Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-27
STEALING AN EARL.

The London Standard of December Sd
gives tie following additional particulars
about the robbery of the body of the Earl
of Crawford There can be no doubt
that sometime between Wednesday night
and Thursday morning the plan adopted
for furnishing convincing evidence of the
theft had been executed. So many people
pass the vault daily that any interference
with 1t would be almost instantly observed.
The chapel is practically part Of Dun
Echt House, there being an entrance to it
from the library. The apparatus necessary.
for raising the slab and removing the rail
ing would be conveniently handy, building
operations being at present in progress at
Dan Echt. The collins were opened skill
fully and without the least violence.
Neither the outer one of oak nor the inner
wooden one has been broken, the lids hav-
ing been simply unscrewed. As the lead
shell had been soldered it had to be cut
open but this had been neatly performed
and so the appearance of the vault yester-
day did not awaken in the spectator any
such feelings as would naturally be asso-
ciated with the application of force and
violence. The object of the thieves seems
pretty clear, and the opinion is that they
must have been well acquainted with the
district. That several persons were en-
gagged in the robbery is pretty certain. The
slabs were of Caithness stone, very heavy,
being six feet square and several inches
thick Dan Echt House is about mile
from the road, and so the thieves might
carry on their operations unmolested by
the public; but the fact of the chapel
being connected with the house makes it a
matter of certainty that the theft must
have been perpetrated during the night.
The deceased Earl being spare man, the
thieves would be able to carry off the body
all the more easily. On Thursday morning
laborer passing the spot on his way to his
work observed that the ground on the top
of the entrance to the mausoleum had been
disturbed and that the slab opposite the
first step OF the stairs was on its side, sup
ported by a stick. The man communicated
with the servants at the house, but it was
decided not to enter the vault until the
arrival of the Commissioner and police
officers from Aberdeen. Those officials
were az once summoned, and when they
arrived in the forenoon they decided to
enter and examine the mausoleum. For
this purpose another slab had to be lifted,
and two persons entered. They were hor
rifed by the sight that met their view.
Screwed upon the ground were pieces of
wood and sawdust, and the collins in which
the remains of the late Earl had lain were
lying on the shelf in state of wreck The
wooden erection placed in front to protect
the csffia had been torn away. The
authors of the outrage had then unscrewed
the lid of the outer coffin. The others
were not treated so respectfully these
they cut with chisels or some sharp tools,
and after making an opening in the end
large enough to admit of their doing SO,
they pulled the remains of the noble Earl
out by the feet and carried them away.
The silver mountings of the coffin were
untouched, circumstance which leads to
the belief that the main object the robbers
had in view was the ransom which they
hoped to obtain for the body.