POST OFFICE ROMANCE
FOOTPAD AND MAILBAG. There are many curious exhibits in the museum of the General Post Office, London. One is an oil-canvas mailbag, a relic of a daring robbery. The bag was taken forcibly by an armed footpad one evening in February, 1798, from the postboy, who was carrying the mails between York and Selby. A reward of £2OO was offered for the apprehension of the robber, but no trace of him or the mailbag was found until nearly 80 years later. The discovery then occurred in a peculiar manner. In 1876 an old wayside inn was being demolished at Churchill, near Selby, and in the rafters, the workmen found, among other things, the long-lost mailbag. Presumably it had been hidden there by the highwayman of 1798, after the contents had been extracted.
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 18990, 11 July 1923, Page 2
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135POST OFFICE ROMANCE Southland Times, Issue 18990, 11 July 1923, Page 2
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