Traralgon Record in Traralgon, Victoria

Love and crime across borders in unusual marriages

A historical note outlines cases where criminals fall in love with fellow inmates or suspects. It cites a French peasant woman who killed her husband with poison and, despite a guilty verdict with extenuating circumstances, served only months in prison. After release she allegedly married a notorious petty criminal. In the U.S. a forger courted a pretty young woman in court whose glances turned to theft, ending in marriage after sentences. A Dutch diamond robber also courted a convicted woman, but the plan failed. The piece notes that prison rules sometimes permit marriages between inmates, and that such unions mix thieves, pickpockets, and other offenders.