ieving. At a late hour on Friday night,
a watchman was going his round, when, on trying a warehouse in which
there was much valuable property, to see whether it was safe, he heard
the little prisoner cry. The persons who had the care of the warehouse
were roused, and he was taken out. In his fright he acknowledged that
a man had taken him from his mother, and induced him, upon a promise
of reward, to steal into the warehouse; upon a concerted signal, he
was to act as directed by the fellow on the outside; but becoming
terrified at being confined so long in the dark, he had cried out
and discovered himself. His mother came forward, and received a good
character as the wife of a hard-working man. The Lord Mayor gave her
son up to her, with an injunction to act carefully and strictly with
him. There was reason to believe, he said, that several considerable
robberies had been recently committed by means of children like the
prisoner, who stole in and remained concealed until midnight, when
they gave admission to the robbers. The police should have their eyes
upon him."

The other instance is from a report of one of the sessions in
London:--

"William Hart, an urchin _seven years of age_, was indicted for
stealing twenty-two shillings in money, numbered, from the person of
Mary Conner. The prosecutrix stated, that on the day named in the
indictment, she took twenty-five shillings to get something out of
pledge, but as there was a crowd in Mary-le-bone, assembled to witness
a fight, she was induced to join the mob. While standing there she
felt something move in her pocket, and putting her hand outside her
clothes, she laid hold of what proved to be the hand of the prisoner,
which she held until she had given him a slap on the face, and then
she let him go; but on feeling in her pocket she discovered that the
theft had actually been committed, and that only three shillings were
left. A constable took the urchin into custody, and accused him of
robbing her of twenty-two shillings. The prisoner said, 'I have
twenty-two shillings in my pocket, but it is my mother's money; she
gets so drunk she gives me her money to take care of.' The officer
stated to the same effect as the prosecutrix, and added, that _in a
secret pocket in his jacket he found fourteen shilling and sixpence.
It was the practice of gangs of pickpockets to have a child like this
to commit the robbery, and hand the plunder to them_. Witness went to
his parents,