The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-07 00:00:00

SEIZURE OF GUNPOWDER IN THE

CITY.

On Tuesday morning the Lord Mayor received
an anonymous letter, addressed to him at the Man-
sion House, in which the writer stated he had reason
to believe that a large quantity of gunpowder, far
beyond the amount permitted by law to be in the
possession of either a dealer or a non-dealer in the
article, was then lodged in a house in the Old Bailey,
which he indicated. The chief magistrate lost no
time in communicating with the City Commissioner
of Police on a circumstance so suggestive of alarm,
and forthwith Inspectors Mitchell and Everett,
armed with a warrant under the hand of Mr. Al-
derman Allen, proceeded to the King of Denmark
Tavern, the house in question, in the Old Bailey,
kept by Mr. James Ansell, immediately opposite
the prison of Newgate, to make a search. The
King of Denmark, it should be stated, is an
old hostelry, and a kind of gathering-place for
a number of carriers to various parts of the
country within moderate distances of London, for
whose accommodation a booking-office, with a
depot for parcels and packages, is kept there.
The business of the booking-office is transacted and
many of the packages are lodged from time to time
in a little place close to the bar of the public-house.
There, on a search being made, nothing was found
by the officers to justify their errand; but on going
into a yard at the back of the house they certainly
made a discovery confirming the suspicions of the
person who had, in the public interest, put himself
in communication with the Lord Mayor. In a sort
of recess in a corner of the yard, used for storing
coals and coke, and open at the top, they found
seven casks, containing in the aggregate 4001 b. of
gunpowder. One cask, containing 1001 b., and
legibly marked with the word " gunpowder" on the
top, and four others of 501 b. each, purported to
have come from from Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, of
Lombard-street, four of which were addressed to
Mr. Pouting, ironmonger, Thame, and one to Mr.
Messer, ironmonger, of the same place. The
remaining two were from Messrs. Pijou and
Wilks, of Dartford Powder-mills, Kent, one being
directed to Mr. E. S. Clarke, Church-Cobham,
Surrey; the other to Mr. Samuel Taberner, grocer,
Leighton Buzzard. They had been left at the
King of Denmark to be taken to their different
destinations by carriers, who were to call for them,
and the police have reason to believe that they, or
some of them, had remained there for nearly a week
previous to the search, and it is suspected that
some of the carriers had refused to be the bearers
of commodities so dangerous. The yard in which
the gunpowder was found is separated from the
adjacent property on the north by a wide court,
but the immediate neighbourhood on the west and
south sides is densely populated. _The powder bad
evidently been lodged in the place m here it was
discovered from considerations of safety to the
people in the public-house, though, now the dan-
ger is past, it borders on the ludicrous to think that
it was deposited beside a lot of coals and coke. It
may be worth while to state. aS germane to this
incident, that the act 12th George 111., cap. 61,
strictly prohibits any person being a dealer
in gunpowder from having at any one time
more than 2001 b., and, not being such dealer,
more than 501 b., " in any house, mill, magazine,
storehouse, warehouse, shop, cellar, yard or wharf,
or other building or place occupied by him (all
buildings and places adjoining each other being
deemed one house within the Act), or on any river
or other water (except in carriages lading or un-
lading or passing on the land or in ships, boats or
vessels lading or unlading, or passing on any river
or other water, or detained there by the tide or bad
weather) within the cities of London or West-
minster, or within three miles of either of them."
The penalty for infringing this provision is the
forfeiture of all the gunpowder found beyond the
quantity allowed, and 2s. for every pound beyond
the quantity so allowed ; so that the penalty in-
curred in this case will amount to £35 and the for-
feiture of 3501 b. of the gunpowder. It remains to
be stated that the powder seized was conveyed to
the Tower under the charge of Inspectors Mitchell
and Everett, and there lodged, and the persons
supposed to be amenable have been summoned to
account for the transaction before a magistrate.

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