EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. 163 



Brooke, Edwin Corbett, Davenport, Towns- 

 hand, Pickford, &c. These spirited horses were 

 led back to the inn at Monk's Heath, and 

 performed their stage back to Congleton the 

 same evening, apparently in higher spirits for 

 having had a gallop with the hounds. 



Mail robberies, though not so prevalent as 

 in former years, existed as late as the year 

 ] 839 ; for in the month of June, at the Worship 

 Street office, information was given of a daring 

 attempt to rob the mail between Enfield and 

 Edmonton. In October of the same year a box 

 containing five thousand pounds in notes and 

 gold was stolen from the Manchester and Stafford- 

 shire coach. 



An extraordinary accident occurred in the 

 same month, when a coach was burnt on the 

 railway. As the " Regulator" coach, from 

 Bristol to London, was proceeding on one of 

 the uptrains to London, having a quantity of 

 luggage on the top, owing to the large 

 quantity of sparks which issued from the 

 chimney, the luggage took fire, a fact which 

 was only discovered by the coachman (who 

 happened, fortunately, to have remained inside) 

 seeing sparks of fire falHng from the top of 

 the coach by the window. The coachman, at 



M 2 



