The Royal Mail Part 11

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Scotland Road Liverpool_]

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The letter, of which the above represents the address, was posted in a town in the north of England, and delivered to the editor of the 'Courant' in Edinburgh. A facsimile of a portion of the communication enclosed is also shown, which will give an idea of the interest attaching to editorial work, and afford some valuable information to the reader!

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CHAPTER XV.

POST-OFFICE ROBBERIES.

If records are not now forthcoming of all the robberies which have been committed upon the Post-office from the earliest times, we may be a.s.sured that an inst.i.tution such as it is, maintaining agencies all over the country, and having to keep up communications between those agencies, would be exposed at all times and at all points to the risk of robbery, whether by the dashing boldness of the highwayman, or the less pretentious doings of the town house-breaker. To us who live in an age when the public roads are generally safe to travellers, it is difficult to realise the dangers that lurked in the highways at no more remote a period than last century; nor can we well realise a state of things under which mail-coaches in this our quiet England had to be protected by guards armed to the teeth. We have it handed down, however, as a historical fact, that when, in 1720, Belsize House, Hampstead, was opened as a place of public resort, the programme announcing its attractions contained the following item:--"And for the security of its guests, there are twelve stout fellows completely armed, to patrol betwixt London and Belsize, to prevent the insults of highwaymen or footpads which may infest the road." Yet that statement does not give the whole truth, for the road between these two places became so much more dangerous, that after a time "the patrol had to be increased from twelve to thirty stout fellows completely armed, independently of two tall grenadiers who mounted guard over the gate of the mansion."

The following is from the 'Annual Register' of 1761:--"Murders, robberies--many of them attended with acts of cruelty and threatening letters--were never perhaps so frequent about this city [London] as during last month. One highwayman in particular, by the name of the Flying Highwayman, engrosses the conversation of most of the towns within twenty miles of London, as he has occasionally visited all the public roads round this metropolis, and has collected several considerable sums. He robs upon three different horses. He has leaped over Colnbrook turnpike a dozen times within this fortnight, and is now well known by most of the turnpike men in the different roads about London."

Again, it is recorded that "even the toll-house keepers in London were so liable to be robbed, that they had to be furnished with arms, and enjoined to keep no money in their houses after eight o'clock at night.

The boldness with which street robberies still continued to be committed was evinced so late as 1777, when the Neapolitan amba.s.sador was robbed in his coach in Grosvenor Square by four footpads armed with pistols."

But highway robbery had long been practised, even by individuals in the higher stations; and it is recorded of Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare's heroes, that he was the terror of travellers on every road for a hundred miles out of London. The place chiefly identified with his exploits, however, was Gad's Hill, in Kent.

Thus it will be seen that the roads leading out of London were infested by disorderly characters; and robberies of the mails proceeding to and from London were of frequent occurrence, as appears from official records referring to the close of last century and the commencement of this.

In the coaching days very frequent robberies of the mails took place, though they were protected by armed guards, and some of these robberies have been described in the chapter relating to mail-coaches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Falstaff as a Highwayman.]

The pa.s.sengers who travelled in the mail-coaches, with the knowledge of these molestations going on around them, must have been kept in a constant state of alarm; and the circ.u.mstance could not fail materially to discourage travelling in days when the facilities for exchanging visits were few compared with what we now enjoy.

The state of things already described as regards the mail-coaches, extended also to the horse-posts, the riders being attacked probably more freely than the coaches; for while the plunder to be had would be less, the postboys were not in a position to make so great a show of defence. Nor did the severity of the laws restrain evil-doers, either in England or Scotland, where sentences of execution were from time to time carried out upon the delinquents.

On the 7th of July 1685, the post-rider who was proceeding through the extreme north of England, on his way from London to the Scottish metropolis, was known to have been twice stopped, and to have been robbed of his mail, the scene of the occurrence being near Alnwick, in Northumberland. In connection with this event, of which an account has been handed down by Lauder of Fountainhall, a curious and romantic anecdote has been told by Wilson in his 'Tales of the Borders,' and by Chambers as one of his Scottish traditional stories.

Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree, in Ayrshire, was one of Argyle's chief a.s.sociates in that unfortunate and abortive attempt, made by the exiles in the year above named, to compa.s.s the overthrow of the reigning monarch, James II., so far as Scotland was concerned, which attempt was only part of the more general scheme of the exiles abroad--both English and Scotch--and the disaffected at home, to drive the king from his throne, and to place the Duke of Monmouth thereon in his stead. After a variety of disasters experienced by the limited following which Argyle and his party had been able to bring together, and when hope of a successful issue could no longer secure cohesion, there ensued a general break-up of the party, accompanied by what is to be looked for in similar situations--a general flight and _sauve qui peut_. Sir John Cochrane sought refuge in the house of a relative in Renfrewshire, where, however, he was discovered by his pursuers at the end of June; and on the 3d of July, Sir John, his son, and another traitor were brought into Edinburgh, "bound and barefooted, by the hangman," and cast into the Tolbooth to await their doom.

What daring enterprises may not flow from a woman's love and devotion, when a parent's liberty is imperilled or his life is at stake! Sir John had a daughter called Grizel, who fondly loved him, and who, on visiting him in prison, had not failed to show the intensity of her filial regard; nor was Sir John slow to reciprocate these feelings on his part.

Being then but eighteen years of age, she nevertheless conceived the daring thought of intercepting the mail-packet coming from the South, which was supposed to contain a warrant for the execution of her father; and with this object in view, she proceeded to Berwick-on-Tweed alone.

Here she habited herself in male attire; and being armed, and mounted on a fleet horse, she set out upon her extraordinary and perilous adventure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grizel Cochrane and Postboy.]

On Tweedmouth Moor, it is narrated, she fell in with the postboy, who, under threats of immediate death, gave up his charge, Grizel riding off with the mail-packet and the postboy's horse, from which he had been unseated.

Under these circ.u.mstances, the warrant not reaching its destination, it could not be put into execution, and the delay which took place before another could be procured, was turned to account by Sir John's friends, who exerted themselves on his behalf. Sir John was the younger son of a rich family, from whom a ransom was to be had; and it is stated that a bribe of 5000 by Lord Dundonald, Cochrane's father, to the priests of the Royal household, was the means of securing a pardon. Sir John lived to become Earl of Dundonald, while Grizel became the wife of John Kerr of Morriston, in Berwickshire; and there can be little doubt that she afterwards exhibited as a wife all the amiable and affectionate qualities of which she proved herself possessed as a daughter.

Unfortunately for the authenticity of the story, so far as Grizel Cochrane's connection with it is concerned, the dates hardly bear the matter out; for if Sir John was lodged in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh on the 3d of July, a warrant for his execution could barely have reached Northumberland from London by the 7th: and again, while the story relates that Sir John Cochrane was confined in the Tolbooth, Macaulay states that he "was taken, and sent up to London."

The following story of the robbery of a mail carried by a postboy, is taken from Chambers's 'Domestic Annals of Scotland,' under the date 16th August 1690:--

"Andrew c.o.c.kburn, the postboy who carried the packet or letter-bag on that part of the great line of communication which lies between c.o.c.kburnspath and Haddington, had this day reached a point in his journey between the Alms-house and Hedderwick Muir, when he was a.s.sailed by two gentlemen in masks; one of them mounted on a blue-grey horse, wearing a stone-grey coat with brown-silk b.u.t.tons--the other riding on a white horse, having a white English grey cloak-coat with wrought silver-thread b.u.t.tons. Holding pistols to his breast, they threatened to kill him if he did not instantly deliver up the packet, black box, and bag which he carried; and he had no choice but to yield.

They then bound him, and leaving him tied by the foot to his horse, rode off with their spoil to Garlton House, near Haddington. As the packet contained Government communications, besides the correspondence of private individuals, this was a crime of a very high nature, albeit we may well believe it was committed on political impulse only. Suspicion seems immediately to have alighted on James Seton, youngest son of the Viscount Kingston, and John Seton, brother of Sir George Seton of Garlton; and Sir Robert Sinclair, the sheriff of the county, immediately sought for these young gentlemen at their father's and brother's houses, but found them not. With great hardihood, they came to Sir Robert's house next morning to inquire, as innocent men, why they were searched for; when Sir Robert, after a short examination in presence of the postboy, saw fit to have them disarmed and sent off to Haddington. It was Sunday, and Bailie Lauder, to whose house they came with their escort, was about to go to church. If the worthy bailie is to be believed, he thought their going to the sheriff's a great presumption of their innocence. He admitted, too, that Lord Kingston had come and spoken to him that morning. Anyhow, he concluded that it might be enough in the meantime if he afforded them a room in his house, secured their horses in his stable, and left them under charge of two of the town-officers. Unluckily, however, he required the town-officers, as usual, to walk before him and his brother magistrates to church--which, it is obvious, interfered very considerably with their efficiency as a guard over the two gentlemen. While things were in this posture, Messrs Seton took the prudent course of making their escape. As soon as the bailie heard of it he left church, and took after them with some neighbours, but he did not succeed in overtaking them. The Privy Council had an extraordinary meeting to take measures regarding this affair, and their first step was to order Bailie Lauder and the two town-officers into the Tolbooth of Edinburgh as close prisoners. A few days afterwards the magistrate was condemned by the Council as guilty of plain fraud and connivance, and declared incapable of any public employment. William Kaim, the smith at Lord Kingston's house of Whittinghame, was also in custody on some suspicion of a concern in this business; but he and the town-officers were quickly liberated.

"John Seton was soon after seized by Captain James Denholm on board a merchant vessel bound for Holland, and imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. He underwent trial in July 1691, and by some means escaped condemnation. A favourable verdict did not procure his immediate liberation; but, after three days, he was dismissed on caution, to return into custody if called upon. This final result was the more remarkable, as his father was by that time under charge of having aided in the betrayal of the Ba.s.s."