It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.
-- Arthur Conan Doyle 1892
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This is an unusual murder case where the verdict turned on "touching the body," one of the "trials by ordeal" that were used to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused person. A person accused of murder was made to touch the body of the victim. If they were guilty, God would cause the corpse to show some sign, such as opening its eyes, pointing its finger etc. In the Norcott case, the local Jury brought in a verdict of suicide. However, the case went to Appeal at the King's Bench in London. This is an eyewitness account of that hearing.
In july 1669, the Reverend John Talbot came to London in connection with a lawsuit. About four in the afternoon he became aware that he was being followed by six persons. Having tried, for hours, to give them the slip he finally took refuge with a gentleman of Gray's Inn. Late that night he set out for his lodging, but they waylaid him in the fields at Shoreditch. With remarkable skill, they used his own to cut a whole in his throat and push the knife down his throat almost to the lung. He died a week later when a coughing fit burst the jugular artery.
No man was more free with his money, or more ambitious of living in splendour and reputation, than Colonel Turner. A Spendthrift London Merchant, he spent his considerable fortune, partly endowed by his father and his wife. But he refused to recognise the reality: he resolved to support himself with the same pomp as usual, however he came by the money. Secret dishonourable actions were easily hidden by the smokescreen of his public good character but soon they were not enough.
This is the autobiography of a 17th century rogue with a most idiosyncratic family (his mother died of a longing for mushrooms when there were none). He was born in 1603 and died in the year of the Great Fire of London (1666). He next finds himself in Mons, Belgium where, after destroying a candle-maker's entire stock, he once again ends up in gaol. Released at the request of is mistress he turns over a new leaf and woos and wins a young maid. She soon cuckolds him and is thrown out in rags. Now infected with Venereal Disease, our hero seeks medical advice but is treated for his alcoholism and spends two miserable months being 'cured.' After another drunken brawl he is dismissed and makes his way to London where he opens a tavern. But the gallows awaits him.
This is the autobiography of a 17th century rogue with a most idiosyncratic family (his mother died of a longing for mushrooms when there were none). He was born in 1603 and died in the year of the Great Fire of London (1666). Pleading sanctuary because he was taken from the safety of a church, our hero escapes the death penalty and a spell in the galleys. He enlists in a new regiment and soon finds himself in Germany fighting the French. An elaborate fraud on both his captain and the rich merchant on whom they are billeted is soon discovered and our hero is sent to the front line. He lurks in he rear and survives. His captain is killed and leaves James a legacy of a horse and fifty ducats and with these riches our hero once again finds himself free to set off in search of another adventure.
This is the autobiography of a 17th century rogue with a most idiosyncratic family (his mother died of a longing for mushrooms when there were none). He was born in 1603 and died in the year of the Great Fire of London (1666). Chastened by his first brush with the law , our hero becomes a peddler, is rescued from this lowly existence by a famous actress who liked his looks and employed him as her jack-of-all trades. Losing heavily at cards, he pawned one of her best petticoats but loses again and is forced to flee. Joining a recruiting sergeant, he travels with him to Barcelona and Alicante where, having killed a fellow soldier in a brawl he is condemned to death.
This is the autobiography of a 17th century rogue with a most idiosyncratic family (his mother died of a longing for mushrooms when there were none). He was born in 1603 and died in the year of the Great Fire of London (1666). His sharpness of brain and lightness of hands brought him to many adventures in Europe but he ended his days in London and on the gallows. Here, to begin with, and in his own words, is the story of his youth and first brush with the law.
A famous Master-Thief and an Ugly, who dressed like a Man, and died in 1663. She has the distinction of having had her epitaph written by the poet John Milton, famous for his great epic - "Paradise Lost".
A Highwayman who specialised in robbing Lawyers. He followed the attorneys on the circuits and in eight months accosted more than 160 in the county of Norfolk alone, and took from them upwards of three thousand pounds. He was finally undone by an old woman and her mare.
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