Finding The Times

It has been two years since I first found myself lost in The Times. I was on my lunch break at the library and I was searching for a name. I had been turning a story over in my head, planning it and dreaming, and I needed a name for the main character. The story was set in 18th century London and so I figured the best place to find a good old English name would be within the archives of The Times. I was not expecting to find names like Thunderbolt O'Lavery and Emily Tenderheart, but I did. It was their names that first caught my eye, but it was their story that I couldn't stop thinking about. This is what I found:

The Times, Saturday, Dec 24, 1791;

 pg. 3; Issue 2215; col B

It reads as follows:

COURT OF HONOUR

Thunderbolt O’Lavery, was indicted for the murder of Emily Tenderheart, by seducing her from a boarding-school, debauching her, and finding her fortune so was not to be had without her father’s consent, deserting her, in consequence of which she came upon the town and died of a broken heart at eighteen years of age.

Acquited, seduction of innocence being a common fashion and not a capital offence.

COURT OF JUSTICE

Thomas Tenderheart, the father of the above young Lady, was indicted for the murder of Thunderbolt O’Lavery.

It came out in evidence, that after the death of Emily, the prisoner met Thunderbolt endeavouring to seduce another of his daughters, and warmed with a just indignation, he struck the seducer on the head, fractured his skull, and of that fracture the deceased died. – Guilty, Death.

And so, sitting at the computer during my lunch break, I found myself lost in the Times. I couldn't help but jot down the questions and curiosities that came from this small excerpt.  Were these their real names or the artful creation of the author? What does it mean to "die of a broken heart"? Did the writer feel that the father was right in killing Thunderbolt, when he writes of his "just indignation"? Why would Thunderbolt try to seduce the second daughter when he knew he would not receive the father's consent to her fortune? Who is this second daughter that is seduced? What is her story? And the line: "seduction of innocence being a common fashion", how does something so horrible sound like poetry! In the end, the innocent lover, the seducer and the father are all dead. So much tragedy in just over a hundred words of print.

After a few more lunch breaks with my companion, The Times, I decided I no longer needed to write my story. Instead, I wanted to find the stories that had been hidden within a mass of words for decades and centuries. I wanted to think about those lives that were lived so long ago, those lives that have been so long forgotten. Over the past two years I have collected hundreds of stories and articles from those who have left just a glimpse of themselves within a few short lines. And now, I would like to share these whispers from the past with you.