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Half-hours with the Highwaymen - Vol 1 / Picturesque Biographies and Traditions of the "Knights of the Road" cover

Half-hours with the Highwaymen - Vol 1 / Picturesque Biographies and Traditions of the "Knights of the Road"

Chapter 27: Transcriber's Note:
By Charles G. Harper
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About This Book

The book surveys the rise, lore, and decline of roadside robbery, tracing the transformation from medieval outlaws to highwaymen and later footpads while contrasting romantic legend with legal record. It assembles anecdotes, trial accounts, and contemporary pamphlets about notorious robbers and gangs, examines superstitions such as the hand of glory, and details prisons, executions, wayside gibbets, and the watch system. Interleaving local road histories with portraits of individual figures, the author aims to balance popular tradition and documented evidence, preserving the period atmosphere without wholesale debunking or uncritical glorification.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See the Exeter Road, pp. 215-233.

[2] Historians of Paddington and Bayswater contend that "Elms Lane," existing until about 1840, adjoining Lancaster Gate, marked the spot: so there is a choice of three "Elms."

[3] Probably John Dudley, Duke of Norfolk, who was granted the old hospital property in 1553.

[4] See the Manchester and Glasgow Road, Vol. I., pp. 236-238.

[5] His name at the Old Bailey trial was stated to be "John Bennet, alias Freeman."

Transcriber's Note:

  • Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
  • Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
  • Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
  • Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that references them. The paginations in the list of illustrations have been adjusted accordingly.
  • Footnotes were moved to the end of chapters and numbered in one continuous sequence
  • Other corrections:
    • p. 77: "... looking out of window..." changed to "...looking out of a window..."
    • p. 88: "...worthy the name..." changed to "...worthy of the name..."
    • p. 115: "...the usual broadstreet price..." changed to "...the usual broadsheet price..."

  • Transliteration of poem on page 45

    Near undernead dis laitl stean
    laiz robert earl of Huntingtun
    Nea arcir ver as hie sa geud
    An pipl kauld im robin heud
    sich outlawz az hi an iz men
    vil england nivr si agen
    Obijt 24 kal Dekembris, 1249.