The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-22 00:00:00

DARDIG ROBBERY AT NIACCLESFIELD.

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house of Mr. John Deno, upholstererg
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pistols. The premises were entered about seven eecia:k
from the street in trout of the shop, which is one of the
moat crowded thoroughfares in the borough. Mrs. Dean.
who is an elderly lady, wee at home and in tne back parlour,
with two neighbours who had dropped in to visit her, one
of them being Mr. Jackson, a draper in the inariet-pirce,
and the other being Miss Newton, a dressmaker.
Jackson had entered about a quarter betcre sewn by the
shop door, the chain of which had been lett down
when Miss Newton entered, and had left it as he
found it, fastened only by the ordinary string
catch, which is turned by a liAudlo or klicl)
The tone were rn wove/elution, when a noise r, heard in
the shod, and Miss Newton rose to a•certein the ca ..e, but
ear g.ving to the parlour dour utter, d a thriek and a etreated
precipitately int.. the room before the five rubbers. The
hour was one /el uid.i:ely ler a robbery, and so little was
anything of the kind cep cot d, that ell the icmat, s appear
to hare imagined r rouse moments th it the wh..la was a
:reek of sonic of their neighbours, and uuly done playfully
to claim them. Four of the men advanced into the par-
lour, producing pis:, Is in either hand, w Lilat a fifth stood
be a, if somewhat fearing recognition, notwithstanding
his m isk. Their first proceeding on enter:llg wet to de-
ineud from Mrs. Dean some deeds, or bonds, le longing
to a loan society, of which Mr. Demo, her husband,
is the treasurer, cud the usual parented meeting
of which had taken place en the prelims even-
ine. Mrs. Dean told them ate Ead no deeds,
but one of the re:Earls, a tall men, said he ku:w better,
and letting directed Mr. Jackson to be tied to !,:ei chair and
fettered, three of the men were left to guard him end the
whilst the tad man rind another tuck a lighted candle
front the table and proceeded up stairs. After a time the
tall man returned and belie,' Mrs. Wan for the Loan Bo-
ciety's carpet bag, contaming the money brought is by Mr.
Dian the night before, and placing a pistol to her lane said
II.! would blow out her brains instantly unless the keys
were given him of the bag and of the place where it was
kept. Without waiting for an answer hom the terribed
lady, he at the same time thrust one of hie hands into her
',ie.:set and took the keys. lie that returned up stairs,
directieg the three accomplices to tie the ladies to their
chairs, and fetter them to prevent pursuit when
the robbery should be completed. The p.uuderers were
uecupied up stairs nearly 20 minutes altogether, and when
tney returned below, the taller man, who appeared to be the
leader,spoke to the others, on teeing that they had net made
all their prisoners safe, in a rather peremptory voice, say-
ing he never knew such bungling work in his efe. They
ultimately decamped about hMbpast seven o'clock, by the
back door. Mr. Jackson supposing they were still in the
house, liberated himself by untying one of his Lmds with
his teeth, so as to get hie right heed lose. Ile then cut
the other fastenings with his pocket-knife, and Lastenett
out, sending in a neighbour to liberate Mrs. Deans and
Miss Newton, and then going forward to the Town-hall,
informed the police. The robbers, however, got clear oh.
On on examination of the bedrooms It wt.. found that the
robbers had taken the carpet bag, containing 1281. 10s. to
serer belonging to the loan society, and 4101. Dank
England note, two 101. and three 5/. ditto, with between
and 301. in gold. Some old coin., which included a
guinea (having the appearance of a new ern), a shilling of
the reign of Queen .tune, with a silver petsnt lever watch,
belonging to Mr. Dein, had been alto taken. The box tr-
long.iig to a missionary society had been breken into, but
the robbers boding only copper coin V, it :in hael rot further
,iieturbed it. Toe rubb:ry was evidently planted and exe-
c:it:a by men who knew the }tense, reel were well ac-
quaiated with the town, for one of :him eel cutedly
dressed Mr. Jackson and Miss Nortni, as 11,1
as Mrs. Dean, by name, and another of them had shcrt
lengths of cord slung round nis neck, as a
tailor places his thread, to tie the inmates with when they
entered. They had locked the shop dour alter entering to
prevent surprise. Dy their usking for the deeds it is con-
jectured that they had a further object in the robbery than
the mere seizure of money. The loan society, which con-
sists of evert a dozen po pie, has been in exigence many
years, and had lent money altogether to nearly a thoutend
pereons, securing repayment by bonds, and it is supposed
that the recovery of some of these hands with a view of
d. straying them and thus cancelling some of the debts was
an object in view, and hence it is supposed that tome of the
robbers are either debtors of the society or have friends in
that position. _

Titre rebbers seem to have acted with great coolness, hut
to have resorted to no unnecessary or brutal violence. Miss
Newton is said to have resisted a good deal, as well as Mr.
Jackson, when about to be tied, and one of the men said,
" We shall do you no harm, Miss New:on, but it is us, lets
is resist ; we have an object to acekrupii,h, and we must
effect it: if you do not submit we stall blew your brains
out without hesitation." Mr. DI an had gone cut ler a
walk during the cccurrence, and his astonishment on re-
turning hems may be imagined. Mr. Jackson says, " I
have a brother on the way to Australia, and Reeving that
Mr. Dean was about to write to two of his sons who are
there, 1 went down to his bear, that he might inclose a
message to my brother. I had not been in the back
parlour mute than ten or fifteen minutes when the rob-
' hers entered. There was a folding screen before the parlour
done, and when they entered, after a faint scream from
Miss Newton, who had gone behind the screen to get to the
door, 1 supposed it a mere piece of buffoonery on the port et
some young men in the neighbourhacd. Ou perceiving
that they were well armed, however, I snspectel their real
purpse, and earl limed " What do you meat, ?" One of
them field, "We want sonic deeds belonging to the loan
society that Mr. Dean has." 1 rejoined, " The fact is, you
wont to rob the house!" I then endeacoured to rush be-
tween them and gain the door, to give an alarm, but they
seized me by the shoulders and forced me back again into
an arm chair, where they held me with their lett hands
whilst with the right they thrust three or four pistols to my
head. I was in a great rage, and struggled for
10111, time, but they succeeded in tying my feet to
the legs of the chair, and then tried to pinion
my arms behind. This I resisted so successfully—saying 1
'foetid di: rather than submit—that they at length con-
sented to tie my wrists to the arms of the chair instead ; and
this 1 consented to the m re readily, because 1 had hopes
of liberating myself in time to follow and give them into
' custody. Mrs. Dean succeeded at once in throwing up the
lower sash of the parlour window, but the shutters outside
were closed, and before she could open them the ruffians
were upon her, and they forced her into a chair.
they were tying her, I said, " She is lame and a cripple at
present, and why hurt and alarm her unnecessarily ?" One
of the men replied, " We must not have any one following us
out to give an alarm or see the direction we take." Whilst I
was struggling with the men I perceived that my watch (which
is a gold one) was out of my pocket, and hanging by the.
guard in front of me; and 1 took hold of it hastily to return
it to my pocket without being perceived, upon which one at
the wan said, " Oh, you don't need be afraid of your
watch, Mr. Jackson, we don't want anything belonging to
you." And this man took the watch and examined it, and
then returned it to my waistcoat pocket. The robbers, as
before stated, had each a brace of pistols, but only Otte of
them was seen with a bludgeon, which he produced in the
struggle with Mr. Jackson, but did not use. Three of the
men ~re thus described. Two of them were taller than the
others,; one of these was very tall and had large black
whiskers, a dark top coat, darker trousers, and hat. An-
other was about 6 feet 7 inches high, with a dark
blue Taglioni coat, trousers of rather a light mix-
ture, and black hat. A third was a short, stout
man, with broad brown cord trousers, and wore a Taglioni
coat and black hat. One of the others wore a cap. All
had masks, which appeared to consist of dork.coloured
cotton, with holes cut in them for the eyes. One of these
masks was left behind, and consists of a piece of black cot-
ton, shaped to tit on the head, under a h it, from the front
of wkich is suspended another piece, heeling openings for
the eyes sad mouth. Mr. Jackson, in struggliog with the
robbery, dashed the mask of one of them aside, saying, " I'll
know you again." The man readjusted it, tying one of the
cords they had brought round the lower part, to prevent
its being removed a second time. Whi:st the robbery
was going on, hundreds of people were passing the
fr:nt doer of the shop, and within twenty yards of
the back many hundreds of people were engaged in public
worship at the Townley.street Independent Chapel. Yes-
terday Mrs. Dean, who has been in ill health and suffering
from a wound in one foot, was much indisposed from the
ex, itement and fright to which she had been subjected.
Nothing is known of the thieves, but the tall man and
another were seen on Saturday night, it is believed, loiter-
ing about the lower end of the room in which the Loan
society met, but no one put any questions to them, suppos-
ieg they were connected with members present. Two men
of similar description were also surprised a few days prt
ei-
cus!y in Mr. Dean's back yard, by his son, and when Seel. ~4
what they were about, appeared somewhat confused, rail
replied that they were in search of a loan society they und, r-
stood to be somew here in that neighbourhood. It was remarked
by the neighbour who unfettered Mrs. Dean and Mss
Newton that their cords were fastened with what ere
known as " weavers' knots," and from these and ott...r
circun.stanees, it is suspected that the robbery was planni
by thieves who have been weavers in the neighbourhoi
but executed with the assistance of strangers, possess', g
much more tact and adroitness than such men wound
possess.
Mr. W. Harper, chief constable of l'elseelestield, has taken
active steps to trace the rubbers, and has issued handbill.,
offering a reword of 1007. for their apprehension, but up to
last eight no intelligence respecting them had been obtainen.
Some men left Macclesfield by the London and Norte
Westr rn Railway to Manchester the game evening, who it
is thought had taken put in the robbery.

AMERICA.—LIVERPOOL, MONDAY. —Up to the
present time there has been no intelligence of the royal
mail steam ship Africa, Capt. Harrison, which was to have.
left New York at noon on the 9th inst. The Africa, here-
tofore having been very regular in her trips, it is presumed
that her departure may have been delayed by the dense
fogs which existed at the time of the Baltic's sailibiz. A
me-mite has been received from Holyhead up to 3.39 p.m.,
at whic't tint., she had not passed there.

• - -
REFREoIIMENT Rooms IN THE HOUSE OF Coat-
MONS.—Yestcrday, a pariiamcntary paper was issued
respecting the refreshment rooms of the Home of Commons.
The purveyor has been removei, and the committee recom-
mend that the rooms on the ground ti.ior be reserved for
the eonvenience of strangers.
MR. I.te.tULAT. The Academy of Moral and
Politica ticienees at Paris has elected Mr. idicaulior u
corresponding member in the room of Dr. Lingert.
Scotsman.
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