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It's April 7, 1739, in the north of England.

On a chilly spring morning, beneath skies of wintery gray,

a horse-drawn cart rattles through the streets of York.

Sitting in the back is a condemned prisoner, the notorious highwayman, Dick Turfin. Dick glances up at a large crowd that's lined the streets

to witness his execution. Following behind the cart is a group of professional mourners

Dick has hired for the occasion. They weep and clutch their hats.

Dick closes his eyes and listens to the sound of their tears.

Eventually, the cart reaches the scaffold at Navesmeier on the outskirts of York.

The crowd falls silent as Dick steps onto the gallows.

His head held high.

Dick looks dapper in his new frock coat and shoes purchased specifically for this occasion. The hangman places a noose around Dick's neck as he takes a deep breath and looks out

over the crown. Pride swells in his chest that so many people have come to see him off. A smile

flashes across his lips and then he steps off the scaffold.

Dick Turpin is the most famous highwayman in history. In modern times, his name conjures up

images of a heroic, masked bandit, who performed daring and dashing feats atop his trusty steed Black Bess.

But the legend of Dick Turpin is a wildly romanticized falsehood, the results of writers and

artists weaving fact with fiction, and creating a hero out of the life of a villain.

In reality, Dick Turpin was a brutish, hard-hearted criminal, a violent thief who terrorized the lonely roads of England during his short but eventful life, which came to an end when Dick met the hangman's noose on April 7, 1739.

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