I hope nobody minds minor, incidental stories like these. Such events took place over 125 years ago, and do reflect actual events in Blantyre at the time. Such snippets help form a larger picture of what was going on, such as this story about hungry miners.
Four Blantyre men, found themselves in bother with the justices when they were caught stealing fruit from Brown’s Nursery in High Blantyre in August 1898. John Thomson, Henry Kerr, Richard Docherty and Andrew Kirkwood were charged with stealing apples from the orchard and maliciously destroying a quantity of rhubarb. Despite their pleas of hunger and hardship at the time, each were found guilty. Thomson and Kerr were each fined 10s or a weeks imprisonment. Docherty and Kirkwood each fined 5s 6d or 5 days in prison. Ironically, the fines likely contributing further to their inability to provide.
This was more than high jinx and again is a reminder of some of the hardships which existed in Blantyre at the time. Photo: AI generated.
