Jack Sheppard--The Robbery of the Mail Coach

Biograph summary: This scene is a pleasing variation from the chase pictures which have recently become so popular, in that it is laid in the 17th Century during the period when the famous gentleman highwayman "JACK SHEPPARD" rode boldly up and down the highways of Merry England robbing the rich and aiding the poor. The costumes are all appropriate to the times. At the opening an old time mail coach is seen lumbering along a picturesque road. "JACK SHEPPARD" and a companion on horseback hold up the coach with their horse-pistols and courteously deprive the passengers of their valuables. One hysterical lady faints and the men in the party are helpless. The two bold highwaymen gallop away just as a couple of guardsmen ride up. The guard men learning of the robbery, start off in pursuit of the bandits. The next scene is in a typical English wayside inn. The two robbers gallop up and enter, closely followed by the two guardsmen. Soon after they appear at a window high on a wall and with the aid of a rope quickly lower themselves to the ground. The guardsmen follow immediately discharging their pistols at the fleeing highwaymen. The succeeding scenes are exciting chases over a picturesque English country-side. In one case there is a hand-to-hand conflict and another particularly picturesque portion is where the robbers climb down the edge of a rocky side. The two men finally take refuge in a large tree thinking to escape their pursuers but are discovered and shot out of the tree, the bodies falling heavily to the ground. Thus ends a most dramatic series of incidents.