The great novelist was the subject of an attempted highway robbery in 1862 when a criminal tried to overturn his carriage . Dickens escaped harm because he had missed the train he usually took . Records unearthed from the South Eastern Gazette Newspaper Archive show that the author complained about noise next to his home , Gad 's Hill Place . A local man was jailed for stealing hay from Dickens ' house .
The great novelist was the subject of an attempted highway robbery in 1862 when a criminal tried to overturn his carriage . Dickens escaped harm because he had missed the train he usually took . Records unearthed from the British Newspaper Archive show that the author complained about noise next to his home , Gad 's Hill Place . A local man was jailed for stealing hay from Dickens ' house .