WEST END JEWEL ROBBERT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

WEST END JEWEL ROBBERT.

THIEVES RAID THE HOUSE OF LADY

HERBERT.

The latest victim of jewel thieves is Lady Herbert of Lea, the thieves having made a successful,raid upon her town residence iu> Belgrade Square. Although the intrinsic value of the property stolen, of which a list has been circulated to the police centres, at Home and abroad, is not rotten more than £1000, many of .the missing articles are heirlooms, while others are greatly valued as being.the gifts of very -placed persons at the various Courts of Europe. It is stated that the. family were away from town, but everything, of value not likely to be .required was left at the family' mansion, Herbert House, which, although not numbered in Belgrave Square, adjoins the grounds of No. 24. On August 29, when the "few -servants in the house went about their duties in the morning, they saw nothing unusual. But a little later in the day it was discovered that the drawing-room had been entered. Among other things overhauled by the intruders war a cabinet, which had been eithei forced ox opened by, skeleton keys. This contained a jewel-case in which were kept trinkets of sentimental rather than intrinsic worth, and the whole of these were stolen,,

Among the articles abstracted' were the following:— tortoiseshell box containing a war medal, presented to Lady Herbert by the late Tsar; two Queen Victoria Coronation medals; a reliquary taken from an Abyssinian chief; a coolie bracelet from Central Africa; a copy of a Moscow peasant's jug in Siberian gold; a pair of earrings of Abyssinian gold ; two scent bottles jewelled with diamonds and rubies, presented by a Russian celebrity; two snuffboxes. Exactly what else the cabinet contained is not known. , Standing in the room was a gold statue of Bacchus, ..resting .upon a marble pedestal. This has , disappeared. The burglars also laid hands on a very olid ' Russian lamp, made of Siberian gold. Evidently, however, they found it too bulky to carry away, for it was discovered thrown down in the front garden.

Certain facts induce the belief that the robbery was executed in the very early hours of the morning, and that the thief or thieves were«not members of the professional criminal, class. In the immediate vicinity of the stolen property there was a huge quantity of valuable silver goods, besides a number of gold articles of considerable value. These were all left untouched-. The house was in the hands of decorators, and here and! there, conveniently available, was a quantity of scaffolding. Entry had been mad© from the side overlooking the grounds of Dowmhire House, which is the great pile of buildings lying in the corner of Belgrave Square. In that side of Herbert House a small lavatory window was found open, and .there were many signs that it was through this the thieves entered. Apparently, they had approached it by way of the Devonshire House grounds and walls, upon which the police profess to have discovered marks and scratches made by nailed boots. There is a conflict of,' testimony about the window. The servants have been examined, and feel quite sure it was closed and secured on Sunday night. The police, on the other hand, express conviction that no force was used to open it, and that it must have been left unfastened, even if it were closed. ~,;-;

Lady Herbert is the daughter of General A'Court, and niece of Lord' Heytesbury. She married in 1846 the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and. is the mother of the 13th and 14th Earls of Pembroke. •■