The assizes always gave the public free entertainment, and that September day, a healthy crowd packed into the public gallery to watch the trial of the notorious highwayman, Yellowhammer. John Smith stood in the dock with the steel manacles replaced on his wrists and ankles and court officials surrounding him. A skull-faced judge sat opposite, splendid in his robes and with his wig square on his head.
Smith had visited the courtroom on two previous occasions, once as a witness and twice as the accused. On the first occasion, the judge had sentenced him to hang, and Smith could still feel the burn of rope around his neck. On the second visit, the judge had convicted Sir Francis Selby of treason, so Smith thought that the omens did not look good for his third visit.
He looked around the ro
