The record-union., 1894-08-01

Captain Santelli, left New York on July
Dist for Hayre with forty casks of Ameri
can gold on board. valued at y, 100000.
and consigned to various concerns. She
arrived here July 29th. The forty casks
of gold are believed TO have been safely
have been placed complete on board the
train running between Havre and this
city. But when the precious casks were
counted upon arrival here there were
only thirty-nine of them. One cask con-
tanning $50, 600 in American gold had by
some means disappeared. The disappear
anee of the cask of gold has given rise to
number of police theories, the strongest
being that the gold was followed from
New York by expert thieves, who pa
tiently awaited their chance to abstract
one of the casks.
The police, pending the termination of
their investigation, will not give any par
ticulars concerning the robbery, but 1t is
believed that several persons were con-
cerned in the theft, for the cask OF
gold would have weighed nearly two
hundred pounds. and even strong man
could not have carried such load alone
for any great distance. Among the
theories being Investigated is one which
may turn out to be correct 1t is that the
thieves hid themselves in the car IN
which the gold was subsequently placed,
and that while on the way to Paris one
cask OF gold was thrown out of the train
and the robbers jumped after it. The
fact that only one caslk of gold was stolen
would seem To indicate, according to an
other theory, that only one person was
concerned in the abstraction OF the cask.
The theories are many, and the facts
made public are very few.
Although it is positively asserted that
the cask of precious metal was stolen
hill To- fxyu or6a Y
there are people who ask if mistake
may not have been made in the counting
of the casks at Havre, and whether the
gold was not abstracted on board the
steamer. To this the steamship company
offers a reply that it is impossible for
thieves to get at the gold aboard ships, SO
cleverly it is guarded in addition to the
fact that the small hold in which 1T is
sealed up is situated in the most secure
part of the vessel.
THE REPORT CONFIRMED.
NEW YORK, July 3l.-Late this after
noon Lazard Freres received a cable
gram from Lazard Freres 0l Co., Paris,
confirming the report of the Associated
Press announcing cask containing $780,
900 in gold was missing from the con-
signment OF forty casks shipped on the
French line steamer La Touraine.
An Associated Press reporter who in
Qulreu lULO the IacCS connected Win the
missing treasure learned that the casks
were transferred from the steamer La
Touraine at Havre to the railway for
shipment to Paris. The officers of the
railway company gave the steamship
receipt for the gold and placed it in
locked and sealed van in charge of spe-
cial clerk. On the arrival of the train at
Paris the wagon containing the gold was
taken to the goods department of the
railroad and the consignees were advised
of its whereabouts.
NJ. Lazard said: "When our clerks ap-
piled for the delivery of the forty casks
consigned to us there was no sign that the
van or seal had been tampered with, but
only thirty-nine casks were found We
telephoned to Havre and received replies
that everything had been properly veri-
fed and receipts given"
The stationmaster at the Gare-street
laZare was asked to give the railways
views. He said that as soon as the dis
covery was made that the consignment
was not complete two officials of the
company and two detectives were sent to
Havre to make inquiries. 1t was i'm
possible, he asserted, that that the caslI
could have been stolen during its transit
from Havre to Paris. He said he doubted
if there had been a robbery, and he would
not be surprised if the missing gold had
been left on board the steamer.