Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
182
Although
a
reward
of
L200
was
offered
for
the
discovery
of
the
robber,
and
a
free
pardon
to
any
accessory
who
might
turn
accuser,
nothing
was
heard
of
the
matter
at
the
time,
though
suspicion,
it
is
said,
pointed
to
some
of
the
inhabitants
of
Selby.
The
robbery
might
perhaps
have
remained
forgotten,
but
that,
upon
a
public-house
situated
on
the
Churchhill,
Selby,
being
pulled
down
in
1876,
a
suit
of
clothes,
a
sou'-wester
hat,
and
an
old
mail-bag
marked
"Selby"
were
found
in
the
roof.
There
is
little
doubt
that
these
were
the
clothes
worn
by
the
robber
on
the
occasion
under
notice,
and
that
the
bag
(which
is
a
sort
of
waterproof-pouch,
furnished
with
two
straps
to
pass
over
the
shoulders)
is
the
identical
bag
which
contained
the
mails
stolen
in
1798.
When
the
foundations
of
this
old
public-house
were
turned
up,
the
discovery
was
made
of
several
coffins
containing
bodies
in
a
good
state
of
preservation--a
circumstance,
when
taken
in
connection
with
the
traces
of
the
mail-robbery
and
the
public
character
of
the
house,
ominous
in
the
extreme.
The
case
is
one
which
might
be
taken
as
somewhat
proving
the
suggestion
put
forward
by
Smollett
in
'Roderick
Random'
as
to
the
intimate
relations
which
existed
between
the
personnel
of
the
innkeepers
and
the
common
highwaymen--the
former
being
well
aware
of
the
profession
followed
by
the
latter,
if
not
actually
sharers
in
their
plunder.
The
illustration
of
the
Selby
bag
is
from
a
photograph.
The
bag,
when
folded
for
the
postboy's
back,
measured
about
17
inches
broad
by
15
inches
deep.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
