they found it necessary to use a heavy
pickaxe. The noise they made seems to have aroused the inmates of the
neighbouring houses, and it is said that one resident struck a light and
actually saw them at work, but he concluded that they were merely doing
something in connection with the extensive drainage alterations which
had been in progress for many months. This light apparently disturbed
the thieves, for they departed with their burden and the pickaxe and
retraced their steps. Close to the Parish Institute they managed, in
spite of the darkness, to discover a gap in the hedge, and having forced
the wheelbarrow through this, they left unmistakable traces of the route
taken across the adjoining field.

[Illustration: THE OLD POST OFFICE, WESTBURY-ON-TRYM.]

Having wheeled the safe some 300 or 400 yards, and some 50 yards beyond
the cottages in Canford Lane, they again brought the pickaxe into
requisition, and some hours later a workman discovered the safe, with
one end broken into dozens of pieces, lying near the hedge. He at once
gave information to the police. It was afterwards found that, although
the thieves had removed the paper money from the safe, they had thrown
the postal orders, money order forms, stamps, licenses, etc., into a
neighbouring field, where they were found strewn about in great
disorder. The safe contained postal orders stamps, postcards, and cash
of the total value of L315. Cash to the value of L25 was the extent of
the thieves' booty, and they left behind them three L5 notes, half a
sovereign, and two sixpences, which were found on the grass. As all the
articles were dry, it was apparent that the robbery took place after 2
a.m., up to which time there had been rain. The officials at the office
had begun their morning's work quite unconscious of what had happened,
when Police Sergeant Greenslade appeared with the handle of the safe.
The fact of the officials not having been disturbed may be accounted for
by the circumstance that blasting operations had been carried on at
night in the immediate neighbourhood for some twelve months before. The
sub-postmistress and her family, it appeared, did not retire to rest
until very near midnight, and it is supposed that they were in their
first heavy sleep, but it is a mystery why the dog, a sharp fox terrier,
remained quiet.

The safe was kept in a prominent position in the shop--two people slept
just over it--and the exterior of the shop was well light