Captain Dudley and his men went on in a continued course of good fortune, acquiring much wealth, but amassing little, as their extravagance was equal to their gains. On one ill-fated day, however, having attacked and robbed the Southampton coach, they were keenly pursued, and several of them taken, but Dudley escaped. Deprived of the chief part of his own forces, he now attached himself to some housebreakers, and with them continued to commit many robberies; in particular, with three others, he entered the house of an old woman in Spitalfields, gagged her, bound her to a chair, and rifled the house of a considerable sum of money, which the good woman had been long scraping together. Hearing the money clink that was going to be taken from her, she struggled in her chair, fell down upon her face, and was stifled to death, while the captain and his companions went off with impunity. But when the old woman came to be interred, a grandson of hers, who had been one of the robbers, when about to be fitted with a pair of mourning gloves, changed countenance, was strongly agitated, and began to tremble. He was suspected, charged with the murder, confessed the crime, and informing upon the rest, two of them were taken, tried, and condemned, and the three hanged in chains. Yet, though Dudley’s name was published as accessory to the murder, he long escaped detection. At length, however, he was apprehended, and charged with several robberies, of which he, by dexterous management, evaded the deserved punishment. He was also called to stand trial for the murder of the old woman; but the principal evidence, upon whose testimony the other three were chiefly condemned, being absent, he escaped suffering for that crime. The dexterous manner in which he managed that trial, the witnesses whom he had suborned, and the manner in which he maintained his innocence before the jury, were often the cause of his boast and amusement. The profligate Dudley was no sooner relieved from prison than he hastened to join his old companions in vice. Exulting to see their captain again at their head, they redoubled their activity, and committed all manner of depredations. Among other adventures, they robbed a nobleman on Hounslow heath of fifteen hundred pounds, after a severe engagement with his servants, three of whom were wounded, and two had their horses shot under them. They next directed their course along the west country road, and having robbed a parson, enjoined him, under the most terrific threats, to preach a sermon in praise of thieving. He was forced to comply, and the sermon being ended, they returned his money, and gave him four shillings to drink their health and success.