STOLEN IDOL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 759, 4 September 1929, Page 15

STOLEN IDOL

THIEVES PREFER BUDDHA TO SILVER MANSION MYSTERY A gilded Burmese idol is the centre of one of the strangest burglaries of recent times, says the London “Daily Chronicle.” It was stolen from Coldbrook Park, Abergavenny, the residence of Lady Herbert, bythieves who left untouched hundreds of pounds worth of silver plate. Lady Herbert was locked in her bedroom by the thieves, and none of the large staff of servants heard a sound. The idol is a figure of Buddlia in the act of consecration and stands about two feet' high. It is of black wood, gilded, and stood on a gilt pedestal in the entrance hall of Coldbrook Park. The pedestal was left behind by the thieves. Lady Herbert told a special correspondent that the idol was brought from Burma by her husband, the late Sir Arthur James Herbert, the diplomat, before their marriage. “Sir Arthur obtained it while lie was travelling in the East,” she said. The thieves got into the house on Thursday night, by forcing a hall window. They left behind them a litter of cigarette ends, all over the floor of the front hall, the stairs and sitting-room. Silver worth hundreds of pounds was left untouched, nor did the thieve§ help themselves to the decanters of wine standing on the side- ! board. ! Apart from beavv articles of furnij ture, the idol would be one of the j most awkward tilings in the house to j carry away, yet nothing else wars itouched. i The household at Coldbrook Park ! consists of Lady Herbert, the butler, ! Mr. Serrie, a footman, a boy ancl six maids. Mr. Serrie told the correspondent that Lady Herbert went to her room at about 10 o’clock, intending to go out early next morning riding on horseback. “When I came clown about 6.45,” said the butler, “I and some of the maids noticed that two windows which give access to the entrance hall were open. They hacl been forced. “Then I heard Lady Herbert’s bell ringing, and going upstairs found that she had been locked in her room. “The silver and plate were intact,” Mr. Serrie added. “Hundreds of pounds worth of valuables had been untouched and the thieves had not even sampled the port and other wines on the sideboard. But the idol was gone. “The police found a new screw- ! driver and a chisel on the lawn not I many yards from the house, rnd a I further search resulted in the discov- ! ery of a man’s pair of white cotton ■ gloves on the grass close to a shrubi bery. ! “A large house dog is generally | kept at night in Lady Herbert’s dressj ing-room, but on Thursday night the | dog was not put in his usual place. I Not one of the staff heard a sound ” | The Chief Constable of Monmouthshire, Mr. Victor Bosanquet, and local detectives are following up a line of inquiry. At present the house is being redecorated by a London firm, i Sir Arthur James Herbert was an | Oriental scholar and linguist, speaking Russian, Persian and five otner j languages. He was one of the misi sion which in ISS4-5 under Sir Peter i Lumsden was engaged on the dej marcation of -Afghanistan. He had j travelled much in the East. In 1905 ! lie was Minister at Oslo. | Lady Herbert, who is an American, - has also travelled extensively in the I East, and was in India a year ago.