The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-22 00:00:00

SURREY QUARTER SESSIONS.

KINGSTON, OCT. 21.
(Before Mr. Tilson, Chairman, and a Bench of
Magistrates.)
SINGULAR ROBBERY.

Edward Alleorn, 16, a lad formerly in the ser-
vice of a highly respectable medical practitioner of
Croydon, was indicted for feloniously breaking and
entering the counting-house of the London, Brigh-
ton, and South Coast Railway Company at Croy-
don, and stealing several railway tickets, ss. in
copper money, a book, and other articles, the pro-
perty of the said company.
• He was also charged with receiving the property,
knowing it to have been stolen.

Mr. Robinson conducted the prosecution.
Mr. Redford, the station master at the East Croy-
don station, deposed that about 9 o'clock on the 9th
October he locked up his office and till as usual,
and at this time there were five shillings in copper,
and about six shillings in silver in the latter, and he
noticed that among the copper money there was one
penny piece very much battered. On his going to
the office on the following morning he discovered
that the till had been opened and all the money was
gone. He also missed a box of steel pens, a song-
book that belonged to himself, and the ticket tube
appeared to have been forced open, and seven
second-class return tickets to Brighton and a first-
class return ticket to Redhill had been taken from
it. On the same afternoon the half of one of the
Brighton return tickets was shown to him, and he
observed that an attempt appeared to have been
clumsily made to pass it through the marking ma-
chine to efface the date, and the figures appeared to
have been finished off with a pencil. He had known
the prisoner for several years, and he was formerly
errand-boy to Dr.Bottomley, of Croydon, and was in
the habit of carrying medicine to the railway station
for the officers of the company, and he was well ac-
quainted with the nature of the building. The
prisoner came to the station on the morning after
the robbery, and took a ticket for Kenley, near
Caterham, and upon his seeing him in custody on
the same afternoon, he asked him where he got the
second-class return ticket to Brighton from, and the
Ireply was, " I did not break into your office." , The
witness then identified the song book and the penny
piece he had referred to in his evidence.
A porter belonging to the railway deposed that
on the day before the robbery he saw the prisoner
leaning against the window of the ladies' waiting
room, apparently readinii a book, and upon his in-
quiring what he was doing there, he said that he
was only reading. A bundle containing some
Particles marked with the prisoner's name, and also
the song book belonging to Mr. Redford, was after-
wards picked up under the railway arch close by.
Brown, one of the company's constables at the
Brighton Railway station, proved that prisoner ar-
rived at that place by the 10.45 train from London. He
had presented a ticket, which was recognised by the
ticket-collector as one of those which had been tele-
graphed as having been stolen, and was given into
his charge. He asked the prisoner where he had
got the ticket from, and he said that he had given
12s. 6d. for it, the proper fare being 9s. 6d., and
upon searching him he found ss. 10d. in copper
money, amongst which was the battered penny that
had been identified by Mr. Redford, a gimlet, a
knife with a saw in it, a small file, and a box of
pens.
Inspector Carpenter, of the Metropolitan Police,
deposed that upon receiving information of the
robbery he went to the Croydon station, and hi
ascertained that the robbery had been effected by
some person having broken the window of the
ladies' waiting-room and then forcing open the door
which led to the booking-office. There were some
holes in this door which corresponded in size with
the gimlet that was found in the possession of the
prisoner. He inquired of him when he was brought
to the station where he had been staying lately at
Croydon, and he refused to tell him. He then asked
him what he had done with the book he had been
reading on the Saturday, and he said it was in a
bundle under the railway arch.
The prisoner, when called upon for his defence,
replied, " I have nothing to say."
The Chairman having summed up, the jury at
once returned a verdict of guilty.
Inspector Carpenter informed. the Court that an
indictment had been found against the prisoner, in
the county of Sussex, for breaking into the Three
Bridges station and stealing money under similar
circumstances to the present case. Two robberies
of the like kind had been committed at the same
station.

The Chairman sentenced the prisoner to be kept
to hard. labour for 12 months.