This little snippet is worthy of mention here on Blantyre Project, not because of theft, but because it was a rare instance of court officials being compassionate.
In August 1895, little John Gibson, the son of Andrew Gibson, Blantyre was caught stealing pears from a garden in Blantyre. The boy was hungry and seeing a plentiful supply over a garden wall, decided to help himself. (Not an uncommon thing for any Blantyre child to do in those days or perhaps some of us reading this in our younger days!)
When the garden owner saw him, he gave chase, but John was soon apprehended, owing to the fact the lad has a disability with a disjointed hip.
In court, the judge heard that the garden was not well protected at all and hearing John’s personal story of hardship, hunger, remorse and clear difficulty in moving, a compassionate outcome was decided upon and he was dismissed with no further action or fine.
AI imagines this story exclusively for Blantyre Project.
