It was not unusual for
a coach to bog down or overturn. Sometimes it had to detour around
an impassable stretch of road or borrow a couple of oxen from a
nearby farm to get out of a quagmire. Men and horses drowned in
some of the potholes. Robbery was endemic and some of the roads
were so unsafe from highwaymen that bands of armed horsemen were
hired to accompany the coaches. It was not unusual to come across
gibbets for hanging at crossroads. At coach headquarters in inns
in London, there were casual workers who associated with gangs of
thieves specialized in passengers' goods. Traveling merchants
preferred packhorses to carts because they could cross overland or
through watercourses more easily. These pack horses traveled in
regular caravans in single file. The leader had a bell around his
neck to warn, from a distance, riders or carts coming in the
opposite direction. Carts traveled about two miles an hour. In
1711 the trustee system superseded administration by the Justices
of the Peace of the turnpike system, including tolls and toll
booths. The toll booths were frequently attacked by riotous mobs.
So anyone pulling down or destroying turnpike gates at which tolls
are to be paid shall go to prison or put to hard labor in a House
of Correction for three months without bail. He shall also be
whipped in the market place between 11:00 and 2:00. If he offends
a second time, he shall be transported for seven years.
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