CHAPTER V.

EXTRAORDINARY BANK ROBBERY IN GLASGOWPURSUIT OF THE ROBBERS TO LONDON-THE WONDERFUL CASE OF HUFFEY WHITE, AND SENTENCE OF DEATH ON JAMES M'COUL, &c.

OUR neighbouring Burgh of Paisley, was no small drink in this our City of Glasgow, fifty or sixty years ago. It had here its "Paisley Bank." It had here also its Paisley Union Bank. The branches, or the agencies of these two banks in Glasgow, did a very considerable deal of business. The office of the first-mentioned bank, was for a long time in one of the ancient tenements near the Cross of Glasgow, opposite the statue of King William, in which same tenement the branch of the present flourishing City of Glasgow Bank recently did its business for several years, under the agency of Mr. William Robertson, till it removed that good branch to the fine new tenement recently erected nearly opposite the Tron Steeple, where previously stood the tenement wherein the illustrious Sir John Moore, the hero of Corunna, was born. The Paisley Union, transacted its business in what was considered to be a very beautiful building in Glasgow fifty years ago-in that building to the east, in Ingram Street,

nearly opposite Hutchesons' Hospital; and from the front door of the Hospital, this old Paisley Bank office may be viewed still to some advantage. It forms Nos. 49 and 51 of Ingram Street, now occupied by Messrs. Reid and others; and although this Bank, with the other one above-named, has long ceased to transact business under those titles, being merged in modern banks still alive and active, yet the old Paisley Union will form the subject of a most extraordinary affair, or rather a chain of the most extraordinary and marvellous circumstances, that probably ever occurred in this city or kingdom. These, we shall now endeavour truthfully to narrate in our present Reminiscence, and with an interest which will increase and be developed towards the close of it.

Our readers, however, will please in the first place, to observe the fact, that the office of the Paisley Union Bank as scen now, was very different from what it was, as seen then, viz., in the year 1811, with which year our story begins.

Nearly opposite to the Paisley Union Bank, a very celebrated woman at that time in Glasgow, viz., Mrs. Neil Munn, kept a tavern for carriers' quarters, &c. It has been demolished to make way for modern buildings. Farther on, but nearly opposite the Bank, there was a long dead wall running on the north side of Ingram Street. On the east and west, on the south side, there were some beautiful gardens, no longer in existence, being covered over with the haunts of busy commerce. Downwards a little to the right, there was the famous Glasgow Bowling Green of old, now forming the site of our City Hall, and bustling Bazaar, in the Candleriggs. And thus the Paisley Union Bank was seen towering in its pride of place fifty years ago.

Standing at the old wall near Mrs. Munn's stables, which some yet in Glasgow may remember, any stranger had the best opportunity of reconnoitring the appearance of the Bank, and that it was anxiously reconnoitred at the period referred to, by certain strangers then in Glasgow, there cannot be the smallest reason to doubt. This Paisley Union Bank, we may remark, did also a very large business in Edinburgh. Sir William Forbes & Co., now represented by the great Union Bank of Scotland, were its agents in Edinburgh; and regularly on every Saturday morning, it was the custom of Sir William Forbes & Co. to make up and send a large supply of bank notes, and gold guineas, and silver, in exchange or otherwise, for the supply of the Paisley Union Bank in Glasgow, during the following week. There was a strong iron bank box fitted for the purpose, and the porter of the Bank in Glasgow, used regularly to attend the arrival of the Edinburgh Mail Coach at the Black Bull Inn, here, on Saturday afternoon, and fetch away the well chained box, with its valuable contents, to the Bank premises in Ingram Street, where it was duly and safely deposited within the other huge iron safes of the Bank itself.

On Saturday, the 13th of July, 1811, the remittance from Sir Wm. Forbes & Co., was unusually large. It amounted to many thousands of pounds; and the bank porter had some difficulty in carrying the precious load to its assigned place; but he managed to do so in perfect safety. The Bank was now carefully locked up for the night; and the keys thereof, together with the key of the great iron safe, were duly taken to the dwelling-house, situated in St. Enoch Square, of Mr. Andrew Templeton, who was the chief Manager of the Bank in Glasgow. It happened that this was the Fair week of Glasgow. The

trusty porter of the bank, and his douce and faithful spouse, who had apartments for themselves in a separate department of the bank, took it into their heads to walk down to the Green of Glasgow, on that fine summer Saturday evening to snuff "the caller air," and to see the Shows, which then flourished in all their pristine innocence in those days. There was no outlet by any steamers from Glasgow at that time, and of course, none by any railway; and it was a great thing on Saturday, to take a jaunt on "shank's naggie," and behold Dumbarton Castle! Mr. Templeton, we may remark, was one of the tallest and stoutest men we ever remember of seeing in Glasgow. He was much respected. He was that year Chief Magistrate of the Gorbals; and he was, for several years afterwards, in the Magistracy of the city.

When the porter or his wife, as was their wont, got the keys of the Bank from Mr. Templeton's house, in St. Enoch Square, on Monday morning to open the front doors of the Bank and to sweep out the office, they found everything apparently correct, as usual. But when the Manager himself entered with the key of the iron safe to take out the notes about ten o'clock, for the business of the day, a very different state of matters presented themselves. The drawers of the press in the inner safe in which the Bank's own notes to a large extent had been deposited, stood rifled, and were completely empty: nothing left but bills for discount or falling due. Sir Wm. Forbes & Co.'s iron box also stood open, and was completely rifled. Every gold guinea, and there had previously been piles upon piles of them in the bank coffers, had disappeared; the silver also: so that this morning, the Bank in Glasgow was absolutely left without a shilling in its coffers! The loss indeed was enormous; some guessed it

at £30,000 sterling, at least; others at £50,000 or more, -a vast abstracted loss surely for one Bank establishment at that time in Glasgow; but for prudential reasons, affecting perhaps its own stability, the Bank never condescended to state the precise amount. We shall give, however, a tolerable idea of it afterwards. Meanwhile, it was sufficient to know, that the Bank had been broken into and robbed of all its most valuable treasure; and this, of course, created a perfect panic, and the utmost consternation in Glasgow, and especially at Paisley, on the following day, when the news became known, and for many a long day afterwards. Every Paisley Union Bank note that made its appearance, was questioned and re-questioned by its vendor, times and ways without number. Bank notes, indeed, of every description, were handled with much uneasiness and doubt, as if coming from the hands of traceable robbers. The following advertisement appeared in the two Glasgow newspapers of the day, and in placards over the city and elsewhere:

REWARD OF FIVE HUNDRED GUINEAS.

DARING HOUSEBREAKING AND ROBBERY.

WHEREAS, the office of the Paisley Union Bank Company in Ingram Street, Glasgow, was this morning discovered to have been broken into since Saturday night, and Bank notes of the above and other Banks to a very considerable amount carried off.

A Reward of Five Hundred Guineas is hereby offered for the apprehending of the person, or any of the persons, guilty of the above daring Robbery: to be paid, on conviction, by Mr. John Likly, Cashier of said Bank at Paisley, or Mr. Andrew Templeton, at the Company's Office, Glasgow.

And if any such information shall be given by an accomplice as may affect the discovery and apprehension of any other of the offenders, and lead to the recovery of the property, he will be entitled to the above Reward, and His Majesty's most gracious Pardon will be applied for on his behalf.