Geoff I have read--but can't remember where--that people were sometimes offered the choice of hanging or transportation to the Americas--and that some refused transportation. Do you happen to know whether that is true? John Lynch Doreen: I would say the opposite. In the late 18th and early 19th century there was always the threat of hanging if one committed a serious crime, but in fact very few of those who did really were hanged. Some 30 years ago (guess) John Smith published a paper in the Bulletin of Durham County LHS in which he followed up all cases in that period in Durham where someone had been indicted of a capital offence. Some were never brought to court ("no bill"). Others were tried and found not guilty. Others were found guilty of a capital offence but not sentenced to capital punishment - mostly transported. Of those sentenced to death, most were reprieved, either upon appeal or at the last minute before execution. Only about 4% (another guess) of those capitally indicted are known to have been executed. Of course the real proportion may have been higher than that as some cases could not be followed right through and we don't know what happened top the people concerned. However, ! there were enough cases to be statistically impressive and the result was a number around the 4% I have quoted.