Dick Turpin, famous Essex highwayman, was apprehended and publicly hung for murder, robbery, horse stealing, shooting a chicken and sending an unfranked letter, at York on April 10 1739. Actually, he hung himself. After making a speech and chatting with the hangman for half an hour, he jumped off the ladder in his own good time. This was before the control-freaks ruined a bloody good day out. He was buried at St. George's, York, dug up that night by body-snatchers, found hidden in a surgeon's garden, carried back through the streets on a plank by the mob and reburied in unslaked lime about 15 feet deep*! Those were the days!
Alan
* all absolutely true. You couldn't write it!
