WELLINGTON POST OFFICE ROBBERY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11841, 3 May 1909, Page 5

WELLINGTON POST OFFICE ROBBERY.

HOW IT WAS DONE.

At Wellington. last week James Hemmingway was remanded till Wednesday next on a charge 6f breaking into the Wellington General Post Office and stealing goods, money, and stamps, of the total value of over £100, besides a large number of cancelled bank notes. Wellington papers give an interesting account of the .affair. On Sunday* January 10, the Parcels Office staff left their work at about 5 p.m. ? and at that time everything was safe: and secut-e. At 7.50' o'clock next morning Cadet Andrews came down as usual for the purpose of opening up the office for the work of the 'day, and 'was surprised, as well he might be, to w 6nd the place full of smoke. The polico wero-at once communicated with, and an examination quickly disclosed to tho experienced eyes of the officers that the safe, had been blown open, apparently ay ith gelignite. Portions of the "high explosive, ' Ayhich is noAv the favored above all Others of the enterprising burglar, Avere found ou the floor, and there wero also 1 discovered a few bits of fuse. When the officer-in-charge of the force arrived, Avhich Avas within a vertf few minutes of the reception at headquarters of the telephone message* everything m the neighbourhood of the safe waß carefully examined. The force of the explosion may be imagined when it is stated that the cover of the keyhole of the safe had been blown tfff completely; it had passed through^-the Avindow, and was subsequently found m the street below the room. The safe was found to be standing open and its contents were ascertained to have been a number of registered parcels of jewellery valued at £39, four clerks' cash-boxes containing £31 m money, £60 worth of postage stamps, rfhos a registered parcel containing -cancelled Bank of , New Zealand . notes frbm the southern branches of the bank, wliich had been addressed to the head office m Wellington. There Avere m the parcel four hundred and six £1 notes, nfty^four £5 notes, and eight £10 notes. , -. '

These notes had been cancelled , by being punched through m, the centre Avith a hole about the size of a shilling and impressed m two places with a stamp bearing) the word, "cancelled" m large letters. But neither the punch-mark nor-, tho cancelling word were placed exactly m the same place m each note. Probably the cancellation was done much m the same way that the stamps on ordinary letters are effaced when passing through the post. .WHERE THE MYSTERY* COM-

MENCED. - Defective Broberg and Detective Williams were detailed to make enquiries into the matter. It was found that' the safe (Which was one of an up-to-date make, having been constructed by the famous Chubb Company) had not been blown open by the force of the explosion, .lhe charge had not been sufficiently powerful to effect that result. The officers at once proceeded to verify tlieir conclusions or otherwise by obtaining the services of Mr Elkins, an expert locksmith. He took out the lock, and after taking it to pieces found that the suspicions of the detectives were amply confirmed. IJe ; saw that when the explosion took place the lock was m an unlocked condition. In other words, the safe had been previously opened m the ordinary 1 manner with a key, and probably long before the explosion — if ,it could have been dignified by the use pf that term— occurred. In fact, the explosion was a mere "flash m tlie pan," and' was intended for a ruse, as it was quite unnecessary' to use gelignite or anything else to open an unlocked Bate. THINGS THAT DON'T LEAn. OUT.

This discovery was regarded by the police officers as of> such importance that nothing was said about it except to tho officers immediately engaged m the hunt for the criminahv. 'Dhey started out to unravel the mystery with renewed zest, for their clue seemed likely to lead them to an important discovery at any moment. < Early m the following month a Toav of the cancelled notes reached the head office of the Bank of New Zealand from the branch at Hawera, and a few days later some more came along from the Waitara branch. Investigations on this line . Avere persistently proceeded with, but on account of the notes having been most , cleverly— nay, artistically—"faked" it was 'impossible for anyone to determine how long they had been m circulation' or whence they ' had c6me to those branches. The detectives found, themseives badly foiled. ,'

, A MAN SUSPECTED. Recently ■'• Chief Detective Broberg arid' Detective., Williams ascertained that a man named James He'mmingway. who had been a. frequent visitor to the hbhw of one of the employees 'of the. Post Office, and who knew something, about the ."run" of the Parcels Post Office,^ had suddenly disappeared from Wellington; and just about the time -the crime was committed.' ' About the middle of March some more cancelled notes came to hand from the branch lat Feilding ; v but although a strict watch had been kept by the bank officials, no clue could be obtained as to r .who the person was who had put these -■ notes inte circulation."

To shorten the statement, HemmingAvay was subsequently tracked ? at Christchurch, where a large number of the failed notes had been put "on tho market,"the suspect's room was searched*:'and found to contain about, 100 of the cancelled notes,. also the apparatus for .patching up; the punch-holes. Hemmihgway decamped, but he was traced to ' Wellington, find was trapped by detectives as he was on the gangway leaving the s.s. Takapuna.