The Van Buren press., 1901-08-10
A BIC BULLION ROBBERY.
Two Hundred and Eighty Thousand
Dollars in Gold Bars Made
Off With.
NOT THE LEAST ClEW TO THE THIEVES.
A Tunnel Driven From the Shore OF
sam FronciscO Bay Under the
StrOlg Room of the Shelby Smelt-
ing Works at VallejO-Bullion
Carried Away In u Boat.

ing Works at VallejO-Bullion
Carried Away In u Boat.
San Francisco, Aug. THE Selby
Smelling and Lead Co. has been
robbed of $2sO,OOO 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 sec 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-
chanics. The whole affair was cr,fti-
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 francisco 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 were
Immediately notified of the crime. but
all they could discover was few of
the tools that the robbers had used.
The Selby Smeiting 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
he smelter ard San Francisco. carry
ing the ores one way and bringing
hack 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. The thieves
had taken the precaution 10 fasten
the door of the vault from the inside,
80 that It would be difficult to open
from the Outside in case they were
interrupted in their work.
Probably preparatory engineering
extending over several weeks was
done before the robbery could I've ac-
complished Close to the wall of the
building in which the vault 10 located
q shaft was sunk below the founda-
ton. Then tunnel was run 20 tho
vault and holes were bored in the iron
fcor until an aperture sufficiently
large to admit man was
made. II Was then easy work to pass
down the treasure into the tunnel
and load It into boat. The robbers
even took the precaution to sprinkle
reQ pepper in the tunnel in order to
make things as uncomfortable as pos
sible for anyone who might attempt
to pursue them.
There We're 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 tneness. and ran thus: No. 1896,
containing l,100.37 ounces; No. 1887,
containing 1,12I43 ounces; No. LBS,
containing l,l23.22 ounces, and No.
1899, containing l,073.7o ounces. All
OF these bricks were 09s fine, and
worth $1,000 per ounce. In addition
to this there were stolen from the
vault bullion gold in all shapes and
sizes, and some of 1t In bars of differ
ent lengths.
at Is the boldest robbery in The his
tory of the state,' said Chier-of-De-
tectives Seymour yesterday nfternoon,
'and from all information that can he
obtained at this time there is ubso.
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-
cerncd in IT,
I'VE have taken all precautions TO
capture the robbers. kilograms 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 cx.
anime every one taking passage at the
different railroad stations through
out the state. We can do no more
than this, and, l think, that with the
precautions we have taken, no sirang-
er can leave the state unexpected.
surely, II any attempt Is made to
ship the bullion by any of the ordi.
nary modes OF conveyance we will
discover II. On the whole, believe
the chances aN good for capturing
the robbers"