GOLD COACH “HELD UP.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20626, 29 May 1935, Page 1

GOLD COACH “HELD UP.”

SYDNEY, May 22. The mail coach lumbered on into the fading afternoon sunlight. The driver, from his box-scat, flicked at the labouring horses with his whip, and gazed keenly at the trail ahead. The escort beside him idly squinted along the barrel of his shotgun and smoked in silence. The eight passengers in the coach were silent, too. One old frock-coated gentleman removed his broad-brimmed hat and mopped his forehead. The bonneted, old-fashioned women were slightly apprehensive. No sound but the steady clip-clop of the horses as the mail lumbered on. The serious-faced watcher along the trail waited. “ Ah,” a satisfied sigh j escaped him. Yes, it was the mail all right* He j could see the lettering on the side of , the coach now. “ Sydney to Kirkton 1830 Royal Mail ” “ Gold Escort.” He | hitched his belt. The coach drew nearer. “Halt!” The word was rapped out like a pistol shot. The driver and the escort gazed at the menacing form and ! did not move for their guns. “ A stick-up,” thought the crowd; but i it was not so. The law says that you cannot drive a i vehicle used apparently only for the | purpose of advertising along York ; Street. City, and the constable was onlv j doing his duty. The driver told Mr May, S.M., in the I Traffic Court that he was working for a film company at the time. The Magis- 1 trate fined him 7s 6d with 5s 6d costs. | The escort and passengers were not | molested by the law.