CHILLING TRUE TALES OF OLD LONDON

Softcover. A book recalling the reality of life in 19th century London. In a city of reeking pestilence, 500 people went weekly to an early grave - the victims of disease. The fears of violence and plunder were always in mind, with the evil-hearted infesting the narrow courts and alleyways. Villainy and vice abounded and the highwayman, housebreakers, cardsharp and counterfeiter hatched their plots in the capital's many alehouses. 200 offences were punishable by death, and the law in its severity terrified all who fell foul of it. Justice was severe. Even the petty criminal of the period faced the threat of the hangman's noose or, if spared, penal servitude or transportation for life. Punishment was swift, with a condemned man of those times not permitted to see the sun set for a second time before execution. Illus. 196pp. small 8vo. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F.