The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-03 00:00:00

different lobbies, yet they: differences were no
greater than men were always liable to when party
feeling was not allowed to override all independence
of thought. After referring to several political
topics, he appealed to his constituents to support
measures of reform, and asked for a petition with
20,000 signatures in favour of Mr. Baines's Bill,
which would increase the constituency of Sheffield
to 20,000. (Cheers.)
Votes of thanks were then passed to Mr. Had-
field for his presence, to Mr. lioudan for the use of
the hall, and to the Mayor for presiding.
The meeting terminated at two o'clock, having
lasted three hours.

THE GREAT SIL,i. .RoBBERY.

Yesterday the investigation into the circumstances con-
nected with the plunder of 10 bales of silk, valued at £l,OOO,
on the river Thames, was resumed at the Thames Police-
court, before Mr. Woolrych. On Monday, the 25th ult.,
William Crane, aged 41, porter, in the service of Messrs.
Drakeford and Co., silk merchants in Great Winehester -
street, London, was arraigned before Mr. Woolrych, and
after the examination of several witnesses remanded until
yesterday. It was then stated that three persons were in
custody at Derby on a charge of being concerned in the
robbery, and that the whole of the stolen silk had been re-
covered. It was also stated by Mr. Mumford, the superin-
tendent of the St. Katharine Dock police, that he intended
to proceed to Derby and bring the prisoners to London.
On Monday night John Newton, aged 52, a silk manufac-
turer and broker, of Derby ; Joseph Barker, a shoemaker,
aged 31, of Hope-street, Bethnal-green ; and Peter Debock,
his brother-in-law, aged 30, stated to be a dealer in silk,
were brought to London from Derby by Mr. Hilton, the
superintendent of police, and Inspectors Vessey and Fearn,
of that tou n, and lodged in the Stepney station-house, ad-
joining the Thames Police-court. At 3 o'clock yesterday
afternoon the four prisoners, Newton, Crane, Barker, and
Debock, were arraigned in the felons' dock. Newton ap-
peared to be very ill and also suffering greatly from mental
anxiety. He appeared to feel acutely the degrading posi-
tion in which he was placed. He held down his head and
supported himself with his hands on each aide of the dock
during the whole of the investigation, Barker sobbed
loudly when he was put into the dock, and continued to do
so for some time afterwards. Crane and Debock appeared
to be quite unmoved.
Mr. Humphreys, jun., solicitor, of the firm of Humphreys,
Son, and Morgan, Newgate-street, conducted the prosecu-
tion for the St. Katharine Dock Company. The following
solicitors appeared for the prisoners :—Mr. Thomas Beard,
of Basinghall-street, for Barker; Mr. Hudson, for Crane ;
Mr. Angell, for Debock ; and Mr. Leech, of the firm of
Gemble and Leech, solicitors, Derby, for Newton.
Frederick Charles Agg, landlord of the Clown public
house, St. John- street-road, of whom Newton bought the
stolen silk, and James Hunter, landlord of the Red Deer
public-house, in Cambridge-heath-road, were concerned in
the robbery, and have absconded.
Before the examination of the witnesses commenced yes-
terday Mr. Beard, Mr. Leech, and Mr. Angell successively
addressed the magistrate, and complained that they were
denied access to their clients, who were in custody of the
Derby police, and said it was a most unfair and unconstitu-
tional proceeding. They wished to receive instructions from
the prisoners, and unless they did so it was impossible to de-
fend them properly.
Mr. Woolrych, as at present advised, could see no objec-
tion whatever at the prisoners consulting with their profes-
sional advisers, but he would rather the application was
renewed when Mr. Humphreys, jun., made his appearance.
On the arrival of Mr. Humphreys, jun., he said he had
no objection to the three gentlemen seeing their clients if wI
they were actually retained by them.
Mr. Beard, Mr. Angell, and Mr. Leech then repaired to
the cells in which their clients were confined, and after a
long interview with them returned into court. The four
prisoners were arraigned, and as soon as something like
order could be restored the case proceeded.
Mr. Humphreys, jun., opened the case in a lengthened
address. He said he was instructed by the St. Katharine
Dock Company to conduct this prosecution, which was one
of very peculiar importance. He charged three of the pri-
soners with stealing and Newton with receiving, knowing
to be stolen, 10 bales of China silk, value £l,OOO. The silk
was stolen while in transit from the West India Dock to
the St. Katharine Dock, or during its delivery in the St.
Katharine Dock. He should be able to show that 10 bales
of silk were missing in the St. Katharine Dock, which
were safe in a lighter called the Dorville when it left the
West India Dock; 411 bales of silk, ex the ship Solent,
from Shanghai, were put into the lighter in the West India
Dock. They ought to have been delivered into the St.
Katharine Dock on the morning of the 14th of last month.
but, instead of 411 bales, only 401 were delivered, and 10
were found to be missing. He should be able to show that
the 10 bales of bilk the subject of this prosecution had been
tallied into the lighter in the West India Dock}_ and had
never entered the warehouses of the St. It atirarine Dock
Company in Cutler-street, Houndsditch, as they ought to
have done. He would prove they were quite safe in the
lighter; he would prove they were missing, trace them to
.a
private dwellinghouse in Spitalfields, and ultimately to
Mr. Newton's mill in Derby. He would call upon Mrs.
Gardner, of No. 2, Hope-street, Spitalfields, the house
which Barker rented and lived in, to prove that the 10 bales
of silk were brought there, and taken away again in one of
Pickford's vans. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner occupied the first
floor of the house, and on Friday, the 15th. March, they saw
a light van drive up to the door with two men, and 10 bales,
which appeared to be bales of silk, in the van. The bales
were covered over with a tarpaulin, although it was a fine
day. The 10 bales of silk were unloaded and placed in one
of the lower rooms of the house occupied by Barker, but
which of them Mrs. Gardner could not say, She would
positively say the 10 bales of silk were never upstairs. All
the time the bales were in the house, Barker, who occupied
the two lower rooms and a washhouse, was pursuing his
trade of a boot and shoemaker. They must have been in
the lower front room, the door of which was locked, and the
,window blind down, from the time the bales were brought
into the house until they were removed. On the afternoon
of Monday, the 18th of March, Mrs. Gardner saw one of
Pickford's vans driven up to the door of the house, and the
10 bales- were taken out of the house immediately after-
wards, and put into the van. It had been already proved
on a former investigation that Crane had directed a man
named Tooth, one of Messrs. Pickford's carmen, to drive
his van and horses to Hope-street, and there receive 10
bales of milk. Crane joined the carman in Hope-street,Us-
sisted to load the van with the silk, and gave the carman is as
a gratuity. Tooth would be again put into the witness-box,
and say that Debock assisted Crane to load the Jan. Al-
though Barker was not present when the 10 bales of silk
were removed from his house, it was clear hb rented that
house, occupied the two lower rooms, and was there from
the Friday until the Monday. On the night the bales were
put into the van Debock went down to Derby, and about 5
minutes past 1 o'clock on the morning of the 19th March
he entered the George Inn in Derby, accompanied by the
prisoner Barker, and asked for beds. Mr. Robotham, the
landlord of the George, informed them he had only one bed
unoccupied, and that one of them might sleep on a sofa in
his parlour. Debock and Barker accepted the proffered ac-
commodation, and partook of some refreshment. A few
minutes afterwards Newton, who was charged as a receiver,
came into the same house, taking no notice of either De-
bock or Barker, partook of some refreshment at the bar and
walked out again. During the short time Newton was in
the George, Debock said to Mrs. Robotham, " I know thaw
gentleman at the bar-door. It is Mr. Newton, but he don't

know me. Don't say I have been asking for him ; don't tell
him I have been going upstairs to bed, or he will perhaps
be wanting to see me." Mr. and Mrs. Robotham took no
particular notice of the observations of Debock at that time,
but those observations were material, as showing that,
although Barker and Debock entered the George as
strangers, and Newton did not recognise them, they were
known to each other. On the following morning, after
breakfasting at the George, Barker and Debock asked the
landlord the way to Mr. Newton's silk mills. Mr. Robo-
tham directed them, and they left. On the same night
Barker and Debock returned to the George, and one of
them, Debock, who assumed a foreign accent and manner,
took a £lOO Bank of Engbard note from his purse, and
asked Mr. Robotham to read it, and to give hip opinion
whether it was a genuine one or not. Mr. Robothain looked
at the note, and he asked him if it was a good one. Mr.
Robotham said it was a perfectly genuine note, and Debock
returned it to his purse and said, " I am much obliged to
you ; I received the note in town," Mr. Robotham asked
him if he received it in the way of business. Debock at first
said he had received it in the way of business, and after a
few more words said, " No, no ; I have not received it in
a business transaction. I have taken it in change for other
cash." Mr. Robotham said, " I should not like to have
done that myself to a stranger, not knowing it was a note."
The prisoners Debock and Barker partook of several glasses
of ale in the house, and left it. Mr. Robotham, believing
there was something suspicious about the two men, and
that Debock ought not to have such a large sum of money
with him, communicated with the town police of Derby,
and Debock and Barker were arrested at the railway sta-
tion by Mr. Hilton, the superintendent, and other officers.
Debock was searched, and three £lOO Bank of England
notes and two sovereigns were found ;upon him. Barker
was also searched, and the officers found in one of his
pockets a halfpenny. (A laugh.) In consequence of what
was said by Debock and Barker, the Derby police went to
Newton's mill and asked him if he had bought any silk re-
cently. Newton admitted that he had purchased 10 bales
of silk of two London men named Agg and Hunter, and
had given a cheque for £230 and three £lOO notes in pay-
ment. Now, it was important to observe that the same
number of notes were found in the possession of Debock.
Other visits were paid by the Derby police to Newton's
mill, and upon one occasion Newton's son, in the presence
of his father, gave to Mr. Hilton an invoice and receipt for
£738, and it was represented that that was the amount paid
for the 10 bales of silk. There was a stamp on the receipt,
and written across it were these words, " Settled F. C.
Agg." Mr
Humphreys, jun., then read the document,
as follows

" London, March 1.5, Is6l.
" Ur. John Newton, bought of F. C. Agg. 10 13, of