The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-01 00:00:00

The Great Jewel Robberies.

At three o'clock Thomas Brewerton and Louisa Brewer-
ton, William Henry Jeffrey and Martha Jeffrey, Thomas
Casely and Ann Casely, James Hurley and Ellen Hurley,
David Roberts, and William Brown, alias " Scotty ," were
brought before the Lord Mayor, at the Justice-room of the
Mansion-house, charged with being concerned in the
recent robberies of jewellery at tho shops of Mr. Walker,
in Cornhill, and of Mr. Johnson, in Threadneedle-street.
The dock was not large enough to admit all the ten, and

he four women were allowed to sit in front of it

during the proceedings• The prisoners examined at
Bow-street had been brought in a prison van from

the police-station there under a strong escort of the
Metropolitan and City police. To prevent the possibility
of escape, or any attempt at escape, five of the male pri-
soners being desperate and determined men, the van was
backed close against the little low archway by which pri-
sows are admitted to the police cells connected with the
Justice-room, and a similar precaution was observed on their

being conveyed to Newgate in the evening. A great crowd
had collected about the Mansion-house, both to see them

arrive and depart, and much excitement prevailed both
outside and inside the court. Alderman Sir R. Carden,

Colonel Fraser, Commissioner of City Police, Mr. Nelson
the city solicitor, Mr. George Moore, of Cheapside, and Mr.
Payne, the Assistant Judge at the Middlesex Sessions,were
present, among others, during the examination.
Mr. Lewis, jun., solicitor, conducted the examination on
behalf of the prosecutors ; Mr. Beard defended some, if not
all, of the prisoners ; and Mr. Mullins attended to watch
the proceedings on behalf of Messrs. Baum, Sons, and Co.,
money changers and bullion dealers, in Lombard-street, on
whose premises it may be remembered a burglary was com-
mitted a few months ago, and money, securities for money,

and jewellery, of the value in all of about £5,000, stolen.
Mr. Lewis prefaced the examination of witnesses by a short
explanatory statement of the circumstances that had come
to the knowledge of the police, and as they appeared to
affect the various prisoners. He referred in particular to the
arrest of six of the prisoners on Friday afternoon, and to
watches and jewellery of the value of about £1,400, all of
which had been identified by Mr. Walker as having, with

other costly articles, been stolen from his premises between
the 4th and Gth of February, having been found at their
lodgings, together with a considerable sum of money in gold
and Bank-notes. About £lOO worth of the stolen property

had also been traced to the possession of the prisoner Roberts,
and six valuable watches, all of which had been identified
as belonging to Mr. Walker, had been recovered from the
bottom of the Thames, near Blackfriars-bridge, within the
last day or two by the exertion of a dive; who was still en-
gaged in the search for more of the stolen jewellery. He
also appeared to prosecute some of the prisoners for being
concerned in a robbery of watches and jewellery of the value
of about £4,000, at the shop of Mr. Johnson, in Thread-
needle-street, in July last, committed under circumstances
somewhat similar to those attending the robbery in Corn-
hill, but more daring in its character, if possible. The evi-
dence, he said, would show that the same persons were im-
plicated, more or less, in both, and likewise in other rob-
beries, of silk principally, in different parts of the city.
The evidence taken at the justice-room, when the pri-
soner Roberts was first examined there and remanded, was
then read over by Mr. Oke, the chief clerk, and made part
of the general case against all the prisoners. It was re-
ported in detail at the time, and was to the effect that Ro-
berts was arrested by two of the city detective officers, at a
working jeweller's shop in Wilderness-row, St. Luke's,
while in the act of trying to dispose of two of the watches
stolen from Mr. Walker's shop, and of the value together
of about £lOO, a few nights after the robbery.
Thomas Ambrose Potter, Inspector of the G division, was
called. He said—On Friday last between 2 and 3in the

afternoon, I went to the shop, 142, Whitechapel-road, ac-
companied by Sergeant Moss, of the city detective force,
Inspector Brennan, of the F division, and other police offi-

cers. It has recently been fitted up as a pie shop. After

posting officers at the front and back of the house, I entered
with Sergeant Moss, and saw the prisoners Jeffrey (the man)

whom I had known by the name of Barrett, and who was

very roughly dressed, a woman with whom he was living and
whom I have mostly known by the name of Parker, though
she has at times gone by many others, and the prisoner
Thos. Brewerton and his wife. I said, addressing the two
men, " Ned and Billy, you must consider yourselves in cus-
tody with the women for being concerned in numerous
burglaries in the city and the Strand, taken Jeffrey by the
collar. Moss at the same moment seized Brewerton, and a
struggle took place. While it was going on I saw something
pass from Jeffrey to Mrs. Brewerton, upon which both the
woman, Jeffrey and Brewerton, turned round and ran up
stairs. At that moment Ranger, an officer, and Inspector
Brennan entered with a constable in uniform from the rear
of the house, and two of them having taken charge of the
men Jeffrey and Brewerton, I followed the two women up
stairs, followed by Moss and Brennan. Before reaching the
top of the stairs I saw one of the woman run into a bedroom
and the other turn into another room-. I said, addressing
the woman Brewerton, " Open the door immediately." It
was not opened, and I burst it in. I then saw her stuff-
ing something into her pocket. I ran across the room and
caught her by the arm, saying, "What have you got there?"
She said, " Nothing," and seized me by my whiskers. Moss
and a constable in uniform came up and held her hands
upon which I took from her pocket four paper parcels con-
taining gold chains, and a purse containing gold and parts
of gold chains which had been broken. I handed her over
to an officer of the K division, and we took all four pri-
soners to the Leman-street police-station, with a number of
skeleton keys, a jemmy,a life preserver, and other house-
breaking implements which we had found on the premises,
leaving Ranger and other officers in charge of the house.
We found the house had been newly furnished, and I had
seen some of the furniture taken into it a few days before.
After seeing the prisoners safely lodged at the police-sta-
tion I went with Moss and Brennan to 13, Ely-terrace,
Friendly-place, Bow-road. We knocked at the door, upon
which the woman Casely, whom I knew as Thomas, looked
out from the first floor window and asked, " Who aro you,
and what are you ?" I said, "Police officers. Open the door."
Waiting half a second and the door not being opened, I
burst it in. On going upstairs I saw the woman Casely run
out of a room at the back of the house, followed by Sergeant
Moss. /I said "Stop!" but she went into a room in front,
where I found the man Casely. I asked Moss to take charge
of the room. At that moment Inspector Brennan came up,
took charge of the two Caselys in the front room,and I and
Moss searched the back room. There we found a small deal
box, locked, and Moss took a pair Of tongs and broke it
open. On lifting the lid we found 52 gold watches, a num-
ber of gold chains, Alberts and ladies' neckchains, about
£240 odd in gold, a £5O bank-note, and other valuables. On
a further search we found a second box, unlocked, two pieces
of black silk, which have since been identified by Mr. Ben-
noch, Wood-street, and a new Paisley shawl which'had been
stolen from a warehouse in the city. On the bed I found a
life-preserver, and I saw a number of housebreaking im-
plements found in the room by other officers, all of which
we took charge of. In a snuffbox I found several gold
lockets, and two receipts for money paid into the London
and Westminster Bank, one being for £250, dated January
23 last, and the other for £l5O, dated the 30th of the same
month. On last Monday I went with Moss to Hawick in
Scotland and there saw a person named Gideon Murray,
otherwise Miller, a brother-in-law of the prisoner "Scotty."
From him I took a cheque book and a pass book of the
Royal Bank of Scotland. In the pass book there is an entry
of £55 paid into that bank on the 14th of January last. On
searching the house Moss found two shawls also the pro-
duce of burglaries. Moss received from him a gold brooch,
a pin, and a ring, part of the property stolen from Mr.
Johnson, of Threadneedle-street. We brought Murray to
London and he is now here to-day, but not in custody.
[Mr. Lewis—l am going to call him as a witness.] Last
Saturday week Moss, Brennan, Ranger, and I apprehended
Hurley, with two other men, who are not present, at Cam-
bridge-heath-road, and charged all three with having com-
mitted a tea robbery inThames-street.J here not being suffi-
cient evidence against the two other men, they were libe-
rated. I charged Hurley with being concerned in the rob-
bery at the shop of Mr. Johnson in July last, having, I
said, traced some of the jewellery to his possession, but did
not say what. He made no reply. Yesterday week Mrs.
Hurley was outside the police-court at Bow-street, and was
apprehended by Sergeant Moss by my directions. I then
charged her with having been concerned with her husband
and others in custody and not in custody in Mr. Johnson's
robbery, at the same time showing her some jewellery
which I held in my hand—namely, two gold brooches and
a pair of gold earrings. She looked at them, and said,
" Yes." I asked where she got them. She said, "My
husband will tell you." The husband was not present at
that time. When I and Sergeant Moss wore taking the
male prisoner to the station, the prisoner Casely said,
"What robberies are you going to ' buff ' to me ? I can
prove where I was at the time of Johnson's robbery and
the shawl robbery. I was doing time," meaning being in
prison. He said, "The poor you have in custody for
the two watches (meaning Roberts) is innocent, so help me
God. I'll tell you all about it if you will allow me to give
evidence." I said I should make no promise. He said,
" For Walker's job I am all right."
the p
The prisoner Casely interposing, pr said "Meaning by that
I was in the house where
was found."
Witness—l then said, "Who are the others ?" He re-
plied, "Billy and Ned," meaning Jeffrey and Brewerton. I
said "Can you throw any light on Mr. Johnson's robbery ?
You can say what you like, but I shall make you no pro-
mise." He mentioned the names of two other persons.
With reference to Mr. Johnson's robbery, he said Billy,
"Scotty," and Jemmy
Hurle had done that "bit."
By Mr. Beard—On searching Bre werton's premises a
marriage certificate was found. I know the Brewertons are
y
married. The Jeffreys are not married. Brewerton was
present when something was
passed to her. The place was
being fitted up as a pie-shop, and a great many implements
were found at the rear of the house. I do not think the
Caselys are man and wife. Half a minute, not more, had
elapsed before I broke in the door. She had had time to
come down and open it before I broke it in. The house has

been furnished with new furniture. I apprehended Hurley
last Saturday week and the others last Friday. I had not
in the meantime received any information from Hurley.

The prisoner Casely—l was not aware at that time that
Hurley was captured. I say for my wife that she was only
in her right place when we were apprehended.
_ _ _ _ _ _

Witness said Casely's wife had been a thief for years. He
added that he found in the house in the Whitechapel-road
the transfer of a lease to Brewerton and Jeffrey, the consi-
deration money for which being £260, and Mr. Beard, who
was there defending them, being the attesting witness. (A

laugh.)
Mr. Beard said he had been engaged in the assignment
of the lease.

The prisoner Hurley said his wife was near her confine-
ment, and he did not wish her to suffer for him. He gave
her the jewellery himself.
Mr. Wm. Johnson—l am a watch manufacturer and
jeweller at 54, Threadneedle-street. On Saturday, the 2d
July last, I left my premises at 3 in the afternoon, and my
assistant to lock them up. It would be his duty, accord-
ing to custom, to put the more valuable parts of the stock in
an iron safe, and to leave the rest in the front window, and
under glass cases on the counter. About half-past 9on the
Monday morning I went to my shop. I found the outer
door leading into the street was secure, but an inner door
partly of wood and partly of iron., and in a lobby lead-
ing from Hercules-passage into the shop, had been forced.
The upper part of the house is let out by me as offices to
stockbrokers, and I occupy the shop and basement. At that
time nobody slept on the premises. At the back of the shop
there is a doorleading to the offices above Hercules-passage,
and inside that door in a sort of lobby was a strong door,
lined with iron, communicating with the shopfrom behind.
By the latter door we used to leave the shop, and in doing
so we locked it on the outside with two of Hobb's patent
locks, and by a bar secured by a padlock. There are iron
shutters all round the rest of the shop at nights. I found
that the thieves had tried to force the inner door off its
hinges with a crowbar, but had failed. They had then
tried to force the bolts of the locks and failed in that, too,
though they had bent back the bolts until they were nearly
double. They then cut through the solid brickwork on the
lock side of the door and the door jamb, and so forced the
door at length inwards,breaking in pieces; as they did so a
thick mirror with which it was lined on the inner side,
pushing backward a heavy shelf laden with time-pieces,
and breaking also some of the mirror panelling at the back
part of the shop. I found a mass of rubbish and broken
brickwork on the inner side of the door, which had been
caused by the thieves springing The door inwards. The
front bar of my iron safe was broken in two, and I found
a cold chisel, about four inches long, left in a joint of it. It
had been used to spring the safe, but the safe had resisted
all the efforts of the thieves, and all the property in it
remained untouched. But the whole of the costly jewelry
which had been left in the front window and under
the glass cases was gone, except a solitary gold chain,
which I presume they had overlooked. The cost
price of the property stolen was about £4,000. Every
case had been emptied of its contents, and the fireplace was
found to be heaped up with the empty cases. There were
12 perforations in my shop shutters. I recognise as mine
among the jewelry now produced two brooches, a pair
of turquoise earrings, and a black enamel garter brooch
traced to the possession of the prisoner Hurley ; a
locket, a keeper-ring, some heavy wedding-rings, a gold
watch, sleeve-links, studs, and various other things,
traced to that of the prisoner " Scotty."
" Scotty " (or Brown) asked witness if he could say that
he had not sold a particular brooch, which he now identified.
Witness replied that he could, for he had it entered by a
distinctive name in a book as having been stolen.
Gideon Murray—l live at 5, O'Conner-street, Hawick,
Scotland,and am a weaver. The prisoner Brown ("Scotty ")
is my brother-in-law. I married his sister. His real name
is Thomas Millar. He came down to Hawick in August
last, and stopped at my house. He brought a bag with him..
The day after he came my wife told me, in his presence,
that he had given her a brooch. He said the glass in it
had been broken in coming from the "Jeddart" (Jedburgh)
games. I know the ring produced. It was given to my
wife by the prisoner. She said so in his presence.. I looked
at it in his presence, and observed that it was a very nice
one. He said there were three small diamonds in it, but
that they were of very little value. He did not say how he
had got it. He gave the gold pin produced to my wife to
give to me. I told him I never wore such things, and that
it would never be worn by me. In the latter end of De-
cember he came down to Hawick again. As he was having
breakfast with me he said he would give me a certain sum
of money. to bank in my name. I told him that was a thing
I knew nothing about, and that I wanted nothing to do
with it. I asked why he did not do it himself. He said
some recommendation was needed for that. I refused to
have the money deposited in my name, and he never asked
me again. One day when he came to dinner my wife told
me he had placed £55 in the Royal Bank of Scotland, and
I afterwards saw the two books produced. (One was a
banker's pass-book and the other a check-book.) He left
Hawick without saying anything about them, and he gave
my wife £BO to put in a drawer.
Mr. Lewis at this stage applied to have the prisoners re-

manded.
Mr. Beard was understood to urge that the wife of Brew-
erton might be discharged, on the hypothesis that she had
acted in the matter at the instance and, it might be, on the
pressure of her husband.
Mr. Lewis remarked that she was found with about £550

in her possession.
Inspector Potter added that only a few weeks ago he had
seen her sitting at an oyster stall in Lambeth.
The prisoners were then remanded for a week.

Total Destruction of Saville House,

Leicester-square.

•
One of the most extensive conflagrations th'it has
occurred at the West-end of London for a consider-
able time past broke out last evening, about a
quarter before 7 o'clock, and in less than a couple
of hours laid in ruins property roughly estimated at
over £30,000. The premises in which the misfortune
commenced consisted of the well-known Saville-
house, situate on the north side of Leicester-square.
The building has for nearly a century been the pro-
perty of several persons. At one time Miss Lin-
wood's beautiful needlework pictures were exhibited
in the great gallery. At another period of recent
date Mdme. Warton's exhibition of Poses Plastiques
were carried on in the building, but of late the exten-
sive establishment has been occupied by several per-
sons, amongst the number—Mr. Smith, proprietor
of the Royal wine shades and restaurant ; Mr. John
Ward, invalid chair manufacturer ; whilst other
rooms and galleries were used as billiard and exhi-
bition rooms. Adjoining those premises were the
four extensive shops and warehouses belonging to
Messrs. Stagg and Mantle, silk mercers and linen
drapers, and immediately at the rear in Lisle-street
were two coach factories, and next to them were the
wholesale ironmongers' warehouses belonging to Mr.
Addis, whose property formed three houses. A fire
breaking out in such a closely packed neighbourhood,
it is hardly necessary to say, caused the most intense
excitement to prevail, and thousands of persons
flocked to the scene ; and had it not been for the
timely arrival of immense bodies of police, the engines
could never have reached. the front of the premises,
for every part of the square, even the enclosure
where the model of the Great Globe stood, were
densely packed with people—even women could be
seen climbing over the iron railings, over 6 feethigh,
so that the police were obliged to use their utmost
exertions to get a space clear for the firemen to
pursue their dangerous vocations.
From inquiries made during the raging of the fire
it appears that whilst Messrs. Stagg and Mantles'
warehouses were crowded with purchasers, a loud
noise was heard, which at first led the persons to
imagine that one of the side walls of the silk ware-
houses had fallen. This caused a general rush from
the premises, and upon the parties reaching the
square they found that one of the large gas-burners
in Saville House had exploded, and had blown one
of the windows into the carriage road. Several
parties tried to rush into the place to turn the gas
off, but the vapour evolved in such tremendous
volumes that the flames rolled up the staircase, and
in a comparatively brief period had taken complete
' possession of every portion of the building, includ-
ing the whole of the galleries, bagatelle-rooms, &c.
The scene then became one of fearful grandeur, for
the flames rose several hundred feet into the air,
and myriads of sparks and large pieces of burning
wood were drifted across the square and fell upon
the roof of the. Alhambra Palace. To save this splen-
did building men were dent upon the roof with
buckets of water, and they succeeded in preventing
any mischief being done, and the performances were
commenced at the usual hour. At the same time,
however, the fire fell into the back portion of the
shops and warehouses belonging to Messrs. Stagg
and Mantle.

Just as the fire had obtained a strong hold of the
warehouses his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,
his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, Lord Richard
Grosvenor, M.P., Captain Shaw, the able superin-
tendent of the London Brigade, and Mr. Swanton,
the foreman of the C district, attended with several
manual power engines, and three by Shand, Mason,
and Co. Capt. Hodges's engines "Ocean Wave"
and " Torrent," were soon on the spot, the former
under the command of Capt. Hodgeg, and the latter
under Lieut. Irving. Fortunately the mains of the

New River Company yielded an abundant supply of
water, from which the firemen at once set their steam
and manual engines to work ; but the brigades had
hardly commenced operations when two of the firemen
named respectively Lilly and Penfold, in conveying
the hose over the roof, stepped upon a skylight, and
both men were so seriously injured that they were
obliged to be removed to Charing-cross Hospital.
The former has one of his arms and shoulders frac-
tured, and the other is also seriously injured. His
Royal Highness and the noblemen who were present
expressed to Capt. Shaw the symyathy they felt for
poor firemen, and also the loss the various sufferers
had sustained by the disastrous event.
The mains of the New River not having failed for
one moment, the engines were kept at full work un-
til past ten o'clock, when the flames began to dimi-
nish, and no further destruction of property took
place. The damage done, however, is very serious,
and it is not confined to Saville House, for Messrs.
Stagg and Mantle have some thousand pounds of
property spoiled by the water, and the back ware-
houses and shops are also extensively burned. For-
tunately this firm was insured ; but as the fire did a
great amount of damage to other buildings in Lisle-
street, and also in the square, the exact amount of
property lost cannot at present be correctly stated.
Had it not been for the intrepid exertions of the
firemen, and the judicious directions given to them
by Capt. Shaw, Mr. Swanton, Capt. Hodges, and
Mr. Merewether, the premises of the whole of the
inmates in that part of Lisle-street and the bank
belonging to Messrs. Seale and Low, and Roberts's
rooms ; those of Mrs. Hammond, staymaker ; Mr.
Bickers and Sons, booksellers, would have been
levelled with the ground ; but as it is, only very
slight injury is done to the majority of the last-
named houses of business.