Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-03
DARING THEFT ON SRlPBOARD
clever Robbers Break Into Steel
Tank of Alameda and steal
Chest of Gold.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2.--There was
great excitement on board the steamer Ala
media upon its arrival from Australia to-
day when 1t was discovered that box
containing 5000 sovereigns was missing
Five hundred thousand dollars in gold had
been sent by the steamer from Sydney
The money was shipped in twenty steel
boxes, each containing $4,000 in British
gold One of these boxes was distracted
from the steamers treasure room during
the voyage.
The theft is apparently shrouded in deem
est mystery. So common are these ship
ments of gold that each vessel belonging
TO the Oceanic Steamship company has
special steel tank constructed for the safe
carriage of the treasure. In the Alameda
this vault, as 1t may be called Is formed
OF steel plates, each fve-sixteenths of an
inch thick. 1t is located under the steer
age dining room and the only mode of
entering it is through a small trap door,
secured with an iron bar and Yale lock
The lock was sealed with the stamp of
the steamship company after the boxes OF
sovereigns had been counted and receipted
for by the purser and the key of the lock
placed in the safe in the purser's room.
The purser declares that the key to the
lock has never been taken from the safe
from the time the steamer sailed from
Sydney until the arrival here. The seal
over the lock was unbroken and yet the
consignment was short 5000 sovereigns. No
one questions that twenty boxes were placed
in the steel tank at the beginning of the
voyage and yet but nineteen boxes were
in the tank when the steamer arrived.
When the loss was reported to the cap
tain he took extraordinary pains to locate
the stolen treasure and to discover the
thief. A thorough search was made of
the ship and every passenger as well rs
all of the crew were obliged to undergo
an ordeal of rigid examination.
None of the officers will discuss the mat
ter, their mouths having been perfectly
sealed, but none will claim that the miss
ing treasure was found. The mysterious
character of the theft, the deftness with
which 1t was accomplished and the clever
ness with which it was concealed, has puz-
zled officials and detectives alike. The gen
orally accepted theory is that a number
were implicated in the theft and that when
the box of sovereigns was secured 1t was
opened and the gold devded among the
robbers and concealed until they could safely
remove it for their own use.
The police have arrested five men who
came on the steamer on suspicion. AS yet,
however, no charge has been placed against
them, and the authorities for the present
refuse to disclose their names.
The latest theory of the police Is that
the missing box was never in the steel
tank. The boxes are heavy, each weighing
about ninety pounds, as they were brought
on board they were checked by the purser
and chief officer and carried to the strong
room by two porters. 1t is now believed
that a game Of fm-fla was played at this
stage, and the box, instead of being placed
in its proper receptacle, was opened and
the money either taken on shore before the
steamer sailed from Sydney, or else divided
among the confederates, who were among
the passengers.