How times have changed! Constables on the beat around villages stumbling upon crime and high jinks, as they go about their patrols.
In February 1892, passing police officers at Larkfield, Blantyre encountered 2 men in the middle of mischief. Francis McGowan and William Kirk were both miners who lived and worked at Larkfield during the 1890s. That particular day on the morning of Friday 12th February, they were caught in the middle of creating their own distrurbance when officers saw them knocking over 15 water barrels into the street.
A harsh example was made of them in being fined £1 each (around £90 in today’s money) or taking an altenrative 14 days imprisonment.
