The “Forty Thieves” organization
From The Daily Dispatch: January 12, 1864: Stealing money from a negro. –Mr. Alexander Gill yesterday made oath before the Mayor that on Saturday last he sent his little negro boy to the mill to buy some meal, but that while he was on his way thither he was set upon by John Bastin and […]
From The Daily Dispatch: January 12, 1864:
Stealing money from a negro.
–Mr. Alexander Gill yesterday made oath before the Mayor that on Saturday last he sent his little negro boy to the mill to buy some meal, but that while he was on his way thither he was set upon by John Bastin and some other white boys, who held him and took from his pocket a ten-dollar note, with which he was to purchase the meat. Bastin has the reputation of being a very bad boy, and is said to be attached to an organization on Oregon Hill, known as the “Forty Thieves.” The Mayor continued the case, in order to have before him other parties implicated in the affair.
Editor’s note: I left the term “negro” in this account as that what was printed in the record and what was commonly used in that time period. Certainly, I do not mean any offense with this historical post, nor do I intend to romanticize the criminality.
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