Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-10-01
From the Journal Of Commerce.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY AND SINGU.
LAR DETECTION.

I'm lENSlN Il RObDElLl AMI olNGO-
LAR DETECTION.
About two years back, Mrs. Janeway, Il
rich widow lady residing in Chatham street,
was robbed of a large sum ofmoney. Being
then in state of inciplent mental imbecllity,
(now a confirmed lunatic) she was rather i'm
prudent in the management Of her affairs,
and incautious as TO where she placed her
cask. Under these circumstances, a trunk
which contained large sum Of money was
stolen out of her house. From that period
till the last two or three days, no trace what
ever could be found of the missing property,
and all idea Of ever recovering it was long
since abandoned. At the timo oi tie rob
berry, Mrs Janeway had three domestics,
named Patrick Finley, Mary O. " cary, and
Lydia Baker; the first two Of whom mar
RED shortly after, and went home to Ireland.
whence they came back to this country, and
Finley again entered the service Of Mrs
Janeway's family as groom to her son, and
has remained in his employment to the pres
ent period. Patrick Finley has a brother,
James Finley, who lately quarrelled with his
wife, and after being liberated from Bride
well, where lie was sent for not supporting
her, he finally abandoned her and went to
New Orleans; leaving his wife in a complete
state Of destitution. Finding herself aban-
doned and without any means of support
she applied TO her brother in laws family for
relief, who refused to render her any assis-
tance. Shortly after she happened to meet
IA man named William NGwsUn, who had
lived with Mrs Janeway at the time of the
robbery, and is also at present in the employ
ment of her family, and while complaining to
him of the unklndness Of her relatives, she
IN moment Of irritation divuIged the secret
that they were the persons who committed
the robbery. Newson Immediately commu-
nicated the intelligence to Mr.. Lawrence who
is receiver to the estate Of Mrs Janeway and
he communicated the matter to the police
| The information was however Of so vague Il
nature that the police could only act on it so
tar as to examine the parties accused, and
Lydia Baker who was said to be the prime
mover in the robbery, was brought to the
police Office, but she so firmly denied all
knowledge Of the transaction that there ap-
'peared but little chance Of making any far
ther discovery of the matter. Messrs. Mor-
ritt, Sparks and Homan, however took the
affair in hands and their first effort was to
get hold of Patrick Finley, who it appears, is
"A desperate fellow, and lives in Laurens
street.
The officers then went to his house, which
they found shut up, and having raised the
window, one Of them was about to enter,
when a tremendously large mastif, which
was inside, attacked him with so much feroci-
ty as TO render his lngress matter of too
much hazard without first destroying the en-
ragged animal that was within. This the Off
GERS considered would be unwarrantable, as
they were yet acting only from surmise and
h,ntr moi, ftar ,,t,l,
deavoring to pacify the dog, one of the Off
GERS procured large piece of beef, which he
held at the window, and encouraged the dog
to leap at, which it at last did with so des
perate an effort that it fairly leaped out of
the window, and the officers leaving him to
dcvour his prey entered the house, and on
searching it they found between three aud
four hundred soveregns, being about $l700.
Their next proceeding was to 90 to the house
of Lydia Bakers mother, with whom Lydia
resided, and here they used their influence
to such good purpose with Mrs. Baker that
she acknowledged having part Of the money, ),
and gave them up $1,000, and in order to save
they then searched her house and found a
the plumber, and which, added to the other
wv sumo VI 'HchSy thcy ooluiHSu, lIiduc
more than $1,000, being as is supposed,
somewhat less than half OF the amount Of the
robbery.
Finley and wife when examined at the po-
.lice Office very plausibly accounted for the
money found with them, by saying that an
uncle of Mrs. Finley died in ireland and left
her legacy, and that it was to obtain this
money that she and her husband went there
shortly after the robbery was committed. In
this story, they corroborated each others ac-
count in every particular, which gave it so
much the semblance Of truth, that it was diff
iicult TO doubt it, until at last, on Mr.. HopsonI
asking Mrs. Finley the name Of her uncle
who left her the legacy, she hesitated stam-
mered and stopped SO long before she made
story was fabrication. When Lydia .aller
found how the affair was likely to tern. aate, ,
she confessed the whole; and it appears that
Lydia herself took the trunk which contained
tie property, out OF Mrs. Janeway's room,
brought it down stairs and gave it to Mary
o. Meara, now Mrs. Finley, who took it away,
and they alterward divided the spoil. Fin
ley soon after married Mary o. Meara, and
they then went to Ireland as mentioned
above, and such was the knavery and dupic-
ity of Finley, that on his return to America,
he again entered the service of Mr.. Janeway
and remained with him until he was arrested.
Finley, his wife, and Lydia Baker, were fully
committed.
MrU.NcvIoty SuIpwppru Ghins Ioo,b