STOLEN NELSON RELICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 13

STOLEN NELSON RELICS.

▲ ROMANTIC STOBT. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 8. On the night of December Bth, 1900, some conscienceless scoundrel stole from the famous Fainted Hall at Greenwich Hospital a number of articles which visitors were wont to gloat over ln all reverence, for they were mementoes of England's greatest sailor. The Nelaon relics stolen Included a gold watch, on enamel portrait, two gold sword hilts, seven medals, and other less valuable trifles. For a long time the police were quite unable to discover even the slenderest cine to the perpetrator of the outrage, and indeed they could never even satisfactorily explain how the robbery had been committed. The most plausible surmise was that the miscreant had concealed himself ln the hall just before it was closed for the night, had broken open the cases ln which the relics were exhibited during the night, and had made his escape when the pensioners in charge of the ball opened It next morning. Bnt nobody connected with the hospital had noticed any strange person about the building, and It was not until the hall had been open some little time that the robbery was noticed. Then there were "alarums and excursions" with a vengeance; detectives by the dozen were pnt on the trail, and the London "fences" had an unhappy time of it owing to police vigilance. But (Scotland Yard's best efforts were all to no purpose; tbe thief and his precious booty had vanished Into thin air, and it was not until last March that anything more was heard of the rellca In that month the head of the British Museum was surprised to receive a letter dated from the Sailors' Home at Melbourne, and signed "Eucalyptus," which ran as follows:—

"Sir, —I believe you were relieved some years ago of the custody of Lord Nelson's relics. Among the relics was Nelson's watch. lam led to believe that I have the Identical watch in my possession. I will tell yon how I came by it. Some time ago a sailor accosted mc in Fllnder street. He appeared to be ln an Intoxicated state, and

1 . . . offered to see him to his ship. He said he had r.o ship. . . and was In a penniless condition. I gave him a shilling and bade him good-bye. Three days after I saw him loafing- round the docks. I asked him If he had any Idea of the time. He said he had a watch, bat it was not in working order. He produced the watch ', and I asked him If he wished to dispose of It. He said he would net part with it under any consideration. ... I was determined to get It, and plied him freely with liquor. He began telling mc some of hhs experiences, and admitted that he had been connected with thefts in England and America, one of which was the theft of Nelson's relics. I asked him If the watch was one of them. Seeing that he was committing himself, he said 'No.' I shall not describe bow I obtained the articles. 1 will now describe the watch. . . It was rather larger than a lady's, bnt bulkier. At the back of the oncslde case Is Inscribed the stern of an old man-o'-war. . . It had written across the stern 'San Josef.' The hours are marked ln ordinary figures. It has attached to It a small gold slip ring with a seal of red stone and a common watch-key. The seal pourtrays a woman holding a snake ln her right hand extended. If all the above should tally with the lost relics, you will kindly let mc know. Yon will address communications to Eucalyptus, G.P.0., Melbourne. I expect to receive a fair reward If it should be the right one. ... I might add that it would be very foolish to commnnicate this to the police, as I would have It destroyed. Should you feel Inclined to get It back without nndne publicity and fuss, the best way Is through the curator of the Melbourne Museum. By sending a full description of th/ relics and a pro_ise not to prosecute, with £100 to the director of the Museum, he will probably elve it back."

Appended to the letter waa an excellent pencil drawing of the watch.

The letter was handed over to Scotland Yard, but what steps were taken In con neetion with it Ido not know. A few days ago, however, a seaman named Wll!ia_ Carter visited Scotland Yard and acknowledged himself to be the writer of the let ter. He had, he said, come to give information for the recovery of the relics, amprofessed to have Iv his possession th. watch and seal referred to. They were, he said, In his luggage at his rooms In Woolwich. But when Inspector Arrow visited and searched his rooms no trace o' the watch or seal could be found. In hi: statement to the police Carter endorsed al! the facts related iv the "Eucalyptus"' leter, and added "Besides what I have goc (the watch and seal) I have seen a meda! which was in the possession of the man from whom I took the watch and seal, and he said it was one of the Nelson relics. . .

I have also seen a snuff-box—a gold one— In the possession of a man at Melbourne who has befriended mc, and I won't give him away. . . He ls a receiver out there who keeps a tobacconist's shop as a blind. 1 refuse to say what his name is. The man that I took the watch and seal from told mc that he was one of a crowd that got some stuff away here, and that was his share. I met him in Flinders street, and I believe he left on the Borealis three days after I left, and that was February IH. I don't know his name. I won't describe him. I have seen nothing else except the watch and seal which I have, and the snuff-box and medal, which I believe are in Melbourne. ... I was staying in Woolwich about five years ago, but I have never been in Greenwich Hospital, and did not know the Nelson relics were stolen from there. I thought they were stolen from the British Museum."

Inspector Arrow being unable to persuade C&iter to show him the watch and seal except under a promise not to prosecute, which the inspector could not give, arrested the fellow and charged him with theft. Carter protested that he could prove an alibi, and that he hid left England In 1899 for Australia and had not been la this country till he landed on Monday week last.

The police, however, fancy they can prove that Carter ls a person whose real name la McCarthy, who has "antecedents" which have caused a record of his fingerprints to be kept at Scotland Yard, and who wns certainly ln London at the time of the robbery and soon afterwards. To enable them to substa/ntlate their allegations Carter is now oaj remand In custody.