The Sun. — 1834-01-23 (London, England)

THREE HIGHWAYMEN DEFEATED.....A. daring highway robbery has been attempted in the Potteries since our last. The circumstances are these :_OA Tuesday morning, Mr. Dawes, surgeon, of Stoke, a powerful and spirited man, was returning home from Lane End, between one and two o'clock, and when descending the hi l near Fenton tollgate, he observed two men standing together on the footpath ; these be passed, and proceeding a little further overtook a third man, who, without speaking, struck him across the face, knocked him down, fell upon him, anti attempted to rifle his breeches pockets. Mr. D. fell with one hand under him, and with the other he held close the pocket in which was money to the amount of sixteen or seventeen shillings, at the same time crying out " Murder." The two men be had passed then came to the assistance of the assailant, who found he could not without help hold Mr. D. down, and at the same time make his way to the cash. One of tl e fellows put his left hand on Mr. D.'s mouth, to stifle his cries, while the other two proceeded in the attempted robbery. The odds were fearful—three against one, and that one the undermost, are not to be triflingly thought of. What was to be done? We have said that one of the men put his hand on Mr. Dawes' mouth. Mr. D. seized the fellow's forefinger between his teeth, and gave it—not a nibble, nor a gentle squeezer, but a desperate bite, which made him roar with pain. The fellow pulled to extricate himself, but he was not to be let off easily ; Mr. D. kept hold, and in a very few seconds amputated the end of the finger. The wortby trio were panicstricken, and took to their heels, leaving behind them I hat and stick, the former of which is identified as having been stolen from Mr. Hollins, engineer, of Lane End. Mr. D. immediately rose, and putting the finger end in his pocket, pursued the rogues, with a view to their cap• ture, but they got over a gate and escaped. Mr. Dawes then gave information to Mr. W. C. Davis, head constable of Stoke, who promptly went in quest of the thieves, and, in company with Mr. B. Harding, constable of Lane End, sac( eeded i❑ apprehending two of them early the same day, at the Eagle Inn, in the latter town. They are cousins, and their names are George and Charles Evans. One of iliem is the fellow who was so judiciously marked on the finder by Mr. Dawes, and indeed this led to their detection. When first questioned as to what was the matter with his finger, be said he had hurt it in a coal-pit; afterwards that it had got injured in a scuffle; and a subsequent statement was, that in attempting to cut the gristly part of a leg of mutton the night before, the knife slipped and cut off his finger end. The production of the missing I portion, howover, disproved all these tales, besides which, Mr. Dawes could swear positively to the man. They were taken before R. Bourne, Esq., where they behaved with the most callous indifference, but were committed for trial. Mr. Davis, the constable, has put the finger end in a bottle of spirits for preservation, as evidence at the trial ; and such is the curiosity that scores, we might almost say hundreds, have been to see it.—Staffordshirc Mercury.