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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
185
Early
in
the
year
1849
a
sad
blow
fell
upon
the
postmaster
of
a
certain
town
in
Wales,
on
its
being
discovered
that
an
assistant
in
his
office,
a
daughter
of
his
own,
had
been
stealing
post-letters.
In
the
course
of
investigations
made
into
her
misdoings,
it
was
discovered
that
the
thefts
had
been
going
on
for
a
period
of
seven
years,
during
which
time
she
had
accumulated
as
much
jewellery
and
haberdashery
as
would
have
stocked
a
small
shop--and
besides,
money
to
the
amount
of
L95.
The
letters
from
which
the
property
had
been
taken
were
between
two
and
three
hundred,
and
these
she
had
kept,
so
that
it
was
possible
to
restore
to
the
owners,
in
many
cases,
the
stolen
articles.
On
the
20th
March
the
unfortunate
and
misguided
creature
was
tried,
on
the
charge
of
stealing
a
particular
letter,
and
was
convicted--the
sentence
passed
upon
her
being
transportation
for
ten
years.
It
was
afterwards
ascertained
that
the
motive
underlying
this
long
career
of
thieving
was
a
desire
to
amass
such
a
dowry
as
would
improve
her
prospects
in
the
matter
of
obtaining
a
husband.
Hatton
Garden
Robbery.
On
Thursday
the
16th
November
1881,
the
whole
country
was
made
aware,
through
the
daily
papers,
that
a
most
daring
Post-office
robbery
had
been
committed
in
London
the
previous
afternoon,
the
scene
of
the
event
being
the
Hatton
Garden
Branch
Office,
situated
in
the
busy
district
of
Holborn.
The
time
and
plan
of
carrying
out
the
undertaking
were
not
such
as
are
usually
chosen
for
attempts
of
this
kind,
the
hour
at
which
the
robbery
was
effected
being
5
P.M.,
when
the
office
was
thronged
with
the
public
purchasing
stamps,
or
doing
other
business
in
view
of
the
night-mail
despatch.
Nor
was
there
any
furtive
mode
of
proceeding
in
the
ordinary
sense,
but
a
bold
and
dashing
stroke
for
the
chances
of
success
or
failure.
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