Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-05
Romance Of Mafl.Csrry ing.
London News.

The business Of carrying the mails,
whether by land OF sea, was in the
good old days fertile Of romance. The
very instructions given 20 captains a
the mail packets breathe the spirit Of
adventure; they were "to run while
they could, to fight when they could
no longer run, and to throw the mails
overheard when fighting would no
longer avail" Frequent were the en-
counters with highwsymen by land,
and with the French at sea. Gen.
orally the highwsymen were mere
ly vulgar ruffians in search Of
purses and watches. In chasing and
lighting these the guards Of the coaches
often showed true British bravery. One
of these, in reward for the courage he
had shown, was presented by George
III. with key Of Windsor Park, to be
used by him and his descendants as
long as they drove coach between
Reading and London. Occasionally,
however, the highwaymen were of a
different type, and were in search of
what was infinitely more precious to
them than gold. When Sir John Coch-
rane was in prison for his participation
in the Monmouth rebellion, the mail
packet coming from the south was sup
posed to contain the warrant for
his execution. Animated by this be-
lief, Sir Johns daughter, Grizel Coch-
rane, dressed herself in male attire,
and, mounting on feet horse, pro-
ceeded to Berwick-on-Tweed. On
'Tweedmouth moor she fell in with the
postboy. She dismounted him and
threatened him with immediate death
unless he gave up the post-packet,
which be ultimately did. The warrant
not reaching its destination the execu-
ton could not take place, and in the
time thus gained other members Of Sir
Johns family found means, by the
help Of heavy ransom, to secure his
pardon.
Although the romance OF the present
day may pale before these thrilling ad-
ventures, yet the service is not without
its heroes even now and there is some
satisfaction in the reflection that the
rsmances Of to-day more often than
not consist in devotion, even to death,
to the duties of the service. Thus two
lctter-carriers persisted, not many
years ago, in q snow-storm, and 1t was
discovered that their last act had
been to tie their bags upon one of
the roads posts, where they could
be readily found and conveyed
to their destination by others. Again,
in 1856, on the occasion Of the founder
ing of the mail packet between Dover
and 0stend, the officer in charge Of the
mails, seeing that the mails could not
be saved, removed all the cases contain
ing the mail-bags from the hold. lie
persisted in the performance of his duty,
but he achieved the end for which he
thus CALAMITY sacrificed his life,
for the bags foated instead of
going down with the vessel, and
they were all ultimately recoy-
cred. One might add another instance
of this fine spirit of devotion to duty
which was given about two years ago
by letter-sorter belonging to a
travelling post-ofiice. The carriage in
which he and another sOrter were at
work was smashed by collision, and
they themselves were badly injured.
One was senseless and the other nearly
so he was incapable of speech. but he
was able, by pointing to the green bag
containing registered letters. to save 1t
from being lost in the general wreck
and confusion.