14. The Scheme of a Fox Guarding the Henhouse
In addition to his position as “Thief Taker”, Jonathan Wilde also set up a side business as a private detective, recovering stolen goods for a fee. He failed to inform his clients that it was his thieves who had stolen their goods in the first place, and that “recovery” simply came down to Wilde sifting through his warehouses of stolen property. Far from having reformed, Wilde had hoodwinked everybody. Double-crossing the authorities, Wilde made himself England’s biggest crime boss, ridding himself of competitors by delivering them to the gallows.
Indeed, the very term “double-cross” owes its origins to Wilde: he kept a ledger in which two crosses were placed next to the names of those who ran afoul of him. Wilde was finally brought down when a criminal whom he had double-crossed accused him of fencing stolen goods. An investigation confirmed the accusation, and Wilde was arrested. Many of his underlings then turned crown evidence against him, until his whole scheme of simultaneously being England’s greatest crime fighter and greatest criminal came out. After a swift trial that ended with a guilty verdict, Wilde was hanged at Tyburn, where he had sent so many others to their doom.
