The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-01 00:00:00

THE BULLION ROBBERY.

The removal of two cases of bullion, valued at
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fore hold of the Waterloo steamer, while lyingin the
Thames, off the Tower, is still unexplained. The
directors of the General Steam Navigation Com-
pany, to whom the Waterloo belongs, yesterday
afternoon made inquiries at their offices in Lombard-
street, but no satisfactory information was obtained
as to the time when the robbery was committed.
From the description of the missing cases which has
been put in circulation it appears they were about
18 inches long by 14 in depth and width, and
formed of hard knotted fir wood, bound with iron
at both ends, and nailed with long headed nails.
Each of them contained 3001 b. in silver bars, one
marked R 58, and the other R 64. There were no
directions on either of them. The chief mate
of the Waterloo, who gave Messrs. Roths-
child's clerk the receipt for the twelve cases
put on board, is sure he saw them raised by
the steamer's crane from the lugger boat along-
side, and immediately lowered into the hold. lle
went down into the hold, and saw them piled in
twos near the bulkhead, and counted them in order
to fully satisfy himself that there were 12 cases. The
boatswain, who was with him, also counted them.
This was about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. There
were some lighters alongside with goods for ship-
ment, which were hauled on board, and the loading
of the vessel was continued till 6 o'clock. The crew
then knocked off for half an hour to get their tea,
and afterwards continued loading till past 9 o'clock,
when the hatches were covered and locked up by
the chief mate, as mentioned in The Sun of yester-
day. It should be mentioned that in addition to the

three Custom-house officers who were on board, there
were some half dozen lumpers engaged in stowing
away cargo in other parts of the steamer, which was
to leave for Rotterdam the next morning
These lumpers were not strangers. They were all
known to the officers of the ship, as also to the
agents of the company, some of them having been
so employed for years. During the half-hour the
chief mate and his men were below at tea the lumpers
had the run of the deck. The hatches of the fore-
hold were still open, and the bullion cases could be
seen by them from the deck with the Custom-house
officers patrolling to and fro, or looking on. The
mate, on returning on deck after tea, found none of
the lumpers absent ; they were all at work. One of
the crew, a Dutchman, named Walsh, went down
into the forehold with a lantern along with one of
the lumpers, and resumed their work of stowing the
cargo. lie saw the bullion cases were in the same
place as he had left them, and in this he is confirmed
by the chief mate. They continued stowing till half-
past 9 o'clock, and just before ending their work for
the day a large ease of merchandise was placed in
front of the bullion cases. The hatch was then covered
over, barred and padlocked. The mate does not
seem, however, to, have kept possession of the key.
Ife hung it up in his berth in the forecastle, which he
afterwards locked, and he then left the ship and
slept at home. On coming on board the next
morning he found the key where,he bad left it, but
this was not a proof that it had hung there all
night, as his cabin door had but a common lock to
it, and can be °pencil with any ordinary key. With
regard to the crew k eeping watch on deck during
the night with the Custom-house officer, it appears
not to be so. The Dutchman above referred to is
paid by the company to act as watchman on board
at night. He says ,he never quitted the deck, but,
on the other hand, t: he Custom-house officers aver
they never saw him once throughout the night and
morning, and, inasn such as the man was hard at
work all day, the ink rence is that it was impossible
for him to have kep t watch. He, however, first
discovered that the bl illion cases were gone out of
the hold, for as soow As the coverings were taken