64 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



and murder, after the manner of a bush ranger wholly 

 given up to crime. Twice in custody, he twice escaped 

 from justice, until at length, like the Kelly s, he was 

 shot down in an attack on his last hiding-place. 



But w^e may brush aside the recollections of 

 Howe, and recall the remarkable fact that the Eight 

 Hon. C. P. Villiers, who in July, 1895, was returned 

 to Parliament as member for Wolverhampton (which 

 he has continuously represented since 1835), was a 

 candidate for the representation of Hull in 1826. 

 The Plight Hon. W. E. Gladstone, who has just 

 retired from Parliament, was still a schoolboy at 

 Eton at the time of Mr. Yilliers' candidature. 



In Mytongate was born, with the century, John 

 Wheat,* who, when I penned the previous paragraph, 

 was said to be one of the oldest printers in England. 

 He was ' at case ' before the battle of Waterloo, and 

 could recall, not merely the inking-balls of early 

 typography (which I recollect myself to have seen 

 used with the old Stanhope press), but the days when 

 the editor of a newspaper in Hull considered it quick 

 work to publish London news only four days old. 

 That was possible when the post went wholly by 

 York, and, perchance, lagged between York and Hull. 



In the first part of the century, the postal key of 

 Hull, it is hardly too much to say, was the little town 

 of Barton, near the southern bank of the Humber, 

 opposite Hessle. Here the river is from two and a 

 half to three miles wide, and the tide runs fast. 



-•■• He died in Sheffield, September, 1895. 



