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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
188
Cape
Diamond
Robbery.
The
greater
portion
of
the
diamonds
found
in
Griqualand
West,
in
South
Africa,
are
sent
weekly
to
England
through
the
Post-office,
made
up
in
packets,
which
are
forwarded
as
registered
letters--the
value
of
these
remittances
being
collectively
from
L60,000
to
L100,000.
In
April
1880,
the
sailing
of
the
mail-steamer
from
Cape
Town
having
been
delayed
until
the
day
after
the
arrival
of
the
up-country
mails,
the
bag
containing
the
registered
correspondence
was
left
in
the
registered-letter
office
of
the
Cape
Town
Post-office;
not,
however,
locked
up
in
the
safe,
where
it
ought
to
have
been,
but
carelessly
left
underneath
one
of
the
tables.
During
the
night
the
office
was
broken
into,
and
the
whole
of
the
diamonds
stolen,
valued
at
L60,000.
Who
the
robbers
were
appears
never
to
have
been
discovered,
and
they
have
doubtless
since
been
in
the
enjoyment
of
the
fruits
of
their
villainous
enterprise.
As
it
is
the
practice
of
people
in
the
diamond
trade
to
insure
packets
of
diamonds
sent
by
them,
the
senders
did
not
suffer
anything
beyond
inconvenience
by
this
robbery;
but
the
insurance
companies
were
involved
in
the
loss,
and
had
to
pay
claims
amounting
to
L60,000.
The
following
is
an
account
of
a
robbery
attempted
upon
a
postman
in
London
in
July
1847,
as
officially
reported
at
the
time:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
