INGENIOUS ROBBERY.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 404, 27 April 1871, Page 2

INGENIOUS ROBBERY.

SUCCESSFUL TRAPPING- OF NOTORIOUS PILLAR LETTER-BOX ROBBERS.

During the last; three months a gang of London thieves have been exercising their ingenuity in extracting letters from pillar letter-boxes erected in various parts of the metropolis, and so ingenious and successful have been their operations that they have succeeded in possessing themselves of a large sum of money, and also in baffling the combined exertions of the police and postal authorities to put a stop to their " little game" until Saturday last, when a scheme concocted for the apprehension of the thieves fortunately proved successful, though one of the prisoners afterwards contrived (o effect his escape from the Hertford police station, and up to a late hour on Snndav evening had not been reapprehended. The modus operandi of the thieves lias been to steal letters from the pillar letter-boxes, to appropriate those containing checks and noes, to get them cashed as soon as possible, and, when practicable, to forge the endorsement. The scheme laid for the discovery of the robbery was this : —The London police authorities put themselves in communication with Mr. J. W. Cliesshyre, manager of the Hertford branch of the London and County Bank, by whom a check was drawn for the amount of £7 6s 3d, in the name of John Gardiner, and payable at Hertford to Frank Summers. This check was placed in the hands of Detective Sergeant Hancock, by whom it was posted at a pillar letter-box at Ivenn?ngton. Premising that the check would be presented at the Hertford bank early on Saturday by one of the gang of suspected thieves, Serjeant Hancock, with two constables, arrived at Hertford by the first train reaching Hertford on that day. The two constables were posted in the vicinity of the bank. Sergeant Hancock took up his position in the window of the post-office, which commands a view of the bank entrance, and two of the local constabulary, with Superintendent Jarrett, watched the arrival of the trains by the Groat Eastern and Great Northern Railways. The train arriving at the Hertford station on the former line about 12 o'clock brought two of the suspected parties, who immediately made their way to the London and County Bank, narrowly watched by the constables in disguise. On ai/iving at the bank they made a pause of a few minutes, during which something was seen to pass between them, and them one of the fellows went into the bank and cashed the cheque which had boon prepared by Mr. Chesshyre and posted by Sergeant Hancock. Immediately the presenter had endorsed it a signal was given by the bank clerk, and the thief was quickly in flic hands of Sergeant Hancock, his confederate being apprehended by the other constable outside. The man who presented the cheque gives the name of John Hall, aged 22, of the Wnlworth Road, London, but is better known by the sobriquet of" Colcy." The other man is named Benjamin Ponlton, alias "Bon the Flat," and is about thirtyfive years of age. He at first cave the name of John Jowkins, and said lie was forty years of age. Although lie is a short slight-built man, he is known as a desperate character, and but for the fact that he was comple'.ely surrounded by constables when apprehended he would doubtless have made a desperate attempt to escape. They were both well and neatly dressed. ' lie and Ills canfferl crate worn at once taken to the Hertford police station, and left in charge of a metropolitan and local constable, who received instructions from Superintendent Jtirrelt not to allow the prisoners to leave their cells und :r any pretence whatever; but, after they had been c nGncd about :in hour, the man Hall, who had been crying and protesting that lie was not aware tin; cheque had been stolen, asked to be permitted to leave his cell to write n letter to his friends. This he was allowed to do, and after ho had written his letter he was put back into the ceil, but, although there were two holts and a lock on the door, the constables forgot to either bolt or lock the cell door after replacing Hull. He observed this omission,and quietly biding his time until there was no one in the police station except, himself and his comrade, he opened his cell door and walked off unobserved. About half an hour after his departure his absence was discovered, greatly to the consternation of tbe police, who raised a hue and cry in every direction, but, as we have already stated, the missing bird was still on the wing up till a late hour on Sunday evening. It is estimated that between £500 and £600 havo been stolen from the London pillar-boxes within the last, month or six weeks. Poulton was taken before Mr. W. P. Wilson, the mayor of Hertford, on Saturday evening, and remanded.— Times.