The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-27 00:00:00

GREAT SILK ROBBERY.

A very extensive consignment of silk, stolen
from St. Katharine's docks, London, the property
of Baron Rothschild, has just been seized in Derby,
under the followieog circumstances :—At a late hour
on Tuesday evening in last week two strangers went
into the George Inn, Station-street, near to the
railway station, Derby, kept by Mr. Rowbottom.
One of them attempted to pass as a foreigner, and
in broken English he asked the landlord to read a
banknote for 1100 which he had in his possession,
and tell him if it was genuine. The landlord told
him it was a good one; but his suspicion being
aroused, he sent his servant for a detective officer,
and later in the evening Inspector Fearn and De-
tective Veseey, of the Derby borough force, arrived
at the George. The strangers, however, had left the
house, but the officers met them at midnight on the
platform at the railway station, waiting for the mail
train to start to London. Fearn and Vessey intro-
duced themselves to the strangers in their usual
agreeable way, and commenced asking them ques-
tions. The answers not being satisfactory, the offi-
e( rs desired to see the contents of their pockets. The
strangers thought such a request most unreasonable,
but the officers' curiosity was excited, and upon one
of them they found three Bank of England £lOO
notes and two sovereigns. The other one had only
a halfpenny about him. Inspector Fearn asked theta
how they had become possessed of the notes, and
after some hesitation they replied that they had eb-
tained them in the way of business from par 4
ties. in Derby. On being further pressed they
said they had received the notes in payment of
silk they had sold to Newton and Co., of Derby,
The officers then took them into custody, and on
arriving at the Town-hall one of them gave the
name of Debock, Slater-street, Spitalfields,
London, silk merchant ; and the other Barker,
No. 2, Hope-street, Spitalfields, (brother-in-law
to Debock). Fearn and Vessey the same even-
ing proceeded to Newton's mill, and there found
about 10 cwt. of silk which had been delivered
that day, and the police were further persuaded
that some robbery had taken place. Mr. Newton,
sen., said he had bought the silk of two men named
Agg and Huiner, of London, Hunter being a dealer
in silk, and keeping the Red Deer publichouse,
Cambridge-heath, Bethnal-green ; and Agg also
keeping a publichouse, the Clown, near to Sadler's
Wells Theatre. On Wednesday morning Debock
and Barker were brought before the Derby magis-
trates, and on the application of Mr. Hilton, head
constable, they were remanded for a week. On
Thursday afternoon Messrs. Hilton and Fearn pro-
ceeded to London and paid a visit to the public-
houses kept by Agg and Hunter. They were both
at home, and the officers ascertained that they were
also in the silk trade ; and from the answers they
gave to certain questions put to them by the police
the latter felt positive that something was wrong,
and proceeded to the Leman-street police station,
where they ascertained that 10'hales of silk had
been missed from St. Katherine's Dock, but it had
not at that time been reported as a robbery. The
officers then went to the St. Katherine's Dock and
saw Mr. Munford, the superintendent of police at
the dockyard, and it was then found that a great
quantity of silk, the property of Baron Rothschild,
had been stolen, and the number of trusses and the
description exactly Corresponded with those found
at Newton's mill at Derby. Early on Friday morn-
ing Messrs. Hilton and Fearn paid a second visit
to Agg and Hunter's publichouses, but both land-
lords had absconded and have not yet returned.
They then went info Spitalfields, and found that
Debock and Barker lived up a second story, and
that one of them was a shoemaker
_bywan
trade,y hadand
from
that on the Monday previous Pickf
Barker house.
rrker's
fetched away 10 bales of silk
On Saturday Inspector Fearn and some of the
Loudon police apprehended a man named Cane, in.
n
' the employ of Mr. rakefo a rd, a silk dealer, on
charge of being concerned in the robbery. On Sa-
turday evening the officers returned to Derby.
The silk at Mr. Newton's mill was seized, and
ken into the possession of Mr. Hilton.

iiegthylafourdtshaenalsians
A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE.—In the year 1803; Mr.
Propaga-
tion Jay,Jay, preacheds
tai a so rkmn oo nw
lbe
de forge bee
in the h
thee S onc
of Scotland ; and was requested to permit the same to be
printed. Such permission was given. The text was " Skin
for skin ;. yea, all that a man bath will he give for his life."
When the proof sheets of the sermon were sent, to Mr. Jay
for correction, be found the printer had printed the text
thus :—" Skin for skin ; yea, all that a man has will he
give for his wife" Instead of correcting the error in the
usual way, he wrote in the margin, underlining the word
wife,,, That depends on circumstances."
A YACHT VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA.—The Spray,
20 tons, purchased in England by Mr. 111Therson, of Hobart
Town, had arrived at, that city from Greenock under the
charge of Captain E. Wyse, an intrepid and able seaman,
with a crew of six men, after a passage of 120 days, in-
cluding detentions at Madeira and the Cape,withaut having
been once hove-to. The following are the particulars of
this remarkable voyage :—The cutter yacht Spray left Lam-
lash, on the Clyde, on Sept. 7, and having called at Ma-
deira, sailed thence on the 21st, and arrived at the Cape on
Nov. 13. After eight days' detention there she sailed on
the 19th, and had an excellent run down to this port of 4tc.
days. To the Cape she beat all the vessels that left Eng'.
land with her by ten days-65 days being occupied in per-
forming this part of the voyage, Her greatestda: n% rune
was 195 miles, and the shortest 11. The crew all
good health on the voyage.—.Australlait and 4'1740 z, e cf
Gazette,

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