Tom Cox

By Crusader1307

The ''Handsome Highwayman'' – aka Thomas Cox, was an English Road Robber, active in the mid-17^th Century AD. An ''average'' sort , Cox was left a small inheritance by His Father, but He squandered it away. He immediately turned to crime as a Highwayman around Gloucester and Winchester. Described as being ''quite handsome'', Cox decided to leave ''The Trade'', just before capture – and married moderate wealth. But when He spent up vast sums of His Wife's monies, She left Him. Cox went back to His ''vocation''. Cox seemed to gravitate towards robbing people of ''ill repute'' and ''scoundrels''. He amassed a tidy sum this time around, but Tom's luck ran out. He was arrested by Soldiers and convicted of Robbery. Incarcerated at Newgate Prison, Tom bribed His Guards so that He could ''live in pleasure'' (good food, drink and other ''creature comforts''). In 1690, Tom was hung by the neck. But one His way to The Gallows, Legend states that when asked by The Hangman enroute – if He wished a prayer before The Act, Tom (using His legs) – kicked The Executioner out of The Cart!