354 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCXC.
J A E S ACK C OULL,
ALIAS
CAPTAIN MOFFAT,
AT THE BAR OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.
THIS notorious individual was the son of a pocket-book maker, who for some
time had a small shop near the Church of St. Sepulchre, London, in which city
the subject of the Print was born in 1763. His father is said to have been an
industrious, well-meaning man, but his mother was a female of abandoned
habits, and long known as a shop-lifter and thief of the lowest grade. She had
three sons and three daughters, all of whom, under her maternal instruction,
became adepts in the art of pilfering. The career of Ben, the youngest son,
was short, as he was executed for robbery in 1786. John Mackcoull, the eldest,
was a well-known character at Bow Street. He was a person of good education
and the author of a volume entitled ii Abuses of Justice,” which he published
in 1819, on his acquittal from a charge of forgery.’
JAMEMS ACKCOULtLh,e hero of our narrative, who seems to have inherited
through life the propensities of his mother, although on a somewhat more
extended scale, made little progress in his education, farther than to acquire a
knowledge of reading and writing. He absented himself from school-displayed
great dexterity in pilfering from his playmates-and was a most accomplished
liar. Athletic, active, and swift of foot, he acquired much renown as a pugilist
in several encounters with his compeers. With these accomplishments his path
to distinction was easy. The first recorded instance of his public depredations
was robbing an unfortunate dealer in cats’ meat. Watching an opportunity,
the young hero threw a quantity of snuff in the poor man’s eyes, then cut the
bag of coppers from the barrow and decamped.
From this period his depredations were numerous, and generally successful,
His father had apprenticed him to a leather-stainer, with whom he remained
for some time ; but his irregularities were so great, that his master at last discharged
him. He now became a thief by profession, and in company with two
associates-Bill Drake and Sam Williams-did business on a large scale.
The most remarkable of his feats at this time was the robbery of a retired
This work, which, however, is rather scarce, is exceedingly amusing. If the author is to be
believed, he was a very ill-used man.