Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
People thought Jonathan Wilde was a good, upstanding kind of guy. He was a thief taker who was very good at catching criminals. The Privy Council advisers to the Crown consulted with him on methods of controlling crime in London. Highway robbers, who were having their own golden age of crime at the time, were a scourge on the city and Jonathan had them in his sights. But what most people did not know was that Jonathan himself was actually a very
bad guy. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarki.
And I'm a Holly Frye. So we thought we'd do a one to eighty for this episode and talk not about highway robbers, but the people who highway robbers feared the thief takers. In England between roughly sixteen seventy five and eighteen thirty, if you witnessed a crime t you were legally obliged to apprehend the perpetrator if it was possible. At a minimum, you were expected to report the crime to a magistrate or other official, but citizens were uncomfortable
and or unwilling to police their own city. As crimes became more and more violent in nature and more frequent. Before the establishment of a professional police force in London, which didn't happen until the nineteenth century, thief takers began to fill the need. They were private citizens who captured criminals and recovered stolen goods for a reward. That's it.
Those are the basics of the gig. They didn't have the same level of training or oversight as what we would expect from law enforcement officials or even private investigators or bounty hunters of today. Often thief takers were former or sometimes active criminals themselves, and many frequently used illegal, unethical, or unscrupulous methods to get their bounty. Thief takers and thieves they were often one and the same.
Thief takers are considered the result of legislation passed in sixteen ninety two called an Act for Encouraging the Apprehending of Highwaymen. That act established a monetary reward for the capture and conviction of highway robbers, and it also gave a free pardon to criminals who gave up their accomplices.
Records show thief takers received from the sheriff forty pounds for each criminal they apprehended that led to a conviction, Plus there was a bonus of one hundred pounds quote if the crime was committed within five miles of Charing Cross. A single capture in London would earn the thief taker the equivalent of five years earnings in average employment. In addition, quote, any crime committed by the thief taker during his apprehension
was also pardoned. So thief taking was a really attractive deal.
But as you may imagine, not all of those people who chose the occupation were honest and well meaning people. For instance, thief takers often used their sway to blackmail criminals with that threat of turning them in for arrest, or on the flip side of that, they could offer thieves protection from being arrested. That, though came at a price.
Thief takers also often paid known criminals to testify with true or false evidence against other criminals and sometimes even against innocent people, to ensure there was a conviction so that they received their reward.
The act was also supposed to encourage victims of theft to prosecute the person who had stolen from them and to incentivize victims to try to recover their stolen property, so again enter the thief takers for help when it came to recovering that stolen property. Sometimes a thief taker would act on behalf of the victim as a go between, helping to negotiate the return of items from those who
stole them. Sometimes thief takers made deals with thieves turn in the stolen goods in exchange for a cut of the reward. Sometimes thief takers planted stolen property in order to collect the reward for recovering said stolen property. Talking about the corrupt opportunities can seem kind of dizzying, but there's more. Thief takers were also known to extort money from individuals by threatening to accuse them of thievery unless
they paid a fee. It wasn't rare, either, for thief takers to be involved in violent confrontations with the criminals they were attempting to capture. They weren't shy about using physical force to get their mark and their reward. Some thief takers went undercover, pretending to be thieves to infiltrate
criminal organizations to get their target. As You may imagine from how we've spoken about this job so far, it may not be a surprise to hear that a lot of thief takers were criminals themselves who got into the business to give their own crimes some sort of legitimacy and themselves some protection. The whole set up religious seems to have encouraged corruption, blackmail, perjury, you name it.
We're gonna take a break here for a word from our sponsors, and when we're back we will talk about Jonathan wild thief Taker General, one of the most famous thief takers in England's history.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Now that we know about thief takers, let's meet one of the VIPs in the job, Jonathan Wilde.
Jonathan Wilde was a thief taker, but he was so much more. He played both sides of the law. He was a thief, a fence, a highway robber, a smuggler, a swindler, and engaged in many other nefarious acts before he found himself at the gallows at Tiburn.
Wild grew up in Wolverhampton and Stafford. His father was a carpenter and his mother a costermonger. That's a street bender. Who sells fruits and vegetables. He was baptized on May sixth, but the year is a bit in question. He was likely born in sixteen eighty two, but maybe sixteen eighty three, or possibly but unlikely, sixteen eighty nine. Because Jonathan was bound in an apprenticeship to a buckle maker in Birmingham,
his formal education ended at age fifteen. As a bound apprentice, Wilde was obligated to remain learning the trade for a certain period of time. For Jonathan that may have been as many as seven years or so. When his term ended, he returned to Wolverhampton and married. He and his new wife had a son.
But it wasn't even two years into this marriage when Jonathan decided he was going to leave for London. And there's no record of why he deserted his wife and child for a new start in the city, but we do know that at first when he got there, he practiced his trade, or tried to. After just a few months, though he had already gotten himself so far into debt
that quote being of extravagant disposition. He was soon arrested and thrown into debtors prison at Wood Street Compter during the four years that he spent in jail, Wild listened and learned about criminal life and its secrets from his fellow prisoners, who were mainly petty thieves and tradesmen. He also befriended the prison guards at wood Street, who sent him on errands, but they also granted him the privilege
of what was called the liberty of the Gate. That meant that he was allowed to be outside the prison at night to help apprehend thieves. It was his first taste, at least that we know of, of thief taking the fact that he was allowed outside the prison walls may sound surprising, but Wild was jailed for non payment of debts, and some debtors were allowed special privileges that prisoners who were incarcerated for criminal offenses were not.
While Jonathan was at Wood Street, he met Mary Milliner, a well known sex worker and pickpocket. She taught him everything she knew about being a small time thief. The pair moved in together in seventeen twelve after they were both released from Wood Street, and she introduced him to all of her corrupt contacts. Together, they made a tidy bit of money, mainly using a scheme that was known
as the Buddock and Twang. While Mary entertained clients, Wild hit them with a cudgel and robbed them literally with their pants down. They opened a public house called the King's Head, a criminal friendly establishment. Wild became a small time fence. He often bought stolen goods from his patrons
and resold the items for a profit. Upstairs, Mary managed a group of sex workers, and the couple reportedly would rob the client tell not just of coins and jewelry, but also personal letters and diaries to be used as blackmail. Wild began to quote rapidly accumulate property and began to think of himself a man of consequence. He dressed in least clothes and wore a sword.
We're gonna pause here again for a word from our sponsors, and when we return we will talk about how Wild was deeply involved in London's criminal underworld while he was also a thief taker, and how that was definitely a conflict of interest.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how Jonathan was finally caught playing both sides of the law after more than a decade of his two faced game.
There were two celebrated thief takers in England, in the eighteenth century Jonathan Wilde and Charles Hitchin. In seventeen thirteen, Hitchin had become the under Marshal of London, a post that made him responsible for maintaining order in the city. It was a paid position that served under the Lord Mayor. He wasn't a very good under marshal, though. He was suspended after ten months, accused of accepting stolen goods as well as engaging in other generally sketchy practices. And he
was doing all of that. Mostly he was forcing criminals to pay him for protection from arrest, and expected businesses to bribe him to keep the thieves away from their establishments.
Both Hitchin and wild practiced thief taking in London. Both men also were up to no good, and each had built his own criminal empire. Hitchin recruited Jonathan to keep the local thieves under control until his suspension was lifted and he was reinstated to his office, which happened in April of seventeen fourteen. The pair were known to take late night walks together under the guise of reforming areas
of the city considered to be public nuisances. These strolls, though were nothing more than excuses to collect protection money from the locals and to traffic stolen goods. According to the popular Newgate Calendar, a catalog of often moralized stories about crimes and criminals, the two grew jealous of each other and parted company. But they weren't done done with each other, if you know what we mean. Each published
pamphlets attempting to selly the other's thief taking reputation. Mainly, they just lobbed accusations at each other for engaging in unethical and criminal dealings.
But Wild and Hitchin didn't really need each other. There was enough to go around legally and illegally. In the absence of any police force. They both exploited the strong public demand for action during a deepening crime wave in the city. It's said that Wild alone sent upwards of
one hundred and twenty people to the gallows. Based on his testimonies and leaks from his informants to the authorities, many people believed Wild performed a vital public service for the city, not only by capturing criminals, but also by returning lost valuables to their owners. London citizens supported him, presenting himself as an honest Officer of the law. He now self titled as thief Taker General of England and Ireland.
But Londoners didn't know that he had simultaneously built a massive criminal empire that has been compared to a mafia like enterprise, involving robbery, fencing, prostitution, racketeering and really any other crime worth a profit, and he used his legal crime fighting role to take down his rivals and launder the proceeds of his own crimes.
By December of seventeen fourteen, Wilde had moved to a new house known unofficially as the Office of Intelligence for Lost Goods, and he heavily played up his role as a middleman who helped victims recover their stolen items from robbers. Reported The Bridge his journal at the time, quote, as soon as anything is missing suspected to be stolen, the first course we steer is directly to the office of mister Jonathan Wilde.
One technique wild used was advertisements in newspapers calling for any quote unquote lost valuables to be dropped off at his house with the promise of rewards and of course no questions asked. And this went both ways. Victims too, would advertise for help from thief takers, such as this
advertisement posted in the London Gazette. Quote robbed the tenth of November last from mister Joseph Bullock of Bristol, on the road between Hungerford and Newbury and Berkshire, one silver watch in case, there being on the backside of the case an almanac, a hangar with a plate hilt, a
buff belt with silver buckles by three men. The one a middle sized man, full faced, a short white wig, much curled in an old cloth color riding coat, on a flea bitten horse about fourteen hands high, his brows brown. The other a middle sized black favored on a gray horse above fourteen hands high, with black hair or wig and thin favor. The other a full set man, thin favored,
with curled dark brown hair. Whoever can discover the persons aforesaid to mister Bullock of Bristol, or at the three cups in Bread Street, London, the said robbers, having killed one John Thomas, the said mister Bullock's servant, shall have
their charges and ten pounds reward. Ironically, though, when a victim asked wild to help find a thief or recover missing items, they did not know that it was highly likely that Wild already knew the perpetrators and had the items in his possession, because odds were super good that he was the one that ordered the theft in the first place.
Regularly, as a way to increase his reputation as an honest person, Jonathan would round up a number of known thiefs for arrest a look at how safe the city is because of me kind of scenario. He almost always targeted thieves who didn't cooperate with him, and if anyone questioned him, Wild turned them over to public officials.
In seventeen twenty two, Wild's decade long Lucky Street started to sour after he was severely injured by highwayman Joseph Blake. Blueskin, as Blake was known, had informed on his gang associates, and for doing so, he expected to receive a reward from Wild for that information. That was how it was supposed to work, but Jonathan instead turned him in and Blueskin, surprised and angry over the betrayal, slit Wild's throat. Wild
survived this attack. It was one of three serious injuries he endured while in the thief taking business, and Blueskin went on to be executed by hanging.
Jonathan's criminal and non criminal careers ended a few years later when he was arrested in February of seventeen twenty five for his alleged involvement and a riot engineer to spring an associate from Newgate Prison. He was charged with theft, shoplifting, miscellaneous,
and perverting justice. His trial began on May thirteenth. While his popularity might have led to an acquittal, and he had been quite popular for keeping the streets safer, there had been a recent growing change in the public's view of him. People were beginning to think of him as violent and maybe not the kind of person they wanted
in charge of their safety. Witness testimony at his trial revealed that he was both a thief taker and the leader of an organized crime organization, and that he benefited financially from the return of stolen goods. When they realized that their boss was not going to escape justice this time, Wilde's Underworld gang turned on him. Because he didn't employ anyone, at least not directly, it was always hard to pin crimes on him, but it wasn't so hard when his
associates brought evidence against him. Straight to the court. Testimonies against him painted a picture of a Jonathan Wilde, who maintained long standing secret correspondence with criminals, had knowingly taken possession of items that had been stolen, which is known as receiving, and that he had found and fenced stolen goods for his own profit. Wild was acquitted of theft, but the jury convicted him of an offense that would
become known as Jonathan Wilde's Act. He was guilty of perverting justice because he'd accepted reward without attempting to catch or prosecute the thief. He was sentenced to execution.
In the History of the Life of the Late Mister Jonathan Wilde the Great, which was a satirical novel about the thief, taker Henry Fielding wrote that wild pickpocketed the Newgate Ordinary on the way to the gallows, and quote died with the eloquent Troup in his hand. That trophy he describes was a corkscrew. Is this the truth, Probably not, but it is an accurate nod to how Jonathan just
couldn't keep his hands out of anyone's pockets. Now branded a so called director of a corporation of thieves, and a most famous receiver. Wild was executed at Tiburn on May twenty fourth, seventeen twenty five, to allegedly cheering crowds. The proceedings of the Old Bailey summed up the case quite briefly, quote the jury acquitted the prisoner of the first indictment of theft and found him guilty of the other death.
One final account of Jonathan to share with you suggests that quote. In his gay hours, when his heart was open, he took pleasure in recounting his past rogueries, and with a great deal of humor, bragged of his biting the world.
Huh, do you need a swig from the hip flask?
Let's take a snap and see.
Okay, So Jonathan happened in terms of like when we record at a time that was fortuitous because I had been craving a particular type of alcohol and it works for this because I wanted to think of something, because he had this kind of dual life where people thought he was one thing and then discovered he was another, or some people knew he was both. Some people liked him,
some people didn't. I wanted to see if I could come up with something that starts with a drink that not everyone likes, but could disguise it in a way that it tastes yummier to people who think they would not like it. Ah, so it's sambuca time at last. I know you thought it was gonna be absinthe.
But I actually thought that we're going to dip artoes into kampari again.
But I mean also that uh no, So right, Sambuca, like absinthe, has a strong licorice or annis note, and that's what some people either love like me or hate,
like my beloved. So this is we have a household where we can test this right out of the can, and like there's like I love for me, which is not the drink today, but it's it's the base of it a sambuca sour where it's just like two ounces of sambuca, an ounce of lemon juice and an ounce of syrup, and like put it in a little nick and Nora and it's perfect for me, not for everyone. The good thing is that's not a super high ABV drink. Sambuca is closer to a liqueur, like you don't you
just don't have as much hoot in it. But I was like, how can I take this drink that I love desperately and make it a drink that even someone who's not into sambuca might like. And so here's what we did. The measures are different than what I just said. So you are going to into your shaking tin put three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, three quarters of an ounce of simple syrup, one and a half ounces of sambuca, and a half ounce of vanilla liqueur.
That's optional because you could also, if you love sambuca and you don't want it sweetened up like that, switch that out and use vodka instead. You'll get a harder hitting drink. But if you just love sambucan don't want that that taste obscure, that's your option here. And then you're gonna shake that with ice until it's nice and cold, and you're gonna strain it over fresh ice, and then just kiss it with a couple ounces of club soda. And this makes almost like a lemonady looking drink because
of the lemon or the vanilla liqueur. But here's the thing. You can taste the annis note in it, but because it has that rounded base note of vanilla, it just softens it up in a way, and I gave it to my husband. And usually I will say, this has the thing you're not gonna like in it, blah blah blah blah, and I did this time as well. And often, I mean sometimes I will say, like, just try this and tell me what you think, so that there's no
preconceived notions. But I actually said, this has something you're not gonna like in it. And I gave it to him and he drank it and said, oh, that's not bad, which is so we have made sambuca into something he would drink. Oh, Like I said, if you love sambuca, put in vodka instead. Listen you'll there will be more drinkies, but it's not a lot more vodka, but it kicks it up a little bit. To do a mocktail version of this, we're gonna make it super simple. So you
just need an Annis or a licorice syrup. You can find Annis syrup online. It's super easy. Again, a vanilla syrup is optional. You could also if you wanted, grate a little fresh vanilla in there or put a little
vanilla extract. You just want to kiss it with vanilla so that the licorice gets grounded and then same thing, lemon juice, a little simple syrup, and just I would put more soda in those, so you're essentially making like an anis and vanilla soda and just let it be a nice give it a good swizzle with your barspoon, or if you just want to swizzle it around with your straw, that's fine. But it makes a nice summer sip.
It's also more than one hundred degrees here, so that's part of why I wanted to do a drink that went over ice and had a little more liquid to it that would be a little more hydrating, because the real feel is one hundred and eight right now, and I need I need something to soften that eat. And we're calling this one up to no Good because that seems like the only appropriate thing for a Jonathan Wild
drink because it includes the word good in it. But that wasn't what he was actually doing, so we're remaking it into something that hides it's true nature a little bit. That's Jonathan Wild for you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to drink sambouca Maria. I mean, I don't really need permission, but I have been craving it and it was a good excuse. So there you go. You're welcome. Oh man, I love it. I'll just man put that in a poost cafe and when I get to that layer,
I'm so excited and I'm so excited. If you make this you find it yummy. If you are a licorice person, like I said, and you make the cocktail version, which I am, Oh man, give me black licorice everything. I love it. Yeah, throw that baby together in your set for summer. We hope if you make this that you find it yummy. We will be right back here again next week with another tale of highway robbery and some drinks to go along with it. Criminalia is a production
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please is it the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,