A PAIR OF CLEVER ROBBERIES.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 690, 21 June 1870, Page 4

A PAIR OF CLEVER ROBBERIES.

[CASaBLia'S MAGAZINE.] One of the most wonderful robberies ever perpetrated was the achievement of a Frenchman, who, for a long time after it, was recognised in his profession as " the King of the Bandits." Hjs claim to this liitle was based upon a single exploit— the I robbing of a diligence, which feat he not only planned, but carried into successful execution, without any assistance whatsoever. He studied closely the country tJhrough which the journey was to be made, and selected a point on. the roadwhere there was a very steep nill, with^ I hedges and underwood at either side. He then procured a number of stout sticks about the length and thickness of the barrel of a gun. These he stuck into the hedges, letting the ends of them appear, as if they were the muzzles of guns directed by persons in ambuscade behind the hedge. As the diligence came toiling slowly up the hill, the driver saw a man standing ori the pathway, and gesticulating violently. On approaching nearer, the man could be heard distinctly haranguing them. " Ready ! Obey orders ! No firing if there be no resistance !" And then the robbery walking alowly forward, stopped the hoxaea, told the guard to get down and to lie with his face and his hands on the ground, and that no violence would be offered to him. He then went to the doer of the vehicle, and assuring \ the ladies, who were screaming for help, that they need be under no alarm, begged ( each passenger, as he stepped otit, to hand him Ma purse, and then to lie down on. his face and hands near the guard. While all thjs drama was being enacted, the rob-ber-chief kept shouting to his assistants not to fire unless there was resistance — hot to fire until they should get his signal. Thus, one by one, he handed all the passengers out, each giving up his purse as if it woo a tiokot, and then going and lying upon the wet grass side by side with the guard. When the diligence was empty, our highwayman retired with all the property he deßired to possess himself of, and escaped through the wood. The most amusing part of the story was that, amongst the travellers, were several officers fully armed, who surrendered their swords at discretion, and joined the other dupes on the grass. It is well to add that the robber was ultimately apprehended, and the greater part of, the stolen property was found upon him. Another very extraordinary robbery was one which has only recently been detected ; if it has less adventure in it than the other, it has certainly more system and ingenuity; The enterpriser & this case was English,. and was known to professional thieveß as "Jack in the box." His system was this. He had a box so constructed thathe could lie downin it with ease, and rely upon always having plenty of: fresh air; it could also contain provisions, tools, false keys, a lantern, &c., &c., and the real mode of opening it was from the inside. Jack, having caused himself to be buried alive in this coffin, would get it booked, say from Chester to Eu&ton-square by a goods train, and carefully labelled, " This side up ; to be kept till called for." The box always was put in! a train that arrived at the station at night, and was accordingly stored till called for the following day. It was in this interval that the robberies were committed. When the whole station was shut up, the porters dismissed, and the place in darkness, Jack emerged from his box, lit his lantern, and set to work. He got out his tools and his keys, and took his time. We all know what an insecure thing the lock of a trunk is, and how nearly all keys are made on the same pattern. They did not afford much trouble to the robber; he opened box after box, unpacking them with Rreat care and tidiness— for long practice had made him perfect — and selecting as keepsakes the articles that were most valuable) and most easily disr posed of. With these gleanings he filled the box in which he had himself come up to town, and then lay in concealment till the morning. The stores would then be opened, porters would come in to remove goods, and Jack would choose his own time to effect his escape. Later in the day he would call for a parcel that had arrived from Chester by the last goods train of the preceding night, and that was directed to oe called for ; he would take it away with him in a cab, having first paid all the railway charges upon it. But the day came when this little " coup" was made for the last time, and it was a policeman ? and not his box, that Jack found waiting for him on application.