On the morning of June 26, 1750, James robbed Lord Eglinton in his
travelling carriage, and a little later in the same day attacked the
Salisbury coach, in company with Plunket. They escaped as usual,
Maclean carrying with him a bag containing several suits of fine
clothes, trimmed with beautiful lace, belonging to one of the passengers
named Higden. Maclean's first care was to strip off the lace, and to
send a message to a dealer that he had some clothes to sell, if the man
would call to see them at his address. At the time, the dealer chanced
to be busy and could not come, and by the following morning, when he
made his way to Maclean's rooms, an advertisement was out describing the
garments so exactly that the man instantly recognised them, and gave
information to the magistrate.
That night the 'gentleman highwayman' was arrested on a warrant, and
carried to the prison of Newgate, and Plunket, who had been uneasy since
the dealer's visit, and was on the watch, hurried to the coast in
disguise and hid on board a smuggler's boat, bound for France. Maclean
remained to take his trial, and after first confessing and then denying
his confession, was convicted of robbery on the King's highway, and was
hanged at the gallows erected at Tyburn, where the corner of Connaught
Square and the Edgware Road now stand. He was at the period of his
execution only twenty-six, yet he had contrived to do more mean and base
deeds than most rogues of sixty.
[Illustration: MACLEAN AND PLUNKET STOP LORD EGLINTON'S CARRIAGE]
_THE VISION OF THE POPE_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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