BOUND FOR THE BORDER 233 



were, however, the exception, whatever romance may 

 urge, and not the rule. 



It was on this road, not far from Elvanfoot Inn, 

 that the terrible mail-coach accident occurred which 

 Mr. Hyde relates with so much vigour and effect.* 

 At Evan Water — which must not be mistaken for the 

 Clyde, though both rise close together — the bridge 

 which carried the road across it, weakened by frost and 

 floods, gave way on the night of October 25, 1808. 



The up mail fell through into the stream ; three of 

 the four horses and two outside passengers, unhappily, 

 were killed on the spot ; other passengers and the 

 coachman and guard were seriously injured. The 

 down mail-coach came cantering along, all uncon- 

 scious of the tragedy, and was also about to topple 

 into the chasm, when the screams of a frightened 

 woman stopped it in time and provided means of 

 rescue for those still in danger. 



The Elvanfoot Inn, on the south side of the Clyde 

 crossing on this road, has ceased to be an inn, and 

 is now a shooting-lodge ; the highway on which it 

 stood was diverted about the year 1824, and with it 

 the custom of the house. The New Crawford Inn 

 (the first halting-place on the north side of the Clyde, 

 three miles south of Abington, and south, too, of 

 Glengoner Water), was well known on the road. It 

 was opened in 1822, and it still flourishes as the 

 Crawford (Cranstoun) Hotel, despite the cessation of 

 the coaches. 



^ ' The Ptoyal Mail,' J. Wilson Hyde. Blackwood, 1885. 



