The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-08-09
BURGLARS GREAT HAUL
THEY BREAK INTO STROkG-ROOM OF
GOLD Smell TING WORKS.
SEVENTEEN THOUSAND OUNCES
OF Gold, Valued at $40, ZOO, Stolen.
Daring Robbery of the Smelling
Works at Vallejo, CaI.-No Clue TO
the GoId-The Theft Accomplished
by Tunneling Under the Building
and Cutting Through the Floor.
and Cutting Through the Floor.


. and Cutting Through the Floor.
Vallejo, Cal, August Gold bricks
valued at s34O, 900 We're stolen during
last night from the Selby smelling
works.
The robbers evidently had been work.
ing on the job for two or three months.
They had dug a tunnel from outside the
house, beginning with shaft about
three feet deep. Thence they worked
underneath the vault and, striking up
wards. bored a hole in the strong-room
floor. The hole was shaped like the
manhole of boiler. Part of the holes
were bored two months ago, 1t is
thought, and the last one was complet-
ed during the night. Through that
hole they took the gold bricks and car
ried them to a bank near the mouth or
the tunnel east of the works, where
they were evidently placed in boat.
In their hurry the robbers left two Of
the bricks on the bank.
During the night one of the workmen
reported to one of his fellow workmen
that he heard noise in the strong
room and declared it was a ghost. The
others rfdiculed him for his supersti-
ton, but no investigation was made to
see what caused the noise.
The entrance to the tunnel was cover
ed with frame over which the en-
ployees of the smelter passed rapidly
every day, but no one seemed to notice
anything out of the way.
Sheriff Hale, of ContracoSta county,
his deputies and Chief of Police San
ford. of Vallejo. have been notified and
are now at the works. The police OF
San Francisco and all the bay cities
are all at work on the case, but so far
there is not the slightest clue to the
robbers. The work was that of skilled
men and their elaborate plans were
carried out without a hitch. They got
all the bullion in the vault, leaving be-
hind only the two bricks which were
dropped on the shore.
Only one days accumulation of re-
fined gold was kept at the works. Yes
terday's run was unusually heavy and
the gold was to have been shipped back
to San Francisco today.
The tunnel that the robbers excavated
was about three feet in diameter, and
gave them plenty of room in which to
work. 1t is supposed the dirt from the
tunnel was taken out at night and
dropped in the bay. First reports stat
ed 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
short distance under the floor of the
vault. 1t is thought the men who COM
mitted the robbery took their plunder
away in a launch and made off direct
for San Francisco. There are plenty of
places, however, to which they may
have gone-either up the Sacramento
river of to the shore of any of the num-
erouS bays:
The following is a list of the property
stolen: Four fine gold bricks, all num-
bered and containing as follows: No.
1876 100 ounces and fraction; No.
1873, 300 ounces; No. ], ,23S-1,123 ounces
and a fraction; No. 1888, ,037 ounces
and a fraction; also 10000 ounces of
gold in various shapes and a little sill
Yer. The gold in the bricks is worth
$50 an ounce.
An official of the Selby smelling
works made the following statement
to the Associated Press:
1.-The robbers must have succeeded in
entering the vault some time between
midnight and / o'clock this morning.
They entered the vault through hole
about the size of manhole in a boiler
and indications point to the fact that
the robbers had been working on the
scheme for some time. Over $50 holes
were DOTeQ INTO Ine DOIlOI1 Oh the vault
and the workmanship indicated that
mechanics of more than usual ability
superintended the job. The holes were
bored to within a hairs breadth OF the
surface, and when the proper time
came the plate was forced up, thus CIV
ing the robbers access to the vault.
The plotterS first excavated a hole
along side the building directly in line
with the vault. The work Of excavat-
ing must have taken some time and at
the end of each nights work (for the
work must have been done at night a
covering of laths, rubber sheetings
? and sacks was made, the whole being
covered over with layer Of dirt, thus
hiding any thing of what was going on.
What became of the excavated dirt we
have been unable to find out. 1t must
have been removed in sacks. The COW
ering we have ascertained was not
strong enough to hold the weight of a
man, but the excavation was made so
close to the building that the men
never walked over it. We find that
the plotters were aided by some one
thoroughly familiar with the system
employed at the works and one fully
informed as to the construction OF the
vault.
Last night one OF the watchmen en-
ployed about the premises heard noises
inside the vault and informed his fell
lows that the devil or ghosts were in
side the vault They laughed at him
and made no investigation, and thus
the robbers were left unmolested with
their work. The weight of the gold
carried out of the vault aggregated
LOO pounds and it must have taken
several trips for the man, and several
men must have been employed in car
rying the metal to the boat. We are
assured a boat was in waiting for them
Inside the vault were several sacks
containing $4,000 but this was not
touched. 1t may have been that the
men became alarmed. That they were
alarmed is also indicated by the fac,
that two bars OF gold OF great value
were left on the beach in their haste
TO escape.