AUTHOR’S NOTE
190 Words
AUTHOR’S NOTEThe records of Newgate prison show that two footpads who stopped a journeyman tailor near Harrow and robbed him of two pence and his clothes, were executed. Tom Lympus, a highwayman, was successful for several years in robbing the mails with a reward of two hundred pounds on his head. He was finally caught and hanged.
John Ram, commonly called Sixteen Strong Jack, was a very colourful character. Women adored him and when he was finally brought to trial he was dressed in a new suit of pea-green, a ruffled shirt and his hat was bound with silver string. His execution was ordered, but the night before he had seven girls to dine with him and the company was reported to be remarkably cheerful.
The following morning he faced the gallows with composure and his body remained hung on the usual tree before being delivered to his friends for internment.
Noblemen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries usually were armed and travelled with outriders. A blunderbuss was carried on stagecoaches. Those who walked unattended on commons, fields or lonely roads often lost not only their money but their lives too.
- Writer
