Meanwhile, the Post Office had issued a long and detailed notice of the robbery, and had offered a reward of two hundred pounds for the apprehension of the guilty person, or persons:
"General Post Office, Jan. 29th, 1781.
"The Postboy bringing the Bristol Mail this morning from Maidenhead was stop't between two and three o'clock by a single Highwayman with a crape over his face between the 11th and 12th milestones, near to Cranford Bridge, who presented a pistol to him, and after making him alight, drove away the Horse and Cart, which were found about 7 o'clock this morning in a meadow field near Farmer Lott's at Twyford, when it appears that the greatest part of the letters were taken out of the Bath and Bristol Bags, and that the following bags were entirely taken away:—
Pewsy.
Ramsbury.
Bradford.
Henley.
Cirencester.
Gloucester.
Ross.
Presteign.
Fairford.
Aberystwith.
Carmarthen.
Pembroke.
Calne.
Trowbridge.
Wallingford.
Reading.
Stroud.
Ledbury.
Hereford.
Northleach.
Lechlade.
Lampeter.
Tenby.
Abergavenny.
Newbury.
Melksham.
Maidenhead.
Wantage.
Wotton-under-Edge.
Tewkesbury.
Leominster.
Cheltenham.
Hay.
Cardigan.
Haverfordwest."The person who committed this robbery is supposed to have had an accomplice, as two persons passed the Postboy on Cranford Bridge on Horseback prior to the Robbery, one of whom he thinks was the robber; but it being so extremely dark, he is not able to give any description of their persons.
"Whoever shall apprehend and convict, or cause to be apprehended and convicted, the person who committed this Robbery will be entitled to a reward of TWO HUNDRED POUNDS, over and above the Reward given by Act of Parliament for apprehending Highwaymen; or if any person, whether an Accomplice in the Robbery or knoweth thereof, shall make Discovery whereby the Person who committed the same may be apprehended and brought to Justice, such discoverer will upon conviction of the party be entitled to the Same Reward of TWO HUNDRED POUNDS and will also receive His Majesty's most gracious Pardon.
"By Command of the Postmaster-General,
"ANTH. TODD, Sec."
It was soon ascertained that the Westons were the robbers, and careful descriptions of them were at once circulated:
"George Weston is about twenty-nine years of age, five feet seven inches high, square-set, round-faced, fresh-coloured, pitted with small-pox, has a rather thick nose, his upper lip rather thick, his hair of lightest brown colour, which is sometimes tied behind, and at other times loose and curled; has much the appearance of a country dealer, or farmer. One of his thumb-nails appears, from an accident, of the shape of a parrot's bill, and he is supposed to have a scar on his right hand, from a stroke with a cutlass."
The younger brother was just as closely described:
"Joseph Weston is about twenty-three years of age, five feet nine inches high, slender made, of a fair and smooth complexion, genteel person, has grey eyes and large nose with a scar upon it; his hair is of a light brown colour, sometimes tied behind, at other times loose and curled; his voice is strong and he speaks a little through his nose; has a remarkable small hand and long fingers."
While these descriptions were staring from every blank wall, George and Joseph were hiding, in disguise, in the Borough. They had a large amount of money, realised by their tremendous exertions over that long journey, and they added judiciously to their store by carrying on their business of lending money on plate and jewellery, and paying for the articles in the remaining notes stolen from the Bristol mail. The famous "Perdita" Robinson was one of those victimised in this way; and, as a contemporary account says, "lost her diamond shoebuckles which a certain Heir Apparent presented her with."
It was in October 1781, when paying for some lottery tickets in Holborn, with stolen notes, that George and Joseph became acquainted with two pretty girls, cousins, employed as milliners near Red Lion Square. George gallantly bought some shares for them, and in the evening took them to Vauxhall Gardens. The delighted girls were told the two gentlemen were Nabobs just returned from India; and, dazzled with the wealth they flung about, readily consented to go and live with them. They were soon, accordingly, all four in residence in a fine house near Brompton; George adopting the name of "Samuel Watson," and Joseph passing as "William Johnson."