Show STRONG BOX IS ROBBED Five Thousand Sovereigns Stolen From Steamer Alameda 4 THEFT A MYSTERIOUS ONE + PART OF A CARGO OF GOLD BROUGHT FROM AUSTRALIA i 4 I Upon Arrival of Ship at San Fran cisco 825000 Was Missing Seal of the Room In Which the Money Was Stored Was Unbroken Unbrok-en Arrests Are Made San Francisco Cal June 2There was great excitement on board the steamer Alameda upon her arrival from Australia today when I was discovered discov-ered that a box containing 5000 sovereigns sover-eigns was missing Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gold had been sent hither from Sydney The money was shipped in thirty steel boxes each containing 25000 in British gold One of these boxes was abstracted from the steamers treasure room during the voyage The theft is apparently shrouded In deepest mystery To thoroughly understand under-stand the peculiar deftness of the crime it is necessary t explain that large sums of money frequently exceeding a million in amount come mom Australia Aus-tralia by even steamer These consignments con-signments of gold represent the balance bal-ance of trade in favor of the United States Thus England owes the United States for grain and oil and Australia is Englands debtor for all kinds of merchandise It is more convenient and less expensive to send money from than from Aus Australia to America Aus I tralia to England and from London to New York Therefore part at least of the demahds of the United States I upon Great Britain are paid directly by the colonies of the latter country HOW THE GOLD WAS STORED So common a feature of the cargoes of the Australian steamers arc these shipments of gold that each vessel belonging be-longing to the Oceanic Steamship company com-pany has a special steel tank constructed con-structed for the safe carriage of the treasure On the Alameda this vault as it may be called is formed of steel plates each fivesixteenths of an Inch thick I is located under the steerage dining room and the only mode of entering en-tering it is through a small trap door secured with an iron bar and a Yale lock The lock was sealed with the stamp I of the steamship company after the boxes of sovereigns had been counted I and receipted for by the purser ana the key of the lock placed in the safe in the pursers room The purser declares de-clares that the key to the lock has never been taken from the safe from the departure of the steamer from Sydney Syd-ney until the arrival here The seal over the lock was unbroken and yet the consignment was short 5000 sovereigns sover-eigns No one questions that twenty boxes were placed in the steel tank at the beginning of the voyage and yet but nineteen boxes were In the tank when the steamer arrived Seach For Stolen Treasure When the loss was reported to the captain he took extraordinary pains to locate the stolen treasure ayd discover the thief A thorough search was made of the ship and every passenger as well as all of the crew was obliged to undergo under-go an ordeal of rigid examination None of the officers will discuss the matter their mouths having been peremptorily sealed but none will claim that the missinir treasure was found I The mysterious character of the theft the deftness with which it was accomplished accom-plished and the cleverness with which it was concealed has puzzled officials and detectives alike The generally accepted ac-cepted theory is that a number were implicated in the theft and that when the box of sovereigns was secured it was opened and the gold divided among the robbers and concealed until they could safely remove i for their own uses The police have arrested two men who came UP on the steamer on suspicIon sus-picion As yet however no charge has been placed against them and the authorities au-thorities for the present refuse to disclose dis-close their names Theory of Police The suspects gave their names as Wll lard < Green and John H Porter and tho former was on the passenger list as Wll lard Reed The ollicials scout the idea that Purser Smith is in any way Implicated cated in the theft He has grown gray in the service of the company and he is declared to be absolutely above susoi cion In the muter The latest theory of the police Is that tit mIssing box was never in the steel tank The boxes are heavy each welsh log about ninety pounds and as they were brought on board they were checked by the purser and chief officer and carried car-ried to the strong room by two porters I is now believed that a game of lllm liam was played at this stage and the box Instead of being placed in its proper receptacle was opened and the money either taken on shore before the steamer sailed from Sydney or else divided among the confederates who were among the passengers Nothing is known about Reed alias Green and Porter but the police believe them to be confidence men connected with tho theft In some as yet unexplained I unex-plained way r |