The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-07 00:00:00

Another Great Burglary.

The shop of Mr. John Walker, chronometer-maker
and jeweller, of No. 63, Cornhill, at the corner of
Sun-court, was broken into on Saturday night,
when articles valued at £6,000 were carried off. The
upper portion of the house No. 63, let off as offices,
wus approached by a side door in Sun-court, which
at night was secured on the outside by strong
patent locks, no person being left in charge. The
groundfloor was converted into two shops, one oc-
cupied by Mr. Walker and the other by Messrs.
Mitchell and Harris, tailors, who also occupy the
basement under both shops as cutting rooms. The
shop of Mr. Walker, when closed, was entered by a
door at the back, which was gained by the side en-
trance in Sun-court to the upstairs offices. The shut-
ters of the shop were of iron, and had some open-
ings in them, through: which the police could see the
interior, the gas oeing kept alight day and night
when the premises were closed. At the rear, which
looked into Sun-court, there were similar apertures
in the shutter, while inside the shop there were look-
ing glasses so fixed as to reflect the iron safe and
everything about it, and which could be readily
seen by persons looking through the openings in the
shutters in Sun-court. The robbery was discovered
about 8 o'clock yesterday morning. Mr. Walker's
assistant, on unlocking the side door in the court,
found it only partially locked, but the inside door
was secure. On his getting into the safe-room at the
back of the shop he saw at once:what had happened.
The safe door had been burst open, and all the most
valuable portion of Mr. Walker's stock which had
been removed from the shop windows and counters
on Saturday evening,
box,earrings, t
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' • studs, bracelets,
consisting of gold watches,
chronometers, diamond rings, pins,
securities, was gone. As soon as
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robberycash
was made known to the police, Mr. Hamilton, the
superintendent of the City detective force, and seve-
ral experienced officers, made a minute examination
of the place with a view of ascertaining how the bur-
glary had been committed. It appeared that the
thieves in the course of Saturday afternoon must
have secreted themselves in some of the offices in
the upper part of the building, and have been locked
in the house when the housekeeper left at 6 o'clock.
The burglars commenced their operations in the
offices of Sir C. Crosley, the ex-sheriff, on the first
floor, by cutting a hole by means of a centrebit
through the flooring, into the shop underneath of
Messrs. Mitchell, the tailors. With the aid
of a kind of rope-ladder, which they made fast
to a pair of tongs placed across the hole, the
thieves lowered themselves into the tailor's.
shop. It would appear that their reason for not
to avoid the noise and damage which would have cutting a hole at once into Mr. Walker's shop was
en-
sued by the mortar and plaster of the ceiling falling
on and shattering the glass frames on the counters
and the glass shades over the clocks, and which
would have instantly attracted the attention of the
passers-by, who, by looking through the aperture,
could have noticed what was going on. The burglars
having safely got into Mr. Mitchell's shop, attempted
to cut through the partition at the back so as to
gain the room to Mr. Walker's place, but after re-
moving some of the panels they met with an iron
lining which successfully resisted their efforts. They
then descended into the tailors' cutting room, which
extended under the shop of Mr. Walker, in addition
to that of Messrs. Mitchell, and by means of a chair
placed on one of the cutting boards, they succeeded
in cutting their way through the ceiling and floor-
ing above into Mr. Walker's safe-room. It is tole-
rably clear that the possession of the valuable con-
tents of the iron safe was their chief object, as none
of the other stock of jewelry and watches in the
frames on the counters and shop-windows had been
disturbed. The safe is one of Milner's patent, about
4ft. or sft. in height, 3ft. inbreadth, and some Vt.
in depth, and stood in a corner of the room. It
bears ample proof of having been operated upon
with great violence for the purpose of bursting it
open, a task which required probably the united
strength of.three or four men. Small steel wedges
had evidently been introduced in the opening of the
door, and by the aid of crowbars and a powerful
leverage, the door had been burst open, tearing away
the bolts and inner casing. The burglars
must have returned to the offices of Sir C.
Crosley by hauling themselves up with the plunder
through the hole in the flooring, and afterwards
reached the street by breaking open the side door,
which was secured by patent locks on the outside,
and got clear off with the booty unobserved.
It should be stated that while in the offices of
Sir C. Crosley they contrived to open an iron-safe,
and possessed themselves of the contents of the cash-
box, money, and documents. They left behind them
a rope ladder and a very formidable life preserver,
showing that they were prepared to offer a most
deadly resistance in the event of their being detected.