The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-01-25
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by VanS @Public Leos
Mystery of the Old
Carpet Bag

- gold, packed in iron boxes, and
these In turn placed in safe with
Chubb lock, was stolen during the trip
from Folkestone to Boulogne.
That is to say, the gold was In the
safe when 1t left the office of the ex-
press company and 1t was not there
when it reached it's destination.
To add to the mystification there
wGSe only three keys to the safe and
the whereabouts of each one was
known.
The traffic superintendent in Lon
don had one; the head of the Folke-
stone railway had another. and the
captain of the Folkestone-Boulogne
boat had the third
The outside of the safe gave some
evidence of having been tempered
with, but the iron boxes, instead of
holding gold dust, were filled with
small shot.
When had the gold been stolen?
Where had the change been made
from the gold to the shot?
Who could have been guilty of this
audaciouS robbery?
These were the three questions
which troubled the police of two coun-
tries.
1t was annoying, irritating and all
Of the other things in the calendar.
The boats running between the two
ports were carefully searched. The
waiting rooms at both ends of the line
were subjected to a keen scrutiny, and
altogether the detectives used up all
Of the tricks of the trade in trying to
find clue to this astonishing theft.
Finally they found an article that
cast ray of light on the case.
It was in the form of an old carpet
bag which was located in the station
at Folkestone.
The ownership of the bag was traced
to man named Peter Agar.
That in itself meant nothing.
The great big fact was that the
photograph of Peter Agar occupied a
place of honor in the Rogues gallery
st Scotland Yard.
Numerous copies of this photograph
WcIC HlduS anu were SlkOWu W COu-
ductors, sailors, storekeepers and
others, and as a result of this it was
pretty well proved that Peter Agar
mad been seen lettering in the vicinity
Of the Folkestone-B oulogue boat on
the day the money disappeared.
But if he were guilty of the theft
now could he have gotten the money
from the locked safe?
In the meantime the police started
to look for Peter.
1t might have taken them a long
while to locate him If Peter had not
been conveniently arrested for forg-
ing checks.
The detectives visited him in Jail
and asked him to tell what he knew
of the robbery of the safe with the
gold dust.
He was quite indignant at this, and
intimated that he considered it high
ly unprofessional to ask a man if he
is a safe rObber when he is already
serving time as a check forger.
In a word, he declined to give the
authorities any information.
One morning a woman named Mrs.
Kay called at Scotland Yard, and
without any preliminaries told the
amazed officials that the gold-dust rob-
berry had been committed by Agar,
John Pierce and Charles Tester Tes-
ter was employed in the traffic de-
partment at London bridge.
hor hot ~; CHI ho1
in "squealing"
She answered in one word:
"Revenge"
1t seems that when Agar went to
Jail on the forgery charges he left
$4,000 with Pierce to support Mrs.
Kay, who was his dear friend"
Pierce sent her money once or twice
and then ceased payment altogether.
1t was evident that he intended to
cheat her.
She was furious and furious wom-
an is dangerous.
The state of affairs was explained
to Agar and he told the whole story.
Agar and Pierce had conceived the
scheme Of robbing the safe. but in
order to do so it was necessary to
get the assistance Of some one con-
nected with the railway.
They took Tester into partnership,
and the first move came when Pierce
visited the Folkestone Office with
handful Of wax and secured an i'm
preston of the key of the safe. After
that it was simply a matter of arrang-
ing the details.
| They arranged to meet the messen-
| ger with the safe at certain point
| in the journey.
Agar carried the old carpet bag
| filled with shot and this was quickly
| substituted for the gold dust.
The loot was divided into three
equal parts and the mystery might
never have been solved Ii it had not
| been for the old carpet bag.