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Hang the Thieves

By Frederick Corrigan

The West was won by using many forms of justice. Well, not the marshmallow kind that we see today in America.

A cowboy is riding the fence line of his Texas ranch and he observes a group of riders just over the horizon. At that same moment, he notices a hole in the fence and on a quick check; he determines that the fence was cut.

He also realizes that the group of riders is herding about a dozen head of cattle. His suspicions are aroused as they are moving in haste, which isn’t healthy for fattening cattle. The cowboy prods his horse into a gallop and as he gets closer to the group, he realizes that the cattle have the brand from his ranch.

Drawing his rifle from the scarboard attached to his saddle, he fires and knocks one of the horses out from under one of the potential rustlers.

Hearing the rifle shot, the rest of the rustlers take off, the cattle scatter and the fallen rustler lies on the ground with a broken leg.

The gun shot had attracted other cowboys from the ranch. They rode up to see their boss standing over the would-be rustler. The look of fear was in the eyes of the injured man, for he knew what the outcome would be.

One hour later, the boss and his ranch hands were riding back to the ranch house to enjoy their evening meal. Behind them, the setting sun was shining on the silhouette swinging from a tree with a rope around his neck.

The crime, “Attempted Cattle Rustling”! The penalty, “Death by Hanging”!

Now, let’s follow the thief of 2010 in America.

You go to the gym for your thrice weekly workout. In the locker room, you get into you gym shorts, shirt and sneakers.

After the workout, you return to your locker and you find it open. You scratch your head, for you really believe that you had locked your locker before your workout. You quickly check your belongings and everything appears to be there. Your watch, wallet, money, 6 credit cards, cell phone and clothes are all present and accounted for. Oh well, guess you didn’t lock your locker.

Three and a half weeks later, you get your credit card bill with a balance due of $8,000.00!!!

You call the credit card company and are prepared to tear them apart, for a mistake in their system. You hadn’t used that credit card for two months even though it had a credit limit of $20,000.00.

The customer service representative verified that there had been $8,000.00 in transactions over the last three plus weeks against the card. She also asked if the card had been stolen.

No, you exclaim, but you check your wallet and find a credit card exactly like yours, except that it has a different customer’s name. Your card has been switched. The card in your wallet was expired and as you thought back, the thief had swapped it in the gym locker room.

How much could you have to pay of the $8,000.00 transactions?

Well, considering that all of the purchases were under $500.00 and made at different stores over a three week period, no “warning Bell” sounded so that the credit card company would have to make any verifying calls to you or the merchant.

It happens that all of those transactions add up to a large bill that you will have to pay or your credit rating will go down the drain.

Now back to the beginning!!!

We hang a man for attempting to steal a cow that was worth $30.00 at the time, while building our land of the free.

If the locker room thief had been caught and captured, because of security cameras, you would probably have to spend a week at his trial. Then, don’t forget the expense of a lawyer and he would probably get less than 2 years in jail.

Cyber crimes are costing everybody money.

Maybe we should go back to “Hanging the Thieves”!!

OR---Maybe you should never take your valuables into the gym, lock them up in the trunk of your car. The time spent properly securing your personal items is far less than the time you’ll spend trying to get justice

Contributor's Note

Being responsible is far better than being in court.

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Leaving your valuables at home is good advice. The gym I use provides small wallet lockers for keys, wallet, glasses, etc. They are in public view and safe. I never use the big lockers in the changing rooms any more.

Thank you for your visit and your support, June.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Gosh, I don't know about this one. What if the would-be rustler was forced into participating by his cousins or whatever? Couldn't your cowboys just have given him a good licking and sent him on his way?

Thank you for stopping by,Catherine. All of history reflects that rustlers were hung, so to make a relationship between then and today, I felt that I had to hang him. Being responsible for our actions, regardless of our relatives, is important.
It's great to hear from you.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I appreciate your kind words of support, Brock.
Best wishes.
Frederick

@)One Point of Light.. My momma always said to me when I used peer pressure as an excuse.. If so and so told you to jump in the fire, would you? No excuses just consequences will sort out crime for good.

Thanks for the visit and your comments, Guy. Being politically correct is wonderful for the politicians. However, I'd rather speak the truth.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Dear Fredrick, you put your story well. I enjoyed the reading, yet wasn't convinced. I think the return to the hanging of the thieves would solve nothing. That can only to increase the threatening rates of crime we have already. I see that as a sign of the loss of spirituality. That's the warning and the challenge. Only our conscious shift to soul and God can heal our angry world.

Tomas, I agree that doing right and showing the way are great trainers for those who want to listen. Unfortunately, there are those among us who are only interested in their desires and to hell with everyone else. To them,the punishment has to be greater then the crime.
Best wishes.
Frederick

"Look at this beautiful valley!" exclaimed Jeb LaCreux, this is where we will settle.

The local residents, having a long and valient history of coup counting warfare attempt to point out that the valley is not available.

Jeb doesn't count coups, he shoots the damn indians. Capital punishment simply for living on your own land.

Good intel, Frederick, but it is difficult to justify severe punishment in a country that is founded on theft, genocide and the uttering of false treaties.

I sometinmes wonder if the silly punishments handed down by British justice is in atonement for the many children in the 18th century who were hanged for stealing bread.

Thank you for your words of wisdom once again, Arthur.
I appreciate your support.
Best to you.
Frederick

In today's "enlightened" justice system, the culprit, if caught would probably get a fine or a suspended sentence. When I was a police officer, a lawyer and some buddies, set up a scheme to sell stock in a non-existant gold mine. They took "shareholders" across Canada for several million dollars. One of the perpetrators died of a heart attack before the trial, the lawyer and the remaining crook were tried and convicted. The lawyer immediately filed an appeal to the conviction, which was granted. He was released on bail, having served one day of his sentence. The government checked the cost of the first trial which turned out to be in excess of one million dollars. They thought about it for a couple of weeks and decided to withdraw the charges because they didn't want to spend any more money on it. Penalty...one day in jail...benefit multiple millions plus the reputation of beating the "Crown" in a trial...many years of lucrative criminal law cases. So much for Justice!

Thank you for your supportive comments, Gilbert.
It's wonderful to hear how things are done in other parts of the world.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Frederick: Pretty much right on. Today's climate seems to reflect a return to at least some of yesteryear's traditions.
John

Thanks for the visit and the kind comments, John. Our servicemen and women are fighting so that we can be free.
Not free to be irresponsible!!
Best wishes.
Frederick

Yes, Frederick those were the days when the criminal had to take responsibility for their actions! Not like today when the blame is put on the victim! You shouldn't have taken your cards to the gym!! Why not they're MINE. Where would they be safe? If I leave them at home someone breaks in and steals them whilst I'm at the gym, I'd be told I should've taken them with me!!!! My property is mine and the law should keep it so, not berate me for letting it be stolen.

I appreciate your continued support, Adrian.
Responsibility for our actions seems to have been replaced with blaming others.
Thank for the visit.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Good Intel, Frederick. The law is getting softer and softer. Very recently some thieves stole some motor cycles from a shop here in the UK. Nothing too unusual in that I don't suppose. The store owner called the police, but guess what? The police refused to give chase because the criminals weren't wearing crash helmets and the poor things might have had an accident and been injured. So, they get away with thousands of pounds worth of property, and the store owner's insurance premiums go right up no doubt. But, at least the thieves don't get hurt in the process. What a pathetic joke!

Thanks for stopping by, Geoff, and for sharing your comments. I believe in human rights,but I think that the rights of the criminal have gone too far.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I've had my wallet stolen at work several times over the years. The last time I discovered it's loss within the hour and called to cancel my credit cards. The thief managed to rack up over $3,000 in charges however. I pretty much knew who helped the thief gain access to my locked desk and our security personnel were pretty sure too. Unfortunately, the evidence needed was from the stores where they made the fraudulent purchases. The stores would not cooperate without subpoenas and so forth. The case was dropped because the credit card companies paid the bill. I finally resorted to wearing my credit card on my body if I took it in to work.

I appreciate your visit and your added story, Christina. I,m glad that you didn't have to pay, but you shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place. The punks rely on the fact that the burden of proof in on the innocent.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Thanks Frederick! ***** star intel and great discussion here. In Mexico if a husband catches his wife in adultery he shoots the couple! I read that if a guy in the military cheats on his wife with a girl in the military who is also married, well any kind of marital infidelity like that is grounds for disciplinary action or even a dishonorable discharge... stripped of rank or hung like thieves, we seem to reap what we sow.

Thanks for the five stars and the added comments, Diana. When the punishment is worst then the crime,the acts of crime will decrease. In Turkey, you get 6 years in jail. no debate, if you get caught with drugs. They don't have the drug problems that we have in America.
Best to you.
Frederick

It is as much what we do with these miscreants in prison today than anything else.
In the "bad" old days of flogging and birching it showed a marked reduction in youth crime for instance.
Not sure how it would work today. Our famous Health and Safety laws would probably have to be repealed first!

Thank for the visit and the comments, Damien. We need to adjust our laws to reflect our times. However, the marshmallows in congress are all concerned with getting votes and saving their jobs.
Times change, people need to change.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Being responsible is better than being in court a good lesson for everyone to learn!

Thank you for stopping by and for your comments, Eliza.
Best wishes.
Frederick

What really annoys me is on crime shows when everyone knows that a murderer is guilty, but because the evidence was obtained illegally it can't be used, and therefore they go free.

That is one side of the American legal system I can't understand. Yes I know the system has to be fair, and that the police "should" obtain evidence in the correct way, but that doesn't mean a murderer should get to go free.

I also think that all these celebrities who are put in jail (Lindsay Lohan for example, and now in the UK George Michael) ought to pay for their stay, not the taxpayer. Ditto all the swindlers who are in jail, like Bernie Maddoff.

Thank you for stopping by and for your comments, Tony.
To add insult to injury,in America we pay prisoners for housekeeping, cooking, gardening, etc. In addition, we can't force them to work! Nice dry bed, three square and a roof over their head! NICE COUNTRY!!!
Best wishes.
Frederick

Same here in the UK Frederick, we pay prisoners, and they have gymnasiums, internet, large screen televisions, gaming systems... It's quite a nice life actually - well not reporting first hand of course...

Thank for the additional comment, Tony. I thought that we were the only soft society. What ever happened to the good old chaingangs? OH, sorry I got carried away thinking outloud!!
Best to you.
Frederick

Great Intel, well put. I had that happen to my business credit card. Somehow hijacked, some $3,800.00 later I'm notified. They started out small, testing the waters then purchased 2 airline tickets to Germany. Long story short the bank realized we didn't make those charges and we were reimbursed. Looking forward to reading the rest!
Cheers,
mIxMaStEr

Thanks for the visit and the comments, Dennis.
Glad you didn't have to pay, but the stress of the situation can be ongoing for a long time.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Did you hear about the thief who recently hid in a garbage dumpster just as the truck was coming along and he got compacted? Now that is justice.

Thank you for stopping by and for your comments, Janet. Maybe we need more dumpsters in the world and fewer marshmallow lawyers and judges.
Best to you.
Frederick

Problem is you can never catch those cyber-thieves. Thanks for the intel. Hanging might be too drastic, caning, maybe like they do in Singapore?

Thank you for your support, Nora. I agree that hanging is drastic, but only when the punishment is worse then the crime, can the crime be detered. Personally, I would cut off the right hand of the thief and castrate the rapist on the town common with a dull straight razor.
You would deter those crimes at the very thought.
Best wishes.
Frederick

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