Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

At the Barnsley Police Court yesterday, James Robinson was charged with cruelty to animals on October 13th. The information was laid by Inspector Temperley of the Leeds Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Witnesses deposed to the defendant going to the house of Mary Gunsen and taking away a young cat. When on the highway he pulled the animal out of his pocket and gave it to his dog, which commenced to worry it. Abraham Leak, schoolmaster of the village, saw the act and asked the defendant what he was doing, to which he replied, “I am teaching my dog to worry cats.” William Naylor saw the man patting the dog and encouraging it to worry the cat, which was struggling and apparently dying. The chairman said the expenses were rather heavy, and imposed a fine of 1s. and the expenses, amounting to £1 1s., accompanied with the remark that the society must pay the expenses of the witnesses.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Comment

What kind of dog was it, and was the purpose of the exercise to then introduce it to worrying foxes or some such?

£1 2s. was just over £100 in January 2023.

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Original

At the Barnsley Police-court yesterday, James Robinson was charged with cruelty to animals on the 13th ult. The information was laid by Mr. Inspector Temperley, of the Leeds Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Witnesses deposed to the defendant going to the house of Mary Gunsen, and taking away a young cat. When on the highway he pulled the animal out of his pocket and gave it to his dog, which commenced to worry it. Abraham Leak, school master of the village, saw the act, and asked the defendant what he was doing, to which he replied, “I am teaching my dog to worry cats.” Wm. Naylor saw the man patting the dog and encouraging it to worry the cat, which was struggling and apparently dying. The Chairman said the expenses were rather heavy, and imposed a fine of 1s. and the expenses, amounting to £1 1s., accompanied with the remark that the society must pay the expenses of the witnesses.

164 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Animal welfare (2) ·
• 📌Barnsley (23) ·
• Cat (4) ·
• Dog (12) ·
• Hunting (10) ·
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (2) ·

All tags.

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