70 THE EXETER ROAD 



named Gambler ; his leaders had come in contact 

 with a hay-cart on its way to London, which caused 

 them to suddenly turn round, Ijreak the pole, and 

 blunder down a steep embankment, at the bottom 

 of which was a narrow deep ditch, filled with water 

 and mud. The mail coach pitched on the stump of 

 a willow tree that overhung the ditch ; the coachman 

 and the outside passengers were thrown over into the 

 meadow Ijeyond, and the horses went into the ditch. 

 The unfortunate wheelers were drowned or smothered 

 in the mud. There were two inside passengers, wdio 

 were extricated with some difficulty, but fortunately 

 no one was injured. I managed to take the pas- 

 seno'ers with the o-uard and mail bao-g on to London, 

 leaving the coachman to wait for daylight before he 

 could make an attempt to get the mail up the 

 embankment. They endeavoured to accomplish this 

 with cart horses aud chains, and they had nearly 

 reached the top of the bank when something gave 

 way, and the poor old mail went back into the ditch 

 ao-ain. I shall never forQ;et the scene. There were 

 about a dozen men from the powder-mills trying to 

 render assistance, and with their black faces, each 

 bearing a torch in his hand, they presented a curious 

 spectacle. This happened about 1840. Posts and 

 rails were erected at the spot after the accident. I 

 passed the place in 1870, and they w^ere there still, 

 as well as the old pollard willow stump.' 



The old-time associations of Hounslow Heath are 

 almost forgotten now, for, where Claude du A^all and 

 Dick Turpin waited patiently for travellers, there are 

 nowadays long rows of suburl)an A^illas which have 



