Thievery

Thievery

See also Gangsterism, Highwaymen, Outlawry.

Alfarache, Guzmán de

picaresque, peripatetic thief; lived by unscrupulous wits. [Span. Lit.: The Life of Guzman de Alfarache]

Armstrong, Johnnie

Scottish Robin Hood; robbed only the English. [Br. Hist.: Walsh Classical, 31–32]

Artful Dodger

tricky thief; pupil of Fagin. [Br. Lit.: Dickens Oliver Twist]

Autolycus

master robber. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 96]

Barabbas

thief released instead of Jesus to appease crowd. [N.T.: Matthew 27:16–26; Mark 15:7–15; John 18:40]

Cacus

Vulcan’s three-headed, thieving son. [Rom. Myth.: Benét, 154]

Compeyson

accomplished criminal; swindles, forges, and steals. [Br. Lit.: Great Expectations]

Crackit, Toby

a housebreaker; burglarizes Chertsey. [Br. Lit.: Oliver Twist]

Dawkins, John

London pickpocket and thief. [Br. Lit.: Oliver Twist]

Fagin

he trained young boys to become thieves. [Br. Lit.: Oliver Twist]

Gradgrind, Tom

thief; robbed Bounderby’s Bank. [Br. Lit.: Hard Times]

Hood, Robin

took from the rich and gave to the poor. [Br. Lit.: Robin Hood]

Knave of Hearts

“stole the tarts” made by Queen of Hearts. [Nurs. Rhyme: Baring Gould, 152]

Lockhart, Jamie

a backwoods bandit with heroic qualities, chosen by a rich planter to be his daughter’s husband. [Am. Lit.: Eudora Welty The Robber Bridegroom in Weiss, 124]

Mak

sheep stealer succeeds by waiting till the shepherds fall asleep. [Br. Lit.: The Second Shepherd’s Play]

Mercury

god of thieves. [Gk. Myth.: Wheeler, 240]

Nicholas’s

Clerks slang for thieves. [Br. Usage: Brewer Hand-book, 754; Br. Lit.: I Henry IV; II Henry IV]

Nym

humorous thief and rogue. [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry V]

Raffles

leading Victorian criminal-hero. [Br. Lit.: Herman, 19–20]

Sikes, Bill

Fagin’s thieving associate. [Br. Lit.: Oliver Twist]

Taffy

Welshman who “stole a piece of beef.” [Nurs. Rhyme: Baring Gould, 72–73]

Turpin, Dick

(1706–1739) English housebreaker and highway-man. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1108]

Valentine, Jimmy

a romanticized burglar. [Am. Lit: Alias Jimmy Valentine, Espy, 337]

Valjean, Jean

stole a loaf of bread; sentenced to 19 years in jail. [Fr. Lit.: Les Misérables]