GOLD STEALER BEAT POLICE BY MEANS OF VERY CLEVER TRICK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18940, 10 December 1929, Page 9

GOLD STEALER BEAT POLICE BY MEANS OF VERY CLEVER TRICK.

PASSES OFF PRECIOUS METAL AS IF BRASS. (Special to the “Star.”) PERTH, December 2. Gold worth £11,260 has been smuggled out of West Australia by one of the cleverest tricks ever pulled off by a gold stealer. Though it happened some little time ago, it is only now that the whole story has come to light. The man who worked the joke was a prominent goldfields identity, who has been closely watched for a long time by officers of the gold-stealing detection staff.

Though they had their own ideas about him, they had never been rble to catch l?jm.

There was relief when he announced he was going with his wife on a trip to England, ostensibly to place on the English market a new engine for which many radical improvements were claimed.

A patent was taken out, and a sample engine made in his own workshop. It was prepared for transport overseas.

Still Careful. Though they were glad to see the last of him, the gold-stealing detection staff would not take any risks, and travellers’ luggage was closely scrutinised.

Everything seemed to be in order There wasn’t a trace of gold. But the sample engine was not as innocent as it looked, for the “brass” bearings and linings of cylinders were composed of gold amalgam, the total on the machine comprising not less than 2500 ounces of pure gold, valued at £11,250.