Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

12 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

llktajpoliian gossip.

A MONSTER IN A HUMAN FORM!

THE COMMISSARIAT OF THE HOUSE…

AN INVOLUNTARY PROSELYTE.

A SAD OCCURRENCE.

THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN.

THE SHEFFIELD TRADES' UNION…

! THE LATE ATTEMPT ON THE…

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A NEGRO PREACHER DESCRIBEDI

A SKILFUL THIEF! •

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

A SKILFUL THIEF! • The Melbourne correspondent of The Times gives the following particulars of a remarkable robbery recently com- mitted by a clerk in the Oriental Bank A person named John Dixon, lately a clerk in the Oriental Bank, has just been tried and convicted on a charge of stealing 1,416 bills of exchange (representing about 2300,000) from the bank, under circumstances which ought to receive the serious attention of all per- sons interested either in banking or in mercantile busi- ness in these colonies. The stolen bills had been kept in a tin box, fastened by a Chubb lock, and the box itself was kept in a strong room protected by an iron- barred door within another door, also carefully locked. Triplicate keys, according to the evidence at the trial, were kept by three several superior officers of the bank. I It would make a long story to show by what artifices the prisoner contrived to get access to the box, but he did get about four minutes' access to it, and it is supposed that he, during this short time, succeeded in getting an impression of the lock, and so providing himself afterwards with a false key. A thou- sand pounds reward was offered by the manager for any information which would lead to the re- covery of the bills, and, as he soon arrived at the conclusion that they must have been abstracted by i some one in the bank, he, acting under legal advice, "caused it to be understood among the clerks of the establishment that provided these bills were returned intact, and that there were no forgeries to conceal, and provided that a confession were made, he would not take any steps against the person who had committed this act." In consequence of this intimation the pri- soner avowed himself the taker of the bills, gave in- formation as to where they were hidden, and after many days of extreme anxiety to all the innocent officers of the bank the bills were thus recovered. A further rather important discovery was, however, very soon afterwards made—viz., that the prisoner had pre- viously to the abstraction of the bills robbed the bank on different occasions to the extent of 118151., having falsified the books to prevent detection. Apprehend- ing, however, "that at the end of the month" (this is prisoner's statement to the manager) "these falsifi- cations would be discovered, and that having to face them, he had determined on getting the* upper hand of the manager, and had formed this idea of taking the bills." The accountant in the course of his evidence deposed as follows To the best of my recollection the statement he (prisoner) made was that he had a key made to the box, and that he opened it, and abstracted the bills, in the absence of the manager. He also stated that he took the bills out of the box in the afternoon and hid them, and that he came back in the evening when I was at work, and took them away, carry- ing one parcel to a friend at Richmond, and the other to his own house. I heard the prisoner state also that he had made irregular entries, and that on one occasion he had stolen 6001- without any entry being made in the books at all, the total amount being something like 1,8002. He said he took the bills in order to protect himself, or some expression like that. It is thus seen how larceny or the bills, added to embezzlement of the bank's moneys, was resorted to in the hope of escaping the meshes of the law. Great efforts were made to exclude the prisoner's confessions, on the ground of the manager having said he would not prosecute; but the Chief Justice overruled the objection, on the obvious ground that public justice cannot be ousted by any such private arrangements. In point of fact, the manager kept his word and did not prosecute, but the Crown proceeded of its own motion. Strange to say, Sir William Stawell sen- M tenced this cool artist in crime to only 18 months' imprisonment, for about the most aggravated and selfish robbery of its kind ever brought before our Court.

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