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| (Photo from 1869) |
These well chained prisoners are Antti Rannanjärvi (left) and Antti Isotalo, the famous leaders of a gang of trouble makers ("puukkojunkkari" - "knife fighter") in the Southern Ostrobothnia region of Finland in the 19th century.
In Finland Rannanjärvi and Isotalo have become legendary, mostly thanks to this popular folk song immortalizing their names:
Wikipedia gives some additional information about the "puukkojunkkaris":
Fights among puukkojunkkaris were common, and often resulted in homicide; one could even get stabbed in a funeral. Puukkojunkkaris usually made trouble at weddings, stole horses and circulated among towns and villages. They also participated in gambling, thievery and courtship with women. The most notorious puukkojunkkaris lived in towns near the Lapuanjoki river, such as Kauhava, Ylihärmä and Alahärmä. The first homicides happened in the 1790s, but the famous "golden age" of puukkojunkkaris lasted from the 1820s to the 1880s.
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