Northumberland in the eighteenth century was a wild place, where gangs of hardened criminals roamed the countryside awaiting their chance to prey on the vulnerable and unwary. Long distances between isolated settlements did not deter the men, many of them unpaid, who rode the length and breadth of the county to catch the wrongdoers and bring them to justice. Barry Redfern, retired Chief Superintendent, Northumbria Police, turns his detective's eye on astonishing real life stories of murder, robbery, high treason and counterfeiting and investigates the hangings, brandings, whippings and other punishments meted out to criminals. At a time when even a used handkerchief was a valuable commodity, the sheer desperation and poverty of some offenders is evident. Just sometimes the long arm of the law could be merciful!