Criminalia

People thought Jonathan Wild was a fine, upstanding kind of a guy: he was a thief-taker who was very good at catching criminals. The Privy Council, advisers to the Crown, consulted with him on methods of controlling crime in London. Highway robbers, a scourge on the city, feared him. But what most people did not know was that Jonathan, himself, was actually a very bad guy.

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England has Robin Hood. Australia has Ned Kelly. Japan; Goemon Ishikawa. There are many legendary heroic outlaws in many cultures. Juraj Jánošík has, over the centuries, become known as the Robin Hood of Slovakia – and a symbol of Slovak resistance. Unlike some of these Robin Hood figures, Jánošík was 100 percent a real person, a real bandit who became a folk hero – and legend after his death. This is the story of Juraj Jánošík, an ordinary 17th century highway robber who became an enduring national hero.

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William Davis led a double life. He was a successful highway robber by night, and a respectable farmer by day. Farming was honest work, but, it was also a clever way to distract others from noticing that he had another life, that he was one of the most notorious highwaymen of the 17th century. He kept that criminal career secret for four decades, even from his wife and family. Let's talk about William's adventures -- good or bad, fact or fiction -- and how he got the nickname, the Golden Farmer.

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Never confused with the legend of Robin Hood or a 'gentleman robber' among highwaymen, there was really nothing to admire about Jerry Abershawe. He was a thief and he was a cold-blooded killer – several times over. Ruthless and intimidating, he was a "nightmare for travellers on those approach roads to London." There are stories boasting of Jerry's numerous and daring highway robbery acts – but, it's his behavior from capture to execution that gives us a chance to see who he was without his flintlock pistol.

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Jocelin Harwood was a highwayman who committed such “Barbarous Murders” – and he was just so ...wow – that his fellow criminal associates betrayed him and gave him up to the authorities after they couldn't stomach his depraved behavior the night of his final crime. Described as "a degenerate plant from a good tree," which seems like a pretty apt description, Jocelin's story has never been confused with the legend of Robin Hood. He was insolent; he was violent; and, this is his bloody story.

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William Spiggot was an 18th century English highwayman and the leader of a gang of at least eight men. While he may have started out as an apprentice cabinetmaker in London, he didn't end up following his family's legit path in life, instead deciding on a more... felonious one - as a robber, poacher, burglar, and murderer -- until he was sentenced to peine forte et dure.

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John Nevison was a very good highwayman, though you may not recognize his name. And that's largely because his crimes have, over the years, gotten attributed to the stories of other notorious highway robbers, notably Dick Turpin – who hadn't yet been born when Nevison was prowling the roads. Turpin's romanticized legend seems to be a magnet for many things he didn't do. Much about Nevison's life is a bit of a mystery, partly because of that confusion with his cohorts. Let's look at those conflicting tales.

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Though dealing in counterfeit currency may have been David 'Davy' Lewis' first criminal efforts, he eventually added highway robbery as a lucrative gig – and that's when he gained the nickname, Robber Lewis -- and as a highwayman, he also came to be known as the “Robin Hood of Pennsylvania". Was he? Well, that may be a stretch – maybe a big stretch -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a good story, right?

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Joan Phillips was a known beauty with an artful and cunning mind -- and both her looks and the famiy's money attracted the attention of many suitors – suitors that Joan wasn't interested in. But all that stuff about engagement, marriage, and relationships changed when Joan met Edward Bracey, the only suitor who caught her eye.

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This is the tale (and legend) of the Dunsdon brothers: Thomas, Richard, and Henry – yes, a real life Tom, Dick and Harry. Known as the Burford Highwaymen, they terrorized the locals between Glouster and Oxford. But the crime the brothers are best known for committing actually had nothing to do with highway robbery -- but it did include amputation.

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