The year 1809 marked the beginning of a new and strenuous coaching era on this road. Then Crossweller & Co. commenced to run their "morning and night" coaches, and William "Miller" Bradford formed his company. This was an association of twelve members, contributing £100 each, for the purpose of establishing a "double" coach--that is to say, one up and one down, each day. The idea was to "lick creation" on the Brighton Road by accelerating the speed, and to this end they acquired some forty-five horses then sold out of the Inniskilling Dragoons, at that time stationed at Brighton. On May Day, 1810, the Brighton Mail was re-established. These "Royal Night Mail Coaches" as they were grandiloquently announced, were started by arrangement with the Postmaster-General. The speed, although much improved, was not yet so very great, eight hours being occupied on the way, although these coaches went by what was then the new cut _via_ Croydon. Like the Dover. Hastings, and Portsmouth mails, the Brighton Mail was two-horsed. It ran to and from the "Blossoms" Inn, Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, and never attained a better performance than 7 hours 20 minutes, a speed of 7-1/2 miles an hour. It had, however, _this_ distinction, if it may so be called: it was the slowest mail in the kingdom. It was on June 25th, 1810, that an accident befell Waldegrave's "Accommodation" coach on its up journey. Near Brixton Causeway its hind wheels collapsed, owing to the heavy weight of the loaded vehicle. By one of those strange chances when truth appears stranger than fiction, there chanced to be a farmer's waggon passing the coach at the instant of its overturning. Into it were shot the "outsiders," fortunate in this comparatively easy fall. Still, shocks and bruises were not few, and one gentleman had his thigh broken. [Sidenote: A COACH ROBBERY]