Millbank Penitentiary: An Experiment in ReformationGriffiths, Arthur
Philosophy
Millbank Penitentiary: An Experiment in Reformation
Griffiths, Arthur
Millbank Prison (London, England); Penal colonies; Prisons -- Great Britain -- History
with a quantity of gold and some silver. He went out next morning with
the booty when the doors were re-opened, and attracted no attention.
The spoil was fairly divided; part of the notes were disposed of to
a travelling “receiver,” who passed over to the Continent and there
cashed them easily.
This occurred in November 1834. The Custom House officials were in a
state of consternation, and the police were unable at first to get
on the track of the thieves. While the excitement was still fresh, a
new robbery of diamonds was committed at a bonded warehouse in the
immediate neighbourhood, on Custom House Quay. The jewels had belonged
to a Spanish countess recently deceased, who had sent them to England
for greater security on the outbreak of the first Carlist war. At her
death the diamonds were divided between her four daughters, but only
half had been claimed, and at the time of the robbery there were still
£6,000 worth in the warehouse. These were deposited in an iron chest of
great strength on the second floor. The thieves, it was supposed, had
secreted themselves in the warehouse during business hours, and waited
till night to carry out their plans. Some ham sandwiches, several
cigar-ends, and two empty champagne bottles were found on the premises
next day, showing how they had passed their time. They had had serious
work to get at the diamonds. It was necessary to force one heavy door
from its hinges, and to cut through the thick panels of another. The
lock and fastenings of the chest were forced by means of a “jack,” an
instrument known to housebreakers, which, if introduced into a keyhole,
and worked like a bit and brace, will soon destroy the strongest lock.
The thieves were satisfied with the diamonds; they broke open other
cases containing gold watches and plate, but abstracted nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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