After a career of riot and robbery, the Highwayman at length falls into the toils of Sir John Fielding, who was the first magistrate to take sharp and decisive measures against these pests of society. Then the ballad ends:—
When I am dead, borne to my grave,
A gallant funeral may I have;
Six highwaymen to carry me,
With good broadswords and sweet liberty.
Six blooming maidens to bear my pall;
Give them white gloves and pink ribbons all;
And when I'm dead they'll say the truth,
I was a wild and a wicked youth.
One of the local characters who was present on that Christmas Eve was Billy Peppermint. As he was overcome with drink, the young Burtons conveyed him from the Jamaica Inn about ten miles, and then turned him out of their conveyance, and propped him up against the railings of a house in Bodmin, as he was quite unable to sustain himself.
That night the carol singers were making their round, and as they came near they piped forth: "When shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground, an angel of the Lord appeared, and——"
Whereon Billy roared forth—
When I am dead they'll say the truth,
I was a wild and a wicked youth,
and rolled over and fell prostrate on the ground.
In 1857 an event occurred which altered the direction of John Burton's activities.