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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
37
The
following
account
of
a
stage-coach
robbery
committed
on
that,
at
one
time,
notoriously
dangerous
ground
called
Hounslow
Heath,
is
taken
from
the
'Annals
of
the
Road,'
already
referred
to
in
this
work:--
"In
the
reign
of
King
George
III.,
a
stage
coach,
driven
by
one
Williams,
and
going
over
Hounslow
Heath
on
the
road
between
Reading
and
London,
was
stopped
by
a
highwayman,
who,
riding
up,
demanded
money
of
the
passengers.
A
lady
gave
up
her
watch,
a
gent
his
purse,
and
away
goes
the
highwayman,
followed,
however,
by
Williams
(the
bold)
on
one
of
the
leaders,
who
'nailed'
and
brought
him
back
to
the
coach,
on
which
he
was
placed
and
taken
to
Staines.
This
occurred
on
a
Tuesday;
the
hearing
before
the
magistrates
took
place
on
Wednesday;
on
Thursday
he
was
in
Newgate;
on
Friday
he
was
tried,
and
sentenced
to
be
hung
on
Monday.
Williams
then
got
up
a
memorial,
petitioning
for
a
reprieve;
and
on
this
being
presented
to
his
Majesty,
the
sentence
was
commuted
to
transportation
for
life.
The
king
was
so
pleased
with
Williams's
daring,
that
he
presented
him
with
a
key
of
Windsor
Park
gates,
to
be
used
by
him
and
his
descendants
so
long
as
they
drove
a
coach
from
Reading
to
London.
This
royal
authority
allowed
them
to
pass
through
the
park
instead
of
going
by
the
turnpike
road."
Another
very
interesting
account
of
a
mail-coach
robbery
is
given
by
Mr
S.
C.
Hall
in
his
'Retrospect
of
a
Long
Life,'
the
object
of
the
outrage
being,
not
apparently
plunder
for
plunder's
sake
in
the
ordinary
sense,
but
to
recover
some
legal
documents
and
money
paid
as
rent
by
a
man
in
the
neighbourhood
who
stood
high
in
local
favour,
but
was
understood
to
have
been
harshly
treated
by
his
landlord.
The
case
occurred
in
Ireland,
and
is
characteristic
of
the
way
in
which
the
Irish
people
give
vent
to
their
feelings
when
they
are
stirred
by
affection
or
sentiment.
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