NEARLY A TON OF COLD VANISHES

Evening Star, Issue 17318, 5 April 1920, Page 2

NEARLY A TON OF COLD VANISHES

ALLEGED SALE OP THE* PRECIOUS METAL IN BARS. v That there was no trace of nearly a- ton £ of gold withdrawn from tlie Bank of Eng- ; t land in the form of sovereigns was the i t remarkable statement made by counsel in “ opening, on behalf of the Grown, the sensu- r tionai gold coinage case, before Sir John Dickinson, at Bow street, London. The de- v fendants were: r Harry Lewis, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, W. 0., } described as a barrister. . s George Stevens, gold miner, staying at the 1 Cosmo Hotel, Southampton row, W.C. Mrs May Stevens, his wife, also staying at 1 the hotel. s Solomon Shure, dealer, Hatton Garden, B.C. Joseph William Chamberlain, diamond t merchant, Brewster road, Leyton. j George Painter, horse-dealer, Balling road, c Hammersmith. Joseph Sykes, money lender, of Theobald’s ] road, W. 0., E who were charged with “ gets preparatory to < the commission ” of an offence against the c D.O.R.A. regulations forbidding the use of j gold coinage other than as currency. . , Sir Archibald Bodkin, prosecuting, declared j that something over £IIO,OOO in gold coins c had been withdrawn from the Bank of Eng- ; land by Jose ah Sykes—most of it since j October last*—and no trace in any ordinary , transaction by him or by any of defendants j bad been discovered of these coins, which had totally and completely disappeared. Sykes had a banking account at the Lon- ) don County and Midland Bank, Bedford row. The coins certainly had not gone 1 there. Al. the other defendants had bank- ’ ‘ mg accounts, ■ but none of the coins bad 1 gone there, and this enormous quantity of ; gold coins, weighing something over 18cwt, bad completely disappeared. It was also clear from the searches that were made when accused, were arrested that they did not retain any of the void coins in question; nor did any of them say one single word to suggest what had become of them, although there would b? evidence that each and all of accused had been dealing systematically in those coins. £>ir Archibald remarked that one of the features of the case was that all defendants, with the excep- , tion of Mrs Stevens, had had considerable dealings in bank-notes and currency notes. There would be evidence that Shure had sold very large QUANTITIES OF RAR GOLD to a well-known firm of assayers and bullion dealers in Hatton Garden. He believed he i was correct in saying that in the month I of December something like £9,400 worth j of bar gold was sold by Shure to that firm. ' The motive for the breach of the regulaI thins was clear, because gold as. a metal j now had a greater value than the currency I value of gold coins, containing gold and a ; portion of alloys. Our* gold coins, as to i ;heir composition, were regulated by Act of I Parliament, and contained a mixture of gold., j and other metals. The value of gold had I changed frem lime to time, according to ! circumstances, and to put quite a moderate | value upon it, a golden sovereign was now worth something like 265. There was, tlierej fore, a direct inducement to the dishonestlyminded to destroy gold coins and to sell 'the resulting gold in the form in which it j was usually dealt in—bar gold. “I am quite i justified on the facts,” added Sir Archibald, “ in describing, this case as one which shows clever, highly organised combination to contravene the regulations. The number of expedients resorted to from time to time concealed tie sources of the bank-notes, in exchange for which gold was obtained by Sykes from, the Sank of England and the changing from time to time of bank-notes 1 into ° currency notes, and currency notes | back into bank-notes, was an endeavor to I conceal the identity of those persons who were providing the notes which Sykes himself was passing.” In the autumn of last year systematic watch was resorted vo by 1 a mimbe" of persons. They kept observation 1 upon Sykes, Mrs Stevens, Stevens, and Lewis at first, and on others who were observed to be taking a prominent part in the matter —whose operations were discovered as the matter developed—but it. was . only in the autumn of last year that Sykee began to draw considerable sums from the bank, although it was a fact that as early as 1918 he was drawing insignificant sums ‘ |in gold from the bank. In the autumn ot ' 1919, almost day by day, with regularity ! and persistence, the amount be thus drew 1 had become very largo. So systematic ana regular was the process that it was quite t obvious he was carrying on a * REGULAR BUSINESS TN OBTAINING 5 GQLD 5 for disposing of it to those who ,wou’.d, in their turn, pass it on to those who ulti- * match- ’used it for this unlawful purpose. Sykes described himself as a woollen meri ! chant, of Theobald's road, and there lived 1 j with May Downs —who afterwards became Mrs Stevens—as bis housekeeper. In August , ! of last year the police discovered that May g ! Downe was in constant company with two 'l men, one being George Steven-, now hex and another named Miller. It was also discovered that Sykes had registered himself as a money lender, and prisoners e Stevens and Miller were in the habit of * frequenting the neighborhood of Theobald’s e road and accosting various men and acting e in a suspicious way. May Downe was seen e there at the same time. The actions of e Stevens and Miller were regarded by the police with so much suspicion that on August 26 they were arrested and charged with loitering as suspected persons. They were , defended by prisoner Lewis, who was a *■ barrister in Lincoln's Inn Fields. ‘ The Magistrate was, of opinion that the evidence was insufficient, and they were discharged On that occasion statements were obtained frcai May Downe, who explained that she j was housekeeper for Sykes, and manageress of s the money-lending business. She declared : 2 “I have from time to time handed to Stevens Bums of money amounting in seme instances k to £IOO in sovereigns which was in connection with Sykes’s money-lending business. When I handed him the gold be gave me t the equivalent in Bank of England notes or Treasury notes. I do not know what occue patiou Stevens follows. Ido cot know how ■- much gold I have handed to him. I have 0 never given gold to anyone else out Stevens. As far as I know Sykes used to charge ’ Stevens 12 per cent, for the gold I paid him. jj Sykes told me I was to charge 12 per cent.” In another statement she stated that all the S money she had dealt with was ia the shape of gold, with slight exceptions, and APPROXIMATELY THOUSANDS OF ;» POUNDS '' had been dealt with by her. Sykes was , seen in August of last year, and his atti* ■? tude was that there was nothing illegal ‘1 in what he was doing, that he was receivin' 121 per cent, on his transactions in gold B and ‘hut he proposed to continue to drav e gold, which he asserted he wanted for hii -v money-lending transactions. A close walcl 5) revealed the modus operand!. Every dai £ about 10 o’clock Sykes called at the Ban! of England with a bundle of notes, and ot 1 his demand they wore exchanged for gok ’’ made* up in bags. “He must be a pbysi ealiy strong man,” remarked counsel, ”be '* cause bags of £I,OOO or £1,500 in gold an H very heavy.” Sykes earned the gold to hi address in Theobald’s road, where he madi i- Sykes would emerge, and, carrying a hear* L brief bag, would go to the Cosmo Hotel Southampton row, and meet Mrs Steven; (■ outside. She would take hold of the ba' ' and go into the lounge, where she me L Stevens, and handed money over to him ‘ ■ Then Stevens would leave the hotel and gi to 29b Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a small tene rs msnt over a small curiosity shop. Whet r- Stevens left he came away lightly loaded Painter, who was a horse-dealer, would late: *3 call at the tenement, and leave with hi; e, pockets full of gold. On his way home U Hammersmith DETECTIVES HAD JOSTLED UP AGAINST HIM and felt the gold in his pockets. Cham terlain came on the scene by meetiu; Painter at Hammersmith and taking uin* heavy bags homo to his piace at. Leyton r > Sometimes the method would be changed ?J end Lewis came into the conspiracy wit! otiier persons accused, n- The case for the prosecution was tha 3U gold coin was melted down, and was soli in bars to Messrs Johnson and Matthey r0 assayers, of Hatton Garden, by Shure. St Archibald added that when accused wer rounded up, upon Lewis was found r ' in gold, on Chamberlain £1,300 . and n ‘ considerable amount in Treasury ami bar.lt Si notes, while most of the other defendant nd were iu possession of cuT-ain amounts a gold • and notes At Shore’s house a fo> in pieces of partially-melted gold were found 5 Detective-inspector Yefi - spoke to keepin observation on the movements of severe of defendants. Replying to Mr Davies (fo Sykes), he explained that he arrested tha m defendant on January 18., >r. Sykes: “t was my birthday, (Laughter.) as Mr Davies: What was his attitude? ve Witness: It was somewhat strange. Syke said he didn’t care for the Crown or any oRf else: thar if he wanted sovereigns hj “> was going to have them; and that he cou! ty do what he liked with his own. ’: Bykes (interrupting): Certainly, is, an- Davits: He was somewhat strange i his demeanor.

Witness: Tea; something like he fe now, Sykes- He is always strange. (Laughter.) Mr Davies t Was his attitude that’ of a man who desired to be perfectly frank He was frank. DetecETvednspecfcor Cooper declared that he was not aware that in May, 1919, when Sykes went to the ’Bank of England to try j to obtain gold for notes, he was subjected to a cross-examination by police officers. “In any case they were hot metropolitan police officers,” he added. Mr Davies: Do you know that he afterwards went to the police* station and complained, and that he was arrested, and that he was taken to. an asylum at Homgrlon and placed in a detention ward for lunatics?—l have heard so. And do you know that he was afterwards brought up and- charged at the Guildhall and dismissed —Yes. Sir A. Bodkin: There was no charge. Mr Davies; And do you know that, after that treatment, Sykes wrote to the late Sir EdwartL Holden, chairman of the London City and Midland Bank?—l don’t know. Do you know that Sir Edward Holden, Mr M'Kenna, Mr Armitage, and others hold a meeting of the directors of the London City and Midland Bank to inquire into the complaint that Sykes had been refused gold by the Bank of England in exchange for notes?— Witness replied that he did not know anything about such a thing.—Further questioned, Inspector Cooper stated that. Sykes had carried on business in Theobald’s road for many years. He had been a woollen manufacturer, Huddersfield, and belonged to. a weli-known Yorkshire family. Tlie jury at the Old Bailey convicted all the prisoners (except Mrs Stevens, who was acquitted), who were sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Later Stevens committed suicide in prison, and the wife, on learning of his death, expired from shook.