The Washington herald., 1914-11-15

At the other end of the telephone
l could hear the Lord Mayor:
gasp of surprise. There was Z
short pause and a sound of muir,
INJURED voices, and then l wa:
asked:
Perhaps you know what ha:
become of the manuscript"
The question reminded me that
l was in a delicate position.
! Il know nothing beyond what
your lordship has told me. 1 can
not promise to recover the manu-
script, but I will make the at
tempt"
On the journey to London !
bought some of the English pa
pers. In them l read accounts OF
an apparently purposeless outrage
I in the Bank of England by an al
legged maniac. The maniac was de-
scribed as having made his way
into the inner premises of the
bank, where he shot at one of the
officials, inhicting a not very seri-
! GUS wound. But there was not the
slightest hint of any other conse-
quence of the affair.
At Cannon street I was met by
the Lord Mayors secretary, who
conveyed me in a private brough-
am to the Mansion House.
His lordship received me with
out any state, in the plain dress of
private citizen.
The governor of the bank was
also present, and put the facts be-
fore me in a brief and businesslike
fashion.
Il must explain to you, Mon
sieur "" " the Lord Mayor said
first, that the bank is within my
jurisdiction. On finding that a
document of international impor-
tance had been stolen from the
vaults, the governor naturally came
to me, as ruler of the City of Lon
don, believing that my status in the
eyes of foreign governments would
cause them to think twice before
refusing any official request might
think right to make to them"
There are few governments by
which your lordship's requests
would not be considered in the
light of commands" l answered
respectfully. "Am l to understand
your lordship believes some for
eign government is concerned in
this theft"
That is point on which I shall
be glad to have you form your
own opinion" said the Lord May
or.
"Perhaps YOU have heard already
of the outrage perpetrated in the
bank yesterday" said the governor.
| NODDED.
In the room i'll which the shot
was fired is a small safe, the KEY
of which the wounded man carried
on his watch chain. The noise Of
the shot brought number OF
clerks and messengers into the
room, and in the smoke and con-
fusion it would have been conf
paratively easy for a stranger to
have mixed in the crowd without
being Immediately noticed. All we
know is that an hour later it was
discovered that the key had been
removed from the wounded mans
watch chain, and used to open the
safe. 1t was, in fact, found in the
lock-"
"Very ingenious" I could not
tOrbear saying.
The Lord Mayor and the gov
crnor looked slightly shocked by
this strictly professional view.
"T'hc thief" the governor pur-
sued, with some emphasis, had
used the opportunity to abstract
the key of a special damp-proof
vault used for the storage of pa
pers intrusted to lis by Our GUS
toners. In the paper vault, as it is
called, we have packets bearing the
seals of nearly every monarch in
the world, from the Mikado of ia
pan to the Prince of Monaco. The
thief was evidently not a mere pri-
vate robber. To resume: he seems
to have thoroughly mastered the
plan OF the bank premises, and to
have made his way straight to the
vault he wanted"
But surely you take some pre-
cautions? A stranger cannot walk
straight into your vaults, provided
he has a key" l exclaimed.
The governor hung his head.
Perhaps we have relied little
too much on Our prestige. 1t is a
hundred and seventy-three years
since the last attempt was made to
-