Police arrest fortune teller

Fortune telling was once (and might still be) illegal in certain jurisdictions, as this old newspaper article about the police arresting a fortune teller reveals

The article (see below) describes how a ‘Perkins Stratton’, who is described as a ‘botanist and herbalist’, was charged with ‘unlawfully telling fortunes.’
Giving evidence against Stratton, a young woman called Mary Ann Powell described how the fortune teller had predicted her future.
She said he had asked her for her ‘name, date of birth and other particulars, and he then told her what would happen to her in the future, particularly with reference to marriage.’
Although fortune telling was illegal, it seems that the police did not always regard it as a serious offence.
In the case described in the article, the police were aware of the fortune teller’s activities, but only took action against him after people complained to them about him.
Even if the police did not take the ‘crime’ of fortune telling seriously, the case against fortune telling was apparently of great interest to the public. The original newspaper article fills a newspaper column of about 2 inches x about 8 inches long.
The Bench (magistrate’s court) fined the fortune teller £20.00 (about $13.00), or if he failed to pay,  sentenced him to 2 months in jail.
Although £20.00 or $13.00 isn’t a large amount by modern standards, it was apparently quite a large amount during that period, because the newspaper headline refers to it as a ‘heavy fine.’

Police arrest fortune teller newspaper article

The story was first published in a British local newspaper in 1895.