A gang of robbers had found a useful passage underneath a family home and had made themselves very comfortable. It was an ideal place to stash their hoard, until the family and servants began to wonder. . .
“Singular Apprehension of a Gang of Robbers. –
During the last six weeks, the family and domestics of Henry Alwin Soames, Esq., a gentleman residing in Vanbrugh Fields, next Maize-hill, Greenwich Park, have been subject to strange underground noises, and smoke proceeding from the same direction: there have generally occurred at night. The servants, when in the passages leading to the kitchen and cellars, considered that they heard persons talking and knocking with some heavy instrument near the cellar situated under the parlour, which faces the lawn in the rear of the mansion. On Sunday the 17th, the family and servants were all absent except the cook, and she became very seriously alarmed at the strange noises. She therefore determined upon securing every door on the premises, and on her master’s return told him that she must leave her situation, if left alone again – she felt convinced that the house was haunted. About four o’clock on the following Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Soames, being satisfied that some person or persons were at work underground, went into Greenwich Park and met a police constable, to whom he related the circumstances, and also that smoke frequently found its way into the lower part of the house, where there was neither chimney nor fire-place. The officer accompanied Mr. Soames to the house, a large old-fashioned family mansion, overlooking from the back front the Thames and a very steep and rugged hanging wood. The police constable, attended by the gardener, coachman, &c., went on the paddock or lawn, at the bottom of which, 140 yards from the house, in the hanging wood, his attention was drawn to an opening in the brickwork into a subterranean passage, leading to the centre of the mansion. A spaniel dog belonging to Mr. Soames being on the spot, the constable requested that he might be induced to search the cavern (as they called it) in search of rats, &c. The dog went freely in, and immediately a voice was heard at the far end calling upon the dog to quit the place. The dog returned, followed at a distance by a man, who, on seeing several persons at the entrance, retreated back to his hiding place, refusing to surrender himself. A bundle of straw was then brought from the stable, put into the mouth of the tunnel, and set fire to. This not having the desired effect, pickaxes and spades were procured, and two large openings made through the lawn to the brickwork sufficient to admit a stout man. More straw was then set fire to, and dropped into the openings made. This had the desired effect: three blackguard fellows presented themselves, nearly suffocated, and implored to be released from their perilous situation. They were taken into custody, after which two police constables and Mr. Soames’s servants, lanthorns* in hand, proceeded to explore the retreat. They entered the passage in the hanging wood, on their hands and knees, and on proceeding something more then 100 feet, they discovered an open space, the bottoms of which was boarded, and a quantity of bricks piled up and covered with boards for seats or tables, and on one side another quantity of bricks formed into a fire-place, and which had been used for that purpose. On removing the boards from the bottom of this cell, an immense quantity of feathers was discovered, and a cash-box and other small boxes which had been broken open and their contents removed: many appeared to be jewel and trinket boxes and cases. The searchers proceeded from this place through a passage in which they could stand nearly upright for about 50 yards, when they were stopped by a brick wall, from which about fifty bricks appeared to have been recently removed, and upon touching one an opening was made into the cellar of the house. But for this timely discovery, it is apparent that a robbery of the premises would shortly have been effected. Mr. Soames and his family had no knowledge of this subterranean passage, which is supposed to have existed for centuries. The prisoners were charged before Mr. Traill, at the Greenwich police-court, and remanded.
The Stamford Mercury, 29th January, 1847.
- an earlier spelling of lantern: the reflective pieces were often made out of animal horn.