Dick Turpin v Black Bess

Dick Turpin was a man who chose horse theft and highway robbery as a career path…..in short he was a thug.

After his capture in York, in 1739, he was found guilty of horse theft and hanged in Knavesmire.

However, the legends that swirled about after his death reflect the British public in a wonderful way.

One such is about him robbing a stagecoach near London that contained a member of royalty. Turpin shot the passenger ( no witnesses) and fled towards his hometown of York, knowing that there would be a ‘hue and a cry’ raised.

A posse (as Americans would call them) were however hot on his tail.

Turpin galloped his horse, Black Bess, through day through night, through wind and rain…..never easing up. Three miles south of York, the horse collapsed under him and died on the roadside.

Turpin hurried through the rain, and acknowledging the gatekeeper at York, he arrived safely at home.

The party of law officials, found his horse and asked questions at the gate.

‘Has anyone of note passed this way?’

‘Yes, Turpin……Dick Turpin has…. He lives by the Minster’

Relieved they cantered up to Turpins house…. Arrested him and locked up in Castle gaol.

Subsequently found guilty and executed, you might think nothing more of his brutal existence and death……

However, the townsfolk remember the story and reflect on the wonderful memorial created, three miles south of York…… to his HORSE!

Only there is no memorial…. And he wasn’t riding Black Bess.. It is a story created in the minds of English people, that revered the innocent horse, ignoring the evil felon.

Stories such as this are wonderful ways with which you can teach about the moral code of a community….

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