s in an American
prison, after perpetrating a murder in a railway carriage.

[Picture: Old Thatched Inn in the Bull Ring]

Another inn worthy of mention here is the Fighting Cocks. Here this once
fashionable but cruel sport used to be practised, until it was made
illegal by Act of Parliament, in 1849, and it is said to have been
clandestinely continued for some time longer, although a penalty of 5
pounds was imposed. An old man working on the premises in 1902 could
remember the last fight. The "pit" was in the present garden, at the
rear of the inn yard.

In the Fighting Cocks yard were formerly the kennels of the South Wold
hounds, and the writer can well remember going frequently, as a boy,
while he attended the Grammar School, to see them fed, as well as
occasionally being mounted by the whips on one of the horses of the hunt,
when, after the hunting season, they went out for exercise. Mr. "Jack"
Musters, the whilom rival of Byron for the hand of Miss Chaworth, was at
that time Master.

In the yard of this inn there still remain two large scythe blades
affixed to the wall of an outhouse. The history of these is that they
were formerly on the front of the inn, facing the street, because was
annually held, on August 21st, what was called the Scythe Fair, when the
county blacksmiths gathered to purchase scythes, to supply the Irish, and
other reapers, for the coming harvest. This was discontinued when the
machinery for reaping came into use.

The Three Maids' Inn was situated in the High Street, on part of the site
now occupied by the Corn Exchange, and was demolished when that building
was erected. A small inn, on the east side of North Street, now called
the Cricketer's Arms, was formerly named the Tom Cat, because here was
sold the strong old gin of the well-known distillers, Swagne and Borde,
whose trademark was a cat. Hence gin took its name of "Old Tom." There
is still the figure of a cat engraven on the front window, with the words
"Unrivalled Tom" beneath it.

Opposite the Bull, the leading hotel in the town, replete with all modern
requirements, stands the King's Head, an old "public," still remarkable
for its low thatched roof; the reason for which is said to be, that by
the forms of the will of a former owner, it was bequeathed to his
successor, with the condition attached, that it should continue to be
thatched: a condition which the advance of civilization may, in a few
years'