Though we are certain the Ikenield-street passes about a mile in length through this parish, as described above; yet, as there are no Roman traces to be seen, I must take the curious traveller to that vast waste, called Sutton-Coldfield, about four miles distant, where he will, in the same road, find the footsteps of those great mailers of the world, marked in lasting characters.
"An History of Birmingham (1783)"
William Hutton
This was so new and welcome to us, so different from the turbulent Wavinza and the black-mailers of Uhha, that we were melted.
"How I Found Livingstone"
Sir Henry M. Stanley
For pure, carefree, smiling, remorseless wickedness nothing in human annals surpasses the young criminals-black- mailers, bomb-throwers, gunmen-now infesting our cities.
"The Subterranean Brotherhood"
Julian Hawthorne