The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and RomanceHyde, James Wilson
History
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
Hyde, James Wilson
Postal service -- Great Britain
Early in the year 1849 a sad blow fell upon the postmaster of a certain
town in Wales, on its being discovered that an assistant in his office,
a daughter of his own, had been stealing post-letters. In the course of
investigations made into her misdoings, it was discovered that the
thefts had been going on for a period of seven years, during which time
she had accumulated as much jewellery and haberdashery as would have
stocked a small shop--and besides, money to the amount of £95. The
letters from which the property had been taken were between two and
three hundred, and these she had kept, so that it was possible to
restore to the owners, in many cases, the stolen articles. On the 20th
March the unfortunate and misguided creature was tried, on the charge of
stealing a particular letter, and was convicted--the sentence passed
upon her being _transportation for ten years_.
It was afterwards ascertained that the motive underlying this long
career of thieving was a desire to amass such a dowry as would improve
her prospects in the matter of obtaining a husband.
_Hatton Garden Robbery._
On Thursday the 16th November 1881, the whole country was made aware,
through the daily papers, that a most daring Post-office robbery had
been committed in London the previous afternoon, the scene of the event
being the Hatton Garden Branch Office, situated in the busy district of
Holborn. The time and plan of carrying out the undertaking were not such
as are usually chosen for attempts of this kind, the hour at which the
robbery was effected being 5 P.M., when the office was thronged with the
public purchasing stamps, or doing other business in view of the
night-mail despatch. Nor was there any furtive mode of proceeding in the
ordinary sense, but a bold and dashing stroke for the chances of success
or failure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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