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Law and Disorder in Old Nantucket
Written by Frances Ruley Karttunen
From the mid-1600s to the 1800s, Nantucket looks, at times, like the Wild East with boozing, brawling, knife-fighting, sheep rustling, and frolicking in disorderly houses. The court books are full of outrageous behavior and extreme measures to contain it.
Nantucket historian and native Frances Karttunen has put together a compilation of her articles for Yesterdays Island that describes the dozens of crimes and misdemenors that pepper Nantucket's history. In "Law and Disorder in Old Nantucket" we learn about Patience Cooper and her unjust manslaugher conviction. We read about the island jails, the hangings in our early history, the Brotherhood of Thieves riots and many other examples of lawlessness and misbehavior - all cheek by jowl with plain and sober Quakers.
Who needs today's police blotter?
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