The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-04-26
BRIGHTON ROAD RoMANcEs.


reaches and Courtships-No
Crime of Famous English High
way.
If romance can still cling to a road in
spite of motor cars and three speed
gears, the Brighton road should retain
them.
From the days when coaches first be-
gan to run to the obscure fishing village
of Brightelmstone, about one hundred
and fifty years ago, through the gor-
geous days of the Regency, when the
Strange new eccentricity' of sea bath
ing had become the fashion, the Brlgh-
ton road has amassed reeollections till
there is scarcely yard that has not
some story to tell, writes Charles d.
HaWser in the London Daily Mail.
The best method Of conveyance on
the Cuckfield road was by pair horse
coaches. These started at eight o'clock
in the morning, and, if nothing inter-
vened, proceeded steadily and boldly as
far as Preston, where they stopped at,
the public house-it being a prescriptive
right ow all coachmen in those days
never to pass public house without
calling, The next stoppage was at the
bottom of Clayton Hill-the formidable
Clayton Hill-where the coachman de-
scended from his box and eivilly obliged
all the passengers, outside and in, to
walk up on the plea that "the roads
were very heavy; it being absolutely
killing to the horses.
This walk to the top of Clayton Hill
took about half an hour, and was very
fatiguing, especially if a man had the
gallantry to offer his arm to fat Wild
ow. From Clayton Hill the coach
"snailed it on toward Cuckfield, the
coachman not deeming it proper to ask
the passengers to walk above three or
four times until he arrived at that little
town.
There was an advantage and an IN
terest in travelling by coach which trav-
cling by rail can never communicate,
In the former you saw men and their
faces, and acquired some information in
the latter youlearn nothing, except the
number of persons killed or injured by
the last accident. A young man who
entered the coach at eight o'clock in the
morning at Brighton took his seat, per-
haps, opposite young lady whom ne
thought pretty and interesting.
When he arrived at Cuckfield he be-
gan to be in love; at Crawley he was
desperately smitten; at Relgate his
passion became Unbelievable, and
when he gave her an arm to ascesnd
the steep ridges of Relgate Hill-a just
emblem, by the way, of human life-he
declared his passion, was accepted and
they were married soon after.
Nothing Of the sort ever occurs on
railroads Sentiment never blooms on
the, iron soil Of these sulky convey
ances. A woman was a creature to be
looked at, admired. eourted and be-
loved in a stage coach, but on rail-
way a woman Is nothing but package,
bundle of goods committed to the
care Of the railway company's servants,
who take care of the poor thing rs they
would take care Of any other bale Of
goods. 1t is said that matches are made
in Heaven; it may likewise be said that
matches more often began in the old
stage coaches, and that railroads are
! the antipodes of love-
In every circumstance Ditching COM
mon recalls the Crackskull Common Of
the eighteenth century comedies, for It
has a little horror of its own in the
shape of an authentic fragment Of a
giblet. This is the silent reminder of a
crime committed near at hand at the
Royal Oak Inn Wivelsield, in 1884, In
! that year Jacob Harris, a Jew pedler
came to the inn and stabling his horse,
attached Miles, the landlord, while he
was grooming the animal down and cut
his throat. The servant maid, hearing
disturbance In the stable and coming
down stairs to see the cause Of it, was
murdered in the same way; and then
! the Jew calmly walked up stairs and
slaughtered the landlords wife, who
was lying i'll in bed None of these un-
1 fortunate people died at once. The two
women expired the same night, but
Miles lived long enough to identify the
! assassin, who was hanged at Horsham,
bis body being hung In chains from this
gibbet, ever since known as Jacobs
Post
ieces of wood from this gallows trees
were long and highly esteemed by
country folk as charms and were often
carried about with them as preventives
of all manner of accidents and diseas-
es; indeed, its present meagre proper
lions are due to this practice and be-
lief.
1t is lonely spot, with but one cot
tage near at hand; the common undu-
lating away for miles until it reaches
close to the gray barrier Of the noble
South Downes, rising magnifcently in
the distance.