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some were taken. Turpin by this robbery got but little; for out of 27l. they got in the whole, he distributed among them all but three guineas and six shillings and sixpence.
Such frequent robberies, and the particulars of this atrocious one, being represented to the king, a proclamation was issued for the apprehension of the offenders, and a pardon and £50. was offered to any oftheparty whowouldimpeach his accomplices. This however had no effect; for they continued their depredations with more systematical ingenuity, and at such distances that none could be aware of their approach. The success they met with elated their spirits, and encouraged them to bid defiance to the excutive laws of the country.
In the mouth of danger, and in the midst of alarm, which their audacites had occasioned, Turpin and his gang were as careless as they were heedless. The White Hart, at the upper end of Drury Lane, was their constant place of rendezvous. Here they planed their nightly visits, and here they divided their spoil, and spent the property they unlawfully acquired. The gang all this time consisted of a great number, from the bold adventurer on horseback, to the pitiful stripper of children's cloaths.
These transactions alarmed the whole country, nobody thinking themselves safe: upon which Mr. Thomson, one of king’s forest-keepers, went to the Duke of Newcastle’s office, and obtained his Majesty’s promise of a reward of one hundred pounds for whoever should apprehend any of them. This made them more shy then they were before; but, however, they could not conceal themselves entirely, and they still frequented their old haunts; when some of the justices’ men hearing that a number of them usualey met at an alehouse in an alley in Westminster, they went thither, where ⟨finding⟩ Turpin, Fielder, Rose and Wheeler, after a short
