Star.
London, England, 1827-11-28 00:00:00

EXTENSIVE BURGLAR?.

•
Yesterday morning, as soon as the Magiltiatei had
arrived at Bow street Office, information was given by
Messrs. GandaLot and Joan-son, watch and chronome-
ter makers, in the Strand (at the corner of Castle-court),
of a burglary and most extensive robbery having been
committed upon their premises on the preceding night.
This burglary, both as regards the baldness and inge-
nuity, with v. MO It was effected, as well as with re•
gard to the amount of booty carried off by the thieves,
is nearly without parallel in the annals of housebreak•
ing. The shop of Messrs. Gams LOS and JouN.son was
closed on Monday night before ten o'clock, and there''
being al ways a great quantity of valuable property upon
the premise:, the fastening of the doors, there being one
leading into Castle-court and another into the Strand,
were of the most approved description, and every thing
was considered perfectly safe. Tilt house is a very large
one, and a portion of it at the back, opening into Castle-
court, has been for many years a well known and re-
spectable coffee and chop house, called the Castle
Coffee-house, kept by Mr. Grimaldi's mother. There
is a door communicating from the coffee-house with
the house where Messrs. Grimaldi and Johnson's shop
is situate, which was fastened on the side nest the
coffee room by an iron bar and a padlock. The servant
girl states that she put the bar on the door, and locked
it, and bolted the cellar door, before she retired to bed.
—Yesterday morning, when the family came down
stairs, to their great surprise they found the cellar
door open, and also the door leading into the back coffee
room, and-from thence into Castle•court. The alarm

this circumstance created, was only exceeded on disco-
vering that the padlock of the door leading into the front
shop, had been picked with a false key, and the iron bar
removed. On their going into the shop they found that
it had been ransacked of all the valuable property left
therein on the previous night, which, consisting of
spring clocks, time pieces, chronometers, gold keys,
chains, seals, and jewellery, of the value of between Six
and seven Thousand Pounds, had been carried off, and
merely a wreck of property, scattered upon the floor,
of scarcely any value, left behind. The glass cases,
drawers, boxes, shelves, and other places where the pro.
perty had been deposited, were all cleared of their con-
tents. The watches, Su. which were exhibited for sale
in the window, were taken off the hooks on which they
were suspended the night before, and only a few articles
were left strewed on the window shelf and the counters.
The robbers, it is believed, were provided with sacks to
carry away the property, and it is considered more than
probable that a hackney coach was even at hand, into
which the thieves conveyed the booty, and drove away
with it to some fence, or receiving house for stolen
goods. It is considered very extraordinary where the
watchman could be all the time, because it was im-
possible the stolen property could have been conveyed
from the house without the assistance of several per-
sons. Bishop and Salmon, the principal officers, were
sent by Sir Richard Birnie to examine the premises,
and to use their exertions to discover the robbers.
They fciund a dark lantern and a crow bar on the
premises, which had been left by the robbers. They were
of opinion that one of the thieves had concealed himself in
the cellar adjoining one of the coffee•rooma during the
preceding evening,and after the family had retired to rest,
had let in his companions, through the door leading into
Castle-court. Some strange persons took refreshment at
the coffee-house on Monday evening, and from the nude
in which the robbery was effected, the efficers are satis-
fied that it was accomplished by no ordinary thieves—
that it must have been in contemplation for a consider-
able period, arid probably the watchman 'was inveigled
from his beat at the time the property was removed, or
had what is called " sleepy dust' thrown in his eyes.—
The watchman declares- that he went his rounds as
usual, and he saw nothing ; but it was strange that he
did not discover that the leading into Castle-court
was unfastened, it having been left ajir by the thieves.
Salmon and Bishop were yesterday on the alert, watch-
ing several receiving houses. The loss would have been
much greater, had not Messrs. Grimaldi and Johnson
fortunately, a few days ago, returned to the Admiralty,
and also to several Noblemen and Gentlemen, a number
of valuable chronometers, which they had to regulate,
&c. Amongst the property stolen were three pounds'
worth of new sixpences. The officers said that a more
insecure place for depositing valuable property they had
never seen, and regular " cracksmen" would havefound
not the least difficulty in entering the place, by climbing
over the wall in Castle court, which leads to the coffee-
house yard. At a late hour last night, no clue had been
obtained, likely to lead to the recovery of the property,
or to the discovery of the thieves. •