midnight
The details of many of these secret adventures will be hereafter related . _ A Thieves ' Crib on the Five Points -- Bloody Mike -- Ragged Pete -- the Young Thief , and the stolen Letters -- The Stranger -- a general Turn-out-Peeling a Lodger -- the ` Forty-Foot Cave . ' _ It was a dreary winter 's night , cold , dark , and stormy . The hour was midnight ; and the place , the ' _ Five Points _ . ' The narrow and crooked streets which twine serpent-like around that dreaded plague spot of the city were deserted ; but from many a dirty window , and through many a red , dingy curtain , streamed forth into the darkness rages of ruddy light , while the sounds of the violin , and the noise of Bacchanalian orgies , betokened that the squalid and vicious population of that vile region were still awake . In the low and dirty tap-room of a thieves ' _ crib _ in Cross street , are assembled about a dozen persons . The apartment is twenty feet square , and is warmed by a small stove , which is red-hot ; a roughly constructed bar , two or three benches , and a table constitute all the furniture .