THIEVING DOGS AND HORSES 329 



instantly galloped away. More than once a party of men 

 had set out to catch him, but in the end they had been 

 obliged to give this up, for if they attempted to interfere 

 with him when he was eating, he would first turn round 

 and charge them, and then kick furiously at them ; and if 

 this did not do, he would end by biting them. So, not 

 knowing what to do, they had sent the constable to the 

 magistrate to ask his advice. 



It was not of much use when he got it. The magi- 

 strate thought it was a very shocking state of things, and 

 directed that the offending horse should be brought into 

 court to answer these grave charges, if he could be caught; 

 but this was exactly the difficulty, and as there is no 

 record at the Shadwell Police Court of the case being 

 tried, it is probable that one of two things happened : 

 either the horse was shot by one of the angry drivers, or 

 he went on stealing hay as long as it pleased him. 



The next time we hear of a four-footed robber being 

 charged in a police court it is at Hatton Garden, a part 

 of London that is inhabited by Italians and diamond mer- 

 chants, and on this occasion it was a dog who was the thief. 

 Two ladies appeared one morning before the magistrate, 

 and one of them stated that as she and her sister were 

 returning from St. Pancras Church the evening before, 

 and were walking down the road to Battle Bridge about 

 six o'clock, a hairy dog, lfot unlike a collie, had suddenly 

 jumped up from the roadside where he had been lying in 

 wait, and seizing a small bag (or reticule, as it was called 

 in those days) which one of the ladies held in her hand, 

 dashed off with it across the road, and was lost to sight 

 in the darkness. Her loss was heavy, for she was not 

 rich, and the reticule contained a sovereign, eighteen 

 shillings in silver, a silver thimble, a pair of silver 

 spectacles, and two or three other small things. Perhaps 

 she had been spending the afternoon at one of the little 

 card-parties which at that date had hardly ceased to be 

 the fashion. 



