CLOSE this window when you are finished. (Use your browser's Find or Search feature to look for names.) Stamford Mercury 1832 - Janet ------------------------------------- 19th Oct 1832 On Friday the 12th instant James BLACKBORN, of Edlington, near Horncastle, was boiling potatoes in a furnace which was heated with straw, when owing to the wind being very high, the roof of the house caught fire, and the dwelling was consumed in a short period, together with the greater part of the furniture and cloathing (sic), which is a serious loss to the poor man. 19th Oct 1832 In a report from one of the London offices of a case which occurred last week, Mr. WHITE, a police magistrate, is made to act an extraordinary part. The following appears to have occurred:- Mr. WHITE asked the father what his business was, and where he came from - THOROGOOD replied that he was a shoemaker, and lived at No.5, New Tothill street, - Mr. WHITE: What part of the country do you come from? - THOROGOOD: From Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire. - Mr. WHITE: Then you see you have set your son the example of a vagabond. - THOROGOOD: How so Sir? - Mr. WHITE: Why, by coming to the parish, why did you not stay at Wisbech, where you belonged? - THOROGOOD: I came to London to get work, I could not support my wife and seven children in the country. Truly, a Magistrate must have an odd notion of his duty, when, without enquiry, he can call a man a vagabond, because the circumstances of his trade have induced him to remove from the parish in which he formerly lived. "O, that the Town-Clerk" had been there! There was formerly a family of great respectability named THOROGOOD living at Stamford, and subsequently at Downham, in Norfolk, and this miscalled "vagabond" is believed to be descended from them. ------------------------------------- *** Last updated: 29-October-2002 ***