The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-10
A Great Gold Robbery.


ent of that journal:
AN extraordinary robbery of gold bull
lion has been discovered here. Yesterday
Messrs. Raphael & Montagu the we'll
known bullion brokers. received ten cases
which had been consigned to them by their
agents in London. When the cases were
opened it WAS found that the gold had
been removed from one of them and bars
Of lead substituted. The case appeared
even to the most minute scrutiny. TO have
been untampered with, and the seal of
| the Bank of England, at which institu-
| ton the gold was purchased and packed,
was unbroken- The cases arrived on board
| the Cunard liner Gallia, and II is at pres
ent impossible to say at what point in
/ the route the substitution was made. The
loss is said 10 amount TO about 1900, and
this will, of course, be met by the I'M
derwriters in London who insured the safe
delivery Of the valuable consignment"
The publication of this telegram in Lon
don caused no little uneasiness. At the
| time gold was being shipped 10 New York
| nearly every day, and the precautions ia
| ken to prevent robbery were thought TO
] be so stringent that gold was looked upon
as the safest TO insure Of all cargoes, The
underwriters rushed from thoughtless con
| fdence into an equally thoughtless panic,
| and Insurance rates were more than dou-
I
were very angry. The newspapers cast
| from one to another ill-instructed guesseS
as to how the robbery occurred, without
| adding to the sum of knowledge, and the
| interested public hungered for an authori-
| tative statement of facts. After a week
or two of silence, this statement came
| from the Economist, in the form of an adj
! mirable article, which gave all that has
| yet been made known concerning a most
inc ion erin c-aiA
When we read of the recent remarkable
gold robbery, two points struck US as be-
ing incomDrehensible. According 10 the
| Times, lead was substituted for the gold
in one case of Messrs. Raphael & Mon
tagu's cases, and the seal of the Bank
of England was unbroken. Now gold is,
bulk for bulk, nearly twice as heavy as
lead-the proportion being roughly 10 10
Il; how then, could the base metal be
substituted for the precious one without
the difference in weight being at once per-
ceived? When we reflected further that
cases of gold bullion in course of trans
port are carefully weighed by every rail-
way and steamship company by which
they are carried, and that the weights are
compared with those given in the receipts
which the companies sign. the matter be-
came the more mysterious and we grew
near to believing that the excellent Times
correspondent ndu SOIHelOW Uluuuleu inc
affair. In this we did him an injustice. He
was as accurate as the limits of brief
telegram would permit The fact that the
Banks seal was unbroken was a severe
difficulty to us, though not so great as
that of the substitution Of lead for gold.
One hears of the successful imitation of
seals, but it gives one an unpleasant
shock to realize that even the seal of the /
Bank of England is not sacred, that it /
can be initiated readily and perfectly, /
and that its imitation is detail of quite |!
secondary difficulty where bullion thieves
are concerned. We felt that our duty to- /
ward the business community of the great |
City of London compelled US to clear up /
the circumstances of this robbery to the /
best of our ability, and we accordingly |
telegraphed to a valued correspondent in I
New York, directing him to supply us with /
the fullest details. We have received our (
correspondents report, and we may say a /
once that, much as we reprobate the rob-
berry as an immoral violation of the sane /
tity of property, We can nat but admire /
the cIeverness of its perpetrators.
TO make ourselves clearly understood,
we must direct the attention of our read
ers towards some figures. The ten cases
which were consigned to Messrs. Raphael
& Montagu were provided and packed by
the Bank of England. and were similar
to those always used for transporting gold
bars. Each case CONTAINED five bars, and
each bar was six inches long, four inches
broad and one and a half inches thick.
The weight of each bar was 1863 Troy
ounces, and the value was about 81. 400
The wood of the cases was two inches
thick, so that when the top was put on
the outside dimensions OF each case We're:
length, ten inches; breadth. eight inches,
and heighth. eleven and a half inches.
After the covers were fastened, strips of
hoop iron were whipped round top and
bottom and nailed down, and the Bank :
seal was impressed on wa in such man
ner that the covers could not possibly be
removed without the seals benig broken.
We may add that the ten cases were
packed in the courtyard of the Bank of
England, in the presence of one of Messrs.
Raphael & Montagu's agents. They were
then placed on a van belonging to the
London and North Western Railway Com
pany and carried at once to Euston Sta
ton. Little more than half an hour
elapsed between the time when the van
left the Bank and the time when the Liv-
erpool express lift Euston.
9TH Times correspondent was practical
ly right when he said that lead was substi-
tuted for gold. but he made one apparent I
ly small but vital omission. He did not say
that an entire case, box as we'll as con-
tents, was stolen and a new one substi-
tuted in its place. By this simple but {
vastly ingenious means the difference be- J
tween the specific GRANTEES of lead and I
gold were overcome, The thieves evident
y were familiar with hte size and appear ,
ance of the Bank Of England's bullion Z
cases, and they provided themselves with ,
& similar one for the purpose OF their ,
crime. They then carefully worked out J :
the relative specific GRANTEES OF lead and ,
gold. and discovered that bars OF lead
seven and a half inches long, five and /
half inches broad, and one and Il half a..
inches thick would weigh as nearly az .
possible the same as the Banks bars Of
gold. which were six inches long, four
inches broad, and one and a half inches
hick. The inside measurements OF the
substituted case We're at first, of course.
he same as those OF the Bank cases. but
hese we're subsequently increased by sim
ply cutting away the inside wood untll -
he space was large enough to receive the .
eaden bars. BY means OF this device the
outside measurements Of the case were
lndisturbed, and the thickness Of the
wood NJ the corners where il could be !
;een remained az two inches. After the q
cutting had been completed the sides ~
he case were stiu about one and quar-
er inches thick, and were more than Z
strong enough to support their heavy .
Dad, We % not know how the Banks I.
zeal was Initiated; we only know the fact 3
hat II was Our correspondent writes
hat the substituted case was absolutely
,Orrect in weight IN appearance. sad IN
eaI, and that L could Ia no respect BE =
distinguished from The nine genuine CAGES :