Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-23
AN HONEST BURGLAR.
Finding His Way Into the Bank of Eng /
land and Leaving VaIuables I'm
touched.

1 land and Leaving Valuables I'm
touched.
Not long ago, says the Boston Globe, the
directors of the Bank Of England were
+ much perplexed and not little amused
when the secretary read to them, at their
usual sitting, the following ill-spelt and
{ somewhat curious letter:
1.-TWO Gentlemia of Bank England: You
I think you is all safe hand your Bank Is scale.
/ but knows but tur. bin hinside the Bank
( thee last mite hand You nose muffin aboWt 1t.
/ the greet squar rom, werh arl the moselys,
at twelf mite lie iNplain Orl to yeOw let only
! !, hor cum alOwn, and say muffin nobody
I Jon. Smith,
The letter being duly read, was, as
might be expected, the topic of cOnversa-
| ton and suggestion for some little time.
/ Others thought that under the apparently
/ ign0rantly-written letter deeper mystic
1 ~ was hidden; but all agreed that the
| safest way was to put the letter with
! proper instructions into the hands of the
/ detectives. The detectives looked grave.
/ There was plot at work, they saw; and,
with their usual penetration, they at once
! penetrated the deepest depths of the in
| EQUITY.
There is a very large room underground,
/ where the huge wealth of the bank is de-
/ pOsited-milliOns and millions of English
/ SONcrelRu5, oars OF 2Olu. ana QuluFeQ-
weights of silver, with myriads of notes.
/ The detectives, of course, knew that this
room must be the place which the writer
of the letter designated as the ''gret squar
rOm.'' 1t is full of treasure. The floor is
! of solid stone pavement, and its walls,
roof and doors are Of wrought iron and
| steel. All the night long detectives were
secreted in the room, but they saw moth
ing and heard nothing, with the exception
that some said they heard, about l or ,
o'clock, a strange noise they could not ac-
count for. The next night was the same,
and the next and the next; and when the
board day of the bank came around the
whole of the bank directors would have
4 treated the affair as an idle attempt to
brighten them, had not their attention
been more strongly called to the subject
by the following incident:
A heavy chest had been forwarded adj
dressed to the "DlrectOrs Of the Bank Of
| England" The chest was, of course,
| opened before them at Once-such thing
being very unusual-and found to contain
! a large packet OfverY valuable papers and
securities which had been safely deposited
in the vault. With them the following
letter:
TO tie Directors Of the Bank Of ENGLAND:
GENTLEMEN-Nly husband, who is an honest
| man, wrote to you last week and told you that
| he had found a way-WhiCh he believes is only
| known to himself-Of getting into your strong
! room, and offered, if YOU would meet him
there at night to explain the whole matter.
! He had never taken anything from that room
7 except the inclosed box. You set detectives
upon HIM and he took the box to show that he
could go there, whoever might watch, if he
chose. He gives you another chance. Let a
few gentlemen be in the room alone, guard
the door and make everything secure, and my
husband will meet you there at midnight.
Yours respectfully, ELLEN SMITH.
This letter was more mysterious than
the last The OILY thing that was evident
was that the writer, "Ellen Smith," was
a better writer than her husband, who
styled himself "JOn Sniff" The detec-
tives were shown the letter and acted ac-
cOrdingly. OF course they were posted in
the room. In the morning they told a
strange story. They said they saw light
at about II O'Clock. 1t seemed to come
from a dark lantern, but directly they ran
to the spot from whence the light pro-
ceeded it wentOut and the strictest search
had discovered nothing. The bank officials
became alarmed. They, however, agreed
to do what perhaps would have been
wiser if done at first, viz, to depute few
Of their number to visit the vault alone.
So it was arranged that three gentlemen
should remain in the strong room all
night, and that no one else should be with
them. Every suitable precautiOn was
taken when night came. The sentinel
I
tiVeS were not far off: and, after the most
rigorous search had been made, the gen.
tlemen were locked in. At last, one OF
them, who paced the floor rather impa-
tiently, beginning to think that perhaps,
after all, it was only clever trick. cried
out: "YOu ghost, you secret visitor, you
Inidni ght thief come out! There is no
one here but TWO gentlemen and myself
If you are afraid, give you my word and
honor as gentleman, that the police are
not here. Come out, 1 say?'
1t was more in jest than in earnest that
Major c., for he was a military man
shouted out the absurd speech, for as We
have said, he began to suspect that, after
all, some practical joke was being adrOit.
traUed, and he did not much like being
YictimiZed himself. His establishment
however. was great when, in reply, he
heard strange voice saying: off you
have kept your word, l will keep mine
Put out your light, for Pye one, and III
come"
The Major and his fellow-directors die
not much like putting out the light, but
they were no towards. and, after some de
muir, it was done. Where the voice came
from was, however, a mystery, for there
was no hiding place in the room, every
side being OF thick, manipulated iron anC
steel; the ceiling was also of the same
material.
When the light was out they waited il
silence, while the Major grasped firmly il
one hand revolver and the other held the
lantern and few matches. For litti(
while low, grating sound was heard, anG
then a voice, evidently that Of some one
in the room, said:
''Are you there alone. sure:"
The Major, who cared nothing for bodily
harm, struck a match, and instantly
crash was heard, and a low, smothereC
laugh. When the match was lighted
nothing could be detected-no one was
there. Again the Major called upon the
/, mysterious somebody to come forth, anC
again voice was heard saying: GLOW
can trust you nOw?"
The Major was angry and his compan
: ions alarmed, and after trying in vain K
trace the point whence the voice proceed
ed, exclaimed: well, we'll put out tn,
light again; only come quickly and pu
! an end to this bother" So saying he pu
out the light again.
A moment or two after the same cratin,
sound was heard, then the faIIing of som,
heaVy. body, and the next instant ma,
was visible standing i'm the middle Of III.
sduIt WIN a dark lantern in his hand. o
~v,..-- &c came from somewhere. hit h,, th'
puzzle Was-hOW? A ghost could no
have entered more mysteriousIy. The
man soon spoke for himself, and the di
rectors, who were still at a loss to ex.
plain his presence there, listened in as
tenishment. 1t appeared that he was g
poor man, and obtained a precariOus liv
ing in strange way. When the tide was
low it is the custom of a certain class OF
men, unknown to refined society, to enter
sewers to search for any articles of value
which may have been washed down into
them. 1t is very dangerous task, and.
of course, revolving in the extreme, but
they not infreqUently find very precious
things hidden in the filth. This man was
one of those strange adventures. One
night he had discovered an opening lead
ing to some place above. There was large
square stone which he found could be easily
raised. He listened for some time, and
finding all was silent, lifted up the stone
without much difficulty, and found, after
some investigation by the light of his
lantern, that he was in the strong-rOOm
OF bank. These men, like miners, can
readily determine the exact spot of ground
under which they are, and he soon had a
clew to the whole mystery. He told his
Vile, who was woman of superior edu-
cation to his own, of the whole affair, and
he then wrote as we have seen to the di-
rectOrs. Down in the sewer, he was able
to hear all their movements as well as
if above ground, and thus was not only
able to know their plans, but to Illustrate