Mugshot March is waning! Soon, your inbox will no longer be flooded with turn of the century rogues. You might get one occasionally but all holidays must come to an end. For today, I discovered a number of mugshots from Cardiff, Wales. They are really beautiful pictures and some of the crimes are pretty interesting too. This little group, which consisted of Robert and Emily Walters, and Thomas Roberts, gets its own post, simply for being the most interesting alleged perpetrators.
Trio of Deception
They were sentenced to two, six, and four months of hard labour respectively for “obtaining a piano by deception.” I wish I knew some more details about this one. It’s much harder for me to learn about crimes that happen outside the United States. These pictures are from WalesOnline.co.uk and unfortunately, they just said what this little group was charged with and no additional details. I’d speculate that Robert and Emily were married and Thomas Roberts was Emily’s brother, but that’s just a guess.
old spirituals 
”Penal Servitude” was common in the United Kingdom; it even included transportation to a colony like America and, later, Australia. Learned the popular “hard labor” was “picking oakum,” a fiber that was tarred to use as a caulking and packing between ship joints.
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That’s fascinating! I knew England packed people off to Australia, but I didn’t know they sent them to America too. I have to look up oakum. If it’s anything like picking cotton, that is hard work!
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