A MYSTERY IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1132, 11 January 1884, Page 3

A MYSTERY IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

8 ...~.- y ttfejfcrectors'of the Bank ofEn lan J were'muoh and not a '■■■; Jitflo stmuaed; '-Whim' th* ■iScrotaf'v read to them,, at .the r ÜBii.il s ft n , 'he fo low.ng ( Ul-spelt and somewhat curipus letter:-- ' f ‘ ‘‘Two Cent'leinin off Hank England ; Yoo think yow is all safe hand, your Bank hia , .safe; hift i kiiows-lietliir. i bin binside the Bank thee last 2 nite hand yow nose nuffin ahn.w.t -ft, Baft um nott a theaf, so liif ypawill in'et men in the gret i-quar rom, werh'arl the moneivs, at twelf 2 nite He explain orl to yoew, jet only 1 hor 2 cum alown, and say nnfiiu 2 nobody.- John Smiff ’’ The letter having been'duly read, was, as might be expeoiel, the topic of con versa trrtn' and suggestion for some little time. .Some.of the directors thought it;W.i3 a hoax. Others thought that under the apparently ignorant wr t-ten letter a deeper mystery was bidden ; but all acreei that, the rafest way was to put the letter with proper instructions iiifo tbe hands of the detectives. The deteotiv. s looked grave. There was a plot at work, they saw ; an! with their usual penetration they‘at ouoe penetrated the .deepest depths of, the iniquity.. * There is a very lafde room underground, where the hnge wealth of the bank is deh°*jkeil7iui% l s»■ »gff-tnvWoJgp.of -English: i sovWmgfis,'' bars of gold.and hundred ; -of-sdWy witi£ '-Th3 , defectives, of.course., innw that this must! ■ he the place wEfeS *Ws“ W?tsr of the letter stone pavement, afflET^s.walls.-pouf,-«aad and-s'feo ' “ \ All the night long detectives were: 1 secreted in the room, .but they saw nothing and heard nothing, with the.,exertion that some .said'-'l&ey'' beard, aboil t' one’or two o’clock a strange I .noise they could not account for. The next night was the same, and the next, and the next; and when the board-day of the bank .cadie round -the whole of the direc'ors would have treated the affair as an idle attempt to frighten them had not ■ their intention been more strongly called to the subject by the following incident; - . . • . . A heavy cheat had been forwarded addressed to the directors of the Bank of England. The chest was of'course opened before themr at once-such a thing l beingvery unusual'—and found to contain a large packet of most valuable papers and eecuri-. ties which hart been safelv deposited in the vault. With them was the iollowing letter “To the Directors-of the Bank of England.—Gentlemen,—My husband, who is an honest man, wrote to you last week, and told yon that he hid found a way—which he liedeves is- only known to himself—of getting into your st> ong-room, and offered, if you would meet him there at night, to explain the whole ma'ter. He had never taken anything from than room except the enclosed box.. .You get. detectives .on.bim,and He teak it# fe>k, to-shrtw that he cbhid gather*, s^^rw^M|tcb r if.lie ohb*& ; He gives you soother chance. Let a few. gentlemen lie in the joonj alnua, ..guardAbe;, the 'dgjrttTWi I'Wske S<ic'ure;*,Yihd -ray s njght; &l%. <&tui Sun* a j i Thii letter was thsmthrt . W. The only thing iha'jf writers** Klfey'Stnith/'Wis a better himso f, joa > :Thq.;d<*fcsl(ves ‘ ■'•tyere ahowft'•the Tetter. ahi'acteJS accord* iiigly. ,0f course they saw through “ the dodge.”' The cleverest man were posted in the room. In the morourgth v told a .strange story. They said that they saw a light at about 12 o’clock. It seemed to e ime from a dark lantern ; but directly thev ran to thebpot from whence the light proceeded, it . went out, and the strictest search had discovered nothing. The bank officials became alarmed. Thev however, agreed to do what p“rhaps would have been wis-T if done at first, viz., to depute a few of their mnnbei to visit the vault alone. So it was arrang-d that three gentlemen should remain in the strong room all night, and that no one el«e should be with them Every suitable precaution was taken when night came. The sentinel paced up and down outside ; the detectives we-e not, far off ; and, After the ra-st rigorous 'enroll had been instituted, the gentlemen were locked in. At la't, one of them, 1 who paced the floor rather impatiently, beginning to think that perhaps after sll it was only a e'ever trick, cried out : “ Yon ghost, you aecreot visit ir 1 you midnight thief, come out. There is no | one here but two gentlemen and myself. If you are afraid, I give you my word of honour as a gentleman that the police are I not here. Come out, 1 say. 1 It was more in jest than in earnest that 1 M?j ->r p, for he wasajnilitary mar, ihouted out the absurd speech, for, as we have said he had begun to suspect that ’after all some ' ’■ptactid.il joke was being adroitly-carried on,~ I as had more than once before been perpe- 1 trated, A* he did' nat much like-'being vids 1 timised himself. ’liL : o.‘d- i -• iH Is - Astonishment, Jiowevet, was,-great when in reply he .hten.nl ar dtrattge ‘ voice Saying: “If you.haye yvord ,jr will keep mine.'' .'Pud out your light, for I’vj one, and then I’ll come ” • - , I The _m/>jor and his fellow-directors did .- nptmiich like .putting..-out the light,-but ] thev were hot cowards, and . after -some deipur it was done. Where the voice came fr- tn was, however, a mystery, for there was no hiding places Jrf; the -room; every ’ side being of thick, many-plated iron and * at -el : the ceiling was aiso of the same j materia 1 . I When the light was out 'hey waited in ! silence, while the . major grasped Hrmly in ' one hand a revolver, and in the other held •the lantern and a few matches. Eor a little wfiile a low, grating sound was heard, and then a voice, evidently that of some one in the room, said : “Are yon three alone, 1 sue?” s The ni*jer, who cared for no'hing in bo-Hlv form, struck a match, and ins an'ly i a crash wu* heard, and s low, smothered I laugh. - When the match was lighted, ( nothing could be detected -up one was ' there. < Again the major called up >n t.he mystre I -rious somebody touo.no forth, and again a i voice was heard, saying, How can I trust \ yo-i now 1 ? - ’ i ,Th,e major was anery.an 1 bis companions i al -i mod, and after trying in ..vain to trace 1 .the -point whence the voice proceeded, he I exclaimed, “Well, we'll nut out the Might 1 again;, only -come quickly, and make an < of tl.is'.tioi her.” tio saying, be put ou * ffthe’light again. ~ . LI - ,A_ moment after th* *a«fe grating.'smmd fleled,. thfpsb* ffti.linir'iif 'sortftfdiea'vy ] .'b'J, : y». ttfJ • the. -inatyMit j ■ wahjc f tsndittg fcf the. middle nf-,% waa.lt j , with,* dark h»»iJeth*inhisl)*ad v , h'<j came from'tomewherts. -hilt *i lie puzzi J waa—how? highest could not Pave ■ en*'ered iip*e-«tyjiierbpidy- ~ Tb ..mao soon s|>okß for hiftise’f - and the i Idjltedtprs/wbo were still af alona'o explain , bis presence their, listened in aßcou iliment, i It appeared that be was a poor man and t obtained a precarious living in a strange ’ wny When the tide was I. w it is the cus- I tom of a certain class o' piople, unknown ] to refined socie'y, to enter th ■ sewars to ; search fur any articles of value which may t

hire been washed down into them< It it • .very dangerous tank, and of.oo'urse molting in the extreme, yut they not infrequently find very precious things hidden ip the filth. This man waa one of tboae atrango adventurers. One night he had discovered an openr g leading to some plan* above. There was a large square B.one, whioU he found could bo easily rained. He listened for some time, and. finding all was si eot, lifted up the stone without much''difficulty, and found, after some little in vest jga-. ion by the ligh c O! his lantern, that he was in tnestrongroom of a bank. Tout 1 men. like miners, can readily determine th ■ ex tct spot of ground under which they a e ; and he »oon had a c'ueto the w oie mvn’ery. He. told hie wife, who was a w man of superior educe* tiou to his own, of 'he whole affiiej and he then wrote, as we have seen, to the directors. Down in the sewar, he was able to hear all .their movements tis well ad if .above ground, and thus was not ouly aide to know their plans, hut to frustrate them, and of course could watch his time to 'the small nut valiia I© bar, to leave the letters on the table, and to appear so mysteriously. No one had thought of looking to the stone -pavement, which was supposed to be solid and immoveable, as it was known that there were no vaults below, although the iron walls and doors had 'l>een'.carefully ■J^ed^* : The y mystery was now cleared -up, and the man well rewarded. —Tit Hits,