The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-05-20

nOlu up us heau
with the best of 'em, says London.
Several hundred stage coaches and at
least 1.500 horses were employed in
daily transit through the High street
of what was, for most coaches, the first
stage on the important road to Wind
sor, Staines, Bath, Bristol and the west
OF England generally. 1t was here that
tim1d travellers first experienced I'M
comfortable apprehensions in regard to
those whom they might meet on the
road, for only a short way out of the
then fourishing Middlesex town began
the dreaded Hounslow heath. And,
truly, twas enough to give one pause,
Tor a more desolate and awesome waste
than was presented by the noted rem
dezvous of highwaymen at that time
could scarcely be imagined. To begin
with, 1t was entirely uninclosed, and
It's area had been variously recorded at
4,292 n 6,658 acres. Many and ter
rlble were the stories in circulation as
to the boldness and ferocity of the
footpads and mounted robbers who fire.
quented the hiding places in the vi
c1nlty, so that it is no wonder the
guards cautiously examined the prim-
lngs OF their huge blunderbusses as the
gallant equipages left the Bell inn be-
nina them on starting across this
wilderness. Moreover, there were many
glbbets to be seen (some ever as late
as 1880, with their noisome occupants
GXn0G1nO h1nonhnI r1r1J1k~~o - H.
~shuddering passerby. The heath has
undoubtedly been the scene of many
sangu1nary encounters between the
peaceable %wayfarer and the adventur-
Gus robber. The great Dick Turpin. al
though he is supposed to have paid
more devoted attention to the York
road than to the Bath road, was con-
cerned in many Of these exploits-ac-
cording to well-established local tradi-
ton, that is, and to much indirect evil
dence which seems to zeal the impress
of probability.
1t is also related that Dick once met
a poor laborer returning homeward on
a Saturday night with his scantp pit
lance hidden in his pockets under his
huge "smock' frock. The robber hap
pened to be pressed for even a few shil-
lings, and he forthwith stopped the
man, near a place known as the Ave-
nue., at Crawford. The poor fellow read
lily parted with the siller" on hearing
Dick Turpin's name. but was not sur
prised to receive a promise that if he
would attend a certain place at an an
pointed time the amount would be re-
stored. He did attend and received
not only bis own again but a substan-
tial addition. The story goes that at
the first meeting, at the mans request.
Turpin discharged a pistol through his
smock frock, SO that all beholders
might realize that a meeting with the
noted rascal had actually taken place.
At the same time it should be stated
that the tales told of Turpin in the vi
entity today are generally tinged with
a shade of respect, If not exactly of adj
miration, and he would seem to have
enjoyed a well-established reputation
for generous and kindly dealing with
all the poorer classes with whom be
came in contact.
To find the spot where these events
of a long past era occurred would he
now an impossible task, for the heath
was many years since brought into cul-
tivation. But those who care to take
a stroll through the
Hounslow will find much that is of in
terest to reward them. You NAV still
discern, in the quaint old tavern SLOWS
and names. some reflection of past
glories. The roomy stables of the an
cient time speak eloquently, in their
dreary solitude, of the hustle and an
imation once to be seen in the palmv
coaching days. Some time, perhans
Hounslow will have the laugh, when
the motor car has lone it's work in orr
horseyards of the next few years of
grace. The High street VIRTUALLY the
street, presents as many specimens of
the architecture of the last $50 years as
the ordinary man can desire. The past
and present are inextricably mixed, and
at length the group of old houses
known as "Turpin's cottages" is in
course of demolition, to allow of the
building of a modern p~ostoffice. Dick
Turpin is further reported to have
many times lodged in the building
which was known as the Cock tavern,
once the oldest "house" in Hounslow.
Subsequently the inn was divided by
slight partitions into private dwellings
and the title was dropped. The block
was entirely swept away in 1866.