The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-08-09
WELL PLANNED AND SUCCESS
Full ROBBERY OF SHELTER.
GOLD BRICKS CARRIED OFF
Strong Room Entered By Means of
a Secretely c Constructed
Tunnel.

Vallejo, Cal, Aug. 6-Gold bricks
valued at $500 0 were stolen during
the night from the Selby Smelling
works. The robbers evidently had
been working on the job for two or
three months. They had dug a tun-
mel from outside the house, beginning
with a shaft about three feet deep.
Thence they worked underneath the
vault and striking upwards, bored a
hole in the strong room floor. The
hole was shaped like the manhole of
a boiler. Part of the holes were bored
two months ago, it is thought, and the
last n was completed during the
night. Through that hole they took
the gold bricks and carried them to
a beach near the mouth of the tunnel
east of the works where they were
evidently placed in a boat. In their
hurry they left two of the bricks on
the beach. During the night one of
the workmen reported to his fellows
that he heard a noise in the strong
room and declared it was a ghost.
The others ridiculed him for his SUI
perstition, but no investigation was
made to see what caused the noise.
The entrance to the tunnell was clos
ed with a frame, over which the en-
ployes of the smelter passed repeat
edly every day.. but no one seemed
to notice anything out of the way.
Sheriff Beall of Contra Costa county,
his deputies and chief of police of
Vallejo have been notified and are now
at the works. The police of San Fran
cisco and all the bay cities are at
work on the case, but so far there is
not the slightest clue to the robbery.
The work was that of skilled men
and their elaborate preparations were
carried out without a hitch. They
got all the bullion in the vault leaving
behind only the two bricks which
were dropped on the shore. Only one
days accumulation of refined gold
was kept at the works. Yesterdays
was unusually heavy and the gold was
to have been shipped back to San
Francisco today.
The tunnel which the robbers ex-
cavated was about three feet in di-
amater and gave them plenty of room
in which to work. 1t is supposed that
the dirt of the tunnel was taken out
at night and dropped in the bay. The
first reports said that the tunnel was
two or three hundred feet long, but
according to late advices it is only
about ten feet in length. The shaft
was started close to the wall and was
sunk below the foundation. Thence it
was only a short distance under the
floor of the vault. 1t is thought that
the men who committed the robbery
took their plumber away in a launch
and made off directly for San Francis
co. There are plenty of places, how
ever, to which they may have gone,
either up the Sacramento river or to
the shore of any of the numerous
bays. Following is a list of the proper
ty stolen:
Four fine gold bricks all numbered
and containing as follows:
No. 1,236-1,190 ounces and a frac-
tion.
No. 1,2S7-3,3OO ounces.
No. 1,238-1,124 ounces and a frac-
ton.
No. 1,239-1,OS7 ounces and a frac-
ton.
Also 10000 ounces of gold in al
ious shapes and a little silver. The
gold in the bricks is worth $40 an
ounce.
An official of the Selby smelling
works made the following statement
to a representative of the Associated.
Press, regarding the robbery:
"The robbers must have succeeded
in entering the vault m time be-
tween midnight and 5 o'clock this
morning. They entered the vault
through a hole about the size of a
manhole in a boiler, and indications
are that they had been working on
the scheme for some time. Over $50
holes were bored into the bottom of
the vault and the workmanship indi-
Gates that mechanics of more than or
binary ability superintendent the job.
Holes were bored almost to the sur
face and when the proper time came
the plate was forced up, thus giving
the robbers access to the vault.
'The plotters ,rst excavated along
side the building, directly in line with
the vault. The work of e~xcavating
must have taken some time and at
the end of each nights work. for the