The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-08-10
THE GREAT BULLION
ROBBERY OF'LONG AGO
How Mysterious Crime Was Finally Solved
Woman Failing to Receive Her
Share Told All.


ais lifted out the bullion which had
been brought to Boulogne by way OF
the Southeastern railway, they no.
ticed that the bags were not quite
as heavy as usual. They were open
ed and found to contain nothing but
shot. Thus hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of gold had myste-
riously disappeared in the journey
between London and Boulogne.
The amazing part of it was that al
most superhuman means had been
taken to protect the precious dust.
The gold was sent in the guard S
van, packed in iron boxes, each of
which was deposited in safe with
q Chubb lock. The safes each had
two locks, and naturally there was
q separate key for each one. These
keys were in triplicate and were in
the possession of the trusted officers
of the company. One set was kept
by the traffic superintendent in Lon
don, another by the head OF the
Eolkstone Railway office, and the
third by the captain of the Folkstone-
Boulogne boat.
Each of these men were beyond
suspicion. They were all willing to
swear that the bags had been sealed
in the usual form, duly fastened and
locked. How had the shot been sub
stituted for the gold? And where?
No one could answer these questions.
It seemed like black magic.
James Sweeney, of Scotland Yard,
was put on the case, and associated
with him were a number of the best
detectives in England. The investl-
gators first visited the railway office
at Folkstone and made careful ex-
animation of the, premises. That
brought no results. After that there
was a second and more careful scru-
tiny of the railway car. One of the
finds here was an old carpet bag.
That was a beginning. The Scot
land Yard men took the bag and be-
gan one of those systematic searches
in which they are excelled only oy
the secret police of Paris. Many
shop-keepers had sold many bags
within the period of time under in
yestigation. Some were sold to citi-
zens with whom they were acquaint-
ed, while others we're disposed of to
strangers whose features they could
describe only with difficulty. How
ever, the work of running OUT
these vague clews was started and
carried to a conclusion. 1t involved
weeks of patient labor.
In the meantime it became increas-
ingly evident that the robbery was
the work of skilled professionals.
Little items of interest picked up
here and there proved that the
scheme had been carried out by a
gang of thieves. Finally enough was
learned to convince the detectives
that the thieves had secured wax
impression of a set of the real keys,
which enable the thieves to manufac-
ture a set of false ones. But even
with this it was necessary to secure
the assistance of some one employed
by the railway company.
At this stage of the game one OF
the carpet bags was traced to a man
named Peter Agar. That in itself
sounds commonplace. But the i'm
portance of it becomes evident when
it is stated that the portrait Of Mr..
Agar occupied a place of honor in
the rogue's gallery at Scotland Yard.
Copies of the picture were made and
sent all along the line. The guards
and the ticket collectors Immediately
recognized it as that of one OF the
men who had travelled in the train
on the day the gold had disappeared:
Two things could be done. One
was to arrest Agar at once and de-
pend upon getting his assistance in
bringing his pals to justice. The 9TH
er was to shadow him in the hope OF
securing additional evidence that
would result in recovering some OF
the gold and rounding up the gang.
The second course was agreed upon.
So a close espionage was kept upon
the skillful and gentlemanly Mr..
Agar with the intention of ultimately
taking him into custody.
Just as the police were ready to
pounce down upon the fellow he up
set all of their plans. He committed
q fresh crime. And it was of char
acter that could not be ignored. He
was caught uttering forged checks,
and in wholesale quantities. An
army of shopkeepers went after him,
h1 1,oe fria convict cd