The Memoirs of Emily Bennett – Burglars

(Transcribed by Kirsty Sherwood, a great great granddaughter of Emily Bennett)

I have a burglary to relate that happened shortly after I was married^. Several places had been entered and robbed in Oxford Street then¹. Burglars went into 3 consecutive shops just about Liverpool Street where Winn’s drapery store stands now. They entered houses in McQuarie (sic) St². At one club a gentleman was sitting half asleep. Hearing someone enter, said is that you expecting his friend. The burglar says yes and departed safely. At another place the man of the shop wakened and a tussle ensued, the grocer getting a nasty crack on the head³. A clothier named Lewis was the next victim. In here they replenished their wardrobe, putting the things stolen into new portmanteaus & next came ourselves.

Why I cannot tell, but my husband and I had been at the theatre than night, had supper at home, and retired. Next morning our maid knocked at our room and saying she thought something had happened in the night. We were feeling very strange and kind of suffocated⁴. A little poodle which slept in the room had been drugged and we on looking round found all things generally gone. On going down stairs we found all the doors open. What was left of supper all gone and most incriminating, drops of pink paraffin candle was dropped all round the room, up and down stairs. This was the clue to all the burglaries, as the grocers had been one of the first of their exploits.

Fortunately the thieves were traced in this manner – Two men went to Woolloomooloo with a number of portmanteaus, called a boatman, asking him to pull them over to the boat that was coming down the harbour for Melbourne. Of course the Steamer could not stop and the men and boat returned to the wharf. Strange to say, the same men came again to a boat man with the same request, but to meet the Brisbane boat. The boat man became suspicious, missed the boat and again returned to shore, left his boat to another and followed the 2 men to where they were lodging, got the police, who arrested the two men, one of which was a sweep and the other an acrobat⁵. The things they had taken were on view for owners to pick out their own⁶. The men had a long sentence⁷. I recovered a small gold Genevan watch, afterward a lucky watch, for I recovered it after 3 times losing it. Once it dropped from my waist in front of Saint Mary’s. A man picked it up, returned it, got a reward, for which he was grateful, as it happened he was in distress and honest. The other time I dropped it on the roadway but recovered it and have it in my possession now.

Notes

1. Emily and Alfred were married in October 1874 and the robberies took place 2 years later, in October 1876. They were living in a terrace house in Bourke St Woolloomooloo, just round the corner from William Street (southern side). The house was owned by Samuel Bennett and Alfred had been born there. It was one of 2 terraces houses Samuel had had built on the site which he purchased in 1848. This was one of the properties he mortgaged to purchase The Empire.
2. At that time the line of what we now know as Macquarie Street continued through the centre of Hyde Park, and Macquarie Street commenced again at Liverpool St and terminated at Albion St.
3. The victim was William Rokes, proprietor of a grocery store on the corner of Park and Castlereagh Streets. He was awakened by one of the robbers and pursued him until he escaped over a wall. The second robber, pretended to be a citizen in pursuit the first burglar, but Rokes was not fooled, he tried to hold him and received a very nasty bow from a cosh for his troubles.
4. The burglars appear to have been quite sophisticated in their planning of the robberies, with the press reports indicating the use of use some sort of airborne chemical to induce sleepiness in the victims and the drugging of dogs to prevent them raising the alarm. The Bennett’s poodle and Roke’s watchdog, also a poodle, both being drugged.
5. After their capture the burglars were identified as Hugh Vaughan, by occupation a cook (not an acrobat), and William Porter, a chimney-sweep.

6. The Bennetts were probably lucky. Their robbery was one of the first (after 40 years, Emily appears to be confused about the sequence of robberies) by this gang of 2 who operated mainly in the Oxford Street/Williams Street area; they appear not to have lost too much and no one was injured. What she does not mention is that their first child, Sam (Samuel Vivian Bennett), then just turned 1, was in the house.Before they were caught, the robbers managed a huge haul; aside from any cash they managed to steal, over 300 items were recovered after their arrest. And, when the opportunity presented, they dined on any food they fancied in the houses or shops they robbed. At their trial, evidence of five robberies was presented by the prosecution, The Bennett robbery was not one of these, other robberies they committed may also have omitted from the case presented by the Crown.
7. Sentences were passed on 22 October 1876, with Vaughan receiving 15 years, the maximum sentence, and Porter 10, both to be served as “hard labour on the roads”.  Porter’s lesser sentence reflected his slightly less numerous prior convictions.There are numerous press reports on the robberies, the arrests, with shots fired, and the subsequent trial (see Trove for October 1876).