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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
194
"The
most
destructive
and
important
case
of
robbery
in
connection
with
Mr
Fawcett's
plan,
introduced
some
two
or
three
years
ago,
for
facilitating
the
placing
of
small
sums,
by
means
of
postage-stamps,
in
the
Post-office
Savings
Bank,
came
before
the
Bristol
magistrates
to-day,
when
Ellen
Hunt,
a
domestic
servant,
about
sixteen
years
of
age,
was
charged
with
stealing
a
large
number
of
letters,
some
of
them
containing
cheques,
the
property
of
the
Postmaster-General.
Mr
Clifton,
who
prosecuted,
said
the
robberies
were
of
a
very
extensive
character,
and
might
have
been
fraught
with
the
direst
consequences.
They
had
been
discovered
in
a
singular
manner,
no
money
having
been
missed:
but
a
large
number
of
circular
letters,
addressed
by
the
Bristol
clerk
to
officials
requiring
to
be
sworn
in
connection
with
the
School
Board
election
this
week,
miscarried.
Inquiries
were
made
by
the
Postal
authorities,
when
it
was
found
that
all
these
circulars
had
been
posted
at
the
Redcliffe
district
office,
where
the
prisoner
was
the
servant
of
the
postmaster,
Mr
Devine.
It
was
the
custom
of
Mr
Devine
to
place
the
key
of
the
letter-box
in
a
secret
place
for
the
use
of
himself
and
his
assistants;
but
the
prisoner
discovered
it,
and
the
circular
letters
were
found
in
her
possession
with
the
postage-stamps
off
them.
They
had
been
removed
for
payment
into
the
Post-office
Savings
Bank
on
the
forms
by
which
a
shilling's
worth
of
postage-stamps
saved
up
by
school-children
and
others
is
now
accepted
by
the
Savings
Bank
department
of
the
Post-office;
but
the
most
serious
part
of
the
case
was
the
fact
that
in
the
prisoner's
box
were
discovered
the
bundles
of
opened
letters
now
produced
by
Detective
Short,
and
containing
cheques
already
discovered
to
the
amount
of
L74,
16s.,
all
of
which
had
been
sent
through
the
same
post-office.
The
charge
was
laid
under
the
27th
section
of
the
Act,
but
formerly
a
prisoner
would
have
been
liable
for
such
an
offence
to
transportation
for
life.
Some
evidence
having
been
given,
the
girl,
who
was
hysterical
throughout
the
hearing,
was
remanded.
Apparently
no
effort
had
been
made
to
deal
with
the
cheques,
but
the
detective
stated
that
the
numerous
letters
had
been
opened."
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