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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
186
On
the
afternoon
of
the
day
of
the
robbery,
a
murky
fog,
such
as
Londoners
know
so
well
and
heartily
dislike,
hung
over
the
metropolis.
The
street
lamps
afforded
but
a
dull
light
in
the
thoroughfares;
shops
and
offices
were
lighted
up
for
the
evening's
business;
and
the
afternoon's
work
in
the
Hatton
Garden
Post-office
was
at
its
height
(the
registered-letter
bag,
containing
some
forty
registered
letters,
having
just
been
deposited
in
an
ordinary
bag
hanging
from
a
peg
in
the
office),
when
suddenly,
and
without
apparent
cause,
the
whole
of
the
lights
in
the
office
went
out,
and
the
place
was
plunged
in
almost
total
darkness.
Consternation
took
possession
of
the
female
clerks
behind
the
counter,
while
young
clerks
and
boys
from
warehouses
and
offices,
conceiving
the
occasion
to
be
one
for
noise
and
merriment,
helped
to
increase
the
confusion
by
clamour
and
hubbub
outside
the
counter.
No
long
time
elapsed
before
matches
were
obtained
and
tapers
lit,
when
it
was
immediately
discovered
that
the
tap
of
the
gas-meter
in
the
basement
had
been
turned
off;
but
on
the
tap
being
turned
on
again,
the
jets
in
the
office
were
relit,
and
the
place
resumed
its
wonted
appearance.
The
young
ladies
in
the
office
being
now
able
to
see
around
them,
soon
detected
the
absence
of
the
bag,
which
had
been
left
hanging
on
the
peg,
and
which
they
knew
had
not
yet
been
despatched
by
them.
It
did
not
take
long
to
realise
that
the
bag
had
vanished--in
fact,
had
been
stolen;
and
to
this
day
the
property
contained
in
the
lost
registered
letters
has
not
been
recovered,
nor
have
the
persons
concerned
in
the
theft
been
traced.
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