92 THE BATH ROAD 



beetle-browed thatch which impends over the upper 

 windows like bushy eyebrows, and gives those 

 windows — the eyes of the house — just that lowering 

 and suspicious look which heavy and bristling eye- 

 brows confer upon a man. 



But it is not only its romantic appearance that 

 gives the "Old Magpies" an interest, for it is a well- 

 ascertained ftict that outside this house, so near to 

 the once terrible Houuslow Heath, the brother of Mr. 

 Mellish, M.P. for Grimsby, was murdered by high- 

 waymen in April, 1798, wJien returning from a day's 

 huntino- with the Kiuo^'s hounds. 



He had started with two others from the " Castle " 

 Hotel, at Salt Hill, for London, after dinner, and the 

 carriage in which the party was seated was passing 

 near the "Old Magpies" at about half-past eight, 

 when it was attacked by three footpads. One held 

 the horses' heads while the other two gnarded the 

 windows, firing a shot through, to terrify the occu- 

 pants. They then demanded money. No one offered 

 any resistance, purses and bank-notes being handed 

 over as a matter of course. Then the travellers were 

 allowed to go, a parting shot in the dark being fired 

 into the carriage. It struck Mr. Mellish in the fore- 

 head. Coming to another inn near by, called the 

 " Magpies," the wounded man was taken upstairs and 

 put to bed, while a surgeon w\as sent for. 



He came from Hounslow, and was robbed on the 

 way by the same gang. Additional medical assist- 

 ance was called in, but this late victim of highway 

 robl)ery died within forty-eight hours. 



The assassins were never apprehended, althougli 



