Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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Thus of 2914 persons who were liberated in 1876 nearly one-half were indelibly stamped in this way, and this information is now carefully arranged in the new register.

A thief may assume any name he pleases—​the chances are about even that he is ear-marked, and known more certainly than by name.

This register is a curiously interesting production.

The first issue shows who are “deaf,” “very deaf,” “men of colour,” “blind of one or both eyes,” those who squint, or have a “glide,” or a “cast” in their organs of vision.

Twenty-five per cent. have “broken, or crooked noses,” and a few have “their ears slit.”

The mania for tattooing, which it will be remembered even the “Claimant” was not free from, exists largely among thieves.

There is first of all the “D,” (deserter from the army), which occurs very frequently, two “D’s” almost equally so; some have even three “B C’s,” (bad characters) appearing on the left sides, of a sufficient number to justify the conclusion that a bad soldier is often something more.