Despite the efforts of respectable parish and police constables, the magistrates and court officials in their fine new jail and the Industrial Revolution on the horizon, this dip into Argyll's history tells how crime in the county was just as bloody and violent as in former eras.
Here are 18 tales of bloody murder, arson, assault and theft from the Ross of Mull and Kintyre to the Bridge of Awe and Dunoon.