Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 17 October 1930

Stolen Pigeons.

Thurnscoe Man’s Bad Record

Thurnscoe miner, Ernest Hall, was fined at Doncaster on Friday for having stolen three pigeons, valued £3, and pigeon rings, valued at 6d., the property of Barnsley and Lincoln men.

George Pallet, secretary of the Derbyshire and South Yorkshire branch of the National Homing Union, said he found the birds in Hall’, cote in Thurnscoe, the birds not being free to go away.

Hall, in defence, said the birds entered his cote, and would not leave. He knew the procedure in such cases, but was out of work and could not afford to write the Union.

The Clerk (after looking at Hall’s record): You were convicted for pigeon stealing when you were 16. You keep a dog without a licence and go out poaching at night. And you have been living on the country for two years. Can you pay the £3?

Hall: No, I can’t.

The Clerk: Then take him down.