The Life & Uncommon Adventures of Captain Dudley Bradstreet: Difference between revisions
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This, perhaps slightly exaggerated, auto-biography by Captain Dudley Bradstreet, includes an important written accounting of how he arrived at the scheme to sell gin to Londoners without going afoul of the laws of the day. In those days, it was illegal to sell gin in quantities less than two gallons without endangering oneself to prison time. The laws apparently included a loophole that Captain Bradstreet would take advantage of. In order to be apprehended, the name of the person who owned the home where the gin was being sold had to be known, so by hiding his identity he was able to technically abide by the law as it was written. | This, perhaps slightly exaggerated, auto-biography by Captain Dudley Bradstreet, includes an important written accounting of how he arrived at the scheme to sell gin to Londoners without going afoul of the laws of the day. In those days, it was illegal to sell gin in quantities less than two gallons without endangering oneself to prison time. The laws apparently included a loophole that Captain Bradstreet would take advantage of. In order to be apprehended, the name of the person who owned the home where the gin was being sold had to be known, so by hiding his identity he was able to technically abide by the law as it was written. <ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Life_and_Uncommon_Adventures_of_Capt/H6MxAQAAIAAJ "The Life and Uncommon Adventures of Captain Dudley Bradstreet" By Dudley Bradstreet · 1755] (1929 Reprint via Google Books)</ref><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Bradstreet "Dudley Bradstreet"] via Wikipedia</ref> | ||
Below in the excerpt in question, as it was reproduced in a 1929 reprinting of the original, which relied on utilizing copies in the British Museum, and the Bodleian Library. | Below in the excerpt in question, as it was reproduced in a 1929 reprinting of the original, which relied on utilizing copies in the British Museum, and the Bodleian Library. | ||
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<br/> When my house was ready for Business, I enquired what Distiller in ''London'' was most famous for good Gin, and was assured by several, that it was Mr. ''L--dale'' in ''Holbourn:'' To him I went and laid out thirteen Pounds, which was all the Money I had, except two Shillings, and told him my Scheme, which he approved of. This Cargo was sent off to my House, at the Back of which there was a Way to go in or out. When the Liquor was properly disposed, I got a Person to inform a few of the Mob, that Gin would be sold by the Cat at my Window the next Day, provided they put the Money in its Mouth, from whence there was a Hole that conveyed it to me. At night I took Possession of my Den, and got up early next Morning to be ready for Custom; it was near three Hours before any body called, which made me almost despair of the Project; at last I heard the Chink of Money, and a comfortable Voice say, "Puss, give me two Pennyworth of Gin." I instantly put my mouth to the Tube, and bid them receive it from the Pipe under the Paw, and then measured and poured it into the Fennel, from whence they soon received it. Before Night I took six Shillings, the next Day above thirty Shillings, and afterwards three or four Pounds a Day; from all Parts of ''London'' People used to resort to me in such Numbers, that my Neighbours could scarcely get in our out of their Houses. After this manner I went on for a Month, in which time I cleared upwards of two and twenty Pounds. | <br/> When my house was ready for Business, I enquired what Distiller in ''London'' was most famous for good Gin, and was assured by several, that it was Mr. ''L--dale'' in ''Holbourn:'' To him I went and laid out thirteen Pounds, which was all the Money I had, except two Shillings, and told him my Scheme, which he approved of. This Cargo was sent off to my House, at the Back of which there was a Way to go in or out. When the Liquor was properly disposed, I got a Person to inform a few of the Mob, that Gin would be sold by the Cat at my Window the next Day, provided they put the Money in its Mouth, from whence there was a Hole that conveyed it to me. At night I took Possession of my Den, and got up early next Morning to be ready for Custom; it was near three Hours before any body called, which made me almost despair of the Project; at last I heard the Chink of Money, and a comfortable Voice say, "Puss, give me two Pennyworth of Gin." I instantly put my mouth to the Tube, and bid them receive it from the Pipe under the Paw, and then measured and poured it into the Fennel, from whence they soon received it. Before Night I took six Shillings, the next Day above thirty Shillings, and afterwards three or four Pounds a Day; from all Parts of ''London'' People used to resort to me in such Numbers, that my Neighbours could scarcely get in our out of their Houses. After this manner I went on for a Month, in which time I cleared upwards of two and twenty Pounds. | ||
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==References== | |||
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Revision as of 15:32, 15 February 2022
This, perhaps slightly exaggerated, auto-biography by Captain Dudley Bradstreet, includes an important written accounting of how he arrived at the scheme to sell gin to Londoners without going afoul of the laws of the day. In those days, it was illegal to sell gin in quantities less than two gallons without endangering oneself to prison time. The laws apparently included a loophole that Captain Bradstreet would take advantage of. In order to be apprehended, the name of the person who owned the home where the gin was being sold had to be known, so by hiding his identity he was able to technically abide by the law as it was written. [1][2]
Below in the excerpt in question, as it was reproduced in a 1929 reprinting of the original, which relied on utilizing copies in the British Museum, and the Bodleian Library.
p. 78
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References
- ↑ "The Life and Uncommon Adventures of Captain Dudley Bradstreet" By Dudley Bradstreet · 1755 (1929 Reprint via Google Books)
- ↑ "Dudley Bradstreet" via Wikipedia