Arthur Ross - "The Accused's 'Speciality' Appeared to be the Theft of Horse-Hair"

A newspaper report from The Aberdeen Daily Journal of 31st August 1901 records that Arthur Ross had spent a combined total of eight of the last fourteen years in prison having been incarcerated on multiple occasions. However, he wasn't so much a hardened criminal as a minor nuisance. His very long list of petty crimes were as a result of trying to eek out an existence, but also having the unfortunate habit of getting caught in the process. He is variously described as a "vagrant" or as having "no fixed abode". The report from the Aberdeen Daily Journal describes the items that Ross was caught with on that occasion: 

"Arthur Ross, a vagrant, was yesterday morning convicted at Inverurie Police Court of having in his possession a bag containing 2lb of horse hair, 7 duck eggs, 2½lbs of hard [salted] fish, and 1½lbs of cheese, without being able to give a satisfactory account of how he obtained the goods. The accused pleaded guilty and Provost Jackson, in sentencing him to imprisonment for 60 days said he could not impose a smaller penalty looking to the accused's previous record and character. There had been twenty-one previous convictions, involving terms of imprisonment ranging from six days to fifteen months".  

Some six months earlier, on the  25th February 1901, The Aberdeen Daily Journal reported one of Arthur Ross's previous convictions which also featured the theft of horse-hair. The report again refers to Arthur as being of no fixed residence and that he was a "native of Ross-shire". It also states that he had "about 40 previous convictions recorded against him" an inflated figure from that recorded in The Aberdeen Daily Journal, quoted above. Arthur evidently caused much amusement in court by promising to reform his character. However, the sheriff remained straight-faced, dourly stating that,

"...during the past 24 years, the man had been many years in prison, and the stuff stolen did not amount to more than £20...it was not really worth the man's trouble".

A subsequent newspaper report some three years later, from The Aberdeen Daily Journal of 23rd November 1904, records more of Arthur's antics when he was again tried for stealing horse-hair from the farms of Haremoss, Monquhitter, Honeynook, also in Monquhitter, and the Mains of Tollo, Inverkeithny, Banffshire. At the trial the Sheriff said, 

"...the accused's "speciality" seemed to be the theft of horse-hair. Apparently his method was to go about the country in the darkness of the night, enter the stables and steal the hair, and when he had collected a sufficient quantity, sell it. He had been 26 times previously convicted, and a great proportion of the thefts were connected with horse hair. His lordship repeated the last sentence - eighteen months' imprisonment, with hard labour". 

Frustratingly, but perhaps not surprisingly given his itinerant lifestyle, it has proved impossible to locate Arthur on any of the likely census returns. A tantalising note in pencil above his mugshot that reads, "Arthur Ross, horse-hair thief, many convictions, now insane, 1905" would tend to suggest that a life of vagrancy and the revolving door of prison, may well have take its toll on his mental health.