Notable Offences.—In olden days very heavy punishments were dealt out for what we now think but secondary offences, three men being sentenced to death at the Assizes, held March 31, 1742, one Anstey for burglary, Townsend for sheep-stealing, and Wilmot for highway robbery. The laws also took cognisance of what to us are strange crimes, a woman in 1790 being imprisoned here for selling almanacks without the Government stamp on them; sundry tradesmen also being heavily fined for dealing in covered buttons. The following are a few other notable olfences that have been chronicled for reference:—
Bigamy.—The Rev. Thomas Morris Hughes was, Nov. 15, 1883, sentenced to seven years' penal servitude for this offence. He had been previously punished for making a false registration of the birth of a child, the mother of which was his own stepdaughter.
Burglary.—On Christmas eve, 1800, five men broke into the counting-house at Soho, stealing therefrom 150 guineas and a lot of silver, but Matthew Boulton captured four of them, who were transported.—The National School at Handsworth, was broken into and robbed for the fifth time Sept. 5, 1827.—A warehouse in Bradford Street was robbed Jan. 9, 1856, of an iron safe, weighing nearly 4cwt., and containing £140 in cash.—A burglary was committed in the Ball Ring, July 5, 1862, for which seven persons were convicted.
Coining.—Booth, the noted coiner and forger, was captured at Perry Barr, March 28, 1812, his house being surrounded by constables and soldiers. In addition to a number of forged notes and £600 in counterfeit silver, the captors found 200 guineas in gold and nearly £3,000 in good notes, but they did not save Booth Irom being hanged. Booth had many hidingplaces for his peculiar productions, parcels of spurious coins having several times been found in hedgerow banks and elsewhere; the latest find (in April, 1884) consisted of engraved copper-plates for Bank of England £1 and £2 notes.—There have been hundreds of coiners punished since his day. The latest trick is getting really good dies for sovereigns, for which Ingram Belborough, an old man of three score and six, got seven years' penal servitude, Nov, 15 1883.
Deserters.—On 24 July, 1742, a soldier deserted from his regiment in this town. Followed, and resisting, he was shot at Tettenhall Wood.—A sergeant of the Coldstream Guards was shot here while trying to capture a deserter, September 13, 1796.
Dynamite making.—One of the most serious offences committed in Birmingham was discovered when Alfred Whitehead was arrested April 5, 1883, on the charge of manufacturing nitroglycerine, or dynamite, at 128, Ledsam Street. Whitehead was one of the Irish-American or American-Irish party of the Land Leaguers or Home Rulers, who entertain the idea that by committing horrible outrages in England. they will succeed in making Ireland "free from the galling yoke of Saxon tyranny" and every Irishman independent of everybody and everything everywhere. Well supplied with funds from New York, Whitehead quietly arranged his little manufactory, buying glycerine from one firm and nitric and sulphuric acids from others, certain members of the conspiracy coming from London to take away the stuff when it was completely mixed. The deliveries of the peculiar ingredients attracted the attention of Mr. Gilbert Pritchard, whose chemical knowledge led him to guess what they were required for; he informed his friend, Sergeant Price, of his suspicions; Price and his superior officers made nightly visits to Ledsam Street, getting into the premises, and taking samples for examination; and on the morning named Whitehead's game was over, though not before he had been watched in sending off two lots of the dangerously explosive stuff to London. There was, however, no less than 200lbs weight found still on the premises. The men who carried it to London were quickly caught with the dynamite in their possession, and with Whitehead were brought to trial and each of them sentenced to penal servitude for life. The distribution of rewards in connection with the "dynamite outrages," so far as Birmingham people were concerned, was somewhat on a similar scale to that described by the old sailor, when he said "prize-money" was distributed through a ladder, all passing through going to the officers, while any sticking to the wood was divided among the men. Mr. Farndale, the Chief of Police, was granted an addition to his salary of £100 per year; Inspector Black was promoted to the rank of Superintendent, adding £50 a year to his salary, and was presented with £100 from Government; Sergeant Price, became Inspector, with a rise of £41 12s. a year, and received a bonus of £200; Inspector Rees' salary was raised to two guineas a week, with a gift, of £50: while Mr. Pritchard, to whom belonged the conspicuous service of having given the information which led the police to act, was rewarded (!) with £50, having lost his situation through his services to the public.
Embezzlements.—In 1871, W. Harrison, the Secretary of the Birmingham Gas Company, skedaddled, his books showing defalcations to the amount of £18,000. When the company was dissolved, £100 was left in a bank for Mr. Secretary's prosecution, should he return to this country.—July 12, 1877, the secretary of the Moseley Skating Rink Company was awarded twelve months, and the secretary of the Butcher's Hide and Skin Company six months, for similar offences, but for small amounts.
Forgeries.—In the year 1800, seven men were hung at Warwick for forgery, and with them one for sheep-stealing. The manufacture of forged bank-notes was formerly quite a business here, and many cases are on record of the detection and punishment of the offenders.—June 28, 1879. the Joint Stock Bank were losers of £2,130 through cashing three forged cheques bearing the signature of W.C.B. Cave, the clever artist getting ten years—Nov. 15, 1883. John Alfred Burgan, manager of the Union Bank, for forging and uttering a certain order, and falsifying his books, the amounts embezzled reaching £9,000, was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude.—On the previous day Benjamin Robert Danks was similarly punished for forgeries on his employer, Mr. Jesse Herbert, barrister, who had been exceedingly kind to him—Zwingli Sargent, solicitor, was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, April 28, 1885, for forgery and misappropriating money belonging to clients.
Fortunetelling is still far from being an uncommon offence, but "Methratton," the "Great Seer of England," alias John Harewell, who, on March 28, 1883, was sentenced to nine months hard labour, must rank as being at the top of the peculiar profession. Though a "Great Seer" he could not foresee his own fate.
Highwaymen.—The "gentlemen of the road" took their tolls in a very free manner in the earlier coaching days, notwithstanding that the punishment dealt out was frequently that of death or, in mild cases, transportation for life. The Birmingham stage coach was stopped and robbed near Banbury, May 18, 1743, by two highwaymen, who, however, were captured same day, and were afterwards hung.—Mr. Wheeley, of Edgbaston, was stopped in a lane near his own house, and robhed of 20 guineas by a footpad, May 30, 1785.—An attempt to rob and murder Mr. Evans was made near Aston Park, July 25, 1789.—Henry Wolseley, Esq. (third son of Sir W. Wolseley, Bart.), was robbed by high-waymen near Erdington, Nov. 5, 1793.—Some highwaymen robbed a Mr. Benton of £90 near Aston Brook, April 6, 1797.—The coach from Sheffield was stopped by footpads near Aston Park, March 1, 1798, and the passengers robbed.—The "Balloon" coach was robbed of £8,000, Dec. 11, 1822, and the Warwick mail was robbed of no less than £20,000 in bank notes, Nov. 28. 1827.