2 30 THE EXETER ROAD 



For me he dared the dangerous road, 

 My days with goodlier fare to l)less ; 



He took but from the miser's hoard, 

 From them whose station needed less. 



Hio-hwaymen continued numerous at the dawn of 

 the nineteenth century, as may be judged from the 

 executions at Fisherton Gaol, or on the scenes of 

 their misdeeds, that continued to afford a spectacle 

 for the mob. For highway robbery alone one man 

 was handed in 1806, one in 1816, two in 1817, and 

 two in 1824; while three were sentenced to fifteen 

 years' transportation in 1839 for a simiLar offence 

 near Imber, in the very centre of the Plain. 



The spot was Gore Cross, a solitary waste ; time 

 and date, seven o'clock on the evening of 21st 

 October 1839. Upon this wilderness entered Mr. 

 Matthew Dean, of Imber, returning on horseback 

 from Devizes Fair, when he was suddenly set upon 

 by four men, dragged off his horse, and robbed of 

 £20 in notes of the North Wilts Bank, and £'3 : 10s. 

 in coin. The gang then made oft', but Mr. Dean 

 followed them on foot. On the ^vay he met Mr. 

 Morgan, of Chitterne ; but being afraid that the men 

 carried pistols they decided to get more help before 

 pursuing them farther. So they called on a Mr. 

 Hooper, who joined the chase on horseback, armed 

 with a double-barrelled gun. Meeting a Mr. Sains- 

 bury, he accompanied the party, and, pressing on, 

 they presently came in sight of the men. One ran 

 away for some miles at a great pace, and they could 

 not overtake him until about midway between Tils- 

 head and Imber, where he fell down and lay still on 



