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His Lordship put on the black cap and passed the sentence of death in the following age old terms. Edward Cooper, you have been convicted by a jury of your fellow countrymen of the murder of your own child. One whom you were bound to protect, to love and to take care of, particularly considering his state of deformity and weakness, arising from his early misfortune. Probably tempted by feeling a difficulty in supporting this child, you yielded to temptation and took his life. You must have done that with considerable premeditation, and the jury, very rightly, have adjudged you guilty. They would not have done their duty to the country if they had returned another verdict. I do not wish to prolong your sufferings at this moment, and therefore nothing remains for me but to pass upon you the awful sentence of the law and to hope that by prayer and penitence you may be prepared to meet it. The sentence of the court is, that for the murder of your son, you be taken hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and that there you shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead, and that your body be buried within the precincts of the prison where you are last confined after this conviction, and may the Lord God Almighty have mercy upon your soul. This book tells the stories of some very interesting cases, including murder but other capital crimes dating from the early 1800s to modern times. It commences at a time when there were no official police forces. Law and order was implemented by part-time Parochial Constables untrained, often working for reward money put up by victims. The stories being considerable in number are recorded generally by the type of crime rather than date order. In those far off days punishments were punitive by today's standards. Females becoming pregnant out of wedlock, petty thefts, even servants being absent or running away were considered serious offenders. Punishments ranged from fines, floggings to imprisonment and transportation beyond the seas. The object being to be rid of criminals but also to provide staff for businessmen in the United Kingdom but with enterprises overseas. The death penalty was used frequently for a wide variety of crimes, many of which would now be considered minor. Murder and other crimes were investigated surprisingly thoroughly for the times. The reports of the trials and executions do contain explicit descriptions of violence both in the crimes committed and executions, from and accounts recorded at the time. The reader should be mindful that I have used much original phraseology and quotations especially from the trial records to give not only accuracy but a feeling of reality. The old phrases and styles should not be confused with grammatical errors.

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