FAMOUS BANK ROBBERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 56

FAMOUS BANK ROBBERIES.

The recent theft of some £60,000 worth of notes from Messrs Parr's bank and the mysterious return by post of £40,000 have boon pretty generally spoken of as establishing a record in this particluar branch of crime. And so undoubtedly it does, if bank robberies pure and simple are alone taken into consideration. Nevertheless, many banks have ere now lost far larger sums through the dishonesty of trusted employees, or by the machinations of expert forgers. In April, 1860, for instance, no less a .sum than £263,000 was tolen from the Union Bank of London by one of the cashiers, a man named Pullinger ; while scarcely 10 months later, John Durden, a clerk in the Commercial Bank of London, robbed his employers of £67,000. ]n 182-,, again, Henry Fauntlcroy, by means jf one of the cleverest and most I elaborate f raja da recorded ia cjininul an-

nals, swindled the Bank of England ous of the colossal sum of .£360,000. He yrak tried, found guilty, and hanged ; his fate" being especially held in remembrance owing to the fact that he was the last man in England executed for forgery. . One of the smartest note-thefts of Wflt* dern times was effected by two American* experts on February ■ 16, 1891, ' when «! young "walk clerk," named Mackenzie^ was robbed of a wallet containing £11,0001 Mackenzie, who was in the employ of the Lothbury branch of the Bank of Scotland, had visited a number of establishment* and collected the sum named, with whicn he proceeded to the Bank of England: Inside the building he was accosted by a well-dressed stranger.

"Can you tell me," queried this latter individual, " whereabouts the Union Bank is situated?"

"With pleasure," replied Mackenzie, politely, and proceeded to do so. While thus engaged his precious wallet disappeared. A very similar robbery- was, it will be remembered, perpetrated at the Bank of England a few months ago; only in. this case it was a bag containing a thousand sovereigns which was whisked a.way. The cashier was handing three bags to Messrs CouttVs representative, when one mysteriously vanished ; nor has any trace been; found of ifc from -that 'day to- this. - ,

The Sunderland bank robbery, of MarcH 4, 1897, was one of the most skilfully plotted and carefully engineered crimes of this century. The members of the gang, who hailed from London, took up their abodes at Sunderland some months prior to the day chosen for the coup. They put up at expensive hotels, frequented "swagger" bars, and laid themselves oufc to ingratiate themselves with all and sundry.

Among their friends and acquaintances they soon numbered the son of the manager of the North Eastern Bank. With him a confederate one day played billiards. A. huge fire had been built in the room. The young man removed his coat, and another confederate took advantage of this .to abstract from the pocket the keys of the bank. Five minutes later they were replaced, but meanwhile an impression had been taken in wax.

So far, so good. They could enter tho bank-v-midiDg at any time. But they wanted to get at the" safe. So yet a third confederate persuaded the chief cashier to ' join him " in a Turkish bath, and impression of the keys was taken in a similar manner while their owner was sweltering in the hot room. After all this'ib seems almost an anti-climax to find that the rogues got away with no more" than a paltry £6000. Of this sum, however, £3554 was in gold ; . and the members of the gang had a "high old time" before they were eventually run to earth in a Soho gambling den.

The theft of £50,000 from Rogers's bank, in 1844, is chiefly remarkable for the mystery with which it was, and still is, enshrouded. The notes disappeared — that was certain. Some time afterwards they were returned, anonymously and in a manner which precluded all attempts to elucidate the truth. A. similar sbroud of se-, crecy, too, was thrown around the mysterious theft of bunk-note paper from the private mills of the Bank of The robbery took place in August, 1862 ; and very shortly afterwards forged notes began to » appear. Then they suddenly stopped. But ■whether the thief became frightened or whether *the bank, as was freely' asserted at the time, bought back its own paper cannot now be determined. * There W a curious sameness about the methods of a certain type of bank-robber. In the case mentioned above, young Mackenzie was thrown off his guard by a seemingly innocent question. The great robbery of notes at the Birkbeck Bank, in February, 1870, was effected in a similar manner. A " walk clerk " entered the establishment in question, with a large sum in notes in a wallet, the latter being secured by a chain about his person. "' Excuse me," remarked a well-groomed individual, r pointing .to what looked like a bank note lying . on the floor, " you've dropped something.". The bait took. . The clerk stooped 1 to recover his supposed lost treasure, and the stranger quietly annexed several thousand pounds from the momentarily unguarded bag. He was never caught.

This, for cool audacity, is almost on a par with that other case where, on February 3, 1893, a bag containing 700 sovereigns was niched from a bank porter. The latter was carrying the money from the cashier's department to a customer, who was waiting in a cab outside. On his way he encountered a "gentleman," who, with a suave " Thanks, awfully," quietly annexed the precious package. It was not until the customer, weary of waiting, came raging in to find out the reason of the delay that fhe robbery was discovered ; and by that time, of course, the perpetrators had got clean away. The theft, by means of a forged order, of Mrs Langtry's jewels from the. Union Bank of Sloane Street in August,- 1895, was another case that utterly baffled the police, although tluy new, it is asserted, have good reason to believe that the notorious " Harry the Valet " was the prime mover in the plot. The gems in question were worth £35,000, and the bank compromised the matter for £10,000. In conclusion it may be mentioned that; a good deal of apocryphal literature has been written round the fascinating subject of bank robberies. There never existed, for instance, a man who was able to split bank notes ; nor had that other equally ingenious individual who was supposed to have found his way, by means of a disused drain, to the bullion room of the Bank of England, and who was said to have been pensioned oft" by the directors, as a reward for his honesty in not revealing his secret, any existence ia real life.