Successful Attempt at Plunder.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 24 January 1891, Page 3

Successful Attempt at Plunder.

The excitement occasioned at Capetown by the stoppage of the Gape of Good Hope Bank appears to have been eclipsed by the sensation created by the daring and successful attempt of a gang of robbers to break into the bank and plunder the strong room. This room is described as a chamber about six feet high, by twelve feet long, and six broad, comprising safes ranged round the walls which contained very valuable articles and securities. The ingenuity and determination of the thieves is shown by the circumstance that between this room and the covered culvert by whioh they oontrived to make their way were no fewer than six foundation walls built of stone and briok, one being four feet thick. It is calculated that they must have been constantly engaged for at least three weeks in their underground work of tunnelling and picking away the softer places before they finally succeeded in making a hole in the wall of the strong room, through whiohthey took £4000 in gold and silver alone. Their depredations were only discovered by the accident of the manager making a visit to the bank on Sunday afternoon. From the circumstance that the robbers left £1600 of this amount behind them in the culvert, together with their tools, it is supposed that they were either disturbed or contemplated , returning to possess themselves of *: ''- further booty. The authorities are ' accordingly blamed for not lying in wait for the depredators instead of making the matter public. Altogether the ingenuity and perseverance displayed by the plunderers of the the Capo of Good Hope Bank will

render this a notable episode in the history of crime.