Financed Many Criminals But Died Destitute

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 645, 23 April 1929, Page 13

Financed Many Criminals But Died Destitute

Old Crook in the End Lived on Charity of “The Boys’’ DEATH OF NOTED “FENCE” crime does not pay is strikingly exemplified by the career of one oil the most notorious “fences,” or receivers of stolen, property, of modern days, who was laid to rest the other day at Finchley Cemetery, England. In his prime, the dead man was regarded by his confreres—swell cracksmen, jewel thieves, and criminals of the higher grade generally—as a sort of Napoleon of the underworld. By smart deals in stolen goods of great value, and wonderful luck on the Turf, he eventually amassed a fortune estimated by his close companions at about £IOO,OOO. This super-“fence,” however, dissipated a great deal of Ills ill-gotten gains in associating with and treating lavishly his innumerable so-called friends. He lost heavily in speculation, at the card and gaming tables, at home and abroad, and on the racecourse. Consequently, years before the end came, this one-time well-to-do crook fell upon evil days, and practicallv was dependent on the charity of his former associates for the means of existence. At the advanced age of S2 the in dividual in question, James Bullock, peacefully died in his bed in North London. Among his intimates in the under-world of crime it had for some time been apparent that Jim, as he was always known in the records of Scotland Yard, was rapidly breaking up, and when the news flew ‘around the criminal confraternity that Bullock, in the caustic vernacular of “The Boys,’ had "cashed in,” the words conveyed a direct and unmistakable meaning to those initiated in the habitual language of crooks. Although in his time Jim had many thousands of pounds pass through his hands, he spent the last years of his life in penury, if not in absolute destitution. For some considerable time he had been deI pendent on the charity of “The Boys,” j who, for old acquaintance sake, were in the habit of giving him a tithe of | their ill-gotten gains. Bullock was a Norfolk man. hail- . ing from a small agricultural village. I and to the day of his death his strong mother tongue never deserted him, i especially in moments of excitement. Then he would break out in quaint Norfolk phrases which were almost unintelligible to his "customers.” Jim was descended from a highly respectable family of tenant farmers, but. his education was somewhat neglected. and although shrewd and intelligent, he bordered on illiteracy. He arrived in London as a lad, and was employed behind the bar at a tavern in Lambeth, at that time a notorious criminal neighbourhood. It was here, in this locality, that Jim first became acquainted with the habitual classes of. wrongdoers. His first introduced to a police court was over 50 years ago, when he was arrested by a well-known detective of that period named Butcher in a pub-lic-house in the Strand while examining a watch which had been handed to him by a notorious pickpocket. On this occasion no prosecutor appeared, and Jim was consequently discharged. But ever after, in police parlance, he was regarded as “a man in the market.” The astute detective, Butcher, kept

Bullock under continuous observation, and eventually ran him to earth in the Seven Dials with a lady’s dressing case in his possession, for which he was unable to give a satisfactory explanation. This led to a charge of unlawful possession, subsequently altered to one of receiving stolen property, and at the Old Bailey, in November, ISSO, he was ordered five yeai v penal servitude. On his release from this sentence on ticket-of-leave there was, in those days, no opportunity for a man w ithout a character to earn an honest livelihood, and. Jim drifted back automatically to his old associates. AMASSED A FORTUNE Unlike the majority of crooks Jim was then of a saving and careful nature; hence he invariably had money in his pocket which he utilised in purchasing the proceeds of burglaries from professional cracksmen, who frequently disposed of stolen goods valued at hundreds of pounds for quite trifling amounts. In this way Jim amassed considerable wealth. Toward the end of ISBS Jim had, for reasons of his own, transferred his attentions to Ireland with the unfortunate result for him that he appeared at Down Assizes and went away to serve a term of seven years for assaulting a person with intent to rob. On another occasion Jim was the principal figure in the sequel to a sensational robbery of jewels worth thousands of pounds belonging to a lady of title. The theft was cleverly carried out on the mail-boat between Calais and Dover. The perpetrators of this audacious crime were never discovered, but suspicion centred on Bullock whom the police believed to be the “fence” who had purchased her ladyship’s jewels. He was arrested on suspicion, and a valuable diamond pin was found in his possession. This the lady's maid positively i identified as one belonging to her ■ mistress. But Jim’s astute brain i | soon got to work, and he suggested ! to a confederate, who was a jeweller, the manufacturing of a pin exactly the same in size and weight. This facsimile of the genuine article was • produced at the trial, and when the j maid was confronted with the two i articles she was quite unable to posi-j tively swear which one was her mis- j tress’s property. The jury returned a verdict of “Not guilty,” and Jim left the dock in triumph. MANY NARROW ESCAPES It was ever after an old boast of his that he had fairly and squarely beaten the “splits,” as detectives are known. But Nemesis, always dogging the footsteps of the evil-doer, quickly brought Bullock to heel, and again he stood in the dock, when the well of the court was littered with vast array of promiscuous articles of gold and silver plate, the proceeds of systematic raids on various country residences. Bullock was by no means averse from taking an active part in any -wellplanned and carefully organised bur-

glary, and many a narrow escape he had when playing the leading part in these depredations. At a wellknown hunting lodge in Leicestershire Bullock was caught red-handed leaving a bedroom with a lady’s jewel case in his possession. He was promptly challenged by a maid, and, an alarm being raised, the guests secured Bullock, and he was temporarily locked in the butler's pantry while a member of the party hastened across country to the nearest local constabulary. When the police arrived on the scene the bird had flown. A small fender had beeu used as a lever to force the iron bars from the window, and Jim had squeezed his way through to liberty. About this time Jim conceived the highly-profitable idea of making a book at the race meetings as a “blind” to cover his purchases from j the “boys” on the course. In many cases he found the initial ; funds necessary for the perpetration i of these crimes, much in the same I way as Fagin financed Bill Sikes and j flash Toby Crackett. Needless to! say, the lion’s share of the spoil fell to Jim. This continued for many j years until it was estimated in the | underworld that Bullock was worth ' quite £IOO,OOO. In April, 1903. Jim j made another appearance at the Old Bailey, where he was ordered five years for receiving 7.000 musquash i skins and hundreds of ermine skins of great value. WAR YEARS’ HARVEST Years later the war brought on great occasions of criminal activity, : and considerably added to Jim's banking account. The appreciation of values, notably in platinum, which jumped from £l2 to £4O an ounce, caused great attention to be paid to persons holding stocks of this valuable metal by the criminal community ; and buyers of stolen property generi ally. Numerous robberies of plati num took place at the large smelting establishments in England. Jim. trading on the ignorance of his cli entele with regard to the value of their booty, told them it was only silver, and gave them the war value of that metal, viz., 5s an ounce, the platinum being approximately worth £4O an ounce. Probably one of his clients, discovering how he had been defrauded of his fair share of the plunder, sent anonymous information to Scotland Yard, which resulted in: Jim’s arrest and the finding of a large quantity of platinum in his possession. He was not convicted owing to the impossibility of identifying the metal. The police, however, were so convinced that he had obtained it surreptitiously that 4 they refused to return the platinum until an adequate explanation was given to show how it came into his possession. No satisfactory account being forthcoming, the precious metal still lies at the Yard awaiting an owner. Early in 1915 Jim was again brought to book for receiving, and at

the Old Bailey was ordered 20 months’ imprisonment. .This punishment was followed by another sentence, this time one of 21 months, late in 1916. After this, fortune did not favour Jim, financial difficulties followed, and involved him in serious losses and he gradually lost the confidence of his old clients. With increasing age and his health impaired, he sank lower and lower in the scale of crooked buyers. Now Jim has passed to his long rest at the ripe old age of 82.