The one good thing to come out of the cold I had is that I actually had some time to read! I spent most of the weekend relaxing on the sofa, drinking cups of tea and finishing off my book. I even started a new one.
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Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths on the the Yorkshire Coast - Alan Whitworth
I picked this one up on my visit to the wonderful Whitby. I thought that since I was visiting a seaside town it would be appropriate to buy a book about what goes on on the coast. Basically the book gives you a chronological overview of what kind of things have been happening on the various Yorkshire coastal town. There's murder, pirates, smugglers, even respected citizens turn out not to be exactly what they seem. Some examples and tales that stood out for me:
The Martyr of Egton Bridge
This story tells the tale of Father Nicholas Postgate who was Catholic priest during a time when being a Catholic was a dangerous thing to be. Father Postgate often had to perform his church services with one eye on the door and one eye on the congregation. Some old families were still employing Catholic priests to see to their religious needs but Postgate chose a different path for himself. He moved to a small cottage in the middle of moorland. He lived among the poor and did his best to tend to all their needs. Father Postgate also tried to spread the Catholic faith in the North East and became a sort of travelling priest. Anything with a roof on it was used as a church and he had a sort of travel kit that he used to set up in these impromptu locations. In 1678 he is apprehended and had to stand trial a York Assizes. Four months later, at his trial, he was sentenced to death being found guilty of being a Catholic priest. Another four months later his sentence was carried out. He was hung, then his entrails were cut out while he was still alive, and then his body was cut up into four pieces (Hung, drawn and quartered). At this time Father Postgate was about 82 years old!
'Til death us do Part
The story of Reverend Sinclair who was killed by his own servant who was actually his adopted/foster son. It seems that at one time a young babe was washed up on the shore and taken in by the local vicar (the aforementioned Reverend) and his nieces. The young babe was called Adam Alvin and grew up to be a sullen young man. He also ended up bidding for the affections of one of the nieces (Mary) that were living with the vicar. The vicar objected to Adam's attentions to his niece and tried to dissuade them from their alliance but to no avail. Strangely enough the vicar turns up dead a little while later and Adam gets accused of his murder. He did everything to convince people that he was not involved and throw off suspicion. He even married Mary. However it was the other niece Catherine that confesses to what Adam had done and both him and his wife Mary get arrested. Interestingly enough, Adam gets the death penalty and his wife is acquitted.
The Hand of Glory
In the 1800's these seems to have been a strange superstition that when you cut the hand of a hanged felon off the body (bodies were then often left hanging in gibbets in the open air), pickle it with salts and dry it in the oven and use it as a candle holder that it would render people motionless or stop them from waking when you were burgling their house. There are several stories of the hand being used in burglaries by crooks. They had to get the hand into the house, light the candle on the hand and then recite a rhyme. Apparently the rhyme stopped people in the house from waking up and stopped those who did wake up from being able to rouse the others and call for help. You had to put out the candle before you would have any success at rousing other inhabitants of the house that was being robbed.
Doctor Death
This tale proves that sometimes you cannot always trust your doctor to do what is best for you. Dr Pritchard has a surgery in Hunmanby, a wife and four kids. Yet he finds time to flirt with most of his female patients, manages to upset the locals by riding by the church during the service, write a few books and poison a few people.
He does not stop at his poisoning his patients either but ends up killing both his wife and mother in law. the good doctor was hanged for this in 1865 and his was the last public execution in Scotland.
A Poor Little Fisher Lad
This little story tells us of a ship's captain who came to land one day and told a father that his son had been thrown overboard and was dead. However, one of the other sailors on board confesses to what really went on on board. It turns out that the captain abused the poor lad that died day in day out. The young lad was smacked on the head, slapped with a rope with a knot in it, nearly throttled to death time after time and in the end the boy's death must have been almost a relief for him.
The Marske Murder
If you feel like getting your Sherlock Holmes on then this one might be one for you.
Back in 1963 the body of a young woman was found. She had been left on the side of a road somewhere, strangled and died from asphyxiation. There was a suggestion that she had been murdered in one place and then let at the location where she was found. The police managed to trace most of her movements on the day that she died, and even though she had lots of friends and knew lots of people the police were never able to fill in all the blanks. She had been seen leaving a local hotel in the afternoon, seen shopping afterwards and must have gone back to her apartment afterwards as she was found in different clothes than she was seen in. Strangely enough the police encountered "a determined reluctance" when they asked people to help them with their inquiries. Even Scotland Yard got involved but were not able to uncover much more. They never did find out why people were reluctant to come forward and were, consequently never able to solve the case. The case has been left open and classified as unsolved. So, if you feel up to the challenge I'm sure the police will welcome all the help they can get.
The above are just a few of the stories in the book and it is filled with lovely (though sometimes macabre) tales of the goings on is some of the most familiar Northern coastal towns. Some of the stories are a bit lengthy and rattle on a bit. Others are really moving and human and involve the reader in the drama that unfolded in these people's lives. It is a lovely little read and I love learning a bit more about a completely different side of life in the Northern towns and cities from very early on until the recent past. Usually when you pick up a tourist guide for a city they will tell you the nice and glossy bits it's history and people. This book has managed to compile the "less lovely" side of some of the most touristic, well know places and it is possibly as much if not more fun to read as the city guides!
Unfortunately there are some spelling errors in the book but not that many and not too intrusive.
By the way, still no news from my letter to the publisher of the Haunted Taverns book.
Title: Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths on the Yorkshire Coast
Author: Alan Whitworth
185 pages
Wharncliffe Books
ISBN nr 1-903425-01-8
Books to be read: 75
I have now started and Graham Green one.
I've already decided that if we look at how authors write then Dean Koontz runs, Raymond Chandler slowly wanders and Graham Greene skips.
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