WITH HORSE AND HOUND 



wheels first, provided it can be accomplished with the strength 

 they have with them.' 



After coaches began to carry the mails, accidents grew 

 more numerous. We can trace many to the greater speed 

 maintained, others to defective workmanship which resulted 

 in broken axles or lost wheels, many to top-heaviness, and not 

 a few to carelessness. The short stage drivers, on the whole, 

 were the worst offenders. For sheer recklessness this would be 

 hard to beat : — 



' During the dense fog of Wednesday last, as a Woolwich 

 coach full of inside and outside passengers was driving at a 

 furious rate, just after it had passed the Six Bells on its way to 

 town, the coachman ran against a heavy country cart. The 

 stage was upset, and those on the roof were pitched violently 

 against an empty coal waggon ; two of them fell on the shafts, 

 one of whom had a shoulder badly dislocated ; the other had 

 his jawbone broken, with the loss of his front teeth. A 

 Greenwich pensioner, with a wooden leg, had an arm broken, 

 and some contusions on the head ' (BelVs Life^ 15th December 

 1822). 



It would be easy to compile a list of accidents due to causes 

 unforeseen, each one illustrating a different danger of the 

 road. Here are a few : — 



' Tuesday afternoon, as one of the Brighton stages was 

 leaving London at a rapid pace, the pole broke in Lambeth, 

 and the coach was upset. Several passengers had limbs broken 

 and others were injured ' (BelVs Life, 25th August 1822). 



' A fatal accident befel the Woolwich Tally Ho opposition 

 stage on Tuesday. Coming down the hill from the Green Man 

 the horses became restive, the coachman lost his command, 

 and immediately the whole set off at full speed. In turning 

 a corner the coach upset, being heavily laden outside. Out 

 of sixteen persons only one escaped without a leg or arm 

 broken, and four are not expected to survive. The coach was 

 literally dashed to pieces. The inside passengers were more 

 lacerated than those outside, owing to the coach being 



70 



