ACCIDENTS. 375 



or want of skill on the part of their coachmen, or 

 any cause which reasonable attention or foresight 

 might have prevented, such as defective harness, or 

 weak or improper condition of any part of the 

 coaches. 



One instance in which the proprietors had to smart 

 considerably was the accident which happened to 

 the Leeds ' Express,' a coach running from the Bull 

 and Mouth, St. Martin"s-le-Grand, to Leeds, in op- 

 position to the ' Courier,' a coach which also ran to 

 Leeds, but started from the Belle Sauvage, on Ludgate 

 Hill. Some distance down in the country, and 

 towards the Leeds end of the journey, the ' Courier ' 

 stopped at the bottom of a hill for the guard to take 

 the drag off", when the ' Express,' coming round the 

 corner, and probably endeavouring to pass before the 

 ' Courier ' started again, by some means was upset. 

 One of the passengers, a woman, was killed on the 

 spot, while another had a leg broken, and was laid up 

 for more than twelve months. 



In those days there was a law by which a deodand 

 or fine was laid upon the cause of death in cases of 

 accident, and in this instance it was upon the coach. 

 Altogether, the accident caused the proprietors a loss 

 of no less a sum than fourteen hundred pounds ; 

 but opposition coaches, especially if the opposition 

 was strong, were frequently very expensive, as 



