Daring Case of GarrottingHighway Robbery At Bradford Daily Telegraph, May 13, 1883. Alex Mackintosh,
Daring Case of GarrottingHighway Robbery At Bradford Daily Telegraph, May 13, 1883. Alex Mackintosh, a commercial traveller staying at the Midland Hotel, decided he might take in the night air.Leaving the hotel not knowing the area he found himself in George St., where he was grabbed by the neck from behind, the contents of his waistcoat were very neatly removed; in all some 15 shillings, as well as his gold guard and locket. By luck rather than management the thieves missed his gold watch and some £20 in gold and notes.Upon directing Police Constable Dempsey to the very spot where the crime was perpetrated, one of his attackers was identified immediately, one John Williams, a painter living on George Street. Williams, seeing the police, took flight. He led a considerable chase before being taken into police custody; he was duly charged and lodged in the cells below the town hall. The following week he was committed for trial at the next sitting of the Leeds Assizes. Exemplary PunishmentWilliams was found guilty of the offence and ordered to serve a term of 18 months imprisonment with hard labour and in addition, 36 strokes of the “cat o’ nine tails”. Part one – the anti-garroting cravat design.Part two – the robbery, capture of the miscreant, trial and sentencing.Part three – sentenced to 18 months in prison with hard labour which was a quite severe punishment: when they said ‘hard labour’ they really meant hard labour.Part four – part of the sentence: 36 lashes with the “cat o’ nine tails” which he was bound to remember for quite some time. Punishment in prison was more of the same. -- source link