The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1866-03-22
Robbery of Lords Banking House.

the safe of Rufus :. Lord, the we'll
known capitalist and owner of the
late Stock Exchange Building.
whose office is ut No. 3S, Exchange
Place. IE
The news of the robbery created
greet excitement in Wall street.
but no additional details Of coneu.
qucnce could be obtrincI from Mr.
Lord, on the ground that a publ
cation OF all that he knew might
prevent the recovery Of the stolen
property. ...
Joln Young, of tho detective
'orcc, has been placed in charge OF
the case. ard the probability is
that the bonds will bc recovered.
as thcr r numbers atc known.
A reward OF S200,000 will be
paid tho person or persons who
may furnish information leading to
the arrest of the thieves.
| learn from an intimate friend
Of Mr.. Lord that he is deemed very
careless OF late. The securities,
ho says, were deposited in very
common safe, and it is also affirmed
that Mr.. Lord does not know
whether they were taken yesterday
or several days before. A story is
told of him to show his careless
ness. 1t is said that q short time
since he took about one million Of
bonds from tho safe, cut the cou-
pons from them and put thom in
his pocket. He then went to his
house in Dcy street. leaving the
bonds on the table in his office.
Before closing for the night the
porter noticed the large quantity
OF bonds lying loose, and put them
in handkerchief and carried them
to Mr.. Lord, who coolly asked him
where he got them. On being
told, he said he did not think he
had ever done anything like that
before.
The New York Tribune says {:
How tho theft was effected is not
stated. The owner, Mr. Lord, is
over eighty years OF age, very in
firm and forget;ul, and it is more
than probable that somc thief, or
thieves, conversant with these facts
were secretcd in the office, and
embraced the first opportunity to
seize the prize, and escaped unno-
ticed.
Mr.. Lord is one of the oldest
and best known real estate owners
and brokers in the city. lie owns
the entire block bounded by Boa
yer and Williams streets, and Ex.
change Place, and other property
to large amount. As an instance
of his iorgetlulness, it is stated that
some time since he declared that
he had been robbed of $4,000
worth of United States 6s of 1861,
bat subsequently found them in Il
box, where he had mislaid them.
The New York Herald says:
The safe from which the bonds
were taken is the ordinary old wall
or bank safe, secured by II very
SIMPLY constructed lock. Within
this was another safe, in which
valuable papers, such as stocks,
bonds and Railroad securities were
kept. The lock of the inner safe
has been out of order Tor some time
SO that it could not be bolted. -
Captain Young made an examina-
tion of the safe, ard was nor long
in arriving nt the conclusion that
ife was rather poor place 10 keep
valuable papers, as any unproies.
sional burglar or bank thief could
open it without any extraordinary
skill or effort. Among other in,
stances of Mr.. Lords carelessness
it is said that on the days when the
interest on the stolen bonds was
due, he would take the tin boxes
containing them, and, taking a seat
in his Office, near the street win.
dow. there occupy the greater part
of the day in cutting of the cou.
pons. When the detectives re.
quested MIR. Lord to furnish the
numbers and description of the
stolen property he could not give
them, and it was only the personal
excrtions of Capt. Young, that the
list embodied in the repor. was OBJ
tanned. He did this by visiting the
Office oftle Sub Treasury and there
examining the coupons on which
Mr.. Lord had procure the interest
on the last payment day. 1t is
further stated that Mr.. Lord has
been repeatedly known to leave
his safe unlocked when going home
that on q recent occasion he did
so, when it was carefully locked by
the janitor OF the building, who re-
turned him the key on the follow
ing morning; that on another oc-
casion the janitor found the safe
key in the wash hand basim
On the morning of the discovery
of the robbery, however, this was
not the case, as the outer door of
the safe was locked, and the key
was in Mr.. Lords pocket. The
first theory Of the detectives was
that some person who was acquain'
ted with Mr.. Lords habits OF 60
ing in and ont OF his office during
business hours, got an impression
of the safe key, from which a dn'
plicate was made; bnt subsequent
T, events have dispslled this idea
Of the one million and a half dol
lars worth OF bonds stolen, over