Penny Dreadfuls, 1866 · page 117 of 400
Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 117: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Description This is an illustrated page from a Victorian penny dreadful featuring both an engraving and running prose text. The illustration depicts a scene in a butter shop where Dick Turpin (a famous highwayman, appearing to be in disguise) hurls a spy into an egg-chest. The accompanying text describes the aftermath: Jackson the shopman has the man arrested for property damage; a police spy is interrogated about recognizing Dick Turpin and mentions seeing him speak with the landlord of the White Horse; and officers begin a pursuit of a cart driver, though their search efforts prove largely ineffectual amid London's streets.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
e 7 * AVAL I (\ “YY < P Y; y}'; Ye . mit y i | / ly - i / i it “ . " ' . ; = “Hdl: i fy f} eT Ly | ISS Uap , Y fi y/ y / ly LY a y y te, (j ZF ~<a s Wy * 3 dfs “.* 2 a AZ, ee eS s — ———— if Th, is o*, [DICK TURPIN HURLS THE = wae pushed back into the egg-chest as we found im. Nothing would content the shopman but having Jack- son hauled off to the police station, and there charged with doing wilful damage to his property. The officers in vain protested that it was all non- sense; the shopman wag obstinate, and so they accordingly went, The matter was hurried over as quickly as possible, and then the spy was questioned more closely as to the intelligence he had given. When he set forth the deta disbelief ; and when asked he had recognised Diek Tur that he was not quite confide that the carter was the highwayman in disguise, and for this suspicion he could give no other reason than that he had seen him in conversation with old Matthew, the landlord of the White Horse. No, 187—Buack Bess. No.’ 187 ils, he was met with general pointedly by what means pin he was forced to admit nt, but he merely suspected if A en tl ‘ & . SN ~ AN AN) \ he WAX, < \ “ Wy », 4 ay Y g SPY INTO THE EGG-CHEST. | Still, that was deemed sufficiently important to warrant them in setting out in pursuit of the driver of the cart, and arresting him, if only on the charge of committing an assault upon Jackson. | By the time they had arrived at this resolution, how- ever, a considerable period had elapsed. The cart had vanished, and no one was in a position to say which way it had gone. To look for it in any of the myriad streets of London seemed an idle task. : And so the officers felt, although they set about it. But let it be clearly understood that, if they had known for certain that the carter really was Dick in disguise, their measures would have been of » much more energetic character, and it is quite possible that by making close inquiries and sending out in all direc- tions they might have got upon his track. This was not done. however. Only one party of officers went ontin pursuit, and these Prion Onreot slid stoves (E(@)