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

BANK ROBBER Y.

BERWICK, Auc. 21.—Considerable excitement was
early this morning created by a rumour, which gained
a r- ady currency, that an entrance had been effeewl
into the offices of the North of England Joint So ck
Bauk in Bridge-street here, and that they had been
robbed of a consider able sum of money. The police
were early astir, and were seen to be in communication
with parties in the bank. The ri.ports 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 a: d attended to the business. As Mr.
hornson was to return home this afternoon, and this
being only a half-day at the Bank, Mr. Burdiss termi-
nated his resid-nce 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 iirquiry 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 due at 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 winch 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 it' 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 3,000/.—Berwick Advertiser.

DREADFUL EXPLOSION OF A

POWDER MILL.

GREENOCK, THURSDAY NIGHT.—We regret to say
that most distressing intelligence reached here this after-
noon of a dreadful explosion of the powder mills, at
Millhouse, the property of Mr. M'Cullum, situate on the
Kerryside of the kyles of Bute, in Argyleshire, by
which nearly the whole of the works, which were con-
sidered extensive, were destroyed, and, melancholy to
relate, nine persons lost their lives.
As far as we have been able to learn, it appears the
workmen entered the mills at the usual time, six o'clock
on Tuesday morning. The duty of the unfortunate men,
or, at least, part of them, was, it seems, to attend to the
charging of barrels, preparatory to the removal of the
powder to the magazines, which was carried
on in a kind of store, or warehouse, some distance
from the working part of the works, when, from
some cause or other, the nature of which will probably
never be known, an explosion took place; and, when
we state that a very large quantity of powder, about
four tons, was deposited in this building, the conse-
quence as all may suppose, was most awful. The ware-
house, and all the surrounding erections, were blown to
atoms, and the poor fellows met an instant death.
Their bodies were hurled to an immense distance, but
their identity was utterly impossible, so horribly were
they mutilated. The blast is described by the inhabi-
tants of the adjacent towns to have been of a terrific
description, It burst into the air with a tremendous
force, shaking every building within two or three miles
of the property, while, for the moment, the whole at-
mosphere appeared filled with flame of an intense
nature. By many it was believed to be the approach of
an earthquake ; and people were to be seen running
from their dwellings in a state of the greatest
excitement and terror. It is reported that five
(Sher workmen attached to the mills, who
were in another part of the works, were
dreadfully burned, fw.„) of whom were not expected to
recover. The Greenock Advertiser .
adds, that the event
has created the greatest sensation the. county. So
dreadful was the explosion, that iti said to have been
heard and felt at a distance of twenty miles. It is also
stated that a woman living in a house one m.,epfc was