The Laughing Highwayman
Jerry Abershaw - often described as the last of the Highwaymen, was tried and sentenced to death for murder at Croydon assizes on 30th July 1795.
He started his villainous career at the age of 17. Despite his youth, he quickly earned a reputation for being an uncompromising robber, who thought nothing of thrusting his pistol into the mouths of his victims. although he was far removed from the romantic image of the loveable rogues, he possessed a healthy sense of humour, often incorporating his ironic wit into his robberies.
An extract from the book, Local Highwaymen, reads "Abershaw's humour seemed to be at its best when his personal fortunes were at their worst, for instance, at the time of his trial and eventual hanging".
The fact that highwayman committed their crimes masked made it difficult to attribute specific incidents to individuals. But newspaper reports of the time showed a significant increase in highwayman activity from 1790, the year he started his career. Some of these reports had his banter stamped all over them.
He managed to evade the authorities throughout his career by seeking refuge in a safe house in Clerkenwell, London.
His luck ran out in 1795 when Bow Street runners caught up with him. The officers names were David Price and Bernard Turner. The book states that, "acting on a tip off they found Abershaw in the Three Brewers Inn at Southwark, London. Abershaw tried to shoot his way out, killing David Price and seriously injuring Bernard Turner who nevertheless brought him trial and recovered" from his injuries.
At his Croydon trial his mimicked Judge Baron Pentryn when he put on his black cap to pass the death sentence. As he waited for his execution, the highwayman asked for black cherries, using the juice to draw pictures of his escapades on the cell walls. He spirit did not dampen there, as even on the day of his hanging at Kennington Common. He laughed and joked with the large crowd, keeping up an "incessant conversation" as a cart took him to the gallows.
At the gallows he threw open his shirt and with a flower between his teeth kicked off his boots with a flourish, to disprove his mothers prophecy that he would die with his boots on.