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An Ingrain Swindler
As reported in The Victoria Daily Chronicle, Thursday, 24 September 1863. ‘An Ingrain Swindler– The Police are after a man who lately served a term of imprisonment at New Westminster for swindling Billy Ballou, the ex-Expressman, out of $35, about one year and a-half ago by representing that a certain bag contained gold dust when Continue reading
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‘Four Pounds…and Reasonable Charges’: Runaway Servants from the Pennsylvania Gazette
‘ Anyone reading the Pennsylvania Gazette in the 1750s could not have missed the numerous adverts placed by subscribers offering a reward and ‘reasonable charges’ for the return of runaway servants. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia claims that between the 16th and 18th Centuries, approximately 320,000 indentured servants sailed from the British Isles and other parts Continue reading
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The Orcadian Pirate
Although he was inextricably linked with the Orkney Isles, John Gow was born on the Scottish mainland at Wick, a stone’s throw from John O’Groats, around 1698. Like numerous others of his ilk, Gow ended his days at Execution Dock on the banks of the River Thames at Wapping on 11 June 1725. Gow spent Continue reading
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Hardened Villainy Displayed. Chapter 1. The Quiet Woman
The rain, which arrived on Wednesday evening, carried on a biting easterly and persisted throughout the following day. By Thursday at suppertime, news of the cancellation of the Gloucester Diligence had been received without complaint. George Tolley, Landlord of the Quiet Woman, listened as the rain lashed against the inn’s windows. In the hearth, Continue reading
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‘Preserved from the Jaws of Death’ : The Deliverance of Elizabeth and William Fleming
At the beginning of November 1755, four months after General Edward Braddock’s disastrous defeat on the Monongahela, Shawnee and Lenape (Delaware) warriors led by Shingas launched a series of devastating attacks on the Great Cove area of the Province of Pennsylvania. On November 1, a party of about 100 Lenape and Shawnee warriors launched attacks Continue reading
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Illustrious Thieves: Highway Robbery in Early Modern Oxfordshire
In a previous post, we covered the story of the Dunsdon brothers. Today, we are looking at some other Highwaymen who haunted Oxfordshire’s roads during the Early Modern Period. Claude Duval and James Hind are the two most famous highwaymen associated with Oxfordshire. Duval was born in Normandy in 1643. He moved to Paris Continue reading
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A Dark and Lonesome Passage to Eternity
Edward Bonney, a 38-year-old alleged counterfeiter from Montrose, Iowa, arrived in Chicago on the steamship Champion early on Thursday, 25 September 1845. Bonney was accompanied by two other men, identified by the local newspaper, The Chicago Democrat, as ’two of the five murderers of Col. Davenport, Wm. F. Birch, alias Haines, and John Long, alias Continue reading
19th Century, 4th of July, Aaron Long, Banditti of the Prairie, Counterfeiting, Crime, Crime and Punishment, Detective, Edward Bonney, George Davenport, Granville Young, Hangings, history, Illinois, Iowa, John Long, Justice, Murder, Newspapers, outlaws, Public Execution, Rock Island, United States History -
Hardened Villainy Displayed
Prologue The night was dark, no hint of moonlight penetrated the thick banks of cloud. The wind blowing from the east brought fast-moving showers that would soon soak anyone foolish enough to be out of doors on such an evening. Better to be inside; in bed, or a tavern, with a welcoming fire and a Continue reading
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Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men 