Life and Death of the Wicked Lady Skelton by Rowland Hughes

Author:Rowland Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Hertfordshire Press
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

4

FIRST KILL

‘Guilty thou art of murder and of theft.’1

SO BEGAN A curious partnership between Barbara Lady Skelton and Captain Jerry Jackson – a partnership of business as well as pleasure. For though Captain Jackson was inclined at first to treat Barbara’s partiality for the highway with derision, taking it to be the whimsical fancy of a spoilt and idle woman, it was not long before he changed his tune, accepting her first as an able assistant and then as a valued partner in his nocturnal prowls.

He was – to tell the truth – somewhat astonished at his good fortune in having secured at one stroke, and in one person, such a useful accomplice and so rare and delectable a bedfellow.

The eagerness of ladies of fashion to pay visits of condolence to condemned highwaymen at Newgate was well known. But how many gentlemen thieves (for so he described himself) could boast of actually having a woman of quality as their doxy?

Being of a naturally exuberant and talkative nature, Jerry Jackson disliked working on his own. He had had several partnerships with other highwaymen, all of which had been dissolved abruptly – either by a violent quarrel over booty or a woman, or by his partner meeting with some accident. On more than one occasion Jackson – most regretfully – had had to gallop off at high speed, leaving a wounded comrade to his fate, for the rather spasmodic displays of chivalry which had earned him, among his brothers of the blade, the soubriquet of ‘Gentleman Jerry’, and the reputation of being ‘a civil obliging robber’, were reserved for the fair sex, and did not extend to male friends in distress.

Certainly the disadvantages of working with a partner outweighed the advantages. Chief among them was the danger of the trusty comrade turning informer and ‘making a discovery’. Now he was safe. As long as Barbara was content to lie, convulsed with passion, in his arms, he need fear no betrayal.

But Barbara’s merits as a partner were not merely negative. Jackson had soon discovered with surprise and admiration what courage, briskness and mettle lodged in that slender and elegant frame. Her fault was that she was too impetuous. Anxious, in the way of women, to excel and to go one better than the man, she was all for attacking without prudence or delay. Jackson had to teach her the business side of highway robbery; how without cunning and caution no highwayman could hope to survive for more than a few months.

He told her, ‘Damn my soul, Barbara, you don’t want to be like the country lad who, when the sheriff asked him why he was laughing to himself at Tyburn, said, “I came to town but last Monday, on Tuesday I had a whore, on Wednesday I lost my money at dice, on Thursday I made a purse on the highway, on Friday I was condemned for it, and now on Saturday I am to be hanged, so I think I have made a pretty week’s work on’t”.

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