ON ACCIDENTS. 291 



could not hold her back, and away she went, and killed 

 an outside passenger. What did Phillips, the coachman 

 of the ' Stamford,' do ? He saw a waggon going down a 

 hill before him, and, instead of collecting his horses some 

 distance before he got to it, he trusted to its getting out 

 of his way just when he wished : it did not get out of his 

 way in time, and he was killed on the spot. The Liver- 

 pool mail was left in the street with only one man at the 

 heads of the horses : they ran away, and the proprietors 

 paid 350/. for the damages sustained. The same thing 

 happened the other day to the York 'Highflyer' and 

 the Ewel coach. Of this description of accidents there 

 have been several of late years, and they must happen 

 if horses are left in such a situation. I will defy the 

 strongest man in England to control four horses when he 

 is standing on the ground, if they are inclined to break 

 away. This reminds me of a very singular occurrence 

 some years back with the Chester and Manchester mail. 

 At this period the roads between those towns were paved. 

 The person who horsed the mails being of opinion that a 

 unicorn or pick-axe team was better over that sort of 

 ground than four horses (the leaders being apt to contend 

 for the middle of the pavement, which was narrow, and 

 occasionally pushed each other off it), such was the team 

 always used. About four miles from Chester the guard 

 and coachman went into a house to wash their mouths 

 out, leaving the horses in charge of a man, from whom, 

 however, they bolted, and pursued their road to Chester. 

 I happened to be staying there at the time, and went to 



see the mail come in. It was a dark, tempestuous night, 



u 2 



