THE GREAT BOND ROBBERY IN THE CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9184, 13 October 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE GREAT BOND ROBBERY IN THE CITY.

CAPTURE OF TUB THIEF: RECOVERY OF THE BONDS. The police have at last succeeded in recovering the whole of the .CIO,OOO in bonds which were stolen in the city on the '-'Bth of October, and in capturing a man who has confessed the thelD. The mysterious manner in which the robbery was affected in broad daylight excited at the time much speculation us to the veracity of the .statement, made from the lad from whom the bonds were .stolen. This youth, James Watson, employed by Messrs. Wilson and Sons, stock and sharedealers, of Cornhill, was entrusted with a black basr containing Uruguay and Ohio and Mississippi bonds, valued ab £10,SOI), and when leaving the premises of Messrs. George Gawston and Co., stockjobbers, in llatton Court, Thread-needle-street, about noon, lie was, lie said, attacked by a man about forty years of age, on the stairs, who stolo the bag and attempted to cut his throat. The detectives traced the stolen bonds to a money-changer's in the Strand, but there the clue ended. A reward of £1000 was offered for the recovery of the bonds by Messrs. M. Abrahams, Sons, and Co., solicitors to Messrs. Wilson and Sons. i HOW THE AHRKST WAS EFFECTED. On August IS the secretary of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company cabled to Messrs. Abrahams the fact that some of the bonds had been presented for transfer. The bonds hud been offered by a first-class New York broker, who stated that he had received them from a gentleman who had a " desk" in his olnce. This gentleman, on being questioned, said he had them from one " F. %1. R. Castey, caro of M'George, Winchester House, Old Broad-street, London." Following up the clue, DotcctiveSergeant Taylor, of tho city police, set watch upon Winchester House during the remainder of Saturday, but without the desired result. Meanwhile, Messrs. Abrahams, Sons, and Co. had telegraphed for further particulars, and for an injunction to restrain dealing in tho bonds. Early on Monday morning Sergeant Taylor, with his subordinates, resumed the watch at Winchester House just at the time when the postman was delivering a letter to Casey bearing tho stamp of tho abovementioned linn of brokers in America. Subsequently Casey loft Mr. M'Georgo's office, where lie was in the habit of receiving his letters. Detective-Sergeant Taylor and Detective Roper followed him until twelve o'clock. They were in the vicinity of Moorgate-street, when Taylor stopped him and asked for particulars of the Ohio and Mississippi bonds. Ca«ey denied any knowledge or these or any other stock. Taylor requested Casey to accompany him and Detective Roper to Messrs. Michael Abrahams' offices ill Old Jewry, where Mr. H. G. Abrahams required from Casey an explanation as to how the stolen bonds had come into his possession. He stoutly denied any knowledge of the bonds or of the robbery. Mr. H. G. Abrahams ordered Detective-Sergeant Taylor to put tho man under arrest. a Ftrrx CONFESSION. Accused turned deadly pale, and voluntarily made a full confession, which was takers down in writing. It was to the following effect : —" I, and I alone, was the perpetrator of the robbery." He went on I to state that lie had some time since been speculating with .John Abbott, an outside broker, and that through these speculations he had been ruined. "I was," he continued, "driven to starvation, and became a desperate man. I happened to be in Hatton Court on the mourning of the 2Sth October last, when I saw a boy with a black bag containing the bonds corning down the steps of Mr. Cawston's ofiice. I snatched it from him and bolted. I immediately tried to change the coupons to cash at a money-changer's in the Strand, and then returned, to my lodgings in West-moreland-street, Bayswater. The bonds i remained there until April last, when J. j gave the Ohio and Mississippi bonds to a ' New York broker as cover lor transactions j I was to have with him. Tho Uruguay I bonds (£7000) remain at the present time {in my drawer. I threw the black bag into i the Thames from tho Embankment, as { Messrs. Wilson's name was upon it." Casey denied that he attempted to take the boy's life. He was thereupon taken to the Bishopsgate Police Station, and charged with robbery with violence. The prisoner, who spoke with a strong American accent, said that lie was forty-eight years of age, and that he was an Englishman born in Essex. He did not make any reply when the charge was read over to him. Detec-tive-Sergeant Taylor then went to Casey's lodgings, and there found the Uruguay bonds intact. Casey was brought before the presiding magistrate at the Guildhall Police Court. Messrs. Michael Abrahams, j Sons, and Co. received from their New ' York agents a message stating that all the remaining bonds had been handed o l vcr to them on behalf of Messrs. Wilson and Sons. Thus the whole of the stolen property, ini eluding coupons, has been recovered.