One of the latest known reports is a sham fight by the St Andrew's and St George's Volunteers in 1804. Finchley Common is most associated with highwaymen. Its reputation was such that Sir Gilbert Elliott, Earl of Minto, stated in a letter to his wife that he would not "trust my throat on Finchley Common in the dark", and victims included great men such as Edmund Burke in 1774. It is said that Ralph Chaplin, the lover of Lady Katherine Ferrers “the Wicked Lady”, was caught on Finchley Common (c.1660). There were certainly robberies committed before this date but the first crime in which Finchley Common is referred to in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey is that committed by Philip Maqueer on John Hansey in April 1690. A few of the highwaymen, such as Edmond Tooll (hanged and gibbeted in 1700), and Joseph Jackson (hanged 1720) were “of the parish”, but the vast majority were from elsewhere, mostly London. (4) Gibbets were certainly located at the six mile (10 km) stone, possibly at Tally Ho Corner, and no doubt elsewhere. They were in use from at least the 1670s until the gibbeting of Cornelius Courte (a highwayman) in 1789(5). Famous villains associated with the common include Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin. Neither was ever known to have actually committed any crimes on the common. Jack Sheppard was taken prisoner on the common in September 1724 reputedly wearing the blue and white apron of a butcher, and kept overnight at the "George Inn" in the Hog Market by a “posse of Newgate Prison turnkeys”. Dick Turpin was not associated with the place until the period after enclosure. From the 1830s until 1952 a large oak, which stood in Oak Lane opposite the St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery was romantically known as Turpin’s Oak.(7) However the endeavours of the less famous are often more interesting. Two known as Everett and Williams went as far as drawing up a legally witnessed contract to the effect that they would split their ill-gotten gains after a year's work in 1725(8). It has been said that enclosure was the end of the highwayman on Finchley Common; but actually the period of this kind of crime was ending with the encouragement of paper money (then easily traced) through an Act for "Restricting Cash Payments" (1797).