Here is another examination of a criminal described in Henry Mayhews “London Labour and the London Poor”.
“Fences or receivers of stolen
goods"
Thousands of thieves of every
kind stole countless pounds worth of valuables every day in Victorian London,
but that’s only half the job. Turning their ill gotten gains into a profit was
risky, and complicated, and often not worth the effort. A thief had to know who
wanted to buy what, how much it was worth, and keep it safe. For thieves
without connections, buyers, and storage space, a reliable fence solves all
their problems.
Fences (also called Duffers) buy
stolen items directly from thieves. The thieves only got a fraction of their
ware’s value, but they made a quick profit with minimal risk. Enterprising
fences sometimes a built a community of thieves around themselves, training
apprentice thieves (often children), loaning money, and setting up jobs. They
knew more thieves meant more stolen items and more stolen items meant more
money.
Sometimes when a particularly
valuable or very specialized item was stolen, the victims of the theft were the
best customers. The stolen item would be quietly ransomed back to its owners
and the fence often made more money than he could selling to anyone else.
A store front was often the
center of a fence’s operation. The store
provided security, storage and some precious legitimacy to illegal deals. Their fronts varied from dolly shops selling
nothing but stolen items, to respectable looking pawn shops licensed to buy
silver and gold. No matter their appearances, fence shops often changed
locations to stay ahead of the police. The best fences stayed hidden and worked
behind the scenes arranging jobs and making money.
The receiving of stolen goods is
a felony. Depending on the amount of stolen property and the number of
offenses, fence could be sentenced to 1-6 months hard labor, to seven years
transportation, to more than 10 years in prison for a truly prolific fence.
Ezekiel Lipley (Respectable halfling store owner with
“connections”)
Initiative:
5
Physical: 4
Mental: 5
Social: 6
Health: 8
Traits: Knows
everybody +3, Antiquarian +2
Combat:
Punch (2), Pistol (8)
From his clean pressed shirt, to
his neatly trimmed sideburns, Ezekiel Lipley looks every inch a gentleman. He’s better dressed and better fed than his
neighbors, but he’s very popular on his street. No one will hear a word against
him.
Paying Percentages
Fences bought their goods as cheaply
as possible to maximize their profits. Unskilled or desperate thieves might be
paid a fifth of their ware’s value, while regulars earned a fourth or even a
third of the value. Some items had static prices because of their usefulness
and selling value. For example, silk and satin generally sells for 1 shilling a
yard.
Molybdomancy
Some fences kept a crucible in a
back room hot and ready to melt down precious metals. Melted down metals were
untraceable and unprosecutable. Really organized operations had agreements with
refineries so they could handle any metals they bought from their illegal
sources. Or is there a more mystical reason to keep a crucible warm?
Could they be practicing Molybdomancy, the ancient greek art of divination? Molten metal is poured from a crucible into
cold water, quickly cooling the metal. The shape of the cooled hardened metal
indicates future events. A little knowledge of what’s to come would be very
handy for a fence wanting to stay out of prison or make a lot of money.
Adventure Ideas
Business breeds paperwork. If a
ledger full of illegal deals and illicit contacts goes missing in the rookery,
neighborhood power struggles and cover-ups ensue.
Several local thieves have gone
missing. They only have one connection: all were hired by the same fence to do
a very risky job.
Here are a few posts that connect
nicely with today’s topic. If you want to use a fence in a Victoriana Adventure
the information on these posts might be helpful:
No comments:
Post a Comment