The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1903-06-25

treasury. The public are admitted into
several rooms of the treasury. but no
stranger is allowed into that portion Of
the building which houses the war
chest. This room is kept under guard
night and day For what happened my
husband feels that he is in no way to
blame, and don't think his superiors
are inclined to charge him with neglect
of duty.
at is singular thing that the day
before the disaster took place he of his
A-c acc"~! aarhLs;1 tL:a -"~... SAM.
watched over the room and also the ap-
proaches to it. The war chest was at
its fullest. Never so he tells me, was
there so much money in the war chest
as at that particular time. Something
had occurred that in his opinion called
for extra watchfulness, and so he dou
bled the guard. But about midnight
there was a tremendous explosion. The
strong door communicating with the
passage was wrenched from its hinges
and flung outward into the hallway. 1t
|
used, and that n very large quantity.
| Not a vestige of the chest remained but
a few splintered pieces of iron. The
four soldiers in the room were blown
literally to pieces, and those in the
passageway were stunned by the shock.
The fact that they were unconscious
for some minutes seems to have given
/ %l,r ,,.;,, Il hn nc
chance of escape For, although an in
slant alarm was sent ont, and none but
those who had a right to be on the
premises was allowed to go out or into
the treasury, yet no one was caught,
nor has any one been caught until this
day"
"But the gold, the goldl" cried Jen-
ME eagerly.
"There was not form Of it left.
Every piece has disappeared. 1t is at
once the most clever and the most gil
gantic robbery of money that has taken
place within our knowledge
"But such quantity Of gold" said
Jennie, "must have been Of enormous
weight Two hundred million forms!
| u
would take regiment of thieves to
carry so much away. How has that
| been done, and where is the gold con-
cealedT
| "Ah, my child if you can answer
your own questions the Austrian gov
eminent will pay You almost any sum
you like to name. The police are COM
| pletely baffied. Of course nothing has
been said of this gigantic robbery, but
| every exit from Vienna is watched,
| and, not only that, but each frontier is
| guarded. What the government wants,
| of course, is to get back its gold, the
result of years of taxation, which can
not very easily be relieved"
| "And when did this robbery take
! placer asked Jennie.
| "On the night of the nth. "
"On the night of the 17thH" repeat
ed the girl, more to herself than to the
voluble old woman. "And it was on
the 9th that the premier made his war
speech
EXACTLY" said the old lady, who
| overheard the remark not intended for
her ears, land don't you think there
was something striking in the coinci
| dence?'
81 don't quite understand What
| coincidence2"
"Well, You know the speech Of the
premier was against England. 1t was
not a speech made on the spur Of the
moment, but was doubtless the result
Of many consultations, perhaps with
Russia, perhaps with Germany. Who
| knows? We have been growing very
friendly with Russia Of late, and as
England has spies all over the world,
doubtless her government knew before
the speech was made that it was com
ing. SO the police appear to think that
the whole resources of the British gov
eminent were set at the task Of Grip
| pling Austria at critical moment
"Surely you don't mean. madame,
that the government of England would
descend to burglary. robbery-yes, and
murder, even, for the poor soldiers who
| guarded the treasure were as effectually
murdered as if they had been assassi
mated in the street? You don imagine
that the British government would
stoop to such deeds as thosey'
The old lady shook her head wisely.
| 'By the time You are my age my
dear, and have seen as much Of politics
rs have You will know that govern
ments stop at nothing to accomplish
their ends. No private association Of
thieves could have laid such plans as
would have done away with 900 000,
600 Of forms in gold, unless they had
not only ample resources. but also a
master brain to direct them. Nations
hesitate at nothing where their inter.
ests are concerned. 1t was to the inter
| I mw III