The Horsham Bank Robbery.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 24, 26 June 1885, Page 2

The Horsham Bank Robbery.

.It is strange bow alight a clue will often lead to the discovery of crime, and this has been remarkably exemplified m the case of the late Horsham robbery. After the lapse of 14 months from the date of the commission of the offence suspicion has lighted on two persons who of all people had the amplest opportunities for abstracting the gold had they so desired, and against whom the police, according to their own present account, had strong suspicions ever since the reported robbery. And fche story now goes that no direct evidence wa* obtainable against the individuals arrested, until the putting into circulation, by one of them, of a batik note which struck the tradesman who changed it as having a peculiarly earthly smell, suggested the idea 1 of its having been for a long time buried m the ground. This unusual characteristic of paper money so impressed the receiver of the note that he retained it m his possession until he had an opportunity of comparing its number and other marks with those of the money said to have been stolen from the Horsham bank, and found that they exactly coincided ; the clue being thus afforded which led to the arrest of the parties now accused. The episode reads quite like a chapter m one of Mr Wilkie Gollms' romances, and if it leads to a conviction only goes to show that the apparently far-fetched incidents of the novelist are often not brought from any greater dig. tance than the realms of every day experience.