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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
177
"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
Bass."
Other
instances
of
such
gentleman-like
performances
in
waylaying
the
post
were
not
unknown
in
the
primitive
days
of
the
Post-office,
for
about
the
year
1658
the
following
notice
was
issued
for
the
discovery
of
a
gentleman
of
the
law
who
had
taken
to
evil
ways
by
intercepting
the
mail:--"Whereas
Mr
Herbert
Jones,
attorney-at-law
in
the
town
of
Monmouth,
well
known
by
being
several
years
together
under-sheriff
of
the
same
county,
hath
of
late
divers
times
robbed
the
mail
coming
from
that
town
to
London,
and
taken
out
divers
letters
and
writs,
and
is
now
fled
from
justice,"
&c.
In
August
1692,
the
postboy
riding
the
last
stage
towards
Edinburgh
with
the
mail
from
England,
was
robbed
on
the
13th
of
that
month,
at
a
short
distance
from
Edinburgh.
A
record
of
the
period
relates
that
the
robbery
was
committed
by
"a
person
mounted
on
horseback
with
a
sword
about
him,
and
another
person
on
foot
with
a
pistol
in
his
hand,
upon
the
highway
from
Haddington
to
Edinburgh,
near
that
place
thereof
called
Jock's
Lodge
(a
mile
from
town)
about
ten
hours
of
the
night."
The
robbers
took
"the
packet
or
common
mail,
with
the
horse
whereon
the
boy
rode."
A
proclamation
was
issued
by
the
Scottish
Privy
Council,
offering
a
reward
of
a
hundred
pounds
for
the
apprehension
of
the
offenders,
with
a
free
pardon
to
any
one
of
them
who
should
inform
upon
the
rest;
but
with
what
result
is
not
known.
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