The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance

In 1802, the mails between Edinburgh and Glasgow were still conveyed by men travelling on horseback--the route taken being by way of Falkirk--the hour of despatch from Glasgow being 9 P.M., and the hour of arrival in Edinburgh about 6 A.M. or 7 A.M. The riders of this mail seem to have had sections of the road apportioned to them--one rider covering the road from Glasgow to Falkirk, the other taking the stage from Falkirk to Edinburgh. On the morning of the 1st of August in that year, the rider for the east stage--named William Wilson--received the Glasgow mail-bag entire and duly sealed at Falkirk, and thereafter set out towards Edinburgh. When he approached a rising ground called Sighthill--probably a wooded knoll bearing that name, about three miles from Linlithgow, on the road to Polmont--he observed two men coming down towards him, and who, so soon as they got near him, placed themselves one on each side of his horse, and immediately seized him. One of the two men held something in his hand, and threatened Wilson that if he offered to speak his brains would be blown out. Then he was led away into a field of corn, where he was blindfolded by one of the men with his own handkerchief, and his hands tied behind his back; thereupon he was thrown down, and his legs bound together to prevent his getting free. Meanwhile the other man led off the horse and rifled the mail. The post-rider remained in his unhappy position for about an hour, when he managed to extricate himself, and proceeding to the first house he could reach, implored the inmates "for God's sake" to let him in, as he had been robbed. Having been admitted and obtained assistance, he returned to the scene of his adventure, and found the empty mail-bag at the foot of a haystack, while the horse was recovered a little distance away. The mail contained bills, &c., for something like L1300 or L1400.