HIDING THEIR TREASURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 274, 17 November 1914, Page 4

HIDING THEIR TREASURE.

•Lord Rothschild’s house at Tring has become a veritable storeroom of jewels sent over to him not merely by French and Belgians, but by. some Germans, writes a London correspondent. A German baroness, a cousin of the Krupps, sent off her jewels to the grtuit financier the day before war was declared on Germany by England. These were in three oases and were despatched in charge of one of the special messengers attached, to the English court who undertook j to 'deliver them to Lord Rothschild. I The messenger on his return to Eng-, land was stopped near the Belgian j frontier and compelled to give upi

tho cases } which wort* taki'n from him by a Gorman .officer. Luckily' for the messenger the officer was a relative of the baroness, and after, having been detained for twenty-four hours the cases were restored to him 1 and he got safely away with the j treasure that had been committed to his care. But some others who endeavored to get their jewels to 'Eng- 1 land were less fortunate. A case of j jewels belonging to a French lady; living in Germany which was dc-| spatched to Sir Philip Sassoon through] a relative of Sir Philip’s returning I to England, was taken from him near] Liege. The box was opened, and| at once commandeered by the officer in charge of the soldiers at the station. He told Sir Philip’s relation that when the war was over lie might come “to claim tho pretty trinkets.” To have made any fuss about tho matter would have cost the bearer of the jewels his life, and he continued his journey without them. Lord Rothschild informed the Government in every case when he had taken charge of any property for a German, hut there is undoubtedly a good deal of German property that has been consigned to the care of wealthy Germans in England who are under suspicion of being spies, and it is probable that ere long some of it mav lie confiscated.