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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
179
In
1802,
the
mails
between
Edinburgh
and
Glasgow
were
still
conveyed
by
men
travelling
on
horseback--the
route
taken
being
by
way
of
Falkirk--the
hour
of
despatch
from
Glasgow
being
9
P.M.,
and
the
hour
of
arrival
in
Edinburgh
about
6
A.M.
or
7
A.M.
The
riders
of
this
mail
seem
to
have
had
sections
of
the
road
apportioned
to
them--one
rider
covering
the
road
from
Glasgow
to
Falkirk,
the
other
taking
the
stage
from
Falkirk
to
Edinburgh.
On
the
morning
of
the
1st
of
August
in
that
year,
the
rider
for
the
east
stage--named
William
Wilson--received
the
Glasgow
mail-bag
entire
and
duly
sealed
at
Falkirk,
and
thereafter
set
out
towards
Edinburgh.
When
he
approached
a
rising
ground
called
Sighthill--probably
a
wooded
knoll
bearing
that
name,
about
three
miles
from
Linlithgow,
on
the
road
to
Polmont--he
observed
two
men
coming
down
towards
him,
and
who,
so
soon
as
they
got
near
him,
placed
themselves
one
on
each
side
of
his
horse,
and
immediately
seized
him.
One
of
the
two
men
held
something
in
his
hand,
and
threatened
Wilson
that
if
he
offered
to
speak
his
brains
would
be
blown
out.
Then
he
was
led
away
into
a
field
of
corn,
where
he
was
blindfolded
by
one
of
the
men
with
his
own
handkerchief,
and
his
hands
tied
behind
his
back;
thereupon
he
was
thrown
down,
and
his
legs
bound
together
to
prevent
his
getting
free.
Meanwhile
the
other
man
led
off
the
horse
and
rifled
the
mail.
The
post-rider
remained
in
his
unhappy
position
for
about
an
hour,
when
he
managed
to
extricate
himself,
and
proceeding
to
the
first
house
he
could
reach,
implored
the
inmates
"for
God's
sake"
to
let
him
in,
as
he
had
been
robbed.
Having
been
admitted
and
obtained
assistance,
he
returned
to
the
scene
of
his
adventure,
and
found
the
empty
mail-bag
at
the
foot
of
a
haystack,
while
the
horse
was
recovered
a
little
distance
away.
The
mail
contained
bills,
&c.,
for
something
like
L1300
or
L1400.
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