GUARDS 83 



Bankers frequently entrusted the guards with im- 

 mense sums of money, and paid them at the rate of half 

 a crown a parcel, which, considering the responsibility 

 incurred, was by no means adequate remuneration. 

 Thieves were ever on the watch to intercept these 

 bankers' parcels if possible, and one gang accomplished 

 their design in a decidedly ingenious manner. They 

 were all men of prosperous and well-bred appearance, and 

 two of them booked seats inside the coach at the Swan 

 with Two Necks, and the others got in at Islington. They 

 left the coach at different places on the road, no sus- 

 picions were entertained that anything was wrong till 

 the coach arrived at Coventry, where a bank clerk was 

 waiting to receive the parcel which contained ;^300 in 

 gold and a bill of exchange for ^150. It was then dis- 

 covered that the inside passengers had cut out a panel 

 at the back of the coach, abstracted the banker's parcel, 

 and got clean away with it without anyone being the 

 wiser. 



Bayzand was warned one day that an attempt would 

 be made to obtain a parcel he carried for a banker, which 

 information naturally threw him into a state of extreme 

 consternation. He eventually placed the parcel beneath 

 a seat where two elderly and blissfully unconscious old 

 ladies sat on it throughout the journey. Some suspicious 

 looking characters joined the coach at Gloucester, and 

 Bayzand had an anxious time of it till he reached London 

 and handed over the parcel to its rightful owners. After 

 this fright he demanded a higher rate of payment, 

 which, however, the bankers refused to allow, and 



