COACHES IN SNOW-STORMS.
The great snow-storm of Christmas, 1836, was long remembered as one of the most severe on record, and Mr. Nobbs’ coach was only one of many that had to be abandoned owing to the depth of the snow-drifts. All over England, and in Scotland as well, most of the roads were rendered impassable. Some coaches, after proceeding for miles on their journey, were forced to return; thus the Brighton Mail from London had to put back after getting as far as Crawley, and the Dover Mail got no further than Gravesend. Other coaches were upset, and some were completely lost, having been abandoned, and afterwards buried in the snow-wreaths. Near Chatham the snow lay to a depth of 30 or 40 feet, and on some of the roads in the Midlands, after cuttings had been made, the snow was banked to the height of 50 feet. A full account of this and other memorable snowstorms will be found in Mr. Wilson Hyde’s most interesting book, “The Royal Mail.”
History repeats itself, and more than fifty years after that 1836 storm we again find Mail Coaches blocked by the snow on the Brighton road. The severe snow-storm of the 9th and 10th of March last taxed the resources of the Post Office in the South and West of England to the utmost. For several days Plymouth was virtually without any service of Mails, and one after another came an apparently endless series of telegrams to headquarters in London, bearing dismal tidings of trains buried in mammoth drifts, cuttings blocked with snow, and portentous “accumulations” of parcel receptacles at places quite unprepared to bear so large a share of the Post Office burden. The trials and triumphs of that stirring time have, however, already found a capable chronicler—as readers of the St. Martin’s-le-Grand Magazine will shortly discover. All we would refer to here is the fact that the up and down Brighton Parcel Coaches were both blocked by snow at Handcross Hill, about four miles from Crawley—one at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. The resources of civilisation in 1891, however, afforded a means of overcoming the difficulty which was not open to our fathers and grand-fathers in 1836. An experienced officer (Mr. W. Roberts) went down from London by train and superintended the digging out of the coaches. This done, he had both vehicles taken to Crawley, where the parcel baskets were transferred to the railway. In 1836 those parcels would probably not have reached their destination under a week or ten days.
BRIDGE DISASTER TO COACH.
Mr. Nobbs’ graphic account of the Lugg Bridge accident recalls the more calamitous one which befell the Glasgow and Carlisle coach on the 25th October, 1801. The circumstances were alike in both cases, but the results of the earlier disaster were much more grave. The bridge was one spanning the river Evan, between Elvanfoot and Beattock; it had collapsed under stress of a flood following a sudden thaw, and at about ten o’clock at night the coach plunged into the rocky bed of the stream. Two outside passengers were killed on the spot, and the coachman sustained such injuries that he died some days afterwards. The inside passengers, a lady and three gentlemen, and the guard, escaped with injuries more or less severe. Three of the horses were killed, and the coach was smashed to pieces.
ROBBERY OF MAILS.
If Mr. Nobbs had been on the road some twenty or thirty years earlier he might have acquired a larger experience of the manners and customs of highwaymen—or perhaps we should say mail robbers,—for the picturesque highwayman of romance is conspicuously absent from Post Office annals. In this connexion it may be interesting to give the text of two or three Post Office Notices issued early in the century. This one is typical of many others circulated about the same time:—
General Post Office,
Tuesday, 27th October, 1812.
About 7 o’clock on the Evening of Monday the 26th instant, the LEEDS Mail-Coach was robbed of the Bags of Letters for London, described at Foot, between Kettering and Higham Ferrers, and within 3 Miles of Higham Ferrers, by forcing the Lock of the Mail Box.
The Bags stolen are,
| Halifax of the | 25th. | Chesterfield | ditto |
| Bradford | ditto | Mansfield | ditto |
| Leeds | ditto | Nottingham | 26th. |
| Wakefield | ditto | Melton Mowbray | ditto |
| Huddersfield | ditto | Oakham | ditto |
| Barnsley | ditto | Uppingham | ditto |
| Sheffield | ditto | Kettering | ditto |
| Rotherham | ditto | Thrapstone | ditto |
Whoever shall apprehend the Person or Persons who committed the said Robbery, will be entitled to a Reward of
TWO HUNDRED POUNDS,
one Moiety to be paid on Commitment for Trial, and the other Moiety on Conviction. If an Accomplice in the Robbery will surrender himself and make Discovery, whereby one or more of the Persons concerned therein shall be apprehended and brought to Justice, such Discoverer will be entitled to the said Reward, and be admitted an Evidence for the Crown.
By Command of the Postmaster-General,
F. FREELING,
Secretary.
Four months later we have a minute description of the “knight of the road” who was supposed to have committed the robbery:—
General Post Office,
February 9th, 1813.
200 POUNDS REWARD.
Whereas
HUFFEY WHITE is strongly suspected to have been concerned in the Robbery of the Leeds Mail, between Kettering and Higham Ferrers, on Monday Evening, the 26th of October last: whoever shall apprehend, or cause him to be apprehended, will be paid a Reward of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS upon his Commitment for Trial, and the further Reward of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS upon his Conviction.
By Command of the Postmaster-General,
FRANCIS FREELING,
Secretary.
The said HUFFEY WHITE, is a Native of London, by Trade a Cabinet Maker, about 35 or 36 Years of Age, of good Appearance, 5 Feet 8 or 9 Inches high, stoutish made, and stands very upright, has thin Legs, brown Hair, broad or full Forehead, Pale Complexion, light grey Eyes, and little Eyebrows, is marked with the Small-Pox in large Pits deep in the Skin, and at some distance from each other; his Nose turns up. He has a Squeaking Voice, is mild in manners, and does not talk much. He is well known at all the Police Offices.
He had formerly served some Years on Board the Hulks, and returned about 10 Years since.
About four Years ago he was capitally convicted at the Old Bailey, and ordered to be transported for Life, but afterwards made his Escape.
About twelve Months after this Conviction he was apprehended at Stockport, and tried and convicted at Chester Assizes for his Escape, and sent back to the Hulks, but again escaped.
He afterwards robbed the Paisley Union Bank, and immediately proceeded to London by way of Edinburgh, in Post Chaises; and in two or three Days after his arrival, was apprehended in Surrey, and tried and convicted at Kingston Lent Assizes, 1811, for being at large, and was sent to the Hulks.
From thence he again escaped, and has since been in the Counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Northampton, passing by the Name of WALLIS, until the Robbery of the Leeds Mail the 26th of October last.
It is not known where he has been since, except that he was at the Bull’s Head, in Bread Street, for two or three Days immediately afterwards, and then went to Bath. He slept at the Swan Inn in Birmingham on Sunday the 24th of January last, and proceeded the next Day in Company with Robert Brady, otherwise called Oxford Bob, in the Shrewsbury Mail to Wolverhampton, where Brady was apprehended, and White took the opportunity to quit the Coach.
March 29th, 1813.
Huffey White was at Bristol in the last Week, and escaped from thence on Saturday the 27th instant about Noon, in company with one Richard Haywood.
White was dressed in a Blue under Coat, with gilt Buttons, White Waistcoat, Blue Pantaloons, and a Yellow Belcher Handkerchief about his Neck.
Haywood was dressed in a Light Loose Great Coat (had no Hat) and a Yellow Belcher Handkerchief. He is about 35 or 36 Years of Age, 5 Feet 10 Inches high, Stout made, and is pitted with the Small Pox.
Two of their Companions, Birkett and John Goodman, were secured, in whose possession there was found every apparatus for opening Locks and forcing Doors.
That is decidedly disappointing. The name is very unromantic, to begin with, and the description does not suggest a person of unusually prepossessing appearance. We miss, too, the gold lace and ruffles, the cocked hat, and—most important of all—the mysterious mask with which we were wont to adorn the dashing highwayman of our youthful fancies. There is no horse either. Fancy Dick Turpin without Black Bess! It will strike everyone, however, that for a gentleman who presumably was not desirous of attracting too much attention, “Huffey White’s” attire was somewhat “loud.”
Talking of horses, we may give a notice, nine years later in date, which shows how the Claude Duvals of the period provided themselves with steeds.
Post Office, York,
Monday Evening, 11th March, 1822.
50 POUNDS REWARD.
Whereas
The POST BOY conveying the MAIL from WHITBY to MALTON, was, about Three o’Clock this Afternoon, stopt on the Road, about Fourteen Miles from WHITBY, by a Man, who pulled the Rider from his Horse, and mounted it himself, and immediately rode off across the Moor towards Lockton, with the Mail Bags for London, York, and other Places.
Whoever shall apprehend the Person who has committed this FELONY, will be entitled to the above Reward. Twenty Pounds, Part thereof, payable on his Commitment for Trial, and the remaining Thirty Pounds upon his Conviction.
The highwayman’s lot in those days, like the policeman’s in ours, was not altogether “a happy one.” If caught—as he generally was in the long run—he was granted very short shrift. In fact there are instances recorded in which, the robbery, capture, examination by magistrate, trial, sentence, and execution were all comprised in the space of one week. There was nothing “leaden-footed” about that justice.