Messengers of Evil Read online

  XI

  AN AUDACIOUS THEFT

  Two hours after Juve had dictated his article to Fandor, our journalistwas reading it, in proof, in the offices of _La Capitale_. His articleran thus:

  "By a fortunate coincidence we found ourselves, this very morning, inthe directorial office of the Barbey-Nanteuil bank, chatting withMonsieur Barbey himself, when Monsieur Nanteuil arrived, breathless, andannounced to his partner that a sensational robbery had just beencommitted in the rue du Quatre Septembre, a robbery involving a sum oftwenty millions representing a clearance recently effected by theFederated Republic.

  "It seems that at ten o'clock this morning, Monsieur Nanteuilaccompanied the little hand-cart used for transferring the bullion andpaper money to the station, from whence it was to be despatched.According to custom, six of the bank clerks and three plain clothes menwent with Monsieur Nanteuil. But, at the very moment when the hand-cartpassed out of the place de l'Opera and turned the corner of the rue duQuatre Septembre, that is to say, at the precise moment when it waspassing the palisade, surrounding the works on the Auteuil-OperaMetropolitan line, a formidable explosion was heard, and the hand-cart,as well as the men who were drawing it, and escorting it, includingMonsieur Nanteuil himself, disappeared in a deep excavation caused bythe explosion, whilst a water pipe which had burst at the same moment,poured out torrents of water, flooding the surrounding pavement androadway.

  "It was then about eleven o'clock in the morning, and the rue du QuatreSeptembre presented a very animated appearance. At the noise of theexplosion, the passers-by were glued to the spot, dazed, stupefied. Thenexclamations broke out on all sides.

  "'An accident?'

  "'A bomb?'

  "The explosion had created a veritable chasm. The first moment ofstupefaction past, policeman 326 quickly organised the rescuers, andsent notice to the nearest police station. Some minutes later, thefiremen arrived on the scene armed with ladders and ropes. Meanwhile,the crowd of curious onlookers was increasing with amazing rapidity.

  "Monsieur Nanteuil was the first to be drawn up from the pit; by amiracle he had escaped injury; unfortunately, the clerks of theBarbey-Nanteuil bank had not got off so well; bruises, contusions, casesof severe shock, more or less serious, had to be attended to byneighbouring chemists.

  "Monsieur Nanteuil, reassured as to the fate of his clerks, turned hisattention to the hand-cart and its millions of bullion, and the policein charge were given to understand that it must be drawn up withoutdelay.

  "Into the pit the firemen once more descended; at first they weresurprised not to find the hand-cart and its millions! No doubt, it hadbeen covered by the mass of fallen bricks and mortar! But fireman LeGoffic, who had advanced some yards along the railway line, caught sightof it. The cart was lying upside down; but, except for a few scratches,it was found to be unbroken.

  "It was immediately hauled up to the roadway. Monsieur Nanteuil at onceascertained that the seals were intact. He then gave orders that it wasto be taken back to the Barbey-Nanteuil bank without delay. As thetrain, which was to have borne away the bullion, had left the stationhours ago, Monsieur Nanteuil decided to break the seals, and place thebullion in one of the bank's safes for the night.

  "Monsieur Nanteuil's stupefaction can be imagined when, having unsealedand opened the hand-cart, he realised that the sacks of gold had beenreplaced by sacks of lead!

  "It was at this moment that Monsieur Barbey was informed of the fact byhis half-frantic partner. We were witnesses of this dramatic scene.

  "Every second was of value: instant action was the thing! Policeheadquarters was warned at once; and, but a few minutes had elapsed,when Monsieur Havard arrived in a taxicab to take charge of theinvestigations.

  "Thanks to the courtesy of Monsieur Havard, we were allowed to accompanyhim to the stone-yards of the Metropolitan: the police were convincedthat it was hereabouts that the robbery had been accomplished. Wereached the spot about an hour after the explosion. The firstinvestigations produced no result; but Monsieur Havard pursued hissolitary search up one of the sidings, and had his reward. Hisexclamation was heard, and we hastened to the spot.... He had just founda second hand-cart, in all points similar to that he had recentlyexamined in the courtyard of the Barbey-Nanteuil bank!

  "Monsieur Havard at once realised that he had before his eyes theoriginal hand-cart, and that the hand-cart he had seen in the bankcourtyard was a clever substitute! It need scarcely be said that thereis no trace of the stolen millions to be found in the originalhand-cart, cast away in a siding of the Metropolitan....

  "Our readers know something of the appearance presented by these lines,in course of construction on the Metropolitan railway. We haverepeatedly published in _La Capitale_ details regarding the way in whichthe engineers and workmen supervise and execute the cutting of thepassageway on the underground. The operations in the place de l'Operaare on an enormous scale, for there is a junction here, and the soil ismore undermined than elsewhere on the railway.

  "At the precise spot where the explosion occurred, there are fourgalleries in course of construction: one is the future Auteuil-Operaline, the others either lead to existing lines, or are galleries madefor the convenience of the workmen. Hand-cart number one, that is tosay, the substituted hand-cart filled with sacks of lead, was found inthe passageway of the Auteuil-Opera line, which is perfectly accessible,and would naturally be visited by the rescuers.

  "The original hand-cart was hidden away in one of the lateral galleries,which are small and narrow, and not likely to be visited and examined,except as a last resource. It is, therefore, clear that the affair hasbeen carefully arranged: a premeditated robbery. The presence of the twohand-carts would establish this--the hand-carts used by the bank for thetransport of bullion and other forms of money are of a particularmake--unique, in fact. Their respective positions show that the robbershad carefully prepared their drama, and it was skilfully arranged.

  "Thanks to Monsieur Havard's kindness, we were permitted to approach theoriginal hand-cart. It was in a lamentable condition: the body of it wasnearly smashed to pieces! Of course, no traces of the seals were to befound. The only remark we see fit to make in this connection is, thatMonsieur Nanteuil, his clerks, and those who witnessed the accident,must have been greatly excited and upset, otherwise they would naturallyhave been much astonished at finding the substituted hand-cartpractically uninjured after an accident of so crushing a nature.

  "We have carefully examined the soil round the original hand-cart, inthe hope of finding some clear footprints of the thieves, or theiraccomplices; but it was impossible to draw any conclusion from thisexamination--the footmarks are intermingled, superimposed,undistinguishable. It must be admitted the soil of the Metropolitan,hereabouts, has been very much trampled over and beaten down so that itis difficult to believe that researches, with the object of discoveringthe robbers' footmarks, are likely to have any clear result.

  "At the moment these lines have been written, the investigation in theMetropolitan passageways still continues, and will, in all probability,be continued late into the night. So far, the police admit that resultsare meagre. Monsieur Havard considers it certain that the deed is apremeditated one, carefully prepared, and that, consequently, theexplosion which caused the catastrophe was a deliberate act of violence.On the other hand, Monsieur Nanteuil declares that outside the partiesinterested, that is to say, the Barbey-Nanteuil bank and the Comptoird'Escomptes, who were to receive the bullion, not a soul could know ofthe transfer on that particular morning. But the staffs of the bank andof the Comptoir National d'Escomptes are absolutely trustworthy: theirhonour has never been questioned.

  "It is evident that such a daring and desperate deed, carried through sosuccessfully in the galleries of the Metropolitan, in the sight of allParis, at eleven o'clock in the morning, could only be the work of aband of criminals, numerous and perfectly organised.

  "'Are we returning to the days of--Fantomas?'

  "Let us add, that owi
ng to the number of individuals probably involved,and the daring nature of the crime, Monsieur Havard considers that itwill be extremely difficult for the guilty persons to escape from thepolice."

  Jerome Fandor had just finished correcting this sensational article,when slips from the Havas Agency arrived at _La Capitale_.

  Our journalist cast his eyes over them, thinking he might find somepiece of news which had come to hand at the last minute. As he read hegrew pale. He struck his writing-table a violent blow with his fist.

  "For all that, I am not mad!" he cried.

  And, holding his head between his hands, spelling out each word, hereread the following telegram from the Havas Agency:

  _Affair of the rue du Quatre Septembre_

  "_At the last moment of going to press, a bloody imprint has been discovered on hand-cart number 2. Monsieur Bertillon immediately identified this imprint: it was made by the hand of Jacques Dollon, the criminal who is already wanted by the police for the murder of the Baroness de Vibray, and the robbery committed on the Princess Sonia Danidoff._"

  "But I am not mad!" cried Fandor, when he had read these lines. "Ideclare I am not mad! By all that's holy, Jacques Dollon is dead!...Fifty persons have seen him dead! But, for all that, Bertillon cannot bemistaken!"

  After a minute or two, Fandor took up his pen again, and added a note tohis article, entitled:--

  _Sensational development. The police say: "It is the late Jacques Dollon who has stolen the millions!"_

  This note showed clearly that Jerome Fandor did not believe that JacquesDollon could possibly be involved in this affair, or in either of theother crimes in connection with which his name had been mentioned.