The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-26 00:00:00

GREAT ROBBERY AT MESSRS.
ROGERS AND TOWGOOD'S BANKING-
HOUSt. •

A robbery to an awful extent was committed be-
tween Saturday night and Monday morning, in the
banking-house of Messrs. Rogers, Towgood, and Co.,
bankers, of Clement'.-lane. It was stated that bank-
notes to the amount of from 35,0001. to 40,0001. or
41,0001. were stolen out of the iron safe which is de-
posited in the hall of the inner office, and that securi-
ties to a very large amount have been taken by the
thieves.

It is a remarkable circumstance connected with this
robbery, that on the morning of yesterday, when it
was first discovered, there was no internal appearances
from which suspicion could be entertained upon en-
tering the office that any robbery had been perpe-
trated, or attempt at robbery had been made. Every-
thing was in its accustomed order; the iron safe, in
which the cash and securities were regularly depo-
sited, was locked, and the iron chest, in which it was
usual to deposit the master-key of the safe, to which
there were two locks, was also secure.
It was, we understand, the practice of the partners
of the firm, of which there are said to be four, to re-
lieve each other in the heavy cash business of the
house at stated periods, and each of them keep keys
of the safe and iron chest ; and it is supposed that
one of these gentlemen left behind him his keys upon
some occasion of hurry or forgetfulness, and that
with these keys the places of former security were
violated. Some force had been used on a tin box in
which several valuable securities were kept; but it
appeared that the thieves had made some mistake
with regard to the exact position of these documents,
for they worked on the wrong side, and are so far
disappointed. They laid hands upon enough, how-
ever, to console them for their blunder, as appears
from the enormous list of bank-notes announced in a
large handbill issued last night.
In that handbill are the particulars of the stolen
Bank of England notes, which amount altogether to
40,710/. Of those bank-notes there are 168 for 51.,
40 far 101., 37 for 201., 10 for 301., 12 for 40/., 9 for
501., 10 for 1001., 5 for 2001., 1 for 5001., and 35
for 1,0001. The handbill states that further parti-
culars of the 'bills of exchange will be published, and
that whoever will give such information as will lead
to the apprehension of the guilty party or parties, or
either of them, and -recovery of the property, or any
part thereof, shall receive 3,0001. reward, or a part
thereof proportionate to the-sum-which shall be re-
covered.

Mr. nobler has been employed by the banking-
house to investigate the case, and has secured the
able assistance of Daniel Forrester, the officer. As
the firm do not belong to the Committee of Bankers
against frauds and forgeries, Messrs. Bush and Mul-
lins have of course nothing to do with the prosecution.
It appears that the money was deposited in the
iron safe ; and, as usual, a clerk was appointed to
watch over its safety during the day, and another
clerk to perform the like duty during the night. One
of the partners remaining at home yesterday, the day-
clerk asked permission to go out for a few hours,
which was granted. At the accustomed hour in the
evening the other clerk came, and remained during
the night; but when business was resumed yesterday
morning, and the iron safe opened with the ordinary
key, it was found entirely.
.empty ; and yet no force
whatever had been used in the employment of the
means adopted to rid the chest of its valuable con-
tents. Of course, all is conjecture upon the subject.
Notes to the amount of 35,0001. have been stopped at
the Bank ; and Forester, the active and intelligent
City police-officer, is engaged in endeavouring to
trace the party guilty of this daring and flagrant
crime.

ARREST OF BURGESS, THE
ESCAPED FORGER.
the Great Western,
eiviveedtobtyhe event referred to in
gives T The e
the B
following,
ing Post, r
relative
the above heading :
William Burgess - alias Ellis, whose escape from Eng-
land and arrest here have already been fully stated in the
Post, was brought before Mr. G. T. Curtis, commissioner,
for examination.
The COMMISSIONER, after the usual preliminaries had
been gone through, said to Burgess—Have you any
counsel ? Prisoner—No, Sir.
COMMISSIONER—Do you wish for any counsel ? Pri-
soner—No, Sir. I'm willing the truth Should come out.
The 10th article of the treaty of 1842, commonly
called the " Ashburton Treaty," was now read, by
which it appeared that fugitives charged with forgery are
to be given up by the respective Governments upon the
exhibition of competent warrants, and evidence raising
a reasonable probability that the offence has been com-
mitted, and by the party charged.
Mr. Richard Bord was then examined, and identified
Burgess as a late clerk in the Bank, and as the person'
who vouched for Elder as being " William Oxenford,'
owner of the stock transferred by means of.the forgery:
After partially hearing the evidence, the Comas-
elONEß thought it was not necessary to go any further into
it, unless the prisoner desired it; and in reply to a goes-'
tion as to his wishes, the prisoner replied—l do not ques-
tion what is stated. I am perfectly satisfied to go home.
CommrsstoN ER—Have you anything to say why a cer-
tificate should not be granted that you are a fugitive
from justice, as is charged against you ? Prisoner—No.
COMMISSIONER—The evidence proves beyond all
reasonable doubt that the offence has been com-
mitted, and also that Burgess aided in its commission.
There is then no question but that it is my duty to issue
a certificate to that effect. I therefore order Burgess to
be committed to the gaol, to await the order of the United
States Government.
The Commissioner then signed the certificate, upon
which the Secretary of State will issue an, order for
the delivery of Burgess into the custody of th 6 English
officer.
As described by himself, Burgess had a hard job in
gettiag off from Nahan on Thursday night. It took him
three hours, and frequently the officers were near to
him. At one time he was lying on one side of a large
rock, while the officers were passing by on the other
side. He stumbled into a pig pen, repeatedly fell into
the water, and occasionally sank deep into the sand on
the beach. After he found a boat he was six hours in
reaching the Light-house Island, on which he was taken
on Saturday evening. If convicted in England, of which
there cau be no doubt, he will be transported for life. In
conversation yesterday, he spoke feelingly of his late ac-
complice Elder, and expressed a wish to see where he is
buried. Elder had been on a visit to the house of tbe
prisoner's father in the country several months before
the forgery. He was only forty-seven years of age,
the prisoner thought, and was occasionally engaged in
the horse business, His father was an extensive dealer
in lumber.

FURTHER PARTICULARS,
Burgess, who was apprehended soon after Elder
strangled himself in the gaol of Boston, in a most
miserable condition, in a small island fifteen miles
from Boston, is now on his return in the custody of
John Forrester, the officer, to this country. Several
private letters have been, we are given to understand,
received in town relative to the whole of the trans-
actions of the two fugitives and those who pursued
them.
It appears from the statements made at the Man-
sion-house and about 'Change, that when Burgess
escaped from the hotel at Nahant, a small peninsula
joined to the mainland by a neck of land about four
miles in length, he rowed in the dark for a consider-
able time, and at length, after having been tossed
about, he landed and made the best of his way to a
small cottage, in which a poor Jonathan and his wife
and three children resided. From thence he sent to
the waiter of the hotel at Nahant his keys, with direc-
tions to take possession of the money contained in his
bags, and convey it to him. John Forrester, who
managed the whole business, with the ready assist-
ance of the officers granted by the authorities, with
consummate skill, took care to cut off the means of
retreat or escape by land, and met the bearer of the
money on his way to a place of appointment. The
bag, which contained 1261. in gold, and in dollars
and notes 4681., was directly sent back to the hotel,
while the pursuit was continued. In the most
wretched condition, with no more than a half-crown
or a couple of shillings in his pocket, and
half naked, the unhappy Burgess, after great ex-
ertion, reached another cottage, at the distance of
about eight miles across the water, and there re-
mained under shelter for nearly a night and day.
He then sent the owner of the cottage with a note to
a Mr. Grant, who had had some transactions with
him in the pecuniary way, requesting money. Mr.
Grant, who had been duly informed of the forgery
and robbery of the Bank of England, immediately
gave the information where it could be made most
available, and the person who knew the place of con-
cealment of the fugitive was prevailed upon, but not
without a great deal of persuasion, and a reward of
300 dollars, to give him up to the police.
It was evident, from the whole of the proceedings
of Burgess and Elder, after their arrival in America,
that they looked with the utmost confidence to per-
manent security from arrest. Burgess had been
lodging about a fortnight at the hotel at Nahant, and
had purchased a piece of ground of Mr. Drew, the
landlord, on which he was about to build a house,
and it was odd enough that before the foundation was
laid he purchased carpeting, bed-linen, glasses, and
other articles of furniture.
The most complete measures had, we have been told,
been adopted by the Bank to render this first expe-
riment upon the convention between England and
America successful. A gentleman of considerable
experience belonging to the establishment was bent
over to manage one portion of the business, while
John Forrester contrived and carried into exe-
cution the other. Upon their arrival at Boston, they
learned, almost in an instant, from a sharehroker,
that the great hulk of the money which the fugitives
had brought with them had been deposited in a mer-
chant's bank, of which he happened to be a director,
but that as it was only a safety deposit, in all proba-
bility it was withdrawn. Upon further investigation
it appeared that the fugitives had, about the Ist of
October, called at the bank, and taken all the gold
out, and placed it to the account of Messrs. Reynolds
and Grant. The money was soon after found to be