ming
home at last and being weary of going to sea, he took up the trade of
selling china and some small goods about the country; in which he got so
established a character that the gentlemen with whom he chiefly dealt
would have trusted him a hundred pounds on his word, and never anything
gave a greater shock to his neighbours and acquaintances than the news
of his being apprehended for a highwayman. However, it seems he had been
engaged to that course by his brother, notwithstanding that till then he
had lived not only honestly, but with tolerable sentiments of religion.

The method in which he was drawn to turn robber on a sudden was thus. On
the 19th of October, 1729, his brother came to him as he was working on
the outside of a ship on the other side of the water, and invited him to
go out with him to a public house, to which at first he was very
unwilling; but at last suffering himself to be prevailed upon, he and
his brother went together to a house not far distant, where they drank
to a higher pitch than James Drummond had ever done before. His brother
all along insinuated how advantageous a trade the highway was, owning he
had followed nothing else for some years past, and saying there was not
the least hazard run in it, at the same time advising his brother to
quit labouring hard, and to take to it, too. James was now grown so
drunk that he hardly knew what he did, so that after much persuasion he
got up behind his brother upon the same horse, but was afterwards set
down, it being judged by both of them to be better to rob on foot, while
he who was well armed and well mounted might be able to defend them
both. Having come to this fatal agreement, they immediately set about
those enterprises which they had consulted together.

The first robbery they committed was upon Mr. William Isgrig, from whom
they took sixteen guineas, seven half-guineas, three broad pieces, one
moidore, twenty shillings in silver, and a watch value two pounds. Not
satisfied with this the same night they attacked one Mr. Wakeling, on
the same road, and took from him a silver watch, and three or four
shillings in money, though not without much resistance, Mr. Wakeling
having drawn his sword and defended himself for a considerable time; but
perceiving one of the rogues to be a footpad, he followed him so
closely, and made such an outcry to the watch, that after a long pursuit
and a sharp struggle with him, they took James Drummond prisoner. H