NELSON’S STOLEN RELICS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 60

NELSON’S STOLEN RELICS

“Trafalgar is avenged. We return after six months to take the French flag which you insult.” A scrap of paper on which words to this effect were scrawled was all, says -the '‘Daily Mail” of December 5 that Attendant Spinks found on Sunday afternoon in the Show case- at Greenwich Museum where Nelson’s sword had been exhibited for nearly a. century; and this scrawl was practically the only clue to the motive for the daring robbery of N< Ison’s relics which the “Daily Telegraph” announced yesterday. The actual memorials- of England’s naval hero stolen by the thief included two gold and jewelled sword hilts, one taken from the dress sword which was placed on the admiral’s coffin at the lying in state, the other sword hilt being; that presented to Nelson by the captains of the fleet present at the battle of the Nile. Nelson’s gold watch was also missing, with two gold lace epaulettes and a couple of medals, one of them being the medal struck in commemoration of Trafalgar. „ The ma-urader-, however, lert the gold box containing Neelson’s freedom by the City of London and his priceless coat and waistcoat in which he received his death wound at Trafalgar. The story of the discovery of the robbery is somewhat remarkable. A broken show case in the south-east corner of the painted room attracted the attendants notice as he made his preliminary rounds prior to opening the doors to the public. It was in this case that the missing relics reposed. INTRINSICALLY NOT WORTH £2O. Intrinsically these meemorials of the great admiral would not be worth more than £2O, but- as historical mementoes they were precious beyond compute. When Attendant Spinks discovered the broken show case on Sunday, afternoon he at once hastened to Admiral Montgomery to make known the semi-sacrile-gious outrage. The admiral imniediately ordered the Museum to be closed to the public for the day, and forthwith telephoned to Scotland Yard for assistance in finding the criminal. Of traces the burglar had left but few. An open window in the cloak room adjoining the Fainted Room showed ac least how the burglar had escaped. But how he had entered was a mystery. The only suggestion which finds favour with officials connected with the Museum, is that the thieves secreted themselves'behind a pillar in the Museum when the attendant made his usual rounds on Saturday before locking up, and that between closing time on Saturday and opening time on Sunday they secured the loot and made their escape through the window. The value of the booty from the melting pot stand is inconsiderable. The two sword hilts, four medals, and two epaulettes might aggregate in all £2O, it reduced to the melting pot. But even that is problematic. As a theft of old gold and silver the robbery was senseless in the extreme and equally hazardous. NOT AN ORDINARY LARCENY. But the memorandum left behind by the thieves lifts the theft from the realm of ordinary larceny, and places it in the category of quasi-political crimes immortalised by Dumas in his story of ‘‘The Queen’s Necklace.” To sell the booty to a “receiver” in England would not pay for the afternoon’s adventure, but as a prize to a French collector its worth, would be augmented a hundredfold. As usual, when Scotland Yard is invoked after the fact, the doors of the Museum were, hermetically closed yesterday, and-a swarm of detectives, headed by Inspector Gommer, of Yarmouth Beach mystery fame, took possession of the interior of. the Museum looking tor clues.

Admiral Montgomery was silent as the grave, and his example affected Captain May and Commander Nichois. Not a -word for publication would any of these officials utter.

The police were equally uncommunicative' when questioned by a “Daily Mail” representative yesterday. . “The reason the police won’t tell you

•nything,” said a civilian who had list- * enodto the unsuccessful "attempt of the • ‘‘Daily Mail’'* representative to got mformation , Vis. that they don’t expect to get bank anything in the ordinary way. That is to say, none of the plunder will find its way to the melting-pot—where gold' and silver' usually land. '‘This robbery is not an ordinary one. . Mark my words, if you ever see the hilt of Nelson’s sword again, or his medals and epaulettes, you will see them in a French museum. „