Editing Jack Sheppard (section)

=== Third arrest, trial, and third escape ===
Sheppard's thieving abilities were admired by Jonathan Wild. Wild demanded that Sheppard surrender his stolen goods for Wild to fence, and so take the greater profits, but Sheppard refused. He began to work with [[Joseph Blake (criminal)|Joseph "Blueskin" Blake]], and they burgled Sheppard's former master, William Kneebone, on Sunday 12 July 1724. Wild could not permit Sheppard to continue outside his control and began to seek Sheppard's arrest.<ref name="moore110">Moore, p.110.</ref> Unfortunately for Sheppard, his fence, William Field, was one of Wild's men. After Sheppard had a brief foray with Blueskin as [[highwayman|highwaymen]] on the Hampstead Road on Sunday 19 July and Monday 20 July, Field informed on Sheppard to Wild. Wild believed Lyon would know Sheppard's whereabouts, so he plied her with drinks at a brandy shop near [[Temple Bar, London|Temple Bar]] until she betrayed him. Sheppard was arrested a third time at Blueskin's mother's brandy shop in [[Rosemary Lane (London street)|Rosemary Lane]], east of the [[Tower of London]] (later renamed [[Royal Mint Street]]), on 23 July by Wild's henchman, [[Quilt Arnold]].<ref name="moore111">Moore, p.111.</ref>

Sheppard was imprisoned in [[Newgate Prison]] pending his trial at the next [[Assize]] of ''[[oyer and terminer]]''. He was prosecuted on three charges of theft at the [[Old Bailey]], but was acquitted on the first two due to lack of evidence. Kneebone, Wild and Field gave evidence against him on the third charge, the burglary of Kneebone's house. He was convicted on 12 August, the case "being plainly prov'd", and sentenced to death.<ref>[http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/luceneweb/bailey/highlight.jsp?ref=t17240812-52 Trial summary] on three charges of theft, 12 August 1724, where his name is incorrectly recorded as Joseph Sheppard. Retrieved 5 February 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927013805/http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/luceneweb/bailey/highlight.jsp?ref=t17240812-52 |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> On Monday 31 August, the very day when the [[Execution warrant|death warrant]] arrived from the court in [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] setting Friday 4 September as the date for his execution, Sheppard escaped. Having loosened an iron bar in a window used when talking to visitors, he was visited by Lyon and Poll Maggott, who distracted the guards while he removed the bar (security was lax compared to that of later years; the guard-to-prisoner ratio at Newgate in 1724 was 1:90, and wives could stay overnight).<ref>Linebaugh, p.29.</ref> His slight build enabled him to climb through the resulting gap in the grille, and he was smuggled out of Newgate in women's clothing that his visitors had brought him.<ref name="moore206">Moore, p.206.</ref> He took a coach to [[Blackfriars Stairs]], a boat up the [[River Thames]] to the horse ferry in [[Westminster]], near the warehouse where he hid his stolen goods, and completed his escape.<ref name="gutenberg"/>