Preston Murders and Misdemeanours

Keith Johnson

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2020
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781445696638
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

A Preston Chronicle newspaper headline in 1866 of 'Thievery, Knavery & Harlotry in Preston' described a town struggling with crime and its consequences. Justice had been swift from the days of horse thieves and highwaymen, when the gloom of the gallows or transportation brought fear to the less fortunate who lived among poverty and pestilence. Some would earn notoriety for their dreadful deeds, while others received pity for their plight. In Preston Murders and Misdemeanours, local author Keith Johnson brings together a collection of tales from the court archives to chronicle the events that occupied the courts and brought criminals to justice. Judges and justices, coroners and court clerks, barristers and briefs all played their part in a time when justice was swift and often delivered harshly with unflinching retribution. The poacher, the pickpocket, the prostitute and the pilfering thief were all punished for their crimes – whether petty or paramount. Keith Johnson tells of those who were murdered, poisoned, mistreated or cheated. He reveals the killers, thieves, swindlers and fraudsters who faced the glare of the courtroom and felt the long arm of the law. This journey through the justice system in this Lancashire city exposes the harsh realities of life and the curiosities of the past that are both compelling and thought-provoking.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Foreword by Mike Hill
• Introduction
• Rural Community Living in Fear
• To Lancaster and a Gallows Fate
• The Unfortunate Death of Joseph Robinson
• Attempted Murder of Samuel Horrocks MP
• Porridge Laced with Arsenic
• Apple Scrumpers Up Before the Mayor
• Preston Rioters and a Radical
• Mary Porter and Her Band of Juvenile Thieves
• Brutal Murder of a Gangsman
• Stagecoach Driver in the Dock
• Ellen Liked to Pick a Pocket or Two
• When the Garotte Robbers Came to Town
• A Parcel of Fish and the Missing Gems
• Left Barefooted at the Old Dog Inn
• Stealing Mr Anderton’s Trousers
• The Mystery of Father Cooper’s Cash Box
• A Child Was Born in Emmanuel Street
• Court Battle over the Hero Hound
• Blue Bell Inn Daughter Slain
• A Forlorn Search for Anthony Henry
• A Brutal Attack Leaves Constable Crippled
• A Celtic Cross for Annie and the Servant Girl
• Crime of Passion Thwarted by a Corset
• Edwardian Boys Are Birched
• From Russia Without Love
• A Suffragette’s Matter for Starvation
• Wife Killing at the Grapes Hotel
• Poison Tragedy of Jilted Sweetheart
• Pickpockets Mingle with the Preston Guild Crowds
• Crucial Fingerprint Evidence of Robbery
• Fulwood Barracks Haunting Tales and a Forgotten Killer
• A Brief Encounter on Preston Railway Station
• Mystery of the Missing Silk Stockings
• A Fleeing Fugitive Shoots at Police
• A Shocking Case of Insanity at Whittingham
• Death Sentence for St George’s Road Killer
• Landlady Slaughtered at the Kendal Castle
• Capital Punishment for Preston Pair
• Hunt for Killers of the Man in White
• Revenge Killing of Judge Openshaw
• Penrith House Killer Brought to Justice
• Mystery of Imraan Vohra Killer Solved
• Christ Church Street Triple Killing
• Hostages at the NatWest Bank
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author