36 Seventy Years a Master. 



Each coach could carry sixteen passengers, 

 besides the driver and guard, four inside 

 (always ladies or invalids), and twelve up aloft. 

 I can recall the time when twenty-five 

 coaches regularly passed through Biggleswade 

 every day, to say nothing of post-chaises and 

 other private equipages. 



I am reminded that poor old Tom Crouch 

 came to a sad and violent end close to Biggles- 

 wade. There were the up and down Lincoln 

 Mails, and they usually passed somewhere 

 near Lower Caldecote, between Biggleswade 

 and Sandy, and these Mails ran so regularly 

 to time that it was rare indeed that they 

 passed beyond a mile from that hamlet. 

 There was a good deal of rivalry among the 

 drivers and guards of the various coaches, and 

 many of the catastrophies which occurred 

 could be directly attributed to recklessness in 

 racing or other ways. When an accident 

 happened after a proved case of racing the 

 drivers and guards were generally committed 

 to the Assizes if they got off clear of a broken 

 neck, and if they were shown to be guilty. 



