Thanks Gerry,
The Phil Ochs version is cut a little too close to the bone for the drama of the story to come out.
Incidentally, the first time I sang my version it was Halloween Night in a pub in Yorkshire that was supposed to have been one of Turpin's hidouts- though anyone with a York connection would know that the song was not about him.
(I do it with a straight 1,6,4,5 turnaround- so my tune is probably a little different too. That's the oral tradition in action, I suppose.)
I can't help noticing that some of the verses I leave out were clearly written in a pre-Freudian world. There is some kind of hair fetishism going on, and if the description of the highwayman's outfit was on Ebay, it would be subtitled "gay interest".
But it's a fabulous piece of melodrama, and great to sing!
Cheers
Dave