The Forrest City times., 1901-08-09
A BIC BULLION ROBBERY.
Two Hundred and Eighty Thousand
Dollars in Gold Bars Made
Off With.
NOT THE LEAST CleW TO THE THIEVES.
san Francisco Bny Under the
strong Room OF the shelby Smelt-
ing Works nt NnlIejo-BuiIion
Carried Away In Boat.

San Francisco, Aug THE Selby
Smelling and Lead Co. has been
robbed of S2s0,O00 worth of gold bull
lion. The theft occurred some time
Monday night, and was not discovered
until morning. The thieves tunneled
from outside the building under the
vault at the Selby works, which are
located on the bay shore, about thirty
miles from San Francisco. They got
away with nearly twelve hundred
pounds of fine gold, worth S20 an
ounce. without leaving trace of their
identity behind. The robbery is the
most successful and remarkable ever
accomplished on the Pacific coast and
was evidently the work of skilled me-
ehanics. The whole affair was c:afti-
ly planned and skillfully executed. 1t
Is supposed that when the robbers Sc
cured their loot they loaded it into "a
boat that was waiting and disap-
peared in the fog that had come over
san trancisco bay. In their haste to
get away they left two gold bars
worth nearly fifty thousand dollars ly-
ing on the bank at the waters edge.
The police at all the bay cities we're
Immediately notified of the crime. but
all they could discover was a few of
the tools that the robbers had used.
The Selby Smelting and Lead Co is
the largest concern of its kind on the
Pacific coast Ores are sent from all
over the western country TO be
smelted and refined and the gold is
then turned over to the mint. A
steamer makes special trips between
The smelter ard San Francisco. carry
ing the ores one way and bringing
back the refined gold.
Yesterday morning when the work
men entered the vault to procure the
gold for loading on the steamer the
robbery was discovered. TIE thieves
had taken the precaution 10 fasten
tie door of the vault from the inside.
so that it would be difficult to open
from the outs.de in case they were
interrupted in their work
Probably preparatory engineering
extending over several weeks was
done before the robbery could he ac-
complished. Close to the wai of the
building in which the vaul. is located
a shaft was sunk below the founda-
finn Tho. Il
vault and holes were bored in the iron
floor until an aperture sufficiently
large TO admit man was
made. 1t w.s then easy work to pass
down the treasure into the tunnel
and load it into "A boat. The robbers
even took the precaution to sprinkle
red pepper IN the tunnel i'll order to
make things as uncomfortable us pos
sible for anyone who might attempt
TO pursue them.
There were four fine gold bricks in
the vault which the robbers looted.
Each was ten inches long, five inches
wide and four inches in height They
were all stamped with number, weight
and fineness, and ran thus: No. 1886,
containing 1,19O.37 ounces: No. 1927,
containing 1,l27.43 ounces; No. l.@3s,
containing 1,123.22 ounces. and No.
1899, containing 1,073.79 ounces. All
of these bricks were 99S fine, and
worth $1,000 per ounce. In addition
to this there We're stolen from the
vault bullion gold in all shapes and
sizes, and some of il in bars of differ
ent lengths.
1t is the boldest robbery in the his
tory of the state" said Chief-of- De-
tectiyes Seymour yesterday afternoon,
and from all information that can be
obtained at this time there is abso-
lutely no clew TO the robbers. In
fact. we do not know whether the
crime was committed by one man or
five. The probabilities are, however.
that more than one man was con-
cerned in it.
We have taken all precautions TO
capture the robbers. Telrgrams have
been sent to every sheriff in the CEN
tral part of the state. ordering him
TO search for the missing gold, to
overhaul every boat and steamer
within his jurisdiction, to search ev-
cry railroad train and stage coach
passing through his county and 10 ex-
anime every one taking passage at the
different railroad stations through
out the state. We can do no more
than this, and. | think. that with the
precautions we have taken. no stranc-
er can leave the state uninspected.
Surely. if any attempt is made to
ship the bullion by any of the ordi-
nary modes of conveyance we viii
discover it. On the whole, | believe
the chances are good for capturing