On March 28, 1881, 19-year-old Newtown resident Robert Orr left home with a plan. From his father’s farm on the southern boundary of Newtown near Crum Creek, he walked to a neighbor’sproperty in Edgmont. There was a horse that he had his eye on. He put a bridle and saddle on, and took the horse, headed for Philadelphia, looking for a man who would give him money for the stolen horse – because that is what he had done. He was a horse thief.
In the days before cars and trucks, a horse was a family’s main source of transportation. For a farmer, it was also a dependable worker to plough fields, and the engine to the wagon that would carry your goods to market and your family to church on Sunday. The theft of such valuable property was a serious offense: A 1780 Pennsylvania law provided that a first time thief was tied to the pillory and given “thirty-nine lashes, well laid on” and had their ears cut off and nailed to the pillory. The second time: more lashes and then branding of the forehead with an ‘H” and a
‘T.”
To aid in capture, the Newtown Association for the Detection of Horse Thieves and Recovery of Horses and other Stolen Property Meeting was formed in the 1840’s, meeting at the Sign of the Fox Chase. You paid dues, and essentially it was an insurance policy – if your horse was stolen and not recovered, then the Association would pay for the loss.
Orr was captured in Philadelphia and arraigned in Media. “Those who were present say it was a pitying sight to see the distraction of the father, who appeared to enter bail for his wayward son, who will be obliged to answer for the crime in the next term of court, and no doubt suffer a term of imprisonment.” The reporter further noted that the son “owes his present disgrace to the fact that he became fascinated with companionship of wild and dissolute young men.”
Fortunately for young Robert, the earlier laws were repealed in 1860, replaced with jail time and fines. I could not find a report of the trial; but did find that he married at age 30, had two sons, and was a dairy farmer in Willistown until his death in 1912 from tuberculosis. He straightened up and flew right.
For more history on Edgmont Township, Delaware County, and membership information, please visit our Facebook group, “Edgmont Historical Society.”