"The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
three French hens..."
On the 19th of February of 1854 my ancestor George King of Woodleigh, Devon had 2 eggs stolen. He kept his hens in the cow barn of the Reverend Dawson. Having lost several eggs he decided to mark them and keep watch. He saw John Bond, an employee of the Reverend Dawson, steal his eggs and followed him, finding the marked eggs in his possession.
"Some days subsequently the prosecutor offered to forego the prosecution if the prisoner would distribute five shillings worth of bread to the poor of the parish. He made that kind of proposition because the parson had caused a man to to a similar act for getting drunk; and the prosecutor thought there was more harm in stealing eggs on a Sunday evening than in getting drunk. The prisoner was acquitted."
What a wonderful bit of history. Stealing 2 eggs. Seems like a small thing now, but it wasn’t back then.
ReplyDeleteI can’t beleive he was caught red handed and still acquitted!
DeleteAt least he didn’t get his hand chopped off!
How were you able to find such an obscure little article that matched the challenge theme?!
ReplyDeleteI found it on Find My Past newspapers. I got lots of stories about my UK ancestors from there. I’ve has this one for a while and only thought of it last minute.
DeleteGood to know! I'll have to check out Find My Past.
Delete