ENORMOUS CAPTURES MADE BY HIGHWAY GANGS—BRACY'S GANG—ROBBERIES ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET—ADVERTISEMENTS OF THE PERIOD—AUGUSTIN KING—PLUNDER AND BATTLE ON THE ST. ALBANS ROAD—SOLDIERS AS HIGHWAYMEN

Much has already been said in these pages of the imaginative character of a good deal to be found in Captain Alexander Smith's Lives of the Highwaymen, but at the same time it would not be proper to regard that work as a work of fiction. The amazing adventures of the highwaymen whose careers are treated of there can be readily paralleled in the actual trials of their kind, not only in the periods with which he deals, but at a much later time. The enormous booty they carry off in his pages may seem incredible, but time and again we find, in accounts that cannot be disputed, that the highwaymen did, in fact, secure extremely large sums. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, if it were necessary to prove the truth of this statement. The trial at Derby in August 1679 of "Twelve Notorious Highway Men, Murderers, and Clippers of Money" is merely one case in point.

These were "Mr." Bracy, evidently superior to most of the gang, Richard Piggen, Roger Brookham, another superior person, one "Mr." Gerrat, John Barker, William Loe, John Roobottom, Thomas Ouldome, John Baker, Daniel Buck, Thomas Gillat, and one Smedley.

Bracy was captain of the gang: the head and brains of it. They broke one night into the house of "Captain John Munday, Esquire," at Morton, near Derby, took away £1200 in gold and silver, also plate, "binding the Esquire and all his Family in their beds, and using great insolences by threats, to make them confess their Treasures."

Two months after this exploit the gang "met" (not, we may suppose, casually) a waggon between Lenton and Newark, in which were several small barrels of money, and others of gold lace. Securing the waggoner, they hauled out the barrels, and, breaking open the barrel-heads with the hatchets they had been careful to bring with them, they secured a booty of eighteen hundred pounds, "which," we are told, "they divided, and so disperst."

Buck, together with a man named Ryley, was shortly afterwards taken at Ockbrook, near Derby. Both were hanged. The rest of the company continued their former practices. Breaking open the house of Lady Jane Scroop, at Everston, near Nottingham, they took £600, "missing two or three thousands by being one day too forward in their Actions." They then must needs quarrel over dividing the spoil. The affair is best told in the words of the original account:

"Upon the discussing of this booty, one of the company and Bracy falling at a difference, they had a small Combate with their Swords, the other cutting the Throate of a Mare that Bracy rode upon, which for swiftness and goodness was hardly to be compar'd in England."

The gang next proposed to raid the house of one Squire Gilbert, at Locko, near Derby, and that of Mr. Garland at Lenton; but in the meanwhile most of them were arrested. Bracy, who at that time had hurried off to his wife's death-bed, at an inn she kept, twelve miles north of Nottingham, was betrayed by one of the servants of the inn, who informed the Justices that the highwayman who was being sought was in the house. The inn was presently surrounded, and Bracy's son, looking out of a window, saw there was little chance of his father escaping. What chance there remained was tried. Taking a horse out of the stable at the back, he bid his father mount, leap the fence, and make a dash for it. It was a poor chance, and was made worse by the horse refusing the jump. A sheriff's man then shot the horse dead, and with a second bullet wounded Bracy himself. The highwayman, however, continued the combat until he sank, mortally wounded. He was then carried to a bed in the inn, where he died.

The remnant of this numerous band were indomitably active. Three of them beset two gentlemen in Needwood Forest, bidding them "Stand and deliver!" Refusing, one of them was shot; but the other, with sword and pistol, made a brisk resistance, until one of the thieves, creeping up behind, ran him through the body.

These three were not long afterwards arrested for clipping money. Tried and convicted of that offence, itself involving capital punishment, they had no hesitation in confessing their other crimes.

Among others at that time under arrest were Piggen and Baker. Piggen turned King's evidence, and was pardoned: Baker also being pardoned, but why, we do not learn. Among the facts deposed to by these convicted criminals was that the gang were accustomed to meet at an inn called the "Cock," near St. Michael's Church, Derby, kept by a widow named Massey and John Baker, her son-in-law. There they had clipped in one night so much as £100. A boy of fifteen years of age was employed in the house, and by some means accidentally learnt too much of the gang's business. They thought him too dangerous, and so murdered him and buried his body in the cellar.

Where wealth gathered, there were the highwaymen also. There was no road more frequented by wealthy men in the reign of James the First and that of Charles the Second than the road to Newmarket. The Court was frequently there for the race-meetings, and gamblers of all kinds were naturally attracted. Many a gamester who had lost his all on horses or by cards at Newmarket took as a matter of course to robbing other sportsmen: either those hasting down to try their luck, or those fortunate ones who were returning home with pockets bulging with their winnings. One William Fennor, who in 1617 published a pamphlet called the Competers' Common-Wealth, has much that is interesting to disclose about these reckless blades. A "competer" was, of course, one of the gamesters aforesaid; and any of them who had the misfortune to lose his money went immediately, as he tells us, upon the Heath, to replenish his pockets. They were by no means proud, and did not disdain to rob rustics of their pence. "Poor Countrie people," he says, with bitter satire, "cannot passe quietly to the Cottages, but some Gentlemen will borrow all the money they have." Tyburn Tree and Wapping Gibbets, he added, had "many hangers-on," gathered in from among these gentry.

Fennor's disclosures did not end these practices. As the fame and vogue of Newmarket increased, so also did the highway robberies on the Newmarket Road. The culminating point of it all appears to have been a pitched battle which, according to the Domestic Intelligence of August 24th in that year, took place at the Devil's Ditch, through which the highway runs on to Newmarket Heath. Five highwaymen had here robbed a coach and taken £59, and a very considerable booty in the way of gold lace, silks, and linen. Before they could make off with the plunder, the exasperated countryfolk were roused, and were stationed in a body in the opening of that tall and steep bank, impracticable for horsemen, the only way by which the Heath may be entered or left. The highwaymen were thus completely shut in, and could only escape by abandoning their horses: an unthinkable alternative. Had they retreated, they would have been captured in Newmarket town. The only thing to be done was to make a dash for liberty. "Knowing themselves Dead Men by the Law, if they were taken," says that early newspaper, "they charged through the Countrymen, and by Firing upon them Wounded four, one of which we understand is Dead of his Wounds." Thus they got clear away: the whole incident leaving upon the mind a very vivid impression of a lawless and ill-policed country.

Not only were these men determined in resistance. They were ready to revenge such of their comrades as had been unfortunate enough to be captured; as we see from the diary of Sir John Reresby, who, writing in February 1677, says: "I went to London (from York) well guarded, for fear of some of my back friends and highwaymen, having caused the chief of them to be taken not long before."

The newspapers of that time were full of advertisements offering rewards for the recovery of property, or the apprehension of thieves. Some of them afford amusing reading. Thus, in the London Gazette of December 1st, 1681, we find the following:

"Robb'd the 10th of Nov. last, from Mr. Joseph Bullock of Bristol, on the Road between Hungerford and Newbury in Barkshire, one Silver Watch and Case, there being on the backside of the Case an Almanack, a Hanger with a Plate Hilt, a Buff Belt, with Silver Buckles; by Three Men, the one a middle-siz'd Man, full Fac'd, a short White Wigg much Curl'd in an old Cloth-colour riding Coat, on a Flea-bitten Horse, about 14 hands high, his Brows Brown; the other a middle-sized Black Favour'd, on a Grey Horse, above 14 hands high, with Black Hair or Wigg, and thin Favour, the other a full set Man, thin Favour'd with curled dark Brown Hair. Whoever can discover the Persons aforesaid to Mr. Bullock of Bristol or at the Three Cups in Breadstreet, London; (the said Robbers having killed one John Thomas, the said Mr. Bullock's Servant,) shall have their Charges, and ten pounds reward."

Here, in the matter-of-fact language of an advertisement, we see one of those obscure tragedies that were always occurring on the roads: bloodshed that for the most part called in vain for vengeance.

Again—this time in 1684—the London Gazette is used as the medium, in an effort to obtain justice, but it is not to be supposed that there were any results. He must have been an extremely sanguine advertiser to have offered so speculative a reward for information so greatly desired:

"On Whitsunday in the Evening was committed a great Robbery by four Highwaymen within half a mile of Watford Gap in the County of Northampton, to the value of above Eight score Pounds taken from some Passengers. They were of indifferent stature, their Coats were all turned up with Shag, one had a blew Shag, and wore a Perriwig, the others wore their own Hair; They had two Bay Naggs, a Bay Mare somewhat battered before, and a Sprig Tail Sorrel Mare, which they took away from one they robb'd, and a black Nag; one of them had short Holsters to his Saddle without breast-plate, another a pair of Pistols in his Saddle Cover. Whoever gives notice of the said Robbers to Joshuah Snowden, Confectioner at the Belsavage Gate on Ludgate Hill, or to Henry Keys at Watford Gap Inn, shall be well rewarded."

Even University graduates were at this period known to occasionally present a pistol upon the road. Such behaviour was by no means uncommon among collegers in earlier centuries, but we read with astonishment how Augustine King, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, was publicly advertised in the London Gazette of December 1st, 1687, among other highwaymen, as follows:

"There is likewise abroad one Augustine King, formerly convicted at Cambridge; a Notorious Highway Robber, who made his Escape from the Gatehouse. He is a lusty fat man, about 31 or 32 years of Age, fresh-coloured, full Ey'd, his own Hair, lank, inclinable to black: he hath several more in his Company, who, some, or most of them, are well-known to some Inn-keepers not far distant from London, who will do well to cause them, especially King, to be taken before next Sessions at the Old Bayly, for their own Indemnity."

King would seem to have actually been captured as a result of this public announcement, for we find that he was executed in the following year.

The road on to St. Albans witnessed astounding doings. On November 9th, 1690, seven highwaymen robbed the Manchester carrier of £15,000, tax-money, which was being conveyed under what is described as a "strong" escort, to London. The robbery was coolly planned and with equal coolness executed. At their leisure the highwaymen arrived on the scene, fully advised of the approach of the carrier, and proceeded to seize and rob all wayfarers and then securely tie them to trees. Having thus made sure of not being interrupted, they were ready for the chief booty of the day. Dashing among the strong escort, they overcame them in a fight, whose details are not reported, and after taking the money killed or hamstrung eighteen horses, to render pursuit impossible.

It appears that this was looked upon as a Jacobite and Roman Catholic plot, and that two Roman Catholics were arrested on suspicion and committed for trial; but the rest is obscure. Some suspicious persons might even regard the whole affair as a put-up job between the escort who thus betrayed their trust and shared an excellent haul.

Again, at London Colney, near by, on the night of August 23rd, 1692, the highwaymen performed a notable feat; robbing none other than the great Duke of Marlborough, the foremost military genius of the age, of five hundred guineas.

Three months later a party of highwaymen—no doubt the same dare-devil rogues—secured between £1,500 and £2,000 out of a waggon "near Barnet," and in November the Oxford coach was pillaged in mid-day, after a bloody fight. About the same time, we read in Narcissus Luttrell's diary, fifteen butchers, going to Thame market to buy cattle, were robbed by nine highwaymen, who carried them over a hedge, made them drink King James's health in a bottle of brandy, and bid them sue the county: a remedy open to travellers who were robbed on the roads in daylight "between sunrise and sunset."

Military force was found necessary for the suppression of these outrages. Detachments of Dragoons were sent out all round London and posted at a distance of about ten miles out, on the great roads. The captures effected by these patrols were numerous; but at some spot not more clearly identified than as being "near Barnet" they had an armed encounter with the band led by "Captain" James Whitney, December 6th, 1692. One Dragoon was killed, but Whitney was captured and duly executed, and the roads, in the north, at any rate, for awhile had peace.

Not, however, for very long. Robberies may not have been again committed on so astonishing a scale; but highwaymen reappeared when the Dragoons were withdrawn, and found their occupation, not only lucrative, but pretty safe.

But as the years went on, things grew steadily worse. Unemployment was the principal cause of the enormous increase of highway robberies in 1698. Highwaymen, as we have already seen, were numerous before, but they now grew more than ever daring. The Peace of Ryswick, which had the year before ended an inglorious war, caused great numbers of soldiers to be disbanded, and, finding no livelihood to be obtained in honest work, they naturally chose to plunder the travellers whom they observed journeying to and from London, often with well-filled purses, ready to become the property of any bold fellow who could command a good horse, a pistol or sword, and courage to stop men on their lawful business. Near Waltham Cross, bandits to the number of thirty built themselves huts amid the leafy coverts of Epping Forest, and, without waiting for the kindly obscurity of night, came forth at all hours with deadly weapons and held up the traffic along the Cambridge and the Newmarket roads.

They did not hesitate to slay, and often the bodies of slaughtered wayfarers affrighted the next travellers, who, warned by such sights of the futility of resistance, rendered unto these highway CÆsars whatever they had about them: satisfied to escape, with empty pockets indeed, but with a whole skin. For a while this settlement of reckless men was abolished by a raid, under the direction of the Lord Chief Justice, but the expedition, raiding in the interests of law and order, had not long departed when the outlaws again occupied the spot. They even had the impudence to send a written and signed defiance to Whitehall. There they went too far, for that would have been no Government worthy of the name which consented to receive such a document and to idly pass it by. Another Dragoon expedition, somewhat similar to that of 1692, was equipped, and while some of the soldiers patrolled the roads in that direction, others encamped for a time in the Forest itself. Thus it is probable that soldiers still in service were employed against those others not so fortunate, who had been disbanded and obliged to seek these ways of existence.

This fraternity was certainly broken up, and we do not hear again of such numerous, or such highly organised, bands; but when the Dragoons were again withdrawn, the roads once more became extremely dangerous.

The Dragoons themselves were, individually, not above suspicion. No doubt they learned some useful things when engaged on this kind of duty; and when such unskilled persons in the use of arms as ruined gamesters took to the road to replenish their pockets, it was perhaps not remarkable that soldiers should seek to add to their scanty pay by like means. The Guards regiments numbered many experts in the "Stand and deliver" way. Opportunity helped them. They were already armed, and, as they did not live in barracks until about 1790, and were merely quartered on the inhabitants of London and Westminster, they were free at all hours of the night to "labour in the calling of purse-taking."

Thus we read of a quite typical affair in January 1704, on Hounslow Heath, in which James Harris, a trooper in the Horse Guards, was principally concerned. It seems that on the 26th of that month a certain George Smith, Esquire, and a Major Wade, of Bristol, were travelling westward in a postchaise. They halted at the "Pack Horse" at Turnham Green, "for refreshment," and appear to have refreshed so well that by the time their equipage was crossing Hounslow Heath they had fallen fast asleep. From this slumber of repletion they were rudely awakened by stern voices saying, "D—n you, give me your money!" and "D—n you, give me your watch!"

"Who's that a-calling?" asks the songster. In this case it was James Harris and a companion, who robbed them effectually after a rough-and-tumble with the servant of Mr. Smith, who sprang at Harris and pulled him off his horse. There they struggled, and presently the highwayman's mask was torn off, disclosing his scarred face. Mr. Smith then declared he would give up all his valuables if the highwayman would spare his man's life, and the affair ended.

Mr. Smith afterwards, hearing that a man answering to this description had been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in other robberies, came forward, entirely in the public interest, and identified him at the military mews. "Sir, do you know me?" Harris impudently asked, advancing upon him with insolent braggadocio. Mr. Smith did.

Harris was indicted at the Sessions on February 28th, and found guilty, but was afterwards reprieved.

Such lenient treatment was not calculated to render the highways more safe, and so especially dangerous became the road between Shoreditch and Cheshunt that the turnpike men were in 1722 provided with speaking-trumpets, in a singular effort to warn travellers and one another "in case any Highwaymen or footpads are out." It does not appear exactly how this idea was worked, or if travellers were supposed to wait until such highwaymen or footpads retired: but, according to a newspaper report of that time, the scheme was successful, for we read: "We don't find that any robbery has been committed in that quarter since they have been furnished with them, which has been these two months."

Other roads and suburban districts to the east and north-east of London continued to be extremely dangerous. In the history of Hackney we read, for example, of numerous highway robberies, burglaries, and murders, in a long series of years. The neighbourhood of the then almost trackless Hackney Marshes no doubt was a predisposing cause for this exceptional ill-repute. Here again, we find that soldiers were often the criminals. On November 23rd, 1728, the house of a Mr. Wood, a farmer, near Hackney, was broken open by half-a-dozen fellows, who seized and bound all the family. The account then goes on to say that, "They had the good conduct to take off their coats that nobody might know what regiment they belonged to, and robbed in their red waistcoats only, but left a cockade behind them. It is supposed they belonged to the Dragoons; but those gentlemen (it is humbly presumed) ought not to leave their cockades behind them when they go upon such expeditions, such things being of no use but upon reviews."