ROBBING A PANAMA BANK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 120, 6 May 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

ROBBING A PANAMA BANK.

THIEVES I’SE AN ELECTRICALLYLIGHTED TUNNEL.

The robbery of the Panama Banking Company’s bank recently was done through a tunnel cooled with eleci trie fans and lighted with electricity. The bank’s officers admit that the thieves got £4.000 in gold. ‘ The first information of the robbery came when the cashier of the bank attempted to open the vault of the institution at 8 o’clock on a Monday- morning. The massive bolts refused to work. After vainly trying for some time to effect an entrance, the cashier sent for an expert, and about noon the door was opened, whereupon it was discovered that the bolts had been wedged in from the inside. A holo was found in the floor and the money- was gone. The police wove called and a man was sent into the burrow to find out where it started. He came out in a l ouse two doors away, which had been rented for six months by- an American, G. O. M 'lliains, who was supposed to conduct there an establishment for making mosaics. The tunnel was discovered to be a fine piece of engineering. and was equipped with electric I:gilts and fans. BUY GUNS AND A LAUNCH. A hardware merchant a short distance from tho bank, when he heard of the robbery, informed the police that two Americans bad. shortlv after seven o’clock that morning, purchased rifles, revolvers, and 750 rounds of ammiini- ' !’.on._ It was al=n learned that they | had inst purchased the launch Chispa I for 3509 silver dollars, and bad denartJ e-[ for parts unknown, hut most probabj ly Columbia. ! YVi’liams was known to be a profes- | s’onal gambler, and the police at once ' threw out their dragnets. George West, an Englishman, and Victor Rcba-der. American . a!*o gambb r«, wore found missing, as was G. H. Moore, the J:.unch engineer. Tho Government immedia+elv despatched three arnr-d I'ninches. with 21 policemen, to capture the supposed desperadoes. SAYS THIEVES OVERLOOKED ; €20.040. : The bank manager made a statement ; that tho robbers Imd overlooked , £20.000 in Anrrican bill*. This statement has been looked upon rather sceptical!" bv npnr. who cannot so- ' how men who planned every step with

such well dimionstrated earc and deliberation could pass over so much easy money.

Williams, West, and .Schaefer (according to the “World”) have all been upon the isthmus five or six years, and are well-known gamblers. Williams is from Windsor-Salem, N.C., and went to Cuba in the Spanish War, where ho was later obliged to flee for having killed a nmn. **

Vest is a civil engineer, and lias held gooo positions in his day. He has been in tlie American Government service nt different times, anil claims that ho wim working onco in tho same office with Col. Goethals as a draughtsman in Cincinnati. PLANS OF MINE DRAWN. -< A months ago a Swiss came to colon._w!io sain he was a representative ot largo mining interests held bv American capitalists in Columbia. He and West put in several days making plans and blue prints, which thev allowed no one to see. West was'supposed to be engaged to do this, and the Jilans were given out to.be those used at the mines. Then the Swiss went back to Aen- York, and returned in a <ew weeks with a supply of chemicals end mining material. He remained at -1 anania three or four days only.