Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1905-10-18
DARING BURGLANIES
INGENIOUS DEVICES RESORTeO TO
BY BANK THIEVES.

The Nerve. skill and Patience Dis
played In the Robbery % Hong
kong Bank vaults - Extensive and
Successful TDuncIinE Operations.
In the whole catalogue OF daring
bank rohberics there is no story more
amazing than that OF the robbery at
the Hongkoug branch of the Hank OF
Western India. FOR not only did the
case display the most astonishing dar-
ing. skill and patience GA the part OF
the robbers. but their success has
never bcen equaled by other bank
breakers.
Ii was generally understood that the
safes and vaults OF the Western bank
were about the strongest ever built,
and the robbers of course. knowing
this, decided TO attack the bank in a
way they believed the builders had
never anticipated. and therefore not
provided FOR. They rented a house on
the opposite side of the street and set
tied down To live like simple minded
gentlemen.
Some three months later the mama ger
OF the bank had occasion TO visit the
vaults. and. 10 his utter MANAGEMENT
and CONSERVATION. he discovered that
the principal safe, which a CAY or two
before had contained upward OF
$4,000 in bullion and other valuableS.
had been emptied of everything 1t
did not take long TO throw the reSpon
sibility FOR this astonishing change on
the simple minded gentlemen over the
way, but when visit was paid 10 their
abode il was found that they, too, had
disappeared.
While living quietly and respectfully.
evincing no inclination 10 hide them
selves, but showing their faces fire.
Quently 1T the windows and walking
in the streets Ike the most honest folk.
the robbers constructed Il tunnel con
meeting the basement OF their domicile
with the vaults Of the bank To ac-
complish this they dug a shaft down
TO Il sufficient depth TO enable them 10
tunnel under the road without being
heard by passengers or risking a col
lapse of the earth. and they cut an
upward shaft, giving them access TO
the vaults. where. one day when the
bank was closed and they knew the
safes were loaded with valuableS, they
quietly broke in and cleared away
everything worth taking
one can easily appreciate the cour-
age and patience Of these men. They
had 10 cut a tunnel between eighty
and ninety feet long. sufficiently high
and wide 10 allow the passage of two
men carrying heavy chest; they had
to dispose of the immense amount Of
earth displaced in cutting the tunnel
without any one knowing. and after
twelve weeks mcCSSant labor in cut
ting the tunnel they had yet To make Il
way through the concrete floor Of the
bank and break into safe of eNccp-
tional strength. The cutting Of the
upward shaft under the bank partic-
ularly must have been an anxious task
for the robbers. since at any moment
they might have betrayed themselves
to some one above, and il speaks vol
umes for the care with which they
labored that no one suspected them or
what was happening until they had
of valuables. the carrying away Of
which. apart from anything else. must
have been far from simple matter
An equally surprising feat was per
formed by the thieves who stole fiG.-
900 worth of diamonds from Il Kimbcr-
ley bank some years ago. While ,he
tunnel In this case was only about
twenty feet long. owing TO the fact
that the thieves We're able 10 avail
themselves Of big main drain Il ap-
preach the hank secretly, Othc, d.;Ecll
ties that had to be overcome were much
more formidable than in the Hongk ong
case.
The safe in which the diamonds were
deposited was one of such remarkable
strength that before entering on then
enterprise the thieves evidently dccid-
ell II would be hopeless 10 attempt &
break into il at the sides or door, rs
the work might occupy too much time
and that IL would be necessary fOI
| them 10 attack IL at the back, which