130 COACHING. 



ing severely from the accident deposed to the 

 following effect : — 



Mr. Archer, a respectable bootmaker, of 

 Cheapside, London, stated that he sat on the 

 box with the prisoner Perdy. When the coach 

 arrived at that part of the road beyond Highgate, 

 where a junction is formed between the Archway 

 Road and the old Highgate Road, the Chester 

 Mail came up. Both coachmen began to whip 

 their horses and put them into a gallop, and 

 drove abreast of each other at a furious rate 

 for a considerable distance, when the driver of 

 the Chester Mail slackened the pace of his 

 horses, and seemed conscious of the impro- 

 priety of his conduct; but when the coaches 

 approached towards St. Albans, and had arrived 

 at the hill about a mile from that town, the 

 prisoner Perdy put his horses into a furious 

 gallop down the hill. His example was followed 

 by the other prisoner, who endeavoured to 

 overtake him ; and a most terrific race ensued 

 between the two carriages, the velocity of both 

 increasing by their own accelerated descent 

 down an abrupt hill. 



The road was wide enough for three carriages 

 to pass each other; but the prisoner Butler, 

 perceiving that Perdy was keeping ahead of him. 



