Great Diamond Robbery.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1029, 28 January 1882, Page 3

Great Diamond Robbery.

A most daring and impudent robbery ' was committed recently at the branch Post Office in Hatton Garden, London. About 5 o’clock, as one of the officials had just made up the country mails in two bags, one containing the ordinary mails and the other the registered letters, some of which contained jewellery and diamonds to a very considerable amount, the gas in the building was suddenly turned off at the meter, plunging the place into total darkness. In the confusion and commotion which ensued among the assistants and the customers in the office, a man made his way to where the bags, ready made up, were hanging on their customary hooks, awaiting the arrival of the mail-cart which conveys them to the General Post Office, and seizing the bags rushed out of the building before anyone had a suspicion as to what was going on. When it was found out what had happened it was too late to make any effort to catch the thief, who was enabled to get clear away' 'The utmost consternation was occasioned by the theft among the Post Office employes, 4w it was known that the letters which iliad been registered during the day ’teorrtaincd money, jewellery, and other valuables, to the extent of many thousands of pounds. One report esYi«<ited the amount contained in the Lstolen letters at £lOO,OOO, but although it is impossible to say what ■ven the approximate figure may be ■util the inquiries which have been ■et on foot by the police have been Bompleted, it is not thought that the Bactual figure will fall far short of that [•amount. The gas meter is jflaeed in ’ a small apartment at the back of the building, communicating with that portion open to the public by a swing door. The room is generally occupied by the telegraph boys and those in charge of them. It is considered impossible that anyone could have entered the room to go to the meter unnoticed. From enquiries made last evening in the immediate neighborhood of Hatton Garden Post Office, which, it may be mentioned is the seat of the manufacturing and export jewellers and precious stone dealers in the metropolis, it has been established that the extent and daring character of the robbery have by no means been exaggerated. The time selected by the perpetrators, and the manner of carrying out their purpose, point to the utmost deliberation, and the probability of the affair being a carefullyplanned conspiracy. Though the actual value of the stolen parcels cannot at present be definitely ascertained, tend to show that it is not at all improbable that the articles consigned to the care of the Post Office officials which have disappeared in so extraordinary a manner would amount in value to £BO,OOO or £lOO,OOO sterling. Many of the large jewellers have houses in Paris and other continental cities, and others have manufactories in Birmingham and Coventry. Besides this, foreign jewellers and diamond merchants are represented by agents in and about Hatton Garden, so that there is a constant correspondence and system of consigning parcels and valuables to and from London and the Continent on the one hand, and from the factories and provinces to London on the other. It is not at all unusual for a registered letter or packet so forwarded to contain £6,000 or £B,OOO worth of diamonds or jewellery, and a complete system of insurance is generally adopted. This is effected through an insurance office at a charge averaging about 15d per £lOO value. Some merchants take out a floating policy by paying premiums in advance to insure £20,000 or £25,000 worth •of goods, and every time a parcel is despatched the insurance office is advised of its value, and write off the amount m thqir books, until, the

balance being exhausted, a new policy is taken out. Thus, it will be seen that no ultimate loss will be incurred by any of the Consignors in the present instance. Ono firm has been mentioned as having posted a parcel worth about £7,000, but pending confli.Tjation the name, of course, cannot bo given. The manager of another firm states that the robbery was effected after -5 o’clock, when the mailbag containing the registered letters had been made up, and was placed ready for despatch in its usual position. Five o’clock being the hour at which the reception of letters for registration ceases at the Hatton Garden office, the thieves timed their movements accordingly. The fact of the gas being turned off at the moment of action is eenfirmefl in the quarter above-men-tioned, and it is surmised that the parties concerned in the execution of the plan had watched their opportunity for Bomb weeks past. A later communication says: —On inquiry of the police authorities at 9 o’clock, Inspector Peel, w ho has charge of the case, stated that no clue bad yet been obtained that would lead to the arrest of the person or persons implicated in the robbery. A Post Office employe, who was detained on suspicion, has been set at liberty, and the energies of the detectives have now been concentrated in the attempt to discover the principal delinquents in the affair. The very simplicity of the theft seems to have left the police authorities no clue to work upon ; and they seem even to have abandoned the idea of an accomplice being found among the Post Office employes. The meter, it appears, is in the basement, and not at the back of the office, as before stated, and on that account could have been reached by some one not immediately acquainted with the premises. A reward of £lOOO has been offered by the insurance company for such information as will lead to the detection and conviction of the thieves and the recovery of the property, which is estimated at £BO,OOO. This, it is believed, represents only the amount insured, the actual loss, in uninsured property, cheques, Ac., being much larger.—London Daily Telegraph.