STORY OF A GREAT DIAMAND ROBBERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 79

STORY OF A GREA T DIAMAND ROBBERY.

The celebrated diamond mail robbery took place in South Africa in 1880. The organiser of the coup — for between £163,000 and £165*000 worth of stones was stolen — was one Harry Raymond, who was known a« the Napoleon of the crimjjuti world. In 1877 when, the Kimbfr*

ley diamond fields xtmx revealing theif richness in the matter of remarkably fin«, stones, Raymond paid a visit to South: AffeLca^&normade the journeys from Cape* towii to Kiwßerley by coach. He noticed that once during every month there was •& lajgp consignment^ofc- diamonds from the mi£& to England by registered parcel, ar^* to possess iimaelT of orfs P parcels w&re made up and placed m phe ordinary mail bags, and sent to Gapt- - town by the mail coach. Before' I decf3isi upon his modus operandi, Baymond -toft several journeys otf the coach, and finaHy a casual remark of the- driver 'seE this clever .criminal's mind at work, and his plan was concocted in lees than five minutes. When within 100 miles of Kimberley the coach crossed a small stream* and as the horses splashed through the i water the driver said, "I shall not be able to go through the water so easily in a month or so." "Why?" asked Raymond 1 . "Because," replied the- driver, "when th# rainy season sets in we haye 1 to take a big i wooden ferry to take us over. The stream swells so that it is 50ft wide." "What' would happn if you did not get over?"asked Raymond in a casual sort of way.. | "Why, we should lose the .steamer,* and the bags would hay© >to be .put in the Post Office until the next steamer sailed," was the reply of the driver. ! In the next five minutes the plan was i completed whereby the diamonds would I be transferred from their lawful owners to [ the possession of Raymond. Raymond then went to England, and determined to 6pend a few thousand pounds perfecting his plan?. He went to America for five "crooks," and* he -explained the method he intended « to adopt. He promised if they helped him to give them fIIOOO each for their work, and to pay all their expenses. One man took a farm a short distance from the river, while another was sent to Cape- • town with instructions to cultivate the post office officials' acquaintance and Ut get wax impressions of the keys of the safes. Another man went to Capetown and set up a livery stable ; the fourth > man being placed in a private, house not far from the Post, OfiiC©. Twelve months were spent in arranging the details, and when all was .ready Kaymond waiteii guietly^ until there was a very big con- [ signWht of diamonds from Kimberleyy | and then he set" to work. Upon the arrival of the mail coach at the river the driver, to- his "horror, discovered that the I wooden ferry had by some means got ■ adrift ftad bad .been swept a couple of miles away. This necessitated an extensive detour of about 50 miles, and all pos.fiible^cbaqce of catching the steamer was* I lost, which was, of course, the reason for the young farmer cutting adrift the ferry. When the -coach arrived at Capetown the steamer . had sailed, and the bags werei therefore, placed in the Post Office safes: At 2 o'clock the next morning the keys 'made from the wax impressions opened the doors of the Post Office and the safes^ whereupon 12 of the bags were transferred into the cart which the livery stable pro? . prietor had already, stationed outside. The jl were taken to the private house and buriej in 'the garden, where they remained forsix months. Raymond kept his work with' the "crooks," and they were paid £1000 each, and went back to America.' '5m "Napoleon" opened an office in Cape* town as a diamond merchant, and when the coast was clear he came /to- England! and established himself as' a diamond merchant in Hatton Garden. Here he sold the stones, netting something approaching .£163,000,