Lives and exploits of the most noted highwaymen, robbers and murderers of all nations: Drawn from the most authentic sources and brought down to the present timeWhitehead, Charles
History
Lives and exploits of the most noted highwaymen, robbers and murderers of all nations: Drawn from the most authentic sources and brought down to the present time
Whitehead, Charles
Brigands and robbers -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Murderers -- Great Britain
Upon this horse, he one day met a Cantabrigian, who was possessed
of more money than good sense, morality, or wit, in a calash with a
dashing courtesan. Ned commanded the student to “stand and deliver.”
Unwilling to show his cowardice before his companion, he refused.
Without any respect for the venerable university to which he belonged,
Ned by violence took from him about six pounds, and presenting a
pair of pistols, constrained the hopeful pair to strip themselves,
then bound them together, and giving the horse a lashing, the animal
went off at full trot with them to the inn to which he belonged. But
no sooner did these Adamites enter the town, than men, women, and
children, came hallooing, shouting, and collecting the whole town
to behold such an uncommon spectacle. The student was expelled for
disgracing the university, and the courtesan was sent to the house of
correction.
Humorous Ned next met with a tailor and his son, who had arrested
him for five pounds. He commanded him to surrender, and received
thirty-five in place of his five. “I wonder,” said the innocent son,
“what these fellows think of themselves? Surely they must go to the
place below for committing these notorious actions.” “God forbid,”
replied the tailor, “for to have the conversation of such rogues there,
would be worse than all the rest.”
Ned’s next adventure was with an anabaptist preacher, whom he commanded
to deliver up his purse and scrip. The latter began by reasonings,
ejaculations, and texts, to avert the impending evil. Ned instantly put
himself in a great passion, and replied, “Pray, sir, keep your breath
to cool your porridge, and don’t talk of religious matters to me, for
I’ll have you to know, that, like all other true-bred gentlemen, I
believe nothing at all of religion; therefore deliver me your money,
and bestow your laborious cant upon your female auditors, who never
scold with their maids without cudgelling them with broken pieces of
scripture.” Whereupon, taking a watch and eight guineas, he tied his
legs under his horse, and let him depart.
On another occasion, Bonnet and a few associates met a nobleman and
four servants in a narrow pass, one side of which was enclosed by a
craggy and shattered rock, and the other by an almost impenetrable
wood, rising gradually considerably higher than the road, and accosted
them in his usual style. The nobleman pretended that he supposed they
were only in jest, and said, “that if they would accompany him to the
next inn, he would give them a handsome treat.” He was soon informed
that they preferred the present to the future. A sharp dispute ensued,
but the nobleman and his men were conquered; and the lord was robbed of
a purse of gold, a gold watch, a gold snuff-box, and a diamond ring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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