Newspaper Extracts
Burglary At Handsworth Quarries
10th March, 1856On Saturday morning a burglary of a most desperate character was perpetrated at the house of Mr. Frederick Birtles, stone merchant, Handsworth Quarries, near Sheffield.
Mr. Birtles occupies a lonely house near his quarries, and about half past 1 o'clock on Saturday morning his wife was awoken by a noise of persons boring at the cellar kitchen door. She informed her husband who sleeps in the room over the cellar-kitchen, and he instantly jumped out of bed.
The robbers heard the noise and at once took to their heels. Mr. Birtles slipped on his trousers and ran after them, leaving the door unfastened. He caught one of them in a field at a short distance, and the man immediately called out for assistance. A second man ran up, and the two threw Mr. Birtles down. One of them, who was armed with a life preserver (a pliable stick, with a large lump of lead at the end), placed his foot upon Mr. Birtles' throat, and said to the other, "We have the ... fast now, you go and ransack the house." The second man ran for the purpose, and Mr. Birtles made an attempt to get upon his feet, upon which the man who was keeping guard over him struck him a violent blow on the leg, and another on the side, with the life preserver.
In the meantime six men entered the bedroom where Mrs. Birtles and the youngest child were in bed, all wearing crepe over their faces, and two of them formidably armed, one with a sledge hammer and the other with a spade. The two men who were armed stood over Mrs. Birtles and demanded the keys. She persisting in saying that she had not got them, one of the men was sent to Mr. Birtles to demand them. He said he had not got them, telling the man to search him. The man did so, taking out of his pockets a purse containing some silver, but not finding the keys. On this man's return to the house, the robbers threatened Mrs. Birtles life if she did not find the keys, and she was so terrified that she got out of bed and fetched them from her dress pocket.
The men then proceeded to ransack the house, and found in the drawer of a box £20 in notes, £9 in gold, and a life policy for £200 all of which they at once possessed themselves.
While these proceedings were going on Mrs. Birtles anxiously inquired whether they had murdered her husband, and one of the villains replied, "No, we'll bring him back, and he shall have breakfast with us off some of this ham," pointing to some hams suspended from the top of the room.
The search was a prolonged one, and the man keeping guard over Mr. Birtles began to shiver with cold, and inquired whether his prisoner would lie still if he tied his hands fast? Mr. Birtles' answer was, "Yes, I think you've given me enough to make me do that." The man at once proceeded to tie Mr. Birtles' hands together in front of him with a piece of strong cord, and, having done so, left him lying on the ground. Before the men had got many yards away, Mr. Birtles had bit the string in two, jumped upon his feet, and ran towards the nearest houses, which were at the distance of 300 yards, and are occupied by his workmen, crying "Murder" as he ran. The man ran after him for 100 yards, but finding Mr. Birtles too fleet of foot, gave up the chase. Mr. Birtles' cries were heard by the burglars in the house, one of whom called out, "Off, lads!" to the men in the house, and to a seventh man who had been keeping watch at the door, and, in the words of Mr. Birtles, "Off they went like a shot."
Mr. Birtles found the house deserted by the thieves on returning with some of his men. At a later period, two of the £5 notes were found in a hedge bottom, about 50 yards from the house, having been probably dropped by the thieves in their hasty retreat. Near the notes were found a couple of thrift boxes belonging to the children, containing a small sum of money.
