The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-21 00:00:00

UTE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 21, ISM

WESTMINSTER.

IMPUDENT ROBBERY.—David Duffy, aged 46, a tall,
powerful man, who is said to have been previously in cus-
tody, was placed at the bar before Mr. Arnold, charged with
stealing a watch.
The police informed the magistrate that there was no
prosecutor in attendance, but there was a witness who saw
the offence committed. It was a robbery from the person.
Mr. Arnold said that under those circumstances, he would
go on with the case.
John Webb, a cab driver, said that late last night he was
hired by a gentleman at Seymour-street, Euston••square,
and ordered to drive to the Haymarket, where the gentle-
man stopped and had some refreshment with a lady at a
tavern there. Witness was then ordered by the gentleman
to drive to Sutherland-street, Pimlico, and the prisoner fol-
lowed him as ho left the tavern, and got into the cab.
When the gentleman was getting out in Sutherland-street,
the prisoner rushed towards him, and snatching at
his watch, broke it from the guard. Witness
immediately called to the gentleman that he had been
robbed, and that his gold chain was hanging down, and
then prisoner, finding that he had been seen to commit the
robbery, which he had doubtless thought, from the posi-
tion of witness, was unobserved by him, threw the watch
into the cab, •

Mr. Arnold wanted to know how the prisoner got from
the Haymarket to Sutherland-street ?
Witness said when he followed the gentleman out he
asked witness if he would let him stand on the cab-spring
and ride a little way, as he wanted to go to Westminster.
Prisoner said it was all a mistake about his robbing the
gentleman. He was a very honest man, and knew nothing
about the watch.

The cabman repeated that he saw him steal it, and throw
t into the cab.

A policeman proved searching the cab and finding it
there.

Prisoner was remanded.

THAMES.
A PIG IN A POKE.-A dirty, little old man, very shabbily
dressed, and with a large quantity of beard and moustache,
who gave the name of Charles Steward, was brought before
Mr. Partridge charged with stealing a pig.
John Sherman, a police-constatble, 285 K, produced a
live pig in a bag, and said he stopped the prisoner with it
in the London-road, Bow, at half•past four o'clock this
morning, and upon asking the prisoner where he obtained
it he replied in the Minories. He asked the prisoner where
he was going, to which he answered to Bermondsey.
Mr. Partridge—He was on the wrong side of the river for
Bermondsey.
Sherman— Yes, sir ; he was going towards Essex when
I stopped him. I asked him what he gave for the pig. Ho
said 12e. Afterwards he said
The prisoner, who mumbled something between his
teeth for some time, was understood to say the policeman
wanted the pig to make pork pies with.
Mr. Partridge—Is this man sober?
Inspector Griffin—He is quite sober, sir. I would no
have put him in the dock if he had net been sober.
Mr. Bowdler, the second clerk—ls the prisoner a Jew.
(Laughter.)
The Prisoner—Did you ever know a Jew to deal in pork ?
(Loud laughter.)
Mr. Partridge—Where do you live ?
The Prisoner—At No. 1, Blue Anchor-road, Bermondsey.
Mr. Partridge asked the police-constable if he had made
inquiries at No. 1, Blue Anchor-road.
Sherman—No, sir, I have not. lie said a little while
ago he bought the pig in Billericay.
Mr. Partridge—At Billericay, in Essex. What have you
to say about the pig ? Is it your pig ?
The Prisoner—Yes.
Thomas Steward, of 1, Blue Anchor-yard, Bermondsey
—He only wants the pig for himself for pork pies and
sausages, (Laughter.)
Mr. Partridge asked the constable if ho had any reason
to believe the I;,risoner gave a false address ?
Sherma'a—No.
Mr-. -Partridge then discharged the old man, and gave
12-i):,1 his pig. He did not understand why he had been
taken into custody.
The prisoner threw the pig across his shoulders and left
the court.

N.ARKETS—This Day.

MARK-LANE.

The arrivals of English wheat fresh up to this morning's
market, by land and water carriage, were small. Both red
and white qualities, however, met a slow sale, at Monday's
quotations.

With foreign wheat the market was well supplied, Gene-
rally
sr caking sales progressed slowly, and were of limited
extrnt. In prices, however, no change took place.
Floating cargoes of grain were in limited request, at late
rates.

Tho supp:y of barley was only moderate. The trade,
however, was quiet, on former terms.
The malt trade was dull, at about stationary prices.
The supply of oats on offer was largo. No further change
took place in the value of any description. Good and fine
corn sold steadily,

Beans and peas were dull, at Monday's decline in prices.
Flour, both English and foreign, moved off slowly, at
late rates.

AItitIVALS THIS Walt.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flout.
English 660 30 380 I 290 530
500
Foreign•—• ,„ 9,980 6,050 :17,710 J 400 aks,
brls,

The Extraordinary Escape of a Convict from

Millbank Prison.

The particulars that we learn with regard to the
man whose escapefrom Millbank Prison has already
been briefly stated are as follow :—He has essayed
to obtain his liberty on nearly a dozen other occa-
sions ; his name is Martin Sheen, aged 28, though
he looks somewhat older. He is five feet six inches
in height, of fair complexion, with iron-grey hair,
and hazel eyes. He is somewhat inclined to be
stout, and is, indeed, very stoutly built. His nose
and right hand are broken. He is a surgeon by
profession, and he was sentenced to 10 years' penal
servitude for forgery, about 18 months ago, at the
Central Criminal Court. It appears that after his
conviction, as above stated, he was removed to
Pentonville, where he made certainly one if
not more attempts to escape, but was frustrated
in his endeavours, and removed from thence to
the Penitentiary, at Millbank, for more sate CRS-
tody. With a knowledge of his antecedents he
was there placed in what is called the penal class,
being the worst class of prisoners, and during the
time he has been at Millbank he has made nearly a
dozen attempts to escape. On one occasion, indeed,
he had nearly accomplished his purpose, having
got out of his cell unperceived and rcached the roof
of the prison, when he was detected, and for some
time after kept heavily ironed. On that occasion
he had in his possession a large knife, and it re-
mains a mystery to the present day how he became
possessed of such a formidable weapon, as it was not
one of the knives in use in the prison. Moreover,
the convict had, at that time; been in the prison
for some months, and, according to the regulations,
had been regularly searched and stripped twice
in each week, the cell examined twice every day,
and a search also made, when he went out for
exercise in the care of a warder, and also when he
came in ; each prisoner, as it appears, going out
separately, with a warder in charge. It would seem
from this almost impossible for any one of the pri-
soners to obtain possession of such a weapon as the
knife referred to, or to keep possession of it if ob
tained, unless with the connivance of some one in-
side the prison. The escape just made seems to have
been effected in this manner, and certainly immense
ingenuity and fearlessness must have been exercised
in the attempt which proved so successful. The
windows of the prisoners' cells are about 38 feet
high, and it seems that by some means, that cannot
be ascertained, he managed to remove a number of
bricks from one of the corners of the cell, making
a hole large enough for him to get his body
through. He must previously have provided him-
self with a rope, made of the cocoa-nut fibre, and
which probably he had somehow gotten from the
matting in the chapel. At the end of this rope
was a hook, fashioned out of the wire by which the
tin drinking mugs are fastened round the rim, and
which doubtless he had secreted at his dinner time
on the day of his escape. By the aid of this rope,
having got through the aperture he had made in
the corner of his cell, he lowered himself down on
to the roof of a building called the general ward,
it being about 12 feet down. The roof of this
building is partially of glass, the building itself
being used as a Catholic chapel, and capable
of holding from 280 to 300 prisoners. Having
got into this ward, through one of the sky-
lights, the convict possessed himself of a piece of
board, forming one of the tables, and also took all
the sash lines of the windows, 'and with these
things returned to his cell by means of his coir rope
through the aperture. Out of the piece of board
he made a sort of platform hardly large enough to
stand upon—indeed, as the informant of our re-
porter observed, " His neck upon that thing was
not a halfpenny purchase." Coming out of his
cell again he made use of the coir rope by throwing
the knob end of it up to the gutter, having pre-
viously somehow made a small bag of sand to give
weight so that he might throw it up as noiselessly
as possible. The sand he probably procured
from the allowance made for cleaning out the cells.
The hook becoming fast to the gutter, the convict
must have pulled himself up by the coir rope, tak-
ing the sash lines with him fastened together. By
that means he got on to the roof of the main
building, and, fastening the sash line round one
of the chimneys, lowered himself down into the
garden. Safely there he made for the boundary
wall, which is from 20 to 25 feet high, and again
making use of the coir rope, with the hook and sand-
bag, reached the top of the wall, let himself down
on the other side, and left the coir rope hanging
there behind him. He had then only to cross the
vacant piece of ground outside the building, get over
some iron railings, and as he undoubtedly did, make
his escape. This daring escape of another Jack
Sheppard was from E ward, in No. 5 hexagon, the
one that faces towards Ponsonby-place, and for cool-
ness of execution and determination has hardly
been surpassed, It is almost needless to say that
the utmost vigilance is being shown to effect the
recapture of the convict ; but as he is not known as
a regular offender, of course the difficulty of recog-
nition becomes increased.