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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
28
The
following
account
of
the
violation
of
the
mails
by
a
postboy
may
perhaps
be
aptly
introduced
here:--
In
the
autumn
of
1808,
a
good
deal
of
anxiety
was
caused
to
the
authorities
of
the
Post-office
in
Scotland,
in
consequence
of
reports
being
made
to
them
that
many
bankers'
letters
had
been
tampered
with
in
course
of
their
transmission
by
post
through
certain
of
the
northern
counties.
To
discover
who
was
concerned
in
the
irregularities
was
rendered
the
more
difficult,
owing
to
the
fact
that
the
mail-bags
in
which
the
letters
had
been
despatched
were
reported
to
have
reached
their
destinations
duly
sealed.
But
a
thing
of
this
kind
could
not
go
on
without
discovery,
and
investigation
being
made,
the
storm
burst
over
the
head
of
a
poor
little
postboy
named
William
Shearer,
a
lad
of
fifteen
years
of
age,
who
was
employed
riding
the
north
mail
over
the
stage
from
Turriff
to
Banff.
From
the
account
we
have
of
the
matter,
it
would
seem
that
in
this
case,
as
in
many
others,
it
was
opportunity
that
made
the
thief;
for
the
mail-bags
had
on
some
occasions
been
insecurely
sealed,
the
despatching
postmasters
having
failed
to
place
the
wax
over
the
knots
of
the
string--and
the
postboy
was
thus
able
to
get
to
the
inside
of
the
bags
without
cutting
the
string
or
breaking
the
seals,
by
simply
undoing
the
knots.
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