A case of burglary almost comic in its incidents was
tried at Maidstone on the 16th inst. Airs. Walters keeps a respectable general shop near Sevenoaks, and on the night of the 17th Sep- tember was sleeping with her niece, the only other occupant of the house. About one o'clock she was awakened by two men in veils, who demanded her keys, which were surrendered. One of them then sat down by her bedside and commenced an amicable con- versation, asking the widow, among other things, "why she did not marry again." Meanwhile his confederates plundered the house at their leisure. The chief burglar, Butcher, during the conversation, repeatedly raised his veil, and at last told the two women that if they gave any alarm they would be put in the cellar, and locked up there. They all came from a distance and might _have all escaped, but that Butcher was arrested at Chelmsford for some other offence, and owing to his bravado in lifting his veil was identified. Three of those concerned were sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, and the ringleader to twelve, the lightness of the sentence being intended to recognize and, as it were reward, the absonce of violence.
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