The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-12 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL WINTER ASSIZE

YESTERDAY afternoon, about twenty minutes to four
o'clock, the Hon. Justice Earle. and the Hon. Justice
Crompton arrived at the railway-station, Edge-hill, where
they were received by the Mayor, in whose carriage they
proceeded to their lodgings, where they were met by the
High Sheriff, Richard Fort, Esq., of Read Hall. After
robing, their lordships proceeded to St. George's-hall,
where the commmission was read. Their lordships will

this morning, as is customary, proceed to St. George's
Church, about eleven o'clock, where they will attend
divine service. They will next adjourn to St. George's-
hall, where the charge will be delivered to the Grand Jury,
after which the business of the Assizes will be proceeded
with.

There are 113 prisoners for trial
a classified summary : Murder, 1
der, 1 ; manslaughter, 15 ; rape, 1
robbery from the person, 24 ; stabbing or wounding
4 ; beastiality, 5 ; housebreaking, 4; bigamy, 3 ; coining
or uttering base coin, 4 ; forgery, 7 ; postoffice robbery, 2 ;
horse and cattle stealing, 2 ; arson, 2 ; feloniously stealing,
4 ; perjury, 2 ; in default of sureties, 1; armed at night in
pursuit of game, 2 ; total, 113. The case of murder is
that of a woman named Elizabeth Sanson, who is charged
with having wilfully destroyed the life of a child, at Man-
chester.. She was insane when admitted into Kirkdale
Gaol, and has been removed to a lunatic asylum.

The following is

attempt to mur-

burglary

EXPERIMENTS ON THE • NEW PATENT
POWDER-PROOF LOCK, AT MILNERS'
PHCENIX SAFEWORKS.

ANIMATED by a desire to deserve the popular favour
which has been showered by the public on the Patent
Safes manufactured by the highly-respectable firm of
MILNER. and Sox, of this town, these gentlemen have
spared no expense, and omitted no endeavour, to render
their Safes, in all respects, suitable for the protection of
valuables ; and, profiting by the large experience they have
had, and also availing themselves of the admirable machi-
nery at their command, they have long ago been successful
in rendering their safes proof against the ravages of fire,
the insidious aggressions of fraud, and the attempts of
ordinary violence. Secure in having achieved these advan-
tages, all that could be desired, to meet the ordinary re-
quirements of a real property safe, had been accomplished;
and to such an extent was this effected, that baled
roguery was repelled, and all the ingenuity and daring of
the burglar were concentrated in an endeavour to over-
come the difficulties thrown in their way by the ingenuity
of Messrs. MILNER and Sox. The readiest, as well as the
most potent agent for this purpose was the application of
gunpowder, introduced into the lock of the safe through
the keyhole, by which not only the lock but the door
itself of the safe might be destroyed, and thus afford
access to the valuable contents of the otherwise unassail-

able repository. The efficacy and frequency of this mode
of obtaining nreess to the interior of their safes, in common
with those manufactured by others, put Messrs. MILNER
upon their mettle, and they resolved that, cost what it
might, they should overcome this bold means of infringing
the security of their safes. To do this, they, as far as
possible, reduced the size of the locks ; and, in the next
place, set about filling up the unoccupied spaces of the
lock, so as to reduce the vacuum in its interior to the

smallest amount consistent with the perfect action of the
key and levers by which the security of the lock is

ensured.

Having fully accomplished these objects, they resolved
to test how far this filling up, and other appliances for
aiding in the same view, might be depended on as a
security against the application of gunpowder ; and the
lock constructed on the new principle, as compared with
one of the old ones, was submitted to a trying experiment
in their works on Friday evening. Amongst those present
on the occasion were W. Brown, Esq., M.P., Mr. Councillor
Johnson (deputy-chairman of the Watch Committee), Mr.
Councillor Robertson (member of the Watch Committee),
Major Greig (head-constable of the borough), accompanied
by Superintendents Ride and Quick, and Messrs. Clough
and Bates of the detective force, Mr. Joseph Boult, of
the Architectural Society, Mr. C. F. Salt, of the Poly-
technic Society, Mr. G. R. Beck, of the North and South
Wales Bank, &c., &c.
Mr. MILNER, after alluding to the frequency with
which safes of different constructions had been of late
forcibly opened by the introduction of gun-powder into the
lock by means of the key-hole ; and having explained that
the destructive agent might be introduced in still greater
quantity into the chamber which contained the lock, by
the process of drilling a hole through the front plate of the
door, proceeded to exhibit one of the old locks, and also
one of the new ones. The former, he showed, consisted
of an iron box, into which the various wards and levers,
popularly known as the " works," are fastened, the re-
maining portions of the lock being completely void, and
capable of containing a considerable quantity of any ex-
plosive matter which might be forced into it. He
explained that into a lock, suited to the medium size of
safe, constructed on the old or ordinary principle, about
half-a-pound weight of gun-powder might be introduced
while larger locks would, of course, contain a greater
quantity. He next showed one of equal power, but of
smaller dimensions, in which every morsel of space not
occupied by the " works," or essential to the working of
. the parts, was filled up solidly with metal, thus reducin g
the vacuum in its interior to the smallest possible amount.
Both of these are what are known as the patent six-lever
locks ; by the improvements thus effected, the lock last
referred to did not afford space for more than half a thim-
bleful of powder. To obviate still further the possibility
of applying gun-powder in any way to the opening of the
safe, Mr. Milner showed that the chamber in which the
lock was placed was completely filled up with soft spongy
timber, which, in the event of being penetrated with a
drill, would, of itself, half fill up, leaving the aperture for
the reception of any material whatever exceedingly small ;

as a still further protection, however, he showed that
this timber was protected by a plate of hardened steel,
which would resist almost any attempt at boring from the

outside

These explanations having been made, Mr. Milner re-
quested some one present to introduce as much powder as
possible by the key-hole of the new lock, a duty which
was carefully performed by Major Greig, who packed in
as much as he could possibly stuff, but which was only a
very small quantity, certainly not a quarter of an ounce
in all. A fusee was applied, and the powder exploded
with a smart loud crack. The screws which bolted the
outer to the inner door were then unfastened, and it was
found that the lock had not sustained the slightest injury,
all the levers and moveable portions being still in good

working order, the only impediment being the dirt
caused by the burnt powder. The inspection, in this

instance, having been completed, the experiment was
lock of the old description.

next tried on the

In this instance the loading was performed by
Mr. Bates, of the Liverpool detective police, who
succeeded in introducing, by the key-hole, about half
a pound of gunpowder. A fusee was then applied and
lighted, which was followed by a great and even alarming
explosion. In this case there was no necessity for minute
examination to show the destructive effect of the explo-
sion—the door being thrown to a distance of several
yards ; the lock completely destroyed ; and every
means of barring access to the interior of the safe entirely
removed. A more satisfactory or conclusive evidence of
the superiority of the new over the old lock could not
have been given, and the gentlemen present testified their
conviction of its conclusiveness and fairness, in strong and
i unequivocal ,terms.,