The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-27 00:00:00

Ell 27, 1845.

DARING BURGLARY at YARDLEY.
(From the Birmingham Advertiser.)
A burglary was committed early on Saturday morning last,
at_the house of Mr. W. Y. Madeley, fanner, Yardley. Mr.
,Madeley's house stands alone, fronted by a flower garden,
which comes up to a lane that leads from Hall Green Chapel
to Yardley Church; the back of the house is skirted by a
meadow. The nearest residence is situated about 100 yards
distance, and is occupied by Mr. Homer, Mrs. Madeley's
father, and at nearly the same distance are the houses, each of
which stands alone, of Mr. Badham, Mr. Mansfield, and Mr.
Palmer.

On Friday night the inmates of the house consisted of Mr.
Madeley, ,Mrs Madeley, Wm. Madeley, a nephew, aged about
nine years, and the servant girl. .The family retired to rest
about ten o'clock. We must here state, that over a side door
at the end of the house a verandah was erected, on to the top
of which egress could be made from the bedroom of Mr. and
Mrs. Madeley, the window of which opens in the centre, and
is what is termed a French window. About half-past one Mr.
"Madeley was awoke by the rattling of the window, and on
looking towards it ho saw a shadow on the white win-
dow curtains or blind; and, for a moment, being scarcely
awake, he fancied it was the girl cleaning the window.
On getting out of bed, and drawing the curtain aside, he saw
two men (two others stood concealed), the verandah being
wider than the window; and upon the instant a violent at-
tack was made upon the glass and frame with some heavy
instruments. Mr. Madeley ran to a chest of drawers, in
which was his sword, a formidable one, but as quick as light-
ning one of the villains forced his way through the broken
framework, upon which Mr. Madeley turned upon him, and
struck him three or four times, and whilst struggling with
him, two or three blows were aimed at his (Mr. Madeley's)
head from without, by one of the party, with a life-preserver;
Mr. Madeleyparried these blows, but was at length struck
with some sharp instrument, which inflicted a severe wound,
and had the effect of felling him to the floor in a state of
insensibility. Mr. Madeley also received another blow on
the forehead. On recovering from the stunning effect of
the blows, which he soon did, Mr. Madeley saw four men
in the room, each of whom produced his own light in au in-
stant, and the room appeared as light as day. Amidst the
confusion, Mr. Madeley had run from the room to that of
the servant, which was at the front of the house. One
of the men, who was invariably called captain by the
others, then said, " Mr. Mayberry, we don't wish to hurt you
in any way, if you'll only be quiet. All we want is your
money; we're starving for. bread." They all wore black
masks, made of glazed calico, which covered their hair and,
faces, leaving nothing visible but their eyes. Mr. Madeley'
was then ordered into the bed, and his keys demanded, which,
finding resistance utterly useless, he produced. They then
took from the chest of drawers a brown silk purse contain-
ing in gold 13/. 10s. and some silver, which the captain im-
mediately divided amongst them ; and having done so in a
very cool maimer, he suddenly turned to them and exclaimed,
"D— your —, leave the room, and keep the women
quiet r" Two of them then left the room.
When Mrs. Madeley ran to the servant's room, she threw
up the sash, and, with the girl, began to call loudly for as-
sistance, and instantly a large stone, at least half a pound
weight, was thrown with great violence into the room by a
man in the garden, who was distinctly seen on the grass-
plat. Several stones were subsequently thrown. The two
men were now trying to gain admittance, but Mrs. M. and
the girl, though dreadfully frightened, held the handle so
firmly that the miscreant had to use a crowbar, and the door
soon gave way ; some lighted paper was pushed through the
door to intimidate the females, and at one time Rad of Mrs.
Madeley's night-dress was on fire. Having gained admit-
tance, the ruffians then ordered them to get into bed, telling
them to be quiet, and no harm should come to them.
In the meantime the captain and the other men had
emptied several of the drawers, and had found another purse,
but not being satisfied, he said—" Mr. Mayberry, you have
more money than this." Mr. M. assured him he had not.
" We are informed," continued the captain, "that you are in
the habit of receiving large sums of money, and you must
give it up." Mr. M. again assured him that it was every
farthing he had got, but he said Mrs. M. might have a little.
The captain sent the man to Mrs. M., who, in her fright,
scarcely knowing wjiat she said, denied having any, and the
villain, on his return, flourished a large heavy instrument,
known to the police as the " Northern star," over his head
as he lay on the bed, exclaiming with a horrible imprecation
"If you don't give it up, I'll be the death of you." Mr.
Madeley said, if they would suffer him to go to his wife, she
would give him the keys, as no doubt she was much fright-
ened, and he again assured them he had no more. Mr.
M.'s gold watch, worth 25/., they had previously taken
from the bed's head, one of equal value, belonging to Mrs.
M., fortunately escaped their rapacity. Mr. M. was suffered
to go with the man, and Mrs. M. gave him the keys, and
they returned to the captain, who said, " Now, Mr. May-
berry, you'll open the drawers quicker than I can," at the
same time observing that it would be a pity to injure such
a piece of furniture, alluding to a beautiful wardrobe, from
a drawer of which they took two purses of Mrs. M.'s,
containing 2/. or 31. in gold and silver ; a sum of money
they also took from Mrs. Al.'s pocket, making in all about
304 and from the jewellery-boxes a gold neck-chain which
on being pulled out one of the rascals caught hold of? it, ob-
serving " this will do for me ;" amongst the articles taken
were a coral-necklace, a cornelian ditto, a miniature likeness,
set in a frame of massive gold, of a great uncle of Mrs. M.'s,
and several rings, amongst which was an old-fashioned one.
On looking them over, the captain said, " Mr. Mayberry,
this appears to be an old family ring, I'll give it you again,"
and he presented it with much politeness.
Twice in the course of the time of their stay, which was
from twenty minutes to half an hour, had the captain, at Mr.
M.'s request, supplied him with water from the table, with
considerable easiness of manner. From the plate-basket,
which was in Mr. M.'s room, they took a silver cup, gravy
and table spoons, and they had also forced a drawer in ano-
ther bed-room, but towards the last they appeared to be
hurried and alarmed, and left several places unexamined.
On quitting Mr. Madeley, the captain shook him by the
hand and bade him good morning ; and, on a signal given,
the others came, and they left the house the same way they
entered it. Mr. M., immediately on their departure, has-
tened to his wife, who had suffered dreadfully from terror
throughout the fearful scene. He there saw the men hurry
down the garden walk, and on gaining the road they all
set off in the direction of the canal as hard as they could
scamper. Two or three of the masks were found on the
canal bank the next morning.
The poor little boy, who was in the servant's bed, was
terribly frightened, and said to them with much childish
simplicity, "You won't kill us, will you?" Upon which
one of them said, taking him by the hand, "No, we won't
hurt you, if youll be quiet?" On parting with ie females,
'the ceremony of shaking hands was there also observed; and
one ruffian said, "We shall come and see you again." But,
judging from Mr. Madeley's preparations, their reception,
should they carry their threat out, will be rather of a warmer
nature than their last. Previously to leaving Mrs. M., a
promise was extorted from her, that no alarm should be given
under half an hour, a promise that Mr. Madeley, although
much hurt, reluctantly observed. It was found that a small
ladder, taken from a cottage a little way off, belonging to a
person named Jones, had been the means by which they had
climbed the verandah, giving the idea that some one who
knew the neighbourhood was implicated in the deed—a deed
so daringly planned, and so successfully accomplished, as to
throw the neighbourhood for miles round into a state of the
utmost alarm. Most sincerely do we hope the perpetrators
will be speedily brought to justice.

CRICKET.

EIGHT GENTLEMEN OF SURREY WITH THREE
PLAYERS v. THE MITCHAM CLUB.

It has seldom been our lot to witness a match of which the
interest has gone on increasing, as in this case, from the first,
till at its close it had become " intense." That such was the
case in this match will be readily conceived, when it is stated
that the three last wickets had, we think, nine runs only to
get. These batsmen then played with vast care, and ran
several runs where the ball had been placed just ig the mid-
dle of the play between the wickets, and at length two only
were required to make a " tie" game. It chanced that young
Sherman hit a ball for two, and off they set, and, as was
supposed, accomplished the feat ; but it is somewhat difficult
to describe the disappointment which was depicted on the
countenances of the supporters of Mitcham upon one of the
umpires calling out " one short," for then a run was still
required to place them on a par with their opponents. The
next ball took Mr. lloare's wicket, and thus they lost the
match by one nm.
The store stood thus :