards found in his trunk. This is supposed to be the first robbery he ever committed; and it was not long ere he repeated another upon this same Mr Bains by breaking into his house in the night time, and taking out of the till seven pounds in money, and goods to the value of fourteen pounds more. How he entered this house was a secret till his being last committed to Newgate, when he confessed that he took up the iron bars at the cellar window, and after he had done his business he nailed them down again, so that Mr Bains never believed his house had been broke; and an innocent woman, a lodger in the house, lay all the while under the weight of a suspicion of committing the robbery.

Sheppard and his master had now parted, ten months before the expiration of his apprenticeship - a woeful parting to the former. He was gone from a good and careful patronage, and lay exposed to, and complied with, the temptations of the most wicked wretches this town could afford, as Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, William Field, Doleing, James Sykes, alias Hell and Fury, which last was the first that betrayed and put him into the hands of justice, as will presently appear.

Having deserted his master’s service, he took shelter in the house of Mr Charles, in Mayfair, near Piccadilly, and his landlord having a necessity for some repairs in his house, engaged one Mr Panton, a carpenter, to undertake them, and Sheppard to assist him as a journeyman; but on the 23rd of October 1723, ere the work was complete, Sheppard took occasion to rob the people of the effects following - viz., seven pounds ten shillings in specie, five large silver spoons, six plain forks ditto, four tea-spoons, six plain gold rings and a cipher ring, four suits of wearing apparel, besides linen to a considerable value. This fact he confessed to the Rev. Mr Wagstaff before his escape from the condemned hold of Newgate.

Sheppard had a brother named Thomas, a carpenter by profession, though a notorious thief and house-breaker by practice. This Thomas being committed to Newgate for breaking the house of Mrs Mary Cook, a linen-draper in Clare Market, on the 5th of February last, and stealing goods to the value of between fifty and sixty pounds, he impeached his brother, John Sheppard, and Edgworth Bess as being concerned with him in the fact; and these three were also charged with being concerned together in breaking the house of Mr William Phillips, in Drury Lane, and stealing divers goods, the property of Mrs Kendrick, a lodger in the house, on the 14th of the said February. All possible endeavours were used by Mrs Cook and Mr Phillips to get John Sheppard and Edgworth Bess apprehended, but to no purpose till the following accident.

Sheppard was now upon his wicked range in London, committing robberies everywhere at discretion; but one day meeting with his acquaintance, James Sykes, alias Hell and Fury, sometimes a chairman, and at others a running footman, this Sykes invited him to go to one Redgate’s, a victualling house near the Seven Dials, to play at skittles. Sheppard complied, and Sykes secretly sent for Mr Price, a constable in St Giles’s parish, and charged him with his friend Sheppard, for the robbing of Mrs Cook, &c. Sheppard was carried before Justice Parry, who ordered him to St Giles’s round-house till the next morning for further examination. He was confined in the upper part of the place, being two storeys from the ground, but ere two hours came about, by only the help of a razor and the stretcher of a chair, he broke open the top of the round-house, and tying together a sheet and a blanket, by them descended into the churchyard and escaped, leaving the parish to repair the damage, and repent of the affront put upon his skill and capacity.

On the 19th of May last, in the evening, Sheppard, with another robber named Benson, were passing through Leicester Fields, where a gentleman stood accusing a woman with an attempt to steal his watch. A mob was gathered round the disputants, and Sheppard’s companion, being a master, got in amongst them and picked the gentleman’s pocket in good earnest of the watch. The scene was surprisingly changed from an imaginary robbery to a real one, and in a moment ensued an outcry of ‘Stop thief.’ Sheppard and Benson took to their heels, and Sheppard was seized by a sergeant of the guard at Leicester House, crying out ‘Stop thief’ with much earnestness. He was conveyed to St Ann’s round-house in Soho, and kept secure till the next morning, when Edgworth Bess came to visit him, who was seized also. They were carried before Justice Walters, when the people in Drury Lane and Clare Market appeared and charged them with the robberies afore mentioned. But Sheppard pretending to impeach several of his accomplices, the Justice committed them to New Prison, with intent to have them soon removed to Newgate, unless there came from them some useful discoveries. Sheppard was now a second time in the hands of justice, but how long he intended to keep in them the reader will soon be able to judge.

He and his mate were now in a strong and well-guarded prison, himself loaded with a pair of double links and basils of about fourteen pounds weight, and confined together in the safest apartment called Newgate Ward. Sheppard, conscious of his crimes, and knowing the information he had made to be but a blind amusement that would avail him nothing, he began to meditate an escape. They had been thus detained for about four days, and their friends having the liberty of seeing them, furnished him with implements proper for his design; accordingly Mr Sheppard goes to work, and on the 25th of May, being Whitsun-Monday, at about two of the clock in the morning, he had completed a practicable breach, and sawed off his fetters; having, with unheard-of diligence and dexterity, cut off an iron bar from the window, and taken out a muntin, or bar of the most solid oak of about nine inches in thickness, by boring it through in many places, a work of great skill and labour. They had still five-and-twenty feet to descend from the ground; Sheppard fastened a sheet and blanket to the bars and causes Madam to take off her gown and petticoat, and sent her out first, and she being more corpulent than himself, it was with great pain and difficulty that he got her through the interval, and observing his directions, she was instantly down, and more frighted than hurt; the philosopher followed, and lighted with ease and pleasure. But where are they escaped to? why, out of one prison into another. The reader is to understand that the New Prison and Clerkenwell Bridewell lie contiguous to one another, and they are got into the yard of the latter, and have a wall of twenty-two feet high to scale before their liberty is perfected. Sheppard, far from being unprepared to surmount this difficulty, has his gimlets and pincers ready, and makes a scaling ladder. The keepers and prisoners of both places are asleep in their beds; he mounts his baggage, and in less than ten minutes carries both her and himself over this wall and completes an entire escape. Although his escape from the condemned hold of Newgate has made a greater noise in the world than that from this prison hath, it has been allowed by all the jail-keepers in London, that one so miraculous was never performed before in England; the broken chains and bars are kept at New Prison to testify and preserve the memory of this extraordinary villain.

Sheppard, not warned by this admonition, returns like a dog to his vomit, and comes secretly into his master Wood’s neighbourhood in Wych Street, and concerts measures with one Anthony Lamb, an apprentice to Mr Carter, a mathematical instrument maker, for robbing of Mr Barton, a master tailor, a man of worth and reputation who lodged in Mr Carter’s house; Charles Grace, a graceless cooper, was let into the secret, and consented and resolved to act his part. The 16th of June last was appointed. Lamb accordingly lets Grace and Sheppard into the house at midnight; they all go up to Mr Barton’s apartments well armed with pistols, and entered his rooms without being disturbed. Grace was posted at Mr Barton’s bedside with a loaded pistol, and positive orders to shoot him through the head if in case he awaked; Sheppard being engaged in opening the trunks and boxes the meanwhile. It luckily happened for Mr Barton that he slept sounder than usual that night, as having come from a merry-making with some friends; the poor man little dreaming in what dreadful circumstances. They carried off in notes and bonds, guineas, clothes made and unmade, to the value of between two and three hundred pounds; besides a Paduasoy suit of clothes, worth about eighteen or twenty pounds more; which having been made for a corpulent gentleman, Sheppard had them reduced, and fitted for his own size and wear, as designing to appear and make a figure among the beau monde.