download the last version for iphoneOld Snook

The culprit was identified as James Snook, who was already a wanted man after a number of robberies between Bath and Salisbury. It was believed that the culprit worked at the Kings Arms as an ostler, and would thus have some knowledge of the post boy’s route. The day after the theft, Postmaster and High Constable John Page initiated investigations into the crime, it was then that several people came forward and stated they remembered seeing a man at the Kings Arms fixing a broken girth-strap on his saddle. The saddle was used to identify the robber. On 11 March 1802 the London Chronicle revealed that a saddle, with a broken strap, was also dumped by Snook – a fatal error as it would transpire. The robber discarded the unwanted letters and leather bags they were stored in, leaving them strewn across the moor. The details of Snook’s fateful crime are that on the evening of Sunday he held up a post boy called John Stevens, who was carrying several bags of mail from Tring to Hemel Hempstead.Īt the secluded site in Boxmoor Snook struck, threatening Stevens and making off with banknotes, promissory notes and letters to the value of around £80. The ‘Robert’ moniker is thought to derive from a corruption of the word ‘robber’. The execution took place on 11 March 1802, where Snook, who was born in Berkshire in August 1761, was hanged. James Blackman Snook, also known as Robert, was the last man to be executed for highway robbery at the scene of his crime in England.

Download the last version for iphoneOld Snook