Katherine Ferrers income, who were left to make a living as best they could, so any courteous highway robber was perceived to be one of these well-mannered gentlemen. Not all highwaymen were well-born like French aristocrat Claude Duval or James MacLaine, who was the second son of a minister, but this romanticised portrayal extended to such working-class robbers as MacLaine's partner William Plunkett, as well as Richard Ferguson, George Lyons, Tom King, John Nevison, and John Rann. However, while it is possible that Katherine Ferrers could have turned to highway robbery, there seems to be no historical proof that her accomplice "Ralph
Dick Turpin Newcastle wanted him tried in London—Turpin was tried at York Assizes. Proceedings began three days after the winter Assizes opened, on 22 March. Turpin was charged with the theft of Creasy's horses: a mare worth three pounds, a foal worth 20 shillings, and a gelding worth three pounds. The indictments stated that the alleged offences had occurred at Welton on 1 March 1739, and described Turpin as "John Palmer alias Pawmer alias Richard Turpin ... late of the castle of York in the County of York labourer". Technically the charges were invalid—the offences had occurred at Heckington, not Welton, and