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Two Pounds Reward [Coal Mining Handbill].
Publisher: Newcastle upon Tyne;
Date of Publication: 1816
Stock Code: 5666
Printer’s details only partially printed at lower edge and illegible. Handbill approximately 18.5 x 14 cm, laid on slightly larger plain paper backing. Single sheet with titles printed in bold type and underlined. Central foxing and right-hand edge soiled; unobtrusive professional repairs to right-hand edge tear and central minor tears. Annotated to lower edge in contemporary hand: “50 Church St 1815” and to backing sheet in a later hand with notes on the colliery. Condition : Very Good. Appeal for information regarding acts of vandalism at Derwent Crook Colliery at Low Fell, County Durham, in March 1816, during which stones were thrown, graffiti chalked upon walls with “Words of Infamy”, and stable doors opened. Informants were offered £2 reward if their report resulted in a conviction of the perpetrators, which was a reasonable sum at the time and reflects the seriousness with which the colliery took the offences, and their wish to prevent further occurrences. The annotation to the backing sheet refers to John Dodds, the Viewer at the Colliery who died May 14th 1819 aged 77 years, who would have been in his post at the time of the attacks. £60.00