The Life and Adventures of Dick Clinton, The Masked Highwayman

This 1852 pulp novel, a companion to "Jack Sheppard," follows Dick Clinton, a masked highwayman, through episodes of mistaken identity and criminal adventure. The narrative opens in a Croydon inn where farmers discuss recent robberies—a grazier robbed on Salisbury Plain and a coach plundered a week prior, both allegedly by a tall, powerful man in a black mask riding a black horse. A London officer arrives and arrests young farmer Clinton, whose appearance matches the wanted description. Clinton produces alibi witnesses who attest he hasn't left his Cheam home in six months. Before the magistrate, shocking revelation emerges: the warrant names the highwayman "Clinton"—the prisoner's own surname. Clinton stammers through confusion and denial, asserting the coincidence cannot condemn him, his alibis seemingly ironclad. The text cuts off mid-sentence as legal proceedings continue.