Rare volume signed by a 19th c condemned highwayman four days before he was hanged for murder. Scotland – highwayman – murder – autograph –David Haggart The Life of David Haggart, written by himself while under sentence of Death, Printed for W & C Tait, Edinburgh 1821, 8vo, in somewhat poor condition, but bearing on an inside page the following remarkable autograph inscription ‘This is a true account of my life, partly written by myself and partly taken down from my own lips while under sentence of Death – David Haggart, Edin. Jail Iron Room 14 July 1821. Haggart, a colourful highwayman, grave robber, maid snatcher, jewel thief, smuggler, pirate and wife stealer as well as being a pickpocket, burglar, and shoplifter, who was actually described by George Borrow in ‘Lavengo’ as a ‘wild, red-headed lad of some fifteen years, his frame lithy as an antelope’s but with prodigious breadth of chest...’ Regularly imprisoned and regularly breaking out of prison, he eventually killed a turnkey as he escaped from Dumfries tollbooth, and despite making it to Ireland, he was recognised, arrested, tried and condemned to death on June 11th 1821. He was hanged on July 18th aged just 20 so he wrote this inscription just four days before his death. Haggart was so infamous that his exploits gave rise to a Hollywood film ‘Sinful Davy’ directed by John Houston and starring John Hurt in the title role. Together with a memorial card issued in the wake of the infamous Uxbridge murders of 1870 in which a whole family were murdered, and a printed illustration of where the crime took place.