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Leader (1850-1860), 18th January 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 7, THE U CKFIELD BURGLARY. Six of the men w...

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      Alleged Calumny And Intrigue. The Follow...

      f 8 mp e ° t 7 adTc a tKn of t | c " falsehoods whlehorigmally circulated by Captain Yelyerton and Mr Roebuck , have event ually found their way into public print . But , as Captain Yelverton ' s name is now before the public , I feel bound to make known such facts as I am at liberty to disclose , and which will suffice , I trust , to show what value s to be attached to the calumnious aspersions tempted to be cast on me by * °° ™ V ™ dent wh ° dares not eive his name . Wm . Doria , dares not ^» g tQ H B M > Embassy , Constantinople . P . S . I subjoin Mr . Girdlestone ' s confirmation of the above . Jan . 16 , 1851 . Mv dear Doria , —I have carefully perused your statement which I return enclosed , and have no hesitation in giving my testimony to its truth . B e I remain , yours truly , T . M . GlRDIiESTONE . W . Doria , Esq ., Brunswick Hotel .

      « Hl D Escort Jan. 18, 1851.3 Gftg %Etl*...

      Jan . , 1851 . 3 gftg % etl * St . « £ _

      The U Ckfield Burglary. Six Of The Men W...

      THE U CKFIELD BURGLARY . Six of the men who are charged with having committed the burglary at Dowland-house , near Uckfield , were examined at Tunbrtfge , on Saturdayr ^ l hey cave their names as J . Hamilton , John Smith , James Smith , T . Morgan , W . Hillyer , and J . Carter . Elizabeth Olliver was also charged on suspicion of having some of the stolen property in her possession . The chief witness was Thomas Wood , butler to the Misses Farncombe , who were so ill that they could not attend to give their evidence . He said : — " On Thursday morning , the 2 nd instant , about halfpast three o ' clock , I was alarmed by hearing some persons trying my bedroom door . My room is at the back of the house at the top of the steps reaching from the scullery . I challenged them , and said , ' Who ' s there ?' and not receiving any anwer , I jumped out of bed and seized my gun . Almost at the same moment the men ( five ) rushed into my room by bursting in the door , and on seeing me one said , ' Here is the . ' I see the man who made that remark now before me ; it is the prisoner Morgan . I recognize the prisoner Carter as being one of the five men . I don't particularly recognize any of the others ; they all had masks on . Morgan had a red mask over his face , and Carter a white one and a woman ' s straw bonnet on his head . The others had masks on ; one wore a black one . The black mask produced is similar to the black mask which one of the men wore . On their entering the room Morgan struck at me with a pistol . He hit me on the shoulder , and said , ' D—n your

      eyes be still , and don't make a noise . ' He ordered me to get back into bed . The others were threatening rn ^ e . 1 saw one of them take my watch from the table close to the bed , and also a gold watch key . Carter said , ' Where are your keys ? ' I hesitated , and he said , ' Where are your trousers ? ' I hurled them to him , when he said , 4 Get out of bed and get them , ' and threw them at my head . He got the keys , and 7 s . 6 d ., which was in my pocket . He went to my writing -desk ,, and I noticed another breaking open a box . I said , ' Don ' t break the box open , you have got the key there . ' He replied , ' We don ' t come to unlock locks , we have a different way of doing it . ' He then threatened to blow out my brains if I did not remain silent . At that time I heard the

      alarmbell ringing in one of the upper apartments ; two of the men instantly ran up stairs to silence it . It was ringing in tho servants' room . A third man went outside the door to keep watch . After a short pause one of the men came back , and asked me where a door close to my room led . I informed him that it led to a dressing-room attached to one of the ladies' apartments . They broke open the floor , and shortly afterwards I heard the ladies ( Misses Farncombe ) scream . I instantly appealed to Carter not to nllow his companions to ill-treat the ladies in any way . Carter left me for a few minutes . While lie was with me I had some conversation with him , and I observed that , he looked something like a woman with the bonnet on . There was a good deal of talking between

      them , and I recollect their voices and general appearance I am quite sure about . Carter and Morgan . While Carter was keeping watch over me , one of the men came and grasped me by the collar and dragged me out of bed . I asked him what he wanted me for . lie replied , ' Show me where the plate is . ' He dragged me down stairs . I nsked him to allow me to put on my shoes . He answered , ' I don't wear any shoes , and why should you ? ' He led me into the kitchen , and when I got there I heard the rattling of plate . Others of the gang had already got into the pantry . I said , ' You might as well let me go back ; your companions have found tho plate , I hear . " He drugged me up to the pnntry door , and I there saw two men . They had made a hole in the door . One of the men was holding out an apron while the other was filling it with plate . Tho apron produced is the same they were using , it is mine . One of the men held up two

      plated decanter stands and asked me whether they were silver . 1 said , ' Judge for yourselves . ' The twine purty who led me down , and who I cannot , recognize ) to be ; one ol tho prisoners , then took ino back to my bedroom , leaving Carter with me for about hull an hour . Four of the men the : ii came to me . One addressed me and said , 4 your eyes , if you move from the bed , or muke Jiny noise , e > r any one in the house :, we will blow their l ) - braiiiH out . ' Carter had my gun under his arm , » nd a pistol in one ; hand and n . lighted candle in the either . The men ordered him to keep watch over me for an hour , und one of them spoke to Caiter unel said , ' You keep that gun and brace , and if anyone ; moves for an hour and a half blow their bruins out . ' Carter replied , ' It they do , d ~ my eyes , I'll pop them . ' They then lift , my room , Carter unel all , and I saw no more of them at the time . 1 only huw live . 1 heard them below

      as if ^ uar 7 ellIn ^ arul ^ cornpIaiBfiig"of " Bome of them not being ready to leave . The clock struck five just as I heard the last of them . In the course of ten minutes I got up and hastened to the police-station at Uckfield . " Other witnesses were examined whose evidence went to prove the guilt of the prisoners , but the magistrates decided upon remanding them till the following Saturday .

      Incendiarism And Fire Insurance. Some Ye...

      INCENDIARISM AND FIRE INSURANCE . Some years ago , during a period of agricultural distress , want of employment , and low wages , when " Swing" had commenced his labours in the rural districts , some of the London Insurance offices addressed circulars to the provincial newspapers requesting them to suppress all notice of incendiary fires , as the publication of them only served to fan the flame of popular discontent . This was short-sighted policy on the part of the Insurance directors . Incendiarism must always be viewed as one of the outward symptoms of a deep-seated social malady , and it ought to be cured by removing the cause , not by vsinly trying to keep it from public observation . A wiser course would be for the London offices to fix a much higher rate _ on the insurance of farm property . This would force the farmers to adopt another course than the one which most of them have lately taken . In that case they would begin to see that it is better to save something out of the rent than out of the wages , seeing that the latter course tends to make the starving labourer a pauper , a poacher , or perhaps an incendiary . The following article from the last number of the Post Magazine will show that the Fire Insurance Companies are beginning to adopt the course we recommend , and certainly it was high time for them to do so : — " From all parts of the country the most alarming reports reach us of the prevalence of incendiarism . A correspondent from Thame , in Buckinghamshire , writes , ' Incendiarism is terribly on the encrease in our neighbourhood . ' In Hertfordshire , on the estate of Mr . Dickinson , the extensive paper manufacturer at Hemel Hempstead , a very severe loss has been incurred by an incendiary fire ; and letters from the same locality inform us that this terrible crime is encreasing in that district . A gentleman , who was last week in the vilkge of Thrapston , between Northampton and Peterborough , reports that incendiary fires were of almost nightly occurrence , and the engines constantly driving about the country . Even the metropolitan counties are not exempt , as the late fire at Mr . Jacob Bell ' s , East Hill , Wandsworth , Surrey , and that at Lord Abingdon ' s farm , at Cumnor , Berks , testify . That the leading Fire Assurance Companies should have adopted , in consequence of this serious out-break , a higher scale of premium than ordinary circumstances have heretofore required for the risk of farming stock and farm buildings , is nothing more than reasonable , and consistent with prudence and foresight . But even the hint , which a large ericreased rate of premium should have given to the farmers generally , seems to have had hitherto little effect ; the incendiaries seem almost invariably to escape detection , while so little attempt is made to put down this fearful crime that we can scarcely mention one among the Midland , Eastern , and Southern counties which has not , within the last quarter , been disgraced by incendiarism . " We trust that the nobility and country gentlemen of England will at once exert themselves to arrest this fastspre-ading calamity ; or , in common prudence , the Fire Assurance offices will be compelled to adopt total prohibitory rates of premium upon farm property . The mere encrease of the rate on ordinary farm out-buildings from 3 s . to 48 . per cent , was , we always conceived , perfectly useless either as a hint to the insured to use great precaution and circumspection , or as a remuneration for the encreased risk , to which the prevalence of incendiarism had subjected insurances on agricultural property . We feel cemvinced that a general communication to the insurance agents in the country to the ? effect that the ejffic . 's decline all further insurances on this description of property , would Immediately cause a general activity , and a determination to repress incendiarism . "

      A Difficult Christening. A Case, Which H...

      A DIFFICULT CHRISTENING . A case , which has lately occurred at Magdeburg , is worth relating as an example of the operation ol pome of the old laws anel power . s of the State in Prussia . A man , at Secluiusen , in the Altmark , took his child to be baptized in the church , demanding that he should receive the names of " Jacobi Waldeck . " The clergyman refused to allow the infant to bear names which huve a party sound , though one is that of an eminent physician , the other that e > t a great jurist and judge of the Superior Tribunal of Hcrlin . The father declined to have the child christened by'any name's but those selected by

      himself . Tho clergyman took proceeding against him , and the Court of Law , e ! xe ; re : ising its power , appointed a curator or guardian to act fe > r tho child . Hut the curator appears to have been a friend of the family , for he demanded of the ; consistory that tho baptism shoulel be completed in the names chosen . This was again refused , and the curator required to have tho child christened in " uaual" names . The ; parents would not comply , and , as it was notified that a compulsory huptism ( or Zwamjstaiife ) would be performed , the mother left the 3 place with tho infant ,, anel for Home time eluded the ) enquiries of the police . At last she was discovered in the little town

      of- ^ rentfeeer-arfe & t ^ d T-and-broughl under an escort of gendarmes to Seehausen — the infant , as the corpus delicti , snugly packed in a hand-basket or trag-korb , and carried by two men , in safe custody " . Arrived in Seehausen , the mother was taken to the prison , and the infant to the church . The burgomaster and the gensdarmes were m attendance as witnesses , and with locked doors the rite was performed , the child being taken back to the parents , named as their " superiors " pleased . But even this was not the end of the affair . The mother , for

      refusing to give up the child and absconding with it , was charged with " resistance by act to an officer of the authorities or Obrigkeit in the dischage of its orders , " and was condemned to two months' imprisonment . Against this sentence she appealed , but the Court of Magdeburg has confirmed the decision , and the mother is now in confinement .

      Three Persons Burnt To Death. A Fire Bro...

      THREE PERSONS BURNT TO DEATH . A fire broke out at the Coach and Horses public-house , St . Martin ' s-lane , on Wednesday morning , the consequences of which have been most disastrous , three persons , respectively aged eighteen years , ten years , and six years , having fallen victims to the flames . The house _ jp . as __ kep _ t . _ . by _ Ben Caunt , the pugilist and exchampion of England , and tvvo ^ the deceased parties are his children , the third a relative of Mrs . Caunt . The building was three stories high , and had three rooms on each floor . In the attics slept three children , together with the deceased Ruth Lowe , Ed-ward Noakes , a waiter , and Samuel Lowe , the potman , who was also a cousin 06 Mrs . Caunt . The second floor front room was occupied

      by Mrs . Caunt ; the middle room contained a spare bed , and in the third or back room slept the nurse , with an infant child of Mrs . Caunt . Mr . Caunt had lefc town on Tuesday afternoon for Lewisham , on . a shooting excursion , and Mrs . Caunt having closed the house , about two o'clock on Wednesday morning , went to bed . Before doing so , she requested her niece , who had hitherto occupied the second floor spare room , to sleep with her that night , as Mr . Caunt was absent . The young woman consented , and went into her room to fetch her night-dress , taking the opportunity , at the request of her aunt , to examine the apartment and look under the bed to see that no one was concealed in the house . She had a candle in her hand while thus engaged , and it is

      thought that , an accidental spark falling upon some combustible material in this room , must have occasioned the catastrophe . Mrs . Caunt had been in bed only a very few moments when she was awakened by the waiter calling out from the third floor that the house was on fire , and urging his mistress to make her escape . Mrs . Caunt roused her niece instantly , and , hastening out of her own room , went to the middle room for the purpose of alarming the nurse , who was sleeping with her infant in the back room . As soon as she opened the door of the middle room , Mrs . Caunt was overpowered by the flames and smoke with which the room was filled . With great intrepidity , however , she rushed forward , and , forcing open the door of the third room , called to

      the nurse to bring out her child . The nurse , perceiving her danger in an instant , diel not stop to dress herself , but snatched up the child and followed Mrs . Caunt out of the room , literally walking through the flames , with which the apartment was filled . Meantime Noakes , the waiter , had opened the trapdoor in the roof , and was handing the persons who slept in this part of the house on to the leads , and thence down through a skylight into the adjoining dwelling . The barmaid , the maid-servant , anel Mr . Caunt ' s eldest son ( a boy about twelve years of age ) , were all rescued in this manner , and placcel in safety by Noakes , who returned to look for the other children , but unfortunately too late to save them . It

      appears that , in their alarm and excitement , they had got out of the bed and hidden themselves beneath it ; and here , when the file was got under , the Brigade men found their remains burnt almost to a cinder . The body of Ruth Lowe , a remarkably fine young woman , aged eighteen , was found in another part of the room extended on the floor , and reduced to an almost shapeless mass . There was very little time lost in reducing the lire after the engines were f ^ ot to work , and the extent of damage done to the house is cennparatively trifling . The esoape e > f the itoyul Society for the Preservation of Life from Fire , stationed near St . Martin's Church , was early on the spot , but ne > t sufficiently so to render essential service .

      Intkllkstini; To Cl.Kkks. A Case Of Some...

      INTKllKSTINi ; TO Cl . KKKS . A case of some interest to clerks and employers was heard in the Court , of Common Pleas , on Tuesday . At the ? last sittings before term Messrs . Fry , who are builders at St . John ' s Wood , brought an action agaiuat a man name-el Hromlcy , their clerk , for losing upwards of £ 100 belonging to them through gross negligence . On that occanion a verelie : t wan give ; n in their favour , and em Tuesday Sergeant Hyles moved for a rule nisi for a new trial on the ground that th (> ve ielie : t was against the evidence , llromley had been sent , by the plaintiffs te > Messrs . J resce ) tt . ' s bank for £ 'i < i in silver anel £ 120 in gold , t . e > pay the we-ekly wages of the pl'iinlills' workpeople . On receiving the bags < : ontuiniiig the money ho placed them in a curpet-hug , fastened with a ehiHp , and returned to St . John ' s wood in an omiiibiiH . In Haker-Htrcct . he got into a se-eond omnibus , ut which time the carpet-bag wan all right . In Uaker-street a man wearing a great coat got into the omnibus , near Lorel ' n Cricketground , and sat near him , the bug being . placed on the Beat . When he got out of the omnibus he funcied the bag felt light , and on examining it ho found that a ttmall hole had been cut through the carpet-bag , and that tho bug containing tho sovere ! Jf { i » H had been emptied of its contents with the exception of two or three half-novercif < ns . The appearance of the haun corroborated bin statement ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 18, 1851, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18011851/page/7/