 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF THE "DUFFERS" OR HAWKERS OF PRETENDED
SMUGGLED GOODS.
Of "duffers" and "lumpers," as regards the sale
of textile fabrics, there are generally, I am in-
formed, about twenty in London. At such times as
Epsom, Ascot-heath, or Goodwood races, however,
there is, perhaps, not one. All have departed to
prey, if possible, upon the countrymen. Eight of
them are Jews, and the majority of the others are
Irishmen. They are generally dressed as sailors,
and some wear either fur caps, or cloth ones, with
gilt bands round them, as if they were the mates
or stewards of ships. They look out for any
likely victim at public-houses, and sometimes accost
persons in the streets — first looking carefully about
them, and hint that they are smugglers, and have
the finest and cheapest "Injy" handkerchiefs ever
seen. These goods are now sold in "pieces" of
three handkerchiefs. When times were better, I
was told, they were in pieces of four, five, and six.
One street-seller said to me, "Yes, I know the
`duffers;' all of them. They do more business
than you might think. Everybody likes a smug-
gled thing; and I should say these men, each of
the `duffers,' tops his 1l. a week, clear profit." I
am assured that one of the classes most numerously
victimised is a body who generally account them-
selves pretty sharp, viz. gentlemen's grooms, and
coachmen at the several mews. Sailors are the
best customers, and the vicinity of the docks the
best locality for this trade; for the hawker of
pretended smuggled goods always does most
business among the "tars." The mock handker-
chiefs are damped carefully with a fine sponge,
before they are offered for sale; and they are
often strongly perfumed, some of the Jews supply-
ing cheap perfumes, or common "scents." When
the "duffer" thinks he may venture upon the asser-
tion, he assures a customer that this is "the smell
the handkerchiefs brought with 'em from foreign
parts, as they was smuggled in a bale of spices!"
[Description: 915EAF. Page 384.]
I am informed that the "duffers" sometimes, on
attempting their impositions imprudently, and
sometimes on being discovered before they can
leave the house, get soundly thrashed. They
have, of course, no remedy.
The "pieces" of three handkerchiefs sold
by the "duffers" are purchased by them in
Houndsditch, at from 3s. to 7s.; but 7s. is only
given when there is a design to palm off the 3s.
goods along with them. Cent. per cent. is a low
profit in this trade.
One intelligent street-trader, to whom I am
indebted for carefully-considered information, said
to me very quietly: "I've read your work, sir,
at a coffee-shop; for I can't afford to take it in.
I know you're going to open the eyes of the
public as to the `duffer's' tricks, now. All
right, sir, they're in honest men's ways. But,
sir, when are you going to say something about
the rich shopkeepers as sells, and the rich manu-
facturers as makes, the `duffer's' things? Every
man of them knows it's for roguery."
There is a peculiar style among the "duffers;"
they never fold their goods neatly — the same as
drapers do, but thrust them into the pack, in a
confused heap, as if they did not understand their
value — or their business. There are other classes
of "duffers" whose calling is rather more hazardous
than the licensed-hawker "duffer." "I have often
thought it strange," says a correspondent, "that
these men could induce any one to credit the
fact of their being sailors, for, notwithstanding
the showy manner in which they chew their quid,
and the jack-tar like fashion in which they suffer
their whiskers to grow, there is such a fresh-
waterfied appearance about them, that they look
no more like a regular mariner than the supernu-
merary seamen in a nautical drama, at the Victoria
Theatre. Yet they obtain victims readily. Their
mode of proceeding in the streets is to accost their
intended dupes, while walking by their side; they
usually speak in a half whisper, as they keep
pace with them, and look mysteriously around to
see if there be any of `them ere Custom-house
sharks afloat.' They address the simple-looking
passers by thus: `Shipmate' (here they take off
their fur-cap and spit their quid into it) — `ship-
mate, I've just come ashore arter a long voyage —
and splice me but I've something in the locker
that'll be of service to you; and, shiver my tim-
bers' (they are very profuse in nautical terms), `you
shall have it at your own price, for I'm determined
to have a spree, and I haven't a shot in the
locker; helm's a-lee; just let's turn into this
creek, and I'll show you what it is' (perhaps he per-
suades his dupe down a court, or to a neighbouring
public-house). `Now here is a beautiful piece of
Ingy handkerchiefs.' (They are the coarsest descrip-
tion of spun not thrown silk, well stiffened into
stoutness, and cost the "duffer" perhaps 15d. each;
but as business is always done on the sly, in a hurry,
and to escape observation, an examination seldom
or never takes place). `I got 'em on shore in
spite of those pirates, the Custom-house officers.
You shall have 'em cheap, there's half a dozen on
'em, they cost me 30s. at Madras, you shall have
'em for the same money.' (The victim, may be,
is not inclined to purchase. The pretended tar,
however, must have money.) `Will you give me 25s.
for them?' he says; `d — n it, a pound? Shiver
my topsails, you don't want them any cheaper than
that, do you!' The `duffer' says this to make
his dupe believe that he really does want the
goods, or has offered a price for them. Perhaps
if the `duffer' cannot extort more he takes 10s.
for the half dozen `Ingy' handkerchiefs, the profit
being thus about 2s. 6d.; but more frequently he
gets 100 and even 200 per cent. on his transactions
according to the gullibility of his customers. The
`duffer' deals also in cigars; he accosts his vic-
tim in the same style as when selling handker-
chiefs, and gives himself the same sailor-like airs.
"Sometimes the `duffers' visit the obscure streets
in London, where there are small chandlers'
shops; one of them enters, leaving his mate out-
side to give him the signal in case the enemy
heaves in sight. He requests to be served with
some trifling article — when if he approve of the
physiognomy of the shopkeeper, and consider him or
her likely to be victimised — he ventures an obser-
vation as to how enormously everything is taxed'
(though to one less innocent it might appear un-
usual for a sailor to talk politics); `even this 'ere
baccy' he says, taking out his quid, `I can't
chew, without paying a tax; but, he adds.
chuckling — `us sailor chaps sometimes shirks
the Custom-house lubbers, sharp as they are.
(Here his companion outside puts his head in at
the door, and, to make the scene as natural as pos-
sible, says, `Come, Jack, don't stop there all night
spinning your yarns; come, bear a hand, or I shall
part convoy.') `Oh, heave to a bit longer, my
hearty,' replies the `duffer,' `I will be with you in
the twinkling of a marling spike. I'll tell you what
we've got, marm, and if you likes to buy it you shall
have it cheap, for me and my mate are both short of
rhino. We've half-a-dozen pounds of tea — you can
weigh it if you like — and you shall have the lot
for 12s.' Perhaps there is an immediate purchase,
but if 12s. is refused, then 10s. 8s. or 6s. is asked,
until a sale be effected, after which the sailors
make their exit as quickly as possible. Then
the chandler's-shop keeper begins to exult over
the bargain he or she has made, and to ex-
amine more minutely the contents of the neatly
packed, and tea-like looking packet thus bought.
It proves to be lined with a profuse quantity of
tea lead, and though some Chinese characters
are marked on the outside, it is discovered on
opening to contain only half-a-pound of tea, the
remainder consisting principally of chopped hay.
The `duffers' enact the same part, and if a pur-
chaser buy 10lbs. of the smuggled article, then
9lbs. at least consist of the same chopped hay.
"Sometimes the `duffers' sell all their stock to
one individual. No sooner do they dispose of
the handkerchiefs to a dupe, than they intro-
duce the smuggled tobacco to the notice of the
unsuspecting customer; then they palm off their
cigars, next their tea, and lastly, as the `duffer' is
determined to raise as much money as he can `to
[Description: 915EAF. Page 385.]
victim — `I'll sell you my watch. It cost me 6l. at
Portsmouth — give me 3l. for it and it's yours,
shipmate. Well, then, 2l. — 1l.' The watch, I
need not state, is made solely for sale.
"It is really astonishing," adds my informant,
"how these men ever succeed, for their look de-
notes cunning and imposition, and their proceed-
ings have been so often exposed in the newspapers
that numbers are alive to their tricks, and warn
others when they perceive the "duffers" endea-
vouring to victimise them; but, as the thimble-men
say, "There's a fool born every minute."
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF MANUFACTURED ARTICLES. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |