New-York tribune., 1905-06-28
OCEAN BANK SITE SOLD.
Famous Robbery There-Hosc Ned
J.vop Got 4scay scith 81 900 900.

,,5 Martin GoldsticlSer dealers in glass
80 takan title to the four story and
..oroeYt business structure No 2lS Fulton-st.
~ 1a7 and 1919 Greenwich-st.. better
,-,o,, as the ocean Bank Building, although
=. hank went out OF business many years ago.
. -r.a huvers have no plans at present for alter
- the famous landmark, where nearly forty
.,oors ago a band Of burglars successfully car
.,oa mt a cieverly laid plan to rob the Ocean
1,,nk and got away with securities and cash
r,ountine 10 more than S1,ooo,ooo
Jimmy Hope and several Of his associates in
,s-s stole about S2500O00 in bonds from the
,,.nbattan Savings Institution, Bleecker-st-
I'D broadway but the burglars got little money
fuono the proceeds OF that robbery, as they
eo,,6 only a small amount of cash in the vault
,5 the bonds were not negotiable. Most of the
burglars in the Manhattan Savings robbery were
sent 10 prison for the job Some part of the
Il oa0OOO stolen from the Ocean Bank may
have been returned the institution. but it ap-
,.ears from the police records OF the crime that
.ha robbers divided the money and securities
among them and that not one of the bank break
ers was sent to prison for the crime
Thomas Byrnes, the former Chief of Police,
GAYS IN his book on professional criminals that
Edward Lyons. alias Ned Lyons, was one OF
the gang that looted the Ocean Bank He
NA-]~
noted crooks were members of the gang" that
riAed the vaults Of the bank. According to Mr.
Ryrnes. Ned Lyons was born at Manchester,
T-rtgfnd in 1885, and came to this country in
1850 He lived for some years in West 18th
St After the Civil War he came TO the notice
Of the police under the tuition of Jimmy Hope.
Afterward he became partner of Hopes and
was arrested several times, but was never
convicted.
In 1869 Lyons with Bliss, Shinborn and other
crooks, leased the rear part Of the basement
of the Ocean Bank Building. where they pre-
tended, Mr.. Byrnes says, to conduct a money
exchange Other persons who remember the
robbery say that the gang did not open a
money exchange In the basement, but a place
for making carpets out of rags They erected
G partttion dividing the quarters into two rooms.
cpe with windows fronting in Fulton-st- and
the other barren OF light
In the dark room the gang placed a carpet
weaver While in use the noise made by the
weaving machine was deafening. Above the
dark room were the bank vaults. In the dark
room the burglars worked day and night cutting
up through the thick stone floor Of the bank
While thus engaged the weaving machine was
kent in motion so as to drown the sound OF
chisels against the stone. They gained an en-
trance to the floor OF the bank after the janitor
had left on Saturday night.
To tear open the vaults q task requiring
considerable time but so cleverly did the robbers
work that on Monday morning the iron front
door of the bank was found unlocked by a clerk
the vaults literally torn to pieces. and the floor
strewn with the debris Of TOOLS mortar, stone,
brick, bonds and gold coin The burglars left
the bonds behind as they thought they would
not be able realize them. The gold coin
was too heavy to cart away.
All the officers. with the exception of a Mr.
Noreu who were connected with the Ocean
Bank at the tiras-Df the robbery are dead. Mr..
Moreu lives at Ehslishtowh, n. He visited
the place Of business of the owners of the
building Yesterday and had a long talk with
them regarding the history Of the institution.
he is about eighty years old U-.-GRl2