£80,000 MAIL BOBBERY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10963, 4 May 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

£80,000 MAIL BOBBERY.

THEFT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND PARIS. CLEVER ARREST. PARIS, March 21. The theft of £80,000 worth of securities from mails m transit between New York and Paris is announced to-duy. Oh January 17 3300 mail bags were despatched from New York by the liner La Savoie _ Havre. Out of these 3300 bags, 226 bags were addressed to the.Centrar Post Office at. Paris.. All of these arrived. The bags were received and .checked m; PariSi on January 25, and it was at once discovered that to the delivery sheet made up iri New York there should have beeri seven bags of registered packages, instead '„.o f -which only, sil could be "found, although the whole 226 bags mentioned 'on the waybill wero 'there. .. /. "■ - ■■■■■■-._• T. —•• The American Post Office wAs immediately informed of tlie ciixumstonces by cablegram, but. no reply .was received | until March 16. It was then found that the missing registered bag contained packages registered to the value -. of £80,0 CO. ... '...-: : - -.,- ■■■ Meanwhile the police have by a > Strange {•oincidence arrested-'a man who was cpn--I'oe.ned m the robbery, .though his arrest wife not made ori that charge. ; Towards the end of January two, detectives whose business it is to frequeiit cafes and' other public places observed that a weU-dressed.and._ftndsdme. i m«i.. was very frequently to >be Tseen m the company of doubtful characters, m wellknown cafes. J The detectives discovered that his name was Rounneau, and that he lived with his wife, iri the Rue Crespm, The most careful shadowing, however} failed to show-iioW he came by so much money, which he disb_r_ed«;Sn a most lavish manner, hiring motor-cars, buying expensive dre.ses for his wife^ and treat-; ing his" doubtful companions to champagne suppers. On March .J-he 16. last, accompanied by a frierid, . Rbune^u came Jqut of his house, and haying placed^fivvalise. m a. -cab, . drove off to the Xfere du^ord. As " ! he "alighted^ from a . c§ib . at the station he was arrested by three detectives who had followed him. f At' : headq.uarters M -lamard, Chicf f of "the Detective Department, ! had the . i man! .. parched, ai)d found on hiiri a leather pocket wallet containing ! £9,000 worth:^!, American railway shares.; :. ' 'TT •■."■' /// ■■'-,__\' ... An exchange of cablegrams With New York showed^beyond doubt that' the railway bonds found on Rounneati were m the stolen 'mail bag. This bag also contained a number; off- cheques- drawn- at three and six months' sight. . "T NEW YORK, March 21. „, The' New York postal! authorities are convinced that /thf sensational theft, of £80,000 worih of • 'securities 'from the French inaii . Steamer La Savoie is. the. work of someone intimately acquainted .with the Methods of hattdUrig the foreign A Wall street lawyer ; has informed sthe New York ppstfaster,. Mr .Wilson^ that -lurid deeds ' of enormous value, sent by lia Savoie have failed to reach tlieir destination. Similar complaint is made # by n .banking house m regard to securities of the value of £15,000 forwarded to its Paris branch. ,--, .-,■■ • ; ':;_, _/. _ .:- Mr Wilson declares that' the steamship company! is legally responsible for the safety of the mail till it is delivered to the French Post Office,: and consequently 'the company uiteV take restitution, if }t> is proved ,that MlrobberyS oc>uKed 4n transit. •■■■-'•' -• . '"■ - ; "^ -.-■ ' • • _■ ' -