On a cool crisp night in the Epping Forest, a stagecoach was moving amongst the shadows of a full silver moon. "the moonlight gives the forest a magical glow", said Mary Gregory a passenger in the coach. The other passenger was her brother, Magistrate Sir Thomas Gregory, but he thought it felt less magical but more eerie and dangerous. He was seeing highwaymen and footpads in every shadow. The driver was also very nervous as highwaymen were known to work within these woods. Suddenly a handsome well dressed man carrying a brace of gleaming duelling pistols appeared, He was riding a white horse and had come out of the shadows into the moonlight. The nervous driver sped up the coach. The horseman was following the coach but at a faster pace, shouting "Stop now or I'll shoot!" "Stand and deliver, your money or your life!" shouted the highwayman Firing his pistol he winged the driver who knowing the next shot might kill him slowed the coach to a stop.

Edited by Don Lawson author's Dad