The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-07 00:00:00

THE GREAT ROBBERY OF BILK.

It will be recollected that in the month of March
last ten bales of silk, valued at £2,000, were stolen
from a barge on the river, on its way from the
West India Dock to the St. Katherine's Dock,
or in the last-named dock, after the arrival of
the silk at that place. The stolen silk was con-
cealed for a few hours in the house of a man
named Barker, a shoemaker, of Hope-street, Beth-
nal-green, and removed by rail to Derby, where it
was found by the police of that town in the mill of
a silk-throwster named Newton. After several ex-
aminations at the Thames Police-court, three men,
named Barker, Debock, and Crane were committed
for trial for stealing the silk, and John Newton, of
Derby, was committed at the same time for felo-
niously receiving the silk, he well knowing it to be
stolen. The trial at the Old Bailey lasted two days,
and terminated in the conviction of Debock and the
acquittal of the other prisoners. The names of two
persons, named Agg and Hunter, both licensed vic-
tuallers, the one keeping the Clown publiclouse
in the St. John-street-road, opposite Sadlet's-wells
Theatre, and the other the Red Deer, in the Cam-
bridge-heath-road, Bethnal-green, were frequently
mentioned during the investigations which took
place. Both absconded, and rewards were offered
for their apprehension. Agg's name was appended
to the receipt for money paid by Newton for the
silk, and Hunter was stated to have been in com-
pany with Agg in Derby at the time Newton paid
for the silk. Debock exhibited three £lOO Bank
of England notes to an innkeeper named Row-
botham, in Derby, and asked if they were genuine;
at the same time he pretended to be a Frenchman,
who could only speak English imperfectly. Debock
acted so clumsily and gave such a curious account
of the manner in which he became possessed of the
notes, that Mr. Rowbotham gave information to the
Derby police. Debock and his brother in-law Bar-
ker, who was in his company at the time, were im-
mediately arrested, a communication was made to
the London police, the silk in Newton's mill was
seized, Newton was taken into custody, and a man
named Crane, in the employ of Drakeford and Co.,
silk mercers in the City, was also apprehended. Crane
engaged the van which conveyedthe stolen silk from
Barker's house to therailway station the night before
it was conveyed to Derby. After the trial at the Cen-
tral Criminal Court, the three £lOO notes found
upon Debock were ordered to be returned to New-
ton, who had paid them away to Agg. The licences
of the Clown and the Red Deer were transferred to
other persons after the flight of Agg and Hunter,
and no tidings were heard of either until yesterday
afternoon, when Hunter surrendered himself at the
Thames Police-court, Stepney, which in a few mi-
nutes became crowded to excess with his friends
and connections, and persons connected with the
West India Dockrompany, the St. Katharine Dock,
and the silk trade.

Mr. Humphreys, jun., of the firm of Humphreys,
Son, and Morgan, solicitors, conducted the prosecu-
tion for the St. Katharine Dock Company ; Mr.
Leech, solicitor, of Derby, defended Hunter.
Mr. Humphreys, jun., said that rewards had been
offered for Agg and Hunter. They had been sought
after in vain. Mr. Leech, of Derby, was now pre-
pared to surrender Hunter to answer a charge to be
preferred against him.
Mr. Leech said that Mr. Hunter had long been
anxious to surrender, and was now seated alongside
of him. It was a matter of arrangement between
him and Mr. Humphreys that the case should be
proceeded with that afternoon. Hunter might now
be considered in the custody of the Court, and he
hoped it would not be necessary for him to go into
the dock.

Mr. Woolrych said he could not depart from the
ordinary course, and that the prisoner must go into
the dock where persons charged with felony were
always arraigned, and he must stand there during
the investigation.
Mr. Humphreys, jun., said he must call the
magistrate's attention at some length to the facts
of this case. On the 13th of March last, 411
bales of silk, ex the ship Solent, from Shanghae,
were delivered into a barge, called the Dorville,
belonging to Mr. Henry Grey, since deceased, in
the West India Dock, to be conveyed to the St.
Katharine Dock. The barge containing the silks
arrived in the St. Katharine Dock on the 14th of
March, and on the hatches being unlocked, and a
tarpaulin which covered the silks being removed,
ten bales were found to be missing. The robbery
had taken place between the two docks, or in the
St. Katharine Dock. A few days afterwards the
Derby police stopped two:men, named Debock and
Barker, at the railway station in that town. Three
1300 notes were found upon Debock. An investi-
gation took place. and it was proved that Newton,
a silk throwster in Derby, had purchased ten bales
of raw silk of a publican named Agg, landlord
of the Clown, in London, and Hunter, landlord
of the Red Deer. Newton produced an in-
voice for the same, signed by Agg. The silk was
seized in Newton's mill and forwarded to London.
It would be proved that Agg and Hunter accom-
panied Newton in the train from London to Derby
on the night of the 18th of March, that Barker and
the convict Debock went down by the same train
with the silk, and that the three £lOO notes taken
from Debock had been paid by Newton to Agg and
Hunter. The superintendent and an inspector of
the Derby police came to London and made inqui-
ries at the Clown and at the Red Deer, and had
interviews with Agg and Hunter, who were not in
the first instance suspected of being concerned in
the robbery. An appointment was made for another
interview, which was not kept, and from that day
to the present Agg and Hunter had not been seen
in England until a few minutes ago, when Mr.
Leech introduced Hunter into that court.

Several witnesses were called to prove the unShip-
ment of 411 bales of raw silk from the Solent, their
delivery into the barge Dorville, and to the defi-
ciency of 10 bales en the arrival of the Dorville in
the St- Katherine Dock,

__
Mr. William Morris, of 45, Hall-street, City-
road, said he was formerly landlord of the Crown
and Cushion public-house, in London-wall. Mr.
Newton, of Derby, was in the practice of coming to
that house when he came to London on business,
and the prisoners Hunter and Agg had frequently
visited him previous to the 18th of March. He
knew a person named Crane, in the employ of
Drakeford and Co., the silk mercers. Crane was an
occasional visitor at the Crown and Cushion.
In cross-examination by Mr. Leech, the witness
said—l have known Agg eight or nine years. He
was a man in trust at Drakeford's house before he
kept the Clown. I also know that Messrs. Drake-
ford and Newton had transactions together. Mr.
Hunter had driven Agg in his trap up to my house.
I have heard Agg and Newton speaking of silk
transactions, but I cannot say I ever heard Hunter
speaking of them. On Sunday, the 17th of March,
Newton was at the Crown and Cushion all day, but
he was not visited by any one.
Joseph Barker, shoemaker, of Hope-street, Beth-
nal-green, who attended on a summons, was sworn,
and said that ten bales of silk were deposited in his
premises on the 15th of March list, taken away
three days afterwards, and sent by train to Derby.
He accompanied his brother-in-law Debock to
Derby on the night of the 18th of March. He did
not see the prisoner Hunter in Derby. He could
not recognise Mr. Hunter. He did not see him at
all on that journey. He and his brother-in-law met
two gentlemen in Derby. He could not swear that
Hunter was one of them. Debock mentioned the
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In doss-examination
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