The Sun.
London, England, 1817-07-22 00:00:00

fire haviiig happened on 20th), he came home '
about eleven o'clock, and lie and his two shopaien.
were retiring to bed, when they heard the dog in
the shop barking most violen;ly,- it being alleged
that the animal was never (except on one solitary
occasion) known to bat k before. The bank-
rupt and his servants' became, alarmed at this
extraordinarV circumstance, and immediately
proceeded, to sear.ch the premises, but finding all
safe they retired to rest..-. The following night.the
bankrupt was seen, about nine o'clock,. to ge to
his iron safe in his counting-house, where the
454
_Napiileons,
.together-with about seventy-five
pounds worth of • French silver, were deposited.
What he did-on-that occasion was not known, but
he immediately left the konse and did not return
again till near eleven o'clock. At that time one
of his men-servants was out. He went into the
kitchen, took off his boots, called for .his.
and was seen to bed by his other man-servant,
who 'lit hiS rush-light as was usual. Before he
had got to bed, the other man-servant came home,
and the whole family, consisting of the bankrupt,
the two men, and two female servants, retired to
rest. He himself slept on the second floor, and
the servants in the attic story. Between twelve
and one o'clock the Bankrupt awoke in. a great
perspiration, and under circumstances the most
extraordinary. Ohe of the pillows of the bed was
held by some unseen hand over his face, whilst
a man sat upon his body, and kept him from stir
ring from the bed. He heard voices speakine, and
he concluded that there were two or three persons
in the room, whilst lie was in this 'situation, two
silk pocket handkerchiefs, which he afterwards
found to he his own (having been taken from his
dual potaket which lay by the bed, side)i were in:-
troducedunder the pillow, and tied round his heat!,
so as to prevent his seeing. The inaumpon his
body kept his position, and presently afterwards
he heard a voice say, " I have it''—which the,
bankrupt supposed to have rererence to the
ing in his pockets the key Of his' iron safe in the
counting-house. He then heard either one or
two persons go up' and down stairs taco or three
.'lie_ man upon ~his body sai.ll held ,hint
down' upon the bed,, and pulling out a shaii in-
strument, told him not to stir or make a noise
under peril of being murdered. He Jelt the
ture of the instrument ouhis breast once or tWiCe'','
and lie was assured that if he kept still he sbould-
not be hurt, .. The_man hinted
.that he and his
companions had been in the house the nighi
be-
fore, but Were distuThed: After a short time he!.
vias taken from the bed by the -supposed robbers,
and dragged out to the, lauding place,
_where 1681
wrists were tied together with CordS, in Inch a man-
ner that he could not get loose. A rope was then put
round his neck, and lie ‘'vas tied to' the barinisters'
of the stairs. He was toldhy.one ofthenunt not
to make any noise, under a threat of being mur-
dered, and he was cautioned 'not to' 'cry oat for
help until he heard the street-dngr closed. During
this transaction, one of ;the, men said, ." it,
I took it for a bed---its is a light,!' alluding,.as the-
. bankrupt supposed,-% to something that had been
set on fire in the loWer part of the' house:- The"
robbers presently• left •him, and he immediately
cried out for help-, gave :the -alarm of Murder
Thieves ! &c. lo a few minutes the men•servants
came down stairs to 'hiS assistance, .untied his
hands, 'and released hiM from confinement.. Lie
told them what had happened to bins, and one of
them went to a window to give the alarm, When
he saw smoke breaKing•ont ft om the cellar window
in the lower 'part of the house. He imme-
diately exclaimed that the house was oil fire. No
smell of fire, or appearance of smoke was, hoW-
ever, at that time, obseriable in the house;' but
the bakkrupt immediately gave directions that the
maid-servants should be alarmed, which was ac-
cordingly done, and, without any further investi--
gatinn, the whole family were seized with panic,
made their way to the top of the house, and
escaped by. a forcible entry through the t:ock-loft
of the adjoining house (Mr. Cockerton's), and
got into the street.' It was then raining very
'hard. The alarm of fire was soon spread through
the neighbourhood, and in a very short time the
house was in flames. Some; persons in the -street
broke the fan-light of the door, entered the shop,
and. then unlocked the dotir,. which it appeared
was double kicked. All the other doors of the
house (there being three exits from it) were also
locked, and there was no appearance of any per-
son having recently'left it.. The windows were
all. shut. During this time the bankrupt at-
, tempted to -get into the house, but was restrain-
ed by the watchmen and oilier persons who had
assembled.', He appeared to be .in the greatest
agitation; was much alarmed, ,anti fainted with
fatigue and anxiety. ' Next morning, as soonfts
the fire was extinguished,' the rubbish was re-
moved from the iron safe, and in it were found ,
some of the bankrupt's books and papers un-
touched by the fire. The. safe was unlocked and
the Napoleons gone., There remained, however,
the French silver, which was conCealed behind
one of the account books, and witicir it was sup-
posed the thieves in their hurry bad not seen. In,
consequence of several repOrts having gone abroad
to the ,bankrupt's prejudice, he voluntarily ,ten-
dered his conduct for investigation by the -Lord
Mayor; and the case was repeatedly inquired into
by his Lisrdship and Alderman Cox. It appeared
that at the time of the fire,-the bankrupt bad pro-
perty on his premises to the amount of near 5000/.
uncovered by the policies ; that only the day be-
fore he -had purchased about 2001. worth of tallow
and other articles, Etc. •
The bankrupt underwent a very long and strict
examiQation and cross-examination. He demean-
ed himself with great coolness and propriety.
His testimony was confirmed by his male and
female servants, in every particular, as far as 'they
were concerned in the transaction. Several other
witnesses were examined, whose testimony went
to give the story probability in collateral circum-
stances.
S. ,
Mr. CARIRTT addressed the Jury at considera-
ble length for the defendants, and wit,lt him were
Mr. MARRYAT and Mr. F. POLLOCK.
The following witnesses were examined with a
view to shake the credit of the, bankpipt's testis
mony, and that of other witnesses examined for
the plaintiff:—
Thomas Robinson, a fireman; nf,Vte London
Assurance Office. Found some rilat& on the third
staircase of Mr. Cockertou's house on the morn-

ing of the girls June, in turning- the robbiili
over xvhich tell frion the ruin of ttfe bhuse. It
was found in, different places upon the third
floor of Cockerton's hOuse. The .wall of Dun-
kin's house was about 12 feet above Cockerton's
house. It was found between six and seven in
the morning.. -
Cross-examined.—There bad been seveyal,,fire-
men backwards and forwards during the !not:ping,
over the premises, before the plate was found.
The firemen were working with the branch of the
,engine. _

Cross-examined.—Cockerton's roof bad fallen
in about an hour before the plate was found..

Mr. GURNEY admitted that the plate found was
the plate which had been' locked up in Dunkin's
bed-room.
Samuel Larkins lived in Cockerton's house.
Remembered hearing Dunkin's voice on the 'mor-
ning of the fire. Heari bins say, "Cockerton,
Cockerton, fire, fire, get up or you will all be
burnt." Dunkin was then on the top of Cocker-
ton's roof. Witness went into his room to get
some clothes, and heard a voice cry, " open the
trap-door:" At this time there was nothing to
he seen but smoke, and no Barnes coining from
Dunkin's house.

Mr. DAWES, the SoliCitor, said that he had
heard Mr, Dunkin describe the manner in which
his hands were tied. Witness's son bad shewn
hiM the way to do the same thing. ft might be
done in such a manner, by a person, so as to pre7
sent the appearance of having been done by a third
person. -
Lord ELLENBOROUGH said, he had known an
instance of the case of a man named Smith,. who
had been executed, and who had robbed hi, Lord-
ship's house, where the same sort.ot .thiug had
been exhibited. It was matter of not mitt y that
such tricks had been perforinetrin a variety of in-
stances; by persons who resorted to them tor the
ptirpo:,e of. effecting robberies.
Mr. Dawes swore, that he bad performed the
C•xperiment, and he now attempted to exhibit it
to the view of the Court, for the purpose of shew-
log the.: facility .with which it, might have been
done, but the exhibition did not seem very Due-
cessfull kad. heard the evidence of tie witness
Mr. Donald, and now contradicted the statement
whiLh he had made reipecting the state of Dun-
kin'S iron safe; when it was examined after 'the
fire,: -

.. . .
Lord- ELLENEOROUGH said, drat thongh‘fthis
night he a contradiction of the witness, it did
lot much advance the case of the defendantS.

Mr. HARMER, the Solicitor, said he had a meet-
ing with Dunkin on the 15th of August, and on
that occasion. he told witness, in answer to a
quisfion' fespecting the-Napoleons he had lost
front the safe,. that he bad 80 of them from a
moneychanger in the Palais Royale at Paris, and
:01 the rest he had from Lieut. Decree ;—that he
exchanged. with him at Parit, and gave him Bank
of-England notes for them. At another time, in
the October following, in speaking of the manner
in which hiS hands had been tied by the supposed
thieves, Dunkin said that the " parties;" mean-
ing the thieves; " had been with hint about five
minutes befo,re he heard the watchman going his
rounds, at he believed about half past twelie.—
One of the men Wn oitei tt,ia
time. 'Theotherof them had said,," I have got
it,” and 112(1 'gone down stall's. Just_before.the
man said " l have got .it," they secured his bands
and blindfolded him with two of my handkerchiefs.
Witness asked him why be had not called out,
and he said, " It was 50 feet from Shaftesbary-
place, and nobody could have heard me. I was
not in a hollowing humour."
Lord ELLENBOROUOH thought this not a mate-
rial contradiction. •

Henry Harrison was passing the end of Al-
dersgate7street. on the morning of the fire ; went
to-the spot ; was there 20 minutes before Mr.
Dunkin came. There were 20 0r.30 people there
before, and they were knocking at the door, cry-
ing " Fire ! fire !" Witness got into the house
by the fan-light, and opened the door, having
previously borrowed the watchman's lanthorn. The
street door was double locked, with the key in-
side. Dunkin then caine up and said, " o.,_good
God ! I don't know,what I have done to be served
so." On the Monday following, witness was
present when Dunkin was examined before Alder-
man Cox, and he asked the witness if he was the
young man who got in at the fan-light, and upon
answering /n the affirmative, he said, " Good
Gld ! were/you not afraid of the dog ?" Witness
examined all the doors of the
.house, and they
appeared to be fast..
George Lovell saw Mr. Dunkin about twenty
minutes after the fire broke out. At asubsequent
time he said that he did not know but that Har-
rison, who got in at the. fan-light, might' have
been torn to pieces by the dog.
John Mackey proved, that after the fire broke
out, all the doors and windows of Dunkin's house
appeared to be shutand fastened. Gre.t
siim-
culty,was found_ in opening the doer which had
been entered. . . • .;
Here the evidence for the defence closed.

Mr. GURNEY was heard in reply.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH Bulimic(' ►►p the case for
the Jury, witTi strong-observations upon its extra-
ordit►ary circumstances.
The Jury retired. for about half an hour, and
found theik verdict for the plaintiff—Damages,
3,0261. deducting salvage.
The trial laSted eleven hours, and was. not over
till past eight in the evening.

The Report of the Portsmouth, Portsea, and
Gosport Humane Society, just published, is high-
ly pleasing, and states, " That during the last
year several cases of Restoration of life have oc-
curred ; that sixty persons have been rescued
instrumentality
of impending death through the
of this Society : and that fifty-five Claimants have
been rewarded for their successful exertions in
preserving the "above nuroher of persons from a
premature grave. The Right Hon. Lord MEL-
VILLE has been pleased to accept the office of
Vice-Patron of the Society, and has made a hand-
some contribution to its funds, in consideration
Of the benefits deriied from the Institution by
men belonging to the naval sei vice of his Ma-
jesty.