The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-28 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY BULLION ROBBERY.

On Tuesday afternoon, between 3 and 4 o'clock,
Messrs. Rothschild despatched a covered van from
their banking establishment in St. Swithin's-lane,
Cannon-street, City, with 24 cases of bullion for
shipment to Hamburg and Rotterdam. The van be-
longed to a carrier who has been many years em-
ployed by them. The custom of the house in for-
warding or receiving bullion or specie from any part
of the metropolis is to make a person in the employ
accompany the vehicles. On the present occasion the
24 cases (weighing about 2cwt. each) were to be
shipped on board two steamers lying in the river.
Twelve of the cases were for the Waterloo, Captain
Stranack, bound to Rotterdam, and the other 12 for
the John Bull, bound to Ha►uburg---both belonged
to the General Steam Navigation Company—the
former then lying alongside the Harpy revenue cut-
ter, off the Tower, and the John Bull off Horsely-
do wn. Al the cases were marked and lettered, and
the person sent with them was provided with two
lists or tallies of the marks on the cases, in order
that he might tick theM off in shipping them, per-
sons representing the steamer being furnished with
a duplicate list to do the same as they received them.
The van proceeded to Nicholson's Wharf, where the
bullion was taken out and placed in a boat belong-
ing to Mr. Gray, lighterman, in Water-lane, which
was lying off the wharf, and then pulled off along-
side the Waterloo. The steamer had been taking in
cargo, and was in charge of the chief mate. The
moment the bullion boat came up he attended to
the shipment of the cases. They were hauled up by
the vessel's crane, two at a time, and immediately
lowered into the fore hold of the vessel, the repre-
sentative of Messrs. Rothschild ticking them off his
list as they left his custody, and when the 12 had
been put on board he received from the chief mate
a receipt of their safe delivery ou board and left.
The chief mate went into the hold with the boat-
swain and saw them securely stowed away, and as
other goods came down these -.vere placed round the
bullion cases so as to fill up the 'tween decks. The
hatches were then put on and fastened with iron
bars ; these were secured by a padlock, locked by
the chief mate, who kept possession of the key.
There were on board at this time ten hands of the
crew (Capt. Stranack was not ou board) and three
Custom-house officers. The latter came on board the
Waterloo at Gravesend on her last homeward trip,
last Saturday, and, in accordance with the Custom-
house regulations, would remain on board till the
steamer had cleared Gravesend on her outward trip.
At night time they kept watch and watch the same
as the crew did, and during the whole of Tuesday
night and yesterday morning there were always two
persons on deck keeping watch ; indeed, if they are
to be relied on, they never quitted the deck for a
moment, and yet, by some unaccountable means,
two of the cases of bullion were abstracted from the
hold, and the thieves got clear off with them. The
intention, no doubt,was to carry off the whole of the

12 cases, a, the thieves seem to have had a lighter
alongside the steamer to receive them, but they were
disturbed and made off. The robbery was not dis-
covered till 6 o'clock yesterday morning, when the
chief mate unlocked the padlocks and removed the
bars for the men to remove the hatches. It was at once
seen the cargo had been disturbed during the night,
and upon the mate examining the cases two were

found to be gone, and from appearances it was
quite evident that they had passed outward up
the hatchway, and that the hatches had been re-
moved. It is impossible for one man to have passed
the cases up on to the deck on account of their
weight-2 cwt. each—the distance being some 10ft.
or 12ft. ; and the conclusion arrived at is that the
thieves must have hauled them up with a pulley
rope attached to the top of the steamer's crane, and
by the same means lowered the cases into a lighter
alongside, but how this could have been done with
one of the crew and a Custom-house officer on deck
on the look-out is the most extraordinary part of
the affair. As soon as the discovery was made the
Thames police were called on board, and strict
search was made by them among all the vessels lying
near the 'Waterloo for the stolen cases, but without
avail, and during the day the officials of the General
Steam Navigation company were engaged making
a searching investigation into the whole facts of the
robbery ; but, with the exception of showing that
a lighter which was moored alongside the steamer
the night previous had disappeared in the morning
without the consent of its owner, nothing has trans-
pired. The affair has been placed in the bands of
the city detective force in conjunction with the
Thames police, and every means will he taken to
apprehend the guilty parties. The cases contained
bars of silver, and their value is estimated at up-
wards of £2,000.

SUICIDE OF A JEW THROUGH BEING SWINDLED.
—On Tuesday au inquest was held at St. Mary-at-Hill,
City, on the body of Mr. Jacob Load, aged 50 years, a
Prussian Jew. On Friday morning he almost succeeded in
destroying his life by chloroform, and on Sunday morning
his dead body was taken out of the Thames near Fresh
-tVharf. It appeared that his mind was greatly troubled by
a loss of £7O which he lent a friend for an hour, but which
the friend never returned. The jury returned a verdict of
"Suicide while in a State el Temporary Insanity:,

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A DIE*, rin

HER MAJESTY, &c•

WINDSOR CASTLE, Feb: 27.
The Queen, accompanied by her Royal Highness
Princess Louise, drove out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty the Queen, with their Royal High-
neEses Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, Princess
Beatrice, and Prince Christian, left Windsor Castle
this morning for London. Her Majesty travelled
by special train on the Great 'Western Railway to
Paddington.

The Prince of Wales rode out on horseback yester-
day, attended by Major Teesdale.

The Queen, accompanied by her Royal Highness
Princess Louise, and attended by the Duchess of
Roxburghe, Lord C. Fitzroy, and Colonel the Hon.
D. De Ros, visited the Prince and Priucass of Wales
at Marlborough House yesterday forenoon.