TURNING THE TABLES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 105, 1 May 1909, Page 8

TURNING THE TABLES.

In the days of the highwaymen it Mas at an inn of St. Albans that a robbery, ending in comedy, was plotted by Tom Garrett (a hero known to Dick Steele), with the aid of the innkeeper and another confederate. One night a horseman rode up with a weighty and very promising portmanteau, which the landlord, on carrying it upstairs, duly appraised. Now Tom. Garrett and his friend were in the house, as luck would have it, and it was easy to pass them off as fellowtravellers, very ready to sup to-night and travel to-morrow with the gentleman of this portmanteau. On the morrow, when he resumed the j'oad to London with those new acquaintances, and they were in a lonely neighbourhood, the one covered him with a pistol, while the other ransacked his portmanteau, taking all its contents, including a hundred guineas from his person! Our traveller sat mournfully by the roadside for a while, contemplating his empty pack and the reins of his horse, which had been cut by his partners in crime. It was not long before he arrived at the very just conclusion that the landlord of the inn was a party to this business, so. . . .- he refilled his portmanteau with stones and retracing his way to vSt. Albans, called first at a saddler's to have his reins mended, and then, leaving his horse behind him, went back to the inn. When the rascally landlord saw him return with his baggage as heavy as before, he came to the natural conclusion that his confederates had failed, and cursed them under his breath for a pair of fools. The traveller meanwhile ordered dinner, saying an accident to his nag had sent him back, and lamenting he could not have the company of his fellows of the night before. But he must not lose sight of them. Could the landlord tell him where they lodged in London ? He could and he did. The traveller went to town and called on them (with a pistol) each in turn; and—now comes the point of the story—recovered his wardrobe and a hundred guineas from each of them.