MUNICH MINT ROBBERY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8287, 15 November 1906, Page 5

MUNICH MINT ROBBERY.

A WORKMAN SENT TO PRISON. Received November 14, 8.30 a.m. VIENNA, November 13. A workman has been sentenced to four and a half years' imprisonment in connection with the "burglary at the Munich Mint. The accused pleaded that the mint was so badly protected that it was impossible to resist the temptation to breaK into it. (The mint robbery was a daring I affair. It appears that the thieves crept into the dry bed of an arm of the river Isar, which flows under the mint, opened an iron door, which leads on to this canal, and, aiter ascending to the ground floor of the building, broke open one door after another, until they came to a wooden cupboard which contained 130,000 mark?, in newly-minted 10mark pieces, and weighing 1001b. In addition, they made away with 5,000 marks" worth of gold coinage, which had been rejected as imperfect. In the storerooms there was neither sentry nor watchman. These were removed two years ago on economical grounds. Three days later the police arrested an employee of the mint and a mechanician serving at the Army Clothing Factory. Forty-three thousand marks of the stolen money was found at the house of the mechanician's sweetheart. The remainder of the m&ney was discovered hidden in the park known as the Englisn Garden. The merit of the discovery belongs to a young child who, while sitting m a tramway car, observed that a workman paid his fare from a purse full of golden ten-mark pieces. With a quick s&nse of apprehension the child turned to the conductor and quietly observed, . " This man has got stolen money from the mint." The man was arrested, and confessed to having been associated with the burglary. Meanwhile, by a remarkable CQincidsnce, the police had discovered, independently, the real burglar. This was a soldier named Koenig, a former worker in the mint.)