The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-16 00:00:00

EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1857.

that be is once more cared for. There was a gene-
ral feeling that Mr. Matthew was hardly dealt with
in the enlistment business. His case was different
from that of the Consul at this port. There was
no barque Maury blunder on his part, and the Phi-
ladelphia Board of Commerce, so far from being
disposed to make representations to the Govern-
ment for the withdrawal of his exequatur, as hero,
were his personal friends.

communication. He could not have told us those dc-
tails except his story bad been a true one ; and, for my
own part, 1 he!leve every w rd of his evidence from
beginning to end. On you, Pierce, I ain unfortunately
compelled to ioflict a punishment lees severe than upon
the other prisoners. They were servants of the cone•
pany, and you wi re not. By a strained construction o
the law you might, p reaps, have been got into the saute
category with the other two ; but I am unwilling, and
my brother Willes agrees with me, to strain tee law
agaiest you. But I do declare that if I stood in that
dock to receive sentence I should feel mere degraded to
be is your pkiee than in that, even, of either of your
associates. You had been long connected with this
man Agar ; he trusted you, and he gave you 3,0001.
stock to be invested fer the benefit of his child and its
rusther, together with 6001, his share of the produce
of this robbery, and the rest of the gold which had not
been sold. Io all you must have get out of him about
15,0001. This you stole and appropriated to your own
use. It is a worse offence, I declare, than the act of
which you have just been foui d guilty. I would rather
have been concerned in stealing the gold than in the
robbery of that wretched woman—call her barite', if you
will—and her child. A greater villain than you are, I
believe, does not exist. (ale strong langaa,ge was re-
ceived by the audience with a loud burst of applause.)
I greatly regret that I have it not in my power to inflict
a heavier punishment upon you ; but the heaviest sen-
tence which the law allows for your offence I will 'ass
upon you, and that is that you be imprisoned with hard
labeur for the space of two years, and that during t tree
months of that time—the Ist, 12th, and 24th month—
you be kept in solitary confinement. As for you, Bur-
gess and Tester, there is no manner of doubt that your
case is that—not unfrequent of late—ot men who, having
good characters, and being placed by your emplpyer3 in
situations of trust, were unable to resist the temptation
of getting possession of a large sum of money all at once.
Whether Agar tempted yus or whether yen were
tempted by Pierce, as is most likely, and that then Agar
was applied to as a man noted for his skill and ability in
Such matter!, it is impossible for us to know how. That
you Burgess, a man who had been 15 years in the service
of the company, and were receiving good wages, and that
you Tester, the son of a most respectable man, should
have yielded to this temptation, is greatly to be de-
plored ; but we should be departing from our duty to
the public, particularly after what we have seen
taking glace during the last few months—the robbery
of the Crystal Palace Company and other offences
of a similar nature, if wo did not visit you with
the severest punishment. You knew when you engaged
in the commission of this crime that, though if you were
successful, it would place you in the possession of a large
sum of money, yet that if you were detected you would
be liable to the severest punishment. You were willing
to play the game, and you must pay the forfeit. The
learned counsel who have addressed the jury on your be-
half have spoken in the strongest terms of Agar's charac-
ter. No doubt ho deserves all they have said, but let it
be said in his favour that he remained true to you, that
he said not a word about this robbery until he heard of
Pierce's base conduct. As he gave his evidence he did
not appear to feel towards you
.that bitter animosity
which was so clearly manifested in him, and, I must say,
not unnaturally, under the circumstances, towards
Pierce. He had no motive to accuse you falsely, and
this to my mind is an additional proof of the truth of
his story. The sentence of the Court upon you, Burgess
and Tester, is that you be severally transported beyond
the seas for the term of 14 years.
The prisoners received their sentence without any
change of demeanour, and were immediately removed
free) the her.

Mr. Bodkin, addressing Mr. Baron Martin, said, in
reference to his lordship's observations on the possibility
of Agar's release, it was only just to Mr. Rees, the soli-
citor for the prosecution, to mention that, when he saw
Agar at Portland, he had distinctly stated to him that
he was not to expect any remission of his sentence in re-
turn for the evidence which he had consented to give.
The learned counsel at the same time applied to the
Court that the property found in the possession of the
prisoners should be handed over to the South-Eastei n
Rail way Company.
Mr. Baron Martin declined to make any such order at
present. The Turkish bonds found in the possession of
Pierce had been clearly purchased with the money en-
trusted to the prisoner by Agar, and if be had the power
he should certainly order those bonds to be handed over
to Fanny Kay.
Mr. Bodkin said the company had no desire to take
possession of any property which was not the produce
of the robbery.
Mr. Baron Martin said that if•the solicitor for the
prosecution would specify on affidavit what property
they thought themselves entitled to, he and Mr. Justice
Willes would then make whatever order seemed right
to them under the circumstance.

In order to facilitate Redpath and Kent's caseithey
were placed at the bar, and arraigned ; they pleaded not
guilty to each of the indictments.

(From the Ti.me.)

Thebullion robbery on the South-raliterießeailway will
certainly take a hi;h rank in the romance of crime. As
a general rule, larceny is not an offence which excites
much interest. The gentlemanly embezzler of other
people's funds, and the hardened murderer whose name
lives in the remembrance of high and low-, are the heroes
of the prison and the sessions-house, while the thief is
even by the fraternity of wrongdoers considered to be-
ion to an inferior clam. But it seems that even to the
lower departments of mime a deree of ingenuity can be
applied which may fit them to be the material for inte-
resting causes. The theft which Agar, Pierce, Burgess,
and Tester planned and completed was no ordinary
crime. Well might the cxatisel for the prosecution de
care that it was lamectable to see such skill, dexterity,
and perseverance employed in the execution of a criminal
design. The case, more than any with which we have
been recently acquainted, shows the deliberation, the
professional spirit, and, more than all, the pecuniary re-
sources of the modern offender. The revelations of the
police and sessions courts have been certainly of late
sufficiently astorashing. We find the members of orga-
nised gangs lodging money with solicitors, drawing
cheques on their bankers, and buying or selling foreign
stocks ; but as an instance of capital deliberately in-
vested in a criminal undertaking we know of nothing
which equals the case just concluded.
On the night of May 15, 1g55, gold to the value
or 12,0001. was stolen from the van of a train oa
the South-Eastern Railway between London aid
Folkestone. The boxes were weighed in London,
and again at Boulogne. At the second pace the weight,
as it was subsequently discovered, differed from the
weight in London. The weight in Paris corresponded
with the weight at Boulogne ; consequently the boxes
must have been tampered with between London and
Boulogne, or, as it was impossible to touch them
while in the boat, between London and Folkestone.
When the boxes were opened bags of shot were found
in the place of gold. Of course the surprise was great
and the search after the offenders earnest. But, what-
ever may be the skill of detectives, we know from sad
experience that the criminal world is more than equal to
them in craft. Fur 10 months the pursuit was in vain,
and the robbery was well nigh forgotten, when an un-
expected revelation throw light on the matter.
A man named E Iward Agar was convicted in Octo-
ber, 1856, of uttering a forged cheque, and sentenced
to be transported for life. This man seine time since
stated to the authorities that he could give informs-
ination respecting the great gold robbery of 1855. On
being questioned ha announced himself as one of the
perpetrators, and named as his accomplices Pierce,
formerly in the service of the South-Eastern Company ;
Burgess, a guard ; and Tester, a clerk in the traffic
department. Agar is 41 years of age, and has, by his
own confession, lived by crime for a term of from 14
to 20 years. His evidence is that Pierce first euggestei
the scheme, and that he himself thought, it impractic-
able. Pierce said he believed he could obtain impressions
of the keys of the Chubb's locks by which the iron
safes were secured, and Agar then answered that if
that could be done he thought the thing might be
effected. Now comes the executi of the plan. Time,
skill, and capital are all at the disposal of the plan-
ners. Pierce and Agar go down to Folkestone as
casual visitors for the benefit of sea-bathing. Toey take
lodgings and employ themselves in observing the arrival
of the tidal service trains, and the delivery of the lugeage
from the trains to the boats. This is in May, 1854,
twelee months before the actual commission of the rob-
bery,—so long a time can modern depredators afford to
spend on their preparations. They went down daily to
the pier, as if to enjoy the fresh air, but their constant
observation of the trains and the station aroused sus-
picion, and they left, but not before they had discovered
"what Chapman, who had the custody of the key of the
iron safe, did when the trains arrived and the luggage
was removed to the boats." By these means it was as-
certained where the key was kept the impression of
which it was desirable to obtain.
But to know where the key was kept and to obtain
possession of it were very different things, and Agar, ac-
cording to his own story, was much disheartened. Not
Pierce. Pierce knew a young man named Tester, who
was in the office of the Superintendent of Traffic, and
Tester could get possession of the keys for them.' How-
ever, time rolls on, and we are in August, when Pierce
discovers that the locks are to be altered and that the
new keys will be in Tester's hands. Tester was the
clerk who corresponded with Mr. Chubb on the subject,
and by his means the impression of key which opened
one lock of each box was obtained. But, as each box
bad two locks, it was necessary to obtain the impression
of another key, and the following device was adopted
--Agar was iu possession of no less a sum than
3,000/. It was arranged that a box of bullion of the
value of 2001. should be conveyed in the iron safe in
the usual way, and that it should be delivered to
him under tho name of Archer. Agar goes for
the box, and it is delivered to him by Chapman, who
opens the safe with a key which he takes from a cup-
board. Thus Agar learns where the second key is kept.
Now, how are they to obtain an impression of the key ?
Two months have elapsed since they got the impression
of No. 1; this is October, and they are still without, No.
2. But they are not disheartened. Pierce and Agar go
down to Dover and put up at the Dover Castle they
walk over to Folkestone, and arrive just when the train
is coming in. In the confusion of an arrival the at-
tendants leave the office for a few minutes. Pierce goes
boldly in, opens the cupboard which c,ntains the key o
the iron safe, and hands it to Agar, who takes animpres-
sion and replaces it. Thus five months after the recon-
naissance at Folkestone they have surmounted the first
difficulty which suggested itself to the reflecting mind of
Agar—they have obtained wax impressions of the
keys. Everything else remains to be done.
The next thing, of course, was to make keys from the
impressions. For that purpose lodgings are taken in
Lambeth and Kennington. Pierce Owulees himself in
a bleok wig, and the next two months are spent in filing
keys. When the keys were completed to a prolyib's
similarity with the masterpieces of Chubb—no easy task,
it would seem, for two inexpert operators with common

files—it woe necessary to try thorn. Agar went down
several tim,-s in the van with Burges;', the guard. They
did net fit at fire% but they fitted more nearly every
time he went.. At last tliey fitted and the
deed was ra,iolved on. Of course, after nearly a year's
labour it was rot worth their while to fly at any paltry
genre—they would wait until a large sum was to be
coat. Taal chests would hold about 12,0001., and
they heard that 12,0001. wise shortly to be sent.
They then buy shot to replace the gold, Aar and
Pierce are admitted ii to the van by Burgess, and on the
15:.h of May, 1855, 12 in,..nths alter the deed woe
plaice 1, the boxes of Messrs. Spielman!), Bu t, and
Abel are securely rifled.
.No.etten months after the crime is committed, and
more than two years and after it is planned, just
tice has overtaken the delinquents. Their crime is
chiefly interesting no account of the ingenuity employed ;
'ut its mot t alarming feature is that men so determined
and so skilful should be possessed of the means of aeb•
sistence for so long a time. Agar with his 3,0001.,
Pierce with his house at Kilburn, all of them driving
about for a year in cabs, and journeyina, up and down the
south-Eastern line with first-cia.ss tickets, form a picture
of criminal prosperity which we hardly looked for. With
all this, however, and even with the frui!s of their sue
cess in.. full possession, there was among them that
element of insecurity on which, with such adroit
thieves, honest men have principally to depend.
Agar, pursuing the career of crime which he describes
himself as having deliberately adopted, had been at last
detected ; he bad invested the proceeds of his many
crimes for the benefit of a woman whom he seems to
have loved with all the fondness of which such a man
was capable. Pierce was his trustee, and Pierce, like a
true thief, betrayed his trust. The woman was left
destitute, and hor paramour, the hardened felon whom
no scruples of conscience would have mo►ed, denounced
the half-forgotten robbery from his cell at Portland.
None of our readers will fail to sympathise with the
manly indignation with which Baron Martin denounced
the villany of Pierce, or to share his regret that the sen-
tence of the law falls lightest on the basest of the vil-
lains ; but it is to this very baseness, to the impossibili!y,
as it would seem, of maintaining perfect complicity in
guilt, that the public has most to trust for the detection
of such accomplished scoundrels as those who were con-
victed yesterday.