MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 31 December 1912, Page 5

MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY

CABLE NEWS

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.)

IN SYDNEY BANK. A BIG HAUL, (Received December 30, 9.25 a.m.) ;j SYDNEY, December 30. A mysterious robbery has been dis- _ covered at the Surry Hills branch of _ the Bank of New South Wales, . £2300 having been abstracted from the strong-room. • r The branch had just been built, 3 and had only been used for business . for a half-day. The authorities took possesion on Friday. The robbery was discovered by the » teller, who sleeps on the premises. _ He missed his portmanteau; from, his 3 room last night, t and during a search r for it lie found a packet- of coppers 5 in the back yard. Huriying inside, 'lie discovered the strong-room had been opened and clios--5 ed again. Nearly all the money it ' contained, except a few packets of : coppers, had disappeared. I The mystery arises from the fact i that [the Strong-room was fastened [ with a. Ohulbb lock, which was only I 1 opened by two keys, the manager I hokliiig one and the' teller the other. They locked the safe together on, [ Saturday, ait'l.3o p.m., noting care-. • fully that both keys turned. The rob-' liers on closing the door only turned . the key corresponding to the teller's, . thus leaving the safe half locked. Of the massing money, £4OO coni .sisted of gold, £I2OO of silver, a few pounds in copper, and the balance in. ■ notes. This, is a heavy load, for two . portmanteaux could not ca v ry -it-; two j bass at least "must have been used. The irony of all it is> that the bank's backyard, through which it'is l>eliered the thieves escaped, faces the Bourke street Police Barracks, where an army of constables is ,■constantly in .training. The only solution "suggested at pre- , sent is that smoulds of the locks were taken while the strongiroom wag being constructed. This happened recently in the case of an important city building. WORK OF CRACKSMEN. RESULT OF INVESTIGATION. r !• (Received Last Night, 10 o'clock.) SYDNEY, December 30. ' Investigations regarding the sensational bank robbery indicates that it was tlie work of a clever and daring cracksman. When the cc/ver was removed from the locks it "-.is evident , that the levers cut ha<.i been filed in | ■some ens'es'fiilly an eighth of an inch. | The .cracksman displayed extreme carefulness. The locks were, marked "T and B," meaning top and, bottom, so that no mistake would be imade in I replacing them. - The lever.s v were also ' marked with the same object. ! The strongroom door had been hung ' only six weeks ago. The thieves must 1 have visited the premises one mp-V while they were unoccupied, .and removed the locks, cut them to fit their | keys, and replaced them.