est details. We have received our correspond ent's report, and we may say at once that, much as we reprobate the robbery as an immoral viola tion of the sanctity of property, we cannot but admire the extraordinary cleverness of its per petrators. "To make ourselves clearly understood we must direct the attention of our readers towards some figures. The ten cases which were con signed to Messrs. Raphael & Montagu were pro vided and packed by the Bank of England, and were similar to those always used for transport ing gold bars. Each case contained five bars, and each bar was six inches long, four inches broad and one and a half inch thick. The weight of each bar was 393 Troy ounces, and the value was about ¿£1.400. The wood of the cases was two inches thick, so that when the top was put on, the outside dimensions of each case were : Length, ten inches; breadth, eight inches, and height eleven and a half inches. After the covers were fastened, strips of hoop iron were whipped around top and bottom and nailed down, and the bank's seal was impressed on wax in such a manner that the covers could not possibly be removed without the seals being broken. We may add that the ten cases were packed in the courtyard of the Bank of Eng land in the presence of one of Messrs. Raphael & Montagu's London agents. They were then placed on a van belonging to the London & Northwestern Railway Company and carried at once to Euston Square. Little more than half an hour elapsed between the time when the van left the bank and the time when the Liverpool Express left Euston. "The Times correspondent was practically right when he said that lead was substituted for gold but he made one apparently small but really vital omission. He did not say that an entire case; box as well its contents, was stolen. and a new one substituted in its place. By this simple but vastly ingenious means, the difference between the specific gravities of lead and gold was overcome. The thieves evident ly were familiar with the size and the appear ance of the Bank of England's bullion cases, and they provided themselves with a similar one for the purpose of their crime. They then carefully worked out the relative specific gravi ties of lead and gold, and discovered that bars
of lead seven and a half inches long, five and a half inches broad, and one and a half inch thick would weigh as nearly as possible the same as the bank's bars of gold which were six inches long, four inches broad and one and a half inch thick. The inside measurements of the substituted case were, at first, of course, the same as those of the bank's cases, but these were subsequently increased by simply cutting away the inside wood until the space was large enough to receive the leaden bars. By means of this device the outside measurements of the case were undisturbed, and the thickness of the wood at the corners where it could be seen re mained at two inches'. After the cutting had been completed, the sides of the case were still about one and a quarter inch thick, and were more than strong enough to support their heavy load. We do no know how the bank's seal was imitated, we only know the fact that it was. Our correspondent writes that the substi tuted case was absolutely correct in weight, in appearance and in seal, and that it could in no respect be distinguished from the nine genuine cases with which it travelled. He adds that inquiries have not resulted in the smallest evi dence being discovered which might show where and how the substitution was made. The weight of the full case was considerable, as much as one hundred and twenty-five pounds avoirdupois, but one, or perhaps two men could carry it without any undue exertion. The gentlemen who fill our coal cellars handle much greater weights with apparent ease. The whole affair was so carefully planned that the substitu tion could have been made in a few minutes, and the discovery of the robbery at the last possible moment, upon which the thieves could calculate, makes it seem certain that they have long ago provided adequately for their safety. Against thieves of their intellectual caliber the guardians of society are helpless, and it is per haps fortunate—though on this point we have our doubts—that such men usually exercise their genius in safer and even more profitable pur suits. In the City of London, for instance, with their ingenuity and disregard of moral scruples, they might have become distinguished finan ciers and been the darlings of a self-seeking society. Instead of which—"
