I was having a look through the 19th century British newspaper collection today for any information regarding a witness to a signature on a will.
I found there were several instances of men being arrested for theft of his goods or breaking and entering his property. In the breaking and entering case, the man's death was recorded while in custody awaiting trial. In another, the man had stolen a pair of sheets and was transported for life in 1835.
It seems that the victim, a retired "respectable farmer", was comfortably off and had no family, so the theft of a pair of sheets was unlikely to have caused him much inconvenience.
As transportation was an accepted method of punishment and criminals would have known the risks, I wondered whether the average man, such as my witness above, felt any guilt when such a harsh punishment resulted from his complaint.
I found there were several instances of men being arrested for theft of his goods or breaking and entering his property. In the breaking and entering case, the man's death was recorded while in custody awaiting trial. In another, the man had stolen a pair of sheets and was transported for life in 1835.
It seems that the victim, a retired "respectable farmer", was comfortably off and had no family, so the theft of a pair of sheets was unlikely to have caused him much inconvenience.
As transportation was an accepted method of punishment and criminals would have known the risks, I wondered whether the average man, such as my witness above, felt any guilt when such a harsh punishment resulted from his complaint.
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