Is it true that Newton ordered the hanging of counterfeiters?
score:12
As "master of the mint," Newton was England's "Comptroller of the Currency."
The second thing you need to know is that fraud, counterfeiting, embezzlement, theft, and other economic offenses were "capital" (hanging) crimes in those days.
So as Master of the Mint, Newton drew up lists of suspected criminals that he wanted prosecuted, and if found guilty in a court of law, hanged. He did not "order" the hanging of counterfeiters; the judges in the courts did that. Nor did he actually hang anyone; that was a "blue collar" job.
According to this article, he was considered a highly accomplished Master of the Mint. It's hard to break down how much of it was due to his scientific prowess, and how much on his insistence on criminals being hanged. What's clear is that he took a strong interest in every phase of the operation.
Upvote:-1
The most detailed biography of Newton is Westfall, Never at rest. It describes in detail the story of investigation by Newton of activities of certain William Chalone. As a result of this investigation, Chalone was hanged, after a trial, of course. Newton played the crucial role in his conviction.
Upvote:7
Is it true that Newton ordered the hanging of counterfeiters?
No.
The counterfeiters were tried in a court of law, with a judge presiding, were found guilty by a jury and sentenced by the judge according to the penalties set out in law by parliament.
The role of Newton in these trials was primarily to obtain evidence and witnesses of the counterfeiters' crimes.
The Wikipedia Article on William Chaloner citing a biography by Paul Hopkins and Stuart Handley says:
The trial was held at the Old Bailey on 3 March, the Judge was Sir Salathiel Lovell
...
Newton fielded eight witnesses that spanned Chaloner's career. Catherine Coffey, wife of goldsmith Patrick Coffey, declared that she had seen him coin French Pistoles. Elizabeth Holloway declared how Chaloner had bribed her husband, the coiner Thomas Holloway, to flee to Scotland and avoid giving evidence at the 1697 trial. Thomas Taylor the engraver in the major coining conspiracy. Catherine Carter, wife of Thomas Carter who had twice previously been named and blamed by Chaloner, testified to Chaloner's skill as a forger and his role in the lottery scam
...
The jury needed only a few minutes to reach a verdict, and he was sentenced the next day.
Is this true?
No
Newton did not order any executions, nor could he.
How many men did he hang and over what period?
None
Did his measures work?
Partly,
Chaloner ceased to counterfeit currency.
Counterfeiting is today still a problem.
More post
- 📝 Why was Schuyler Colfax not present at the vote to reconsider the 13th amendment?
- 📝 What was the name of the region, Somalia, British Somalia or British Somaliland?
- 📝 How can I authenticate this presumably ancient Narino/Carchi pedestal bowl?
- 📝 To what extent has the United States become (in 1870) the nation that it originally set out to be?
- 📝 A magic system at least partially based on the real-world cultural history of magic?
- 📝 What 17C protocol left a princess standing whilst commoners sat?
- 📝 Did cavalry in China use spears instead of swords?
- 📝 Where did Vasco Núñez de Balboa first see the South Ocean?
- 📝 Did archers synchronize fire? Why?
- 📝 !Kung: What is the rules of the !gu!na relationship? (To evaluate its importance in the !Kung cooperation system)?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 How much was the wealthy elite harmed by the Bolshevik revolution?
- 📝 Why didn't Mao Zedong order to kill locusts initially in the 4 pests campaign?
- 📝 Has anyone written Australian history from the perspective of the original inhabitants - the aborigines?
- 📝 President proposes bills: provenance
- 📝 How did the Catholic Pope manage to become more powerful than Kings in old Europe?
- 📝 Has a food taster ever thwarted an assassination attempt?
- 📝 Where did the Crusaders go after 1291?
- 📝 Ancient Greek term rendered incorrectly as numbers and Latin letters, "01KCDÇ". What is it?
- 📝 Before Liberty Ships became widely available, what kind of cargo ships supplied Britain?
- 📝 What factors contributed to Korea's Modernization?
- 📝 What were French actions against Germany during September 1939?
- 📝 What psychology would have been taught at the 19th century Lyceum?
- 📝 Has there ever been a massacre or genocidal act via people thrown off a cliff?
- 📝 Did American slave holders typically give their slaves the names of Roman nobility?
- 📝 How did Belgium manage to maintain control over their colonies while they were occupied?
- 📝 When did the Knights Templar dissolve and why?
- 📝 For Alexander, what were the incentives of expanding to the west vs to the east?
- 📝 Which European countries did not have a revolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution and why?
- 📝 Did any deputies in the USSR ever get recalled via provisions in the 1977 constitution?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Is it true that Newton ordered the hanging of counterfeiters?
- 📝 Is it true that slavery was endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa previous to the establishment of the trans-Atlantic slave trade?
- 📝 Is it true that there are more slaves in the world now than ever at one point in history?
- 📝 What is the basis for the argument that the true believers in Juche died in the N. Korean famine?
- 📝 Is it true that Hitler led to the invention of the atomic bomb by the Americans?
- 📝 Is it true that slavery was banned from discussion on the Senate and/or House floor before the American Civil War?
- 📝 Is it true that there were American POWs in Soviet captivity after the Second World War?
- 📝 Is this true that the requirement to sacrifice to the Roman gods was put in by the Caesar only after Christianity emerged?
- 📝 Is it true that there was no such thing as a Hispanic-owned bank in the continental USA until 1969?
- 📝 Is this true that the Soviet Army soldiers had no helmets in the beginning of WW2?
- 📝 How did Isaac Newton support himself in the period of self-study that he conducted at 23?(after he received his B.A.)
- 📝 Is it true that Serbia was offered "Great Serbia" instead of Yugoslavia at the end of the WWI by Allies?
- 📝 Fanons 'Concerning Violence' makes the point that Nazism was the culminating point of the project of European Colonialism, how true is that?
- 📝 Is it true that all revolutions/uprising could only be "resolved" with the backing of an armed force?
- 📝 Is it true that Christian English monks adopted Norse hairstyles before the start of the Viking age?
- 📝 Is it true that the soldiers returned from WW2 either didn't marry or kept themselves from families?
- 📝 Is this true that the Russian economy was efficient during war II?
- 📝 Is it true that Adolf Hitler foresaw a surrender on the Western front in the last week of April 1945?
- 📝 Is it true that the A10 gun was made less accurate on purpose?
- 📝 Is that true that somebody was punished by the Catholic Church for believing that a fly had six feet?
- 📝 When did people decide that all caps means the writer is shouting?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that the United States was "suckered into WW1" by Zionists, made by Benjamin Freedman in his 1961 speech?
- 📝 Is it true that "All spicy food is from Latin America"?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 Is the claim that Hitler came to power democratically justified?
- 📝 When did the Romans finally acknowledge that they were living in an empire?
- 📝 What is the significance behind "40 days" that often appears in the Bible?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?