On Their Arrival His Excellency Sent For
Frazer And Bade Him Examine Them Telling Him At The Same Time That They
Could Not Be Picked.
Frazer laughed and asked for a crooked nail only,
to open them all.
A nail was brought, and in an instant he verified his
assertion. Astonished at his dexterity, a gentleman present determined
to put it to farther proof. He was sent for in a hurry, some days after,
to the hospital, where a lock of still superior intricacy and expense to
the others had been provided. He was told that the key was lost and that
the lock must be immediately picked. He examined it attentively, remarked
that it was the production of a workman, and demanded ten minutes to make
an instrument 'to speak with it.' Without carrying the lock with him,
he went directly to his shop, and at the expiration of his term returned,
applied his instrument, and open flew the lock. But it was not only in
this part of his business that he excelled: he executed every branch
of it in superior style. Had not his villainy been still more notorious
than his skill, he would have proved an invaluable possession to a new
country. He had passed through innumerable scenes in life, and had played
many parts. When too lazy to work at his trade he had turned thief in
fifty different shapes, was a receiver of stolen goods, a soldier and a
travelling conjurer. He once confessed to me that he had made a set of
tools, for a gang of coiners, every man of whom was hanged.
Were the nature of the subject worthy of farther illustration, many
similar proofs of misapplied talents might be adduced.
Their love of the marvellous has been recorded in an early part of this
work. The imposture of the gold finder, however prominent and glaring,
nevertheless contributed to awaken attention and to create merriment.
He enjoyed the reputation of a discoverer, until experiment detected the
imposition. But others were less successful to acquire even momentary
admiration. The execution of forgery seems to demand at least neatness
of imitation and dexterity of address. On arrival of the first fleet
of ships from England, several convicts brought out recommendatory letters
from different friends. Of these some were genuine, and many owed their
birth to the ingenuity of the bearers. But these last were all such
bungling performances as to produce only instant detection and succeeding
contempt. One of them addressed to the governor, with the name of
Baron Hotham affixed to it, began 'Honored Sir!'
A leading distinction, which marked the convicts on their outset in the
colony, was an use of what is called the 'flash', or 'kiddy' language.
In some of our early courts of justice an interpreter was frequently
necessary to translate the deposition of the witness and the defence of
the prisoner. This language has many dialects. The sly dexterity of the
pickpocket, the brutal ferocity of the footpad, the more elevated career
of the highwayman and the deadly purpose of the midnight ruffian is each
strictly appropriate in the terms which distinguish and characterize it.
I have ever been of opinion that an abolition of this unnatural jargon
would open the path to reformation.
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