The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

communication with the guard's seat. Pierce went in a
first•class carriage. I walked up towards the engine.
did not see which carriage Pierce got into. Before the
train started I watched my opportunity, when Mr. Wether•
head turned his back, and got into the guard's•ran, where
the bags had been placed.

Burgess slammed to the door, and in a few minutes
the train started. Burgess accompanied the train
in the gold-van. Mar then details with much gusto
what he saw and what he did upon his journey to
Folkestone :
I saw the two iron chests there which contained the
bullion, and as soon as the train moved I got up and
unlocked the chest. Burgess said there was upwards of
12,000/. in gold in the chest. I unlocked one chest with
one of my keys. One lock was not in use. I found a
wooden box, nailed round with some iron hopping. I had
some boxwood wedges and a wooden mallet, and with
these I forced open the box and drew the nails out. I
found that the box contained gold bars. I emptied that
box of the gold bars, and filled it up with the shot. I re-
placed the lesser nails, and fastened the box up again;
but previous to finishing the box we had arrived at Red-
hill, and Pierce got out of his carriage and got into the van
where I was. I did not see Tester at Redhill, but Burgess
told me it was all right. It was arranged that Tester
should take a load from Redhill to lighten our load. I
placed one of the bags iu another courier-bag (a black
one) which I brought from London with me, and which
was brought by us in the cab. J gave that to Burgess to
give to Tester. I did not see Tester. The train then
proceeded with Pierce and Burgess and me in the van, and
we proceeded to finish the filling up of the first box and
putting in the nails. I then put it in the safe, and took
out another box which was in the same safe and that
contained gold coin, and we put that into one of the bags
together with some coupons of a foreign railway, and we
filled up that box with shot in the same way and placed it
in the iron safe, and locked the sate up and left it as we
found it. We then unlocked the second safe and found a
larger box in it, with ropes at each end for handles, and
which on being opened we found to contain what I believe
was Californian gold in bars of a different colour. We
took as much as we had brought shot to make up the
weight, and we made up the weight, and replaced that
box in the safe after we had fastened it up. We broke
the seals of the boxes in opening them, and then we
melted the wax and resealed the seals with some seals
which Pierce had bought in Fetter lan,?.. They wet.,
steel seals which had been suspended in the window of a
shop, and were bought by chance, as we thought that
any letter •would do. I think there was only one lock
to either safe. We fastened up the safe, and went on to
Folkestone. We swept up the dust in the van. I saw
the safe put on the platform in the usual way, and we
went on to Dover.

In due time they reached Dover, and got out as first-
class passengers:—
We went to the baggage•van and asked for our
carpet bags, and Burgess gave them to us, and we
went to the hotel where the name of the owner
is Divers, and we ordered some supper. We
left Burgess in the train ; he did not come to the hotel.
Pierce had a black wig and whiskers at that time, and a
broad•brimmed hat. We had our supper. I know the
waiter by sight. He asked me if we were going to stay
there that night. I told him no ; that we had driven in
from Deal, and I think I said I was going up by the
mail-train. I think it started at two o'clock. We sent
the waiter out to get some cigars and brandy in a soda.
water bottle, so as to replace our canvas bags, which we
Jid, and went to the railway terminus. We carried our
bags ourselves. At the station a porter wanted to carry
our bags, but I objected, and he politely forced it out of
my hand and put it into the carriage. He asked us for
our tickets, and we showed him two return•tickets from
Ostend, which Pierce Raid he had got from a person
named Groom. The porter made the obse-vation that no
baggage had come through the customs that night. I
told him it was the day before, and gave him a few still-
lings, and he did not trouble me with any other questions.
That useful confederate, Burgess, was guard of the
return-train, and of course be put " engaged " over
one cariLige window:—

We had the carriage to ourselves, and going along
we opened the bags and threw the hay out of
them, and placed the gold bars in two small
hand carpet bags that had been inside the carpet bag.
At one of the stations (I don't know the nem.) Pierce got
out, and placed the two bags behind the door of the waiting
room, and a porter spoke to him, and he said be was look-
ing for a friend, and he got into the train, and we came up
to London. We got out of the train with one small bag
containing the gold, and walked outside the gate of the
station, when we got into a cab, and Pierce and I told the
driver to the Great Western, and, getting out there, we told
him that we had made a mistake. It was the Euston-
square station we wanted to go to, and he took us there;
and we got out and went into a public-house, and then
Pierce got another cab, and we got into that, and drove to
Pierce's house, when we got out and walked to the house
with the gold. Pierce went to Grove-street, to hire a horse
and cart to remove the gold. I saw the horse and cart
brought. All the gold coins had been sold at two places
by Pierce before that. We had gone in a cab together to
meet Tester in the Borough Market, and met him there,
and he gave us the bar of gold we had given out the night
before ; and Pierce and I then got into another cab, and
drove to the side of the East India-house. I waited in the
cub with the bar of gold, while Pierce went into a shop
with part of the gold coins at the corner of St. Mary Axe.
Pierce told me that he asked for English gold, and the man
said he had not enough, but would draw a cheque, and
send to the bankers for it; and he did so as Pierce told


1091

me. We then went in the cab up to the Haymarket, and
Pierce took the remainder of the vine into a shop there.
I think the name was Spielman They paid him there
with a cheq:e on the Union Bank, and Pierce went in and
got the money. It was upwards of 2001. We then chang.-
that cab and got into another to Pierce's house, and tcalt
the gold bar with us.

At this stage of the proceedings the further hear-
ing of the case was postponed till Monday, the exa-
mination in chief of the witness not having been
concluded. The most intense interest Wass manifested
in the court during the examination.

THE APPLICATION FOR A CRIMINAL INFORMATION
against Mr. Under-Sheriff Rose, by Mr. Horry,
barrister, was refused by Lord Campbell on Monday
at the Queen's Bench. The case was one of libel,
and the circumstances are these :—Mr. Horry, in
September last, was engaged in the defence of a
prisoner (Ruddiman) at the Central Criminal New
Court. From the accidental omission of the case on
the list of the trials for the day, Mr. Horry left the
New Court after inspecting the list, and went to the
Old Court. In the course of the afternoon Ruddi-
man was tried and convicted at the New Court.
Mr. Horry, upon hearing this, searched for the
prisoner's friends in order to return the fee. He
could not find them, but he kept the guinea wrapt
up in his pocket for some days, in the hope that they
would come into court. The matter came to the
ears of Mr. Under-Sheriff Rote, who in the lobby of
the court characterised the affair as " a fraudulent
transaction." The Times report gave an inaccurate
version of the affair; Mr. Horry wrote on the 19th
September to correct the reporter; on the 23rd Mr.
Under-Sheriff Rose wrote a powerful letter support-
ing the report, and insinuating every base motive to
Mr. Horry ; on the 24th Mr. Horry replied, denying
on oath every statement in Mr. Rose's letter. It was
on account of this reply that Lord Campbell refused
the application, holding that to Mr. Horry's complete
vindication of his conduct no denial had been given;
Ma. 13ESSEMER'S PETITION that the Great Seal be
affixed to his patent for an improvement in the
process of smelting iron was heard by the Lord
Chancellor on Tuesday. It appeared that Mr. Birch,
the manager of the Bowling Ironworks, had entered
a caveat against the sealing of the patent, oh the
ground that the process had been already patentee
by him, and had been in use for a year at the works
of which he was the manager. The Lord Chancellor
said that he had looked through the two specifica-
tions, and was of opinion the patent should be sealed,
as there was a great deal in Bessemer's specification
which was not to be found in Birch's. There would
be no order as to the costs.
RICHARD COPE, the journeyman watchmaker of
Parliament-street, Who was so brutally beaten on
the night of the 20th Oct. by the ticket.of-leard
man, Marley, died on Sunday afternoon last. On
Wednesday the inquest was held, when the principal
witnesses, the boy Lerigo who first discovered Mar-
ley attacking Cope in Mr. Berry's shop, the cabman
Allen who pursued and caught Marley, and the dif-
ferent police officers concerned in the matter, all
gave evidence, at the conclusion of which the jury,
after a few minutes' deliberation, returned a verdict
of " Wilful murder" against Robert Marley, accom-
panying it with a strong expression of admiration of
the conduct of Lerigo and Allen, who were solely
instrumental in the prisoner's capture. The prisoner
was examined at Bow-street on Thursday, and fully
committed to take his trial on the charge of " Wilful
murder."

GAROTTING, ROBBERY, STABBING, AND MURDER
continue to flourish in the metropolis. We have
several interesting cases of the sort this week, and,
from the sagacity and boldness the rogues display,
we may expect soon to hear of a little more combi-
nation upon their part, and something done worthy
of the reputation of the ticket of-leave brotherhood.
Mr. Risley, a builder of Bermondsey, was found
on Monday morning, lying in Garrett lane, Wands-
worth, with his throat cut. The same night the son
of an Erith market gardener had been to take leave
of some friends at Battersea, previous to his sailing
for Australia. He was known to have a large sum
of money about him. He never reached home, and
the next day his body, stabbed in sixteen places, was
found on the river bank. On Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday nights, extensive robberies were com-
mitted in Pimlico and in Tower street, while no less
than four cases of attempted stabbing have this week
been brought before the police magistrates ; and a
respectable woman on Tuesday, about seven p.
while passing near Southwark-bridge, was garotted
and robbed in the open street, and a journeyman
glazier on Monday morning was seized upon and
robbed in the Caledonian-road, and a mechanic
sitting quietly on one of the benches in St. Unseal-
park, an evening or two ago, was knocked senseless
and robbed by a ruffian within a few hundred feet of
Scotland-yard.
THE BRYN MALLY MINE INQUEST has terminated in
a verdict of °Accidents' death,"