Desperate Highway Robbery and attempted Murder. Mr Gainsford, a miller of Hurstperpoint, was stopped at the bottom approaching Harvest Hill, on the road to Cuckfield, at six 'clock on Thursday evening, by three footpads, who having beaten him so unmercifully as to leave him for dead, robbed him of seven pounds and his watch. Mr. G. however, revived and reached Cuckfield, where he was going to market, when it was ascertained that his skull had been fractured, and one ear nearly knocked off.

Sussex Advertiser, 27 October 1834

Illustration: Lives of the most notorious highwaymen, footpads and murderers by Thomas Peckett Prest. From British Library. Wikimedia public domain image. Note how close the date of this publication is to the incident.

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.