Underworld London Quotes

“Geoffrey Chaucer’s tender-hearted prioress, Madame Eglantyne, who was said to weep at the sight of a mouse caught in a trap, would nevertheless have had a gallows on her property, upon which, at the hands of her bailiff, she would have hanged thieves.”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City

“Despite the fact that England was nominally a Christian country, the church had no reservations about capital punishment, with St Paul and Thomas Aquinas enlisted in its defence.”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City

“Hanging had been introduced by the Anglo-Saxons during the fifth century as a punishment for murder, theft and treason.”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City

“a bizarre footnote, in 2010 Julia Thomas’s skull was unearthed in the garden of the broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. A team of builders discovered the skull when they were excavating foundations for an extension, at the spot where the Rising Sun once stood. In July 2011, the West London coroner Alison Thompson formally identified the skull as belonging to Julia Thomas and recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City

“Kate Webster had ensured her place in the murderers’ hall of fame by attacking her mistress with the axe, hacking the corpse to pieces, and boiling down the remains in the copper, removing the bones. Most grisly of all was the fate of the fat. Webster had scooped the fat from the copper and sold it around the neighbourhood as dripping. One street urchin even claimed Webster had offered him a bowl”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City

“MacLaine was a model prisoner, but his courage deserted him at the end. Arriving at Tyburn, he looked sadly up at the gallows, and with a heartfelt sigh exclaimed: ‘O Jesus!”
― Catharine Arnold, Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City