New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-06-13
CROWN JEWELS ARE SAFE
new Devices for Their Care in
the Tower of London.

On, sr1a-, NV
OWING TO the amazing ingenuity. daring
ard mechanical skill of the r.qhas- c,assa.
! OF CRIMINALS nowadays the British govern
U7ent has considered 1t necessary 20 aa,n.
ar altogether new scheme for the safety
and protection Of the crown, Jewels of any-
iafio' which since the addition thereto of
the superb stones known as the C,,ll,nan
diamonds have enormously Increased g.,
value. Some three months ago they were
removed from the Wakefield Tower of the
Tower OF London, where they are orai-
narily on exhibition, and where they have
been seen by many thousands of American
Visitors to the British metropolis. They
were conveyed with the utmost secrecy to
the Bank OF England in Threadneed,e
street. all information concerning their re-
moral, however, being refused. Their
transfer was effected for the purpose of
making certain structural changes In the
Wakefield Tower. of nature to render
wellnigh impossible any repetition of the
wonderful feat of Colonel Thomas Blood
who in the reign of Charles II very ne ariy
succeeded in his efforts to carry of the
regalia from the Wakefield Tower. It may
be remembered that King Charles was SO
struck by the mans daring that instead of
consigning him to the scaffold he pardoned
him and bestowed on him an annuity OF
$1,000 a year.
The alterations. OF the Wakefield Tower
have now been completed A new stone
floor has now been given TO the crown
Jewel room. stone additions have been made
TO the walls and a new steel cage has been
built. to inclose the huge plate glass show
case in which the crowns. the sceptres. the
orbs. the state swords and, in one word,
all the crown jewels are displayed. The
bars of this cage made of the finest
tempered steel, placed more closely to-
gether than the case with the old iron
cage. The ends Of the bars embedded
in the solid masonry of the roof and floor
ing and hidden electric alarms of the latest
type have been connected with the cage
so that If a bar be wrenched ever so slight
" a gong sounds its warning throughout
the tower. where there is always strong
military guard on duty. Every lock
throughout the room has been improved
and made more complicated, so that vari-
Gus keys have to be used in the opening
The fron-iined doors have been strength
ened and additional electric lights have
been installed. Moreover, at the touch of
g spring all the jewels Immediately van
ish from sight, in sinking automatically
closing steel cases. or safes, absolutely
burglar proof.
It had been proposed al first TO arrange
a scheme by which the entire regalia and
crown jewels could, if necessary. be sud
denly lowered into the dungeons below the
jewel room IN the Wakefield Tower; but
this was found to be irapracticable, owing
TO the condition OF the dungeons, which,
being beneath the river level, are fright
fully damp. so much so that il has been
found impossible to use them for anything
since prisoners of state were left to rot
there IN the fifteenth, sixteenth and seven
tenth centuries.
I have frequently been asked by CORE
spondents whether or not the Jewels dis
played in the Wakefield Tower of the
Tower of London are the real gems or
merely paste limitations thereof This is
question, indeed, that is asked by every
American tourist visiting the tower II
may be- therefore well TO repeat here the
fact that the jewels on exhibition in the
Wakefield Tower are the actual regalia,
ard that whenever Queen Alexandra has
had occasion to wear that portion Of the
Cullinan diamond which is not set into the
crown and which she will now have to
surrender TO her daughter-in-law, queen
Mary. il has always been specially fetched
for the purpose from the Tower of London