The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-24 00:00:00

BANK ROBBERY.

BERWICK, Auo. 21.—Considerable excitement was
early this morning created by a rumour, which gained
a ready currency, that an entrance had been effected
into the offices of the North of England Joint Stock
Bank in Bridge-street here, and that they had been
robbed of a considerable sum of money. The police
were early astir, and were seen to be in communication
with parties in the bank. The reports were thereby
accredited, and a variety of rumours were immediately
in circulation. The particulars of the case, so far as
we have been able to ascertain them, are these :—Mr.
Thomson, the agent of the bank, is at present from home
on a leave from the directors of absence for a fortnight,
During his absence Mr. Burdiss, one of the directors,
has resided here aed attended to the business. As Mr.
Thomson was to return home this afternoon, and this
being only a half-day at the Bank, Mr. Burdiss termi-
nated his residence here yesterday afternoon and returned
to Newcastle. In the absence of both of these gentlemen,
Mr. Short, the senior clerk, took up his residence in the
dwelling-house attached to the bank, and slept there last
night. All the usual precautions for security were at-
tended to. At the usual hour the business was suspended
and the doors locked; the bolt which communicates with
the sitting-room to the safe in the office immediately
below, was put down, and all parties retired for the
night in confidence. At five o'clock this morning, a
female engaged as an occasional servant in the house
rung the street bell, and the resident servant on going
down stairs to admit her was surprised to see the door
leading from the lobby to the bank opened, and still
more surprised on observing the cash-box of the bank
also lying open in the yard. Having admitted the
female, she immediately alarmed the inmates of the
house. Mrs. Thomson having procured the aid of an
intimate acquaintance, an inquiry was instituted. It
then appeared that the door in the inner lobby of the
house had been unlocked, that the safe had been
similarly opened, and the bolt which pressed upon its
door from the sitting-room had been raised. The
cash-box had been carried to the yard and there left
opened, but part only of its contents carried away.
From the safe 1,0001. of Bank of England notes were
abstracted, 1,8001. of Scotch notes, and about 2151. of
silver. The cash-box contained about six hundred
pounds of gold, but part only of this was carried away.
All the bills running duekat the Bank were left, as also
some letters of credit which were there deposited. The
only cause which can be conjectured for thus leaving the
cash-box in the yard is that the parties must have taken
alarm. None of the locks which secured the pro-
perty are broken, nor does the least violence appear
to have been applied to them, and how the safety-
bolt had been raised appears a mystery. Nor can any
trace be found of the manner in which the depredators
gained admittance to, or made their exit from, the
premises. It must have been by the back of the pro
perty and by scaling several walls, but no trace or marks
are left behind. A slender ladder stands against the
wall which partitions the house from the adjoining pro-
perty, but the parties engaged in the inquiry are of
opinion that the depredators had not used that ladder,
for if they had, their pressure should have caused an
impression from the ladder to be made on the soil on
which it rests. Messengers were immediately dis
patched to communicate the occurrence to the different
police stations in our neighbourhood, but up to the
present moment the whole affair is involved in the
greatest mystery. The entire loss, it will be observed,
is a little above 3,oool.—Berwick Advertiser.

DREADFUL EXPLOSION OF A