[Part 1] Chapter 1 Central Bank Robbery This daring robbery attracted general interest, such crimes are rare.This is the famous central bank case. The robbery took place at the central bank's Dirk offices near the London Mall.The manager of the office at that time was Louis.Robert.Mr Buxton. The office was in a hall divided into two unequal parts by an oak counter.The door is on the left hand side, behind the fence is the cashier's office, and this fence has another iron gate that communicates with the salesperson's office.There is a revolving door at the right end of the long oak counter, which is the passage for customers to line up to the business hall.The office of the office manager is deep in the business hall.A corridor connects the business hall with the building's public foyer.

At one end of the vestibule passes the doorway of the caretaker's quarters; at the other end, next to the main staircase, there are double glazed doors leading to the cellar and back staircase. This mysterious robbery took place in such an environment. At 4:40 pm on this day, five staff members in the office were doing their daily work.The teller counted the cash behind the fence: £72,079 two shillings fourpence.In another twenty minutes, they would end their day's business and go home. At this moment, the door was pushed open, and a person walked in.He glanced at the business hall, turned half of his body, and made a gesture to the outside: he stretched out the thumb, index finger and middle finger of his right hand, which clearly indicated the number three.Undoubtedly, this was a signal to my accomplices on the asphalt road outside.

After giving the signal, he closed the door, walked in, and stood behind a customer, as if waiting for the customer to finish his work, and he also wanted to do it. One of the two idle clerks got up and asked him: Sir, what's your business? Thank you, replied the new customer, and I'll wait. The clerk sat down and went on with his business.The new customer waited there, and no one paid him special attention. However, the appearance of this customer is very strange.He is a burly man with broad shoulders, and it seems that he has a lot of strength.With a black face, he grew a gorgeous pale yellow beard.His social status is difficult to determine because his clothes are covered by a long cloak.

After the customer in front of him finished his work, he walked up to chat with the staff.The original customer opened the door and walked out of the office.However, the door opened again immediately, and another person walked in.This second new customer was just as peculiar as the first: the same tall, broad-shouldered man, the same black face and beard, wearing the same long cape.The second customer behaved in the same way as the first: he waited patiently behind, and when his turn came, he began to talk to the clerk while the customer in front of him walked out. Almost the same as the previous time, the customer just went out, the door opened again, and a third person came in.He also stands behind.He was of medium height, broad-shouldered and strong, with a red face and a black beard.Compared with the previous customers, there are many similarities, but they are not the same.

Finally, the last one finished and went out.Two people appeared at the door at the same time.Both wore long coats and had bushy beards on red faces. The way the two of them entered the door was quite peculiar: the taller one walked in front, and just stepped through the door, then stopped and blocked the one behind.The man behind made a mysterious motion on the doorknob, pretending his clothes were hanging there.This action is completed in an instant.The door closed again quickly, but the handle on the outside was missing.In this way, no one can come in from the outside.In addition, there was a "Notice" on the door to suspend business.

The office staff never dreamed that they were cut off from the outside world. Two not-so-busy clerks came to entertain the new arrivals.One of them was waiting to do business with the clerk while the other taller said to speak to the manager. I'll check to see if he's there, said one of the clerks. He went inside for a while, and then came out immediately. please come in!He pushed open the turnstile at the end of the tall oak counter. The taller customer went to the manager's office.The staff led him to the door and returned to his work station. What happened between Mr. Manager and the visitor?The staff of the office declared afterwards that they knew nothing about this.

But one thing is clear: in less than two minutes, a slightly taller visitor appeared at the door of the manager's room again, and shouted calmly: Excuse me, Mr. Manager wants to talk to the teller. Yes, sir, answered one of the clerks, and turned to shout, Stoll!Mr. Manager is looking for you! come on!replied the cashier. The cashier put the banknotes in one leather bag and the coins in three purses into the safe with deliberate deliberation characteristic of his profession.He slammed the heavy iron door of the safe, closed his small window, walked out of his fence, locked the fence door carefully, and then walked to the manager's office.The customer waiting for him at the door cleared his way and followed him into the manager's office.

Stoll entered the manager's room and was surprised to find that it was empty.He hadn't had time to solve the mystery, when he was in doubt, a pair of big iron-like hands grabbed his throat.He wanted to struggle and call for help, but there was nothing he could do.The deadly hands tightened until he fell to the ground, unconscious. This ferocious offensive was carried out almost silently.The five employees in the business hall were still calmly continuing their work: four were dealing with customers standing at the high counter, and the fifth was engrossed in calculating the accounts.

Here, the taller visitor wiped the sweat from his brow, then bent down to examine his prey.He bound the teller rather neatly and gagged him. After everything was settled, he opened the door slightly and cast a sharp look at the business hall.Feeling well, he coughed, as if to attract the attention of the other four visitors.Then, suddenly opened the door. Undoubtedly, this was the pre-arranged signal to start the robbery in full swing.He rushed into the hall with a stride, and grabbed the accountant by the throat like a tiger catching a sheep.The customer at the end of the counter jumped through the door, knocking the clerk in front of him to the ground.Two of the other three customers each grabbed a submissive interlocutor across the counter and slammed their heads against the oak billboard.The other shortest customer jumped onto the account table and strangled the neck of the fifth salesperson.

No shouts were uttered, and a fight lasted less than thirty seconds. The battle is over.The staff in the office are all unconscious. Even the details of the robbery plan have been considered very thoughtfully.The attackers took out all the necessary tools from their pockets, stuffed cotton in the mouths of the unconscious staff members, and tied them with ropes, regardless of whether they would suffocate to death, and their hands were tied behind their backs. Both feet were tightly bound, and the torso was also bound with wire. All this is done in an instant.Five attackers got things done in one fell swoop.

Let down the curtains!The guy who had requested a meeting with the manager ordered.Apparently, he was the leader of the gang. The three robbers hurried to the iron handle by the window.The shutters began to drop, gradually blocking out the noise from the street. So began to divide the spoils.Portfolios, stocks and bonds of all kinds littered the parquet floor.The banknotes and gold were divided into five piles according to the number of robbers. Wait a moment!cried their leader.Let's make an agreement first: I will leave first, you stay here, and then he pointed to the corridor leading to the back of the business hall and added, you go out from here, the last person who walks must lock the door tightly, and then throw the key into the drain Go to the ditch.He pointed to the manager's office again, don't forget about this idiot.do you understand? Yes, don't worry!The minions replied. The cloak was thrown in the corner.Let them find it here.Just don't find it on us.As for where to gather, you already know the departure! At five-thirty, Mr. Razo, the bank's auditor, hung up on Decker's office, but received no answer.It turned out that the robbers took off the receivers in order to prevent the possible ringing from attracting the attention of the neighbors.The auditor was relieved after scolding the operator of the telephone exchange. After a while, he called again, but the result was the same as the first time, and the telephone company repeatedly claimed that it was Decker's office that no one answered the phone.Mr. Lardo sent a correspondent to Dirk's office for inquiries, and at half-past six the correspondent returned.He said: "The Decker office is closed and empty. The auditor felt very strange: it was the end of the month, and under normal circumstances, the staff worked until nine o'clock in the evening. As a result, the call to the police immediately spread in all directions.At about eight o'clock, a team of policemen opened the door of Dirk's office with the help of a hired fitter. Readers already know what they're going to see there. Police investigations began immediately.Fortunately, none of the office staff died.They were both half-asphyxiated and lying on the floor when the ambulance arrived. After a long period of first aid, they finally regained consciousness; but the clues they provided were pitifully scant: five men with beards and long capes attacked them and knocked them down.Beyond that, they know nothing. The honesty of the staff is unquestionable.Five coats were still piled in the corner of the room, as if the robbers were deliberately trying to incriminate themselves.However, upon close inspection by Scotland Yard's top detectives, the five coats yielded no clues. The capes were of ordinary fabric and bore no tailor or department store logos. 【Note】Scotland Yard London street name.Because it is the seat of the Metropolitan Police Department, it is used as a synonym for the London Criminal Police Headquarters. Mr. Detective gave a futile meal.Although he questioned witnesses repeatedly, he got no clues. The last significant witness was the gatekeeper of the building.The door to the bank office was locked from the inside.That is to say, the criminal must have exited through the vestibule.Then the gatekeeper must have seen them.But the gatekeeper declared that he had not seen anyone suspicious that day. After repeated recollection, he called out the names of four tenants who passed through the front hall before and after the incident.They were immediately arraigned, but it was later confirmed that they had gone out to eat and there was nothing suspicious about them. The janitor also mentions a coal deliveryman.The man appeared carrying a large bag at half past seven, shortly before the arrival of the police.The porter drew his attention because his coal was delivered at an untimely time.He insisted that a resident on the fifth floor asked him to bring it, and the porter had to let him in and pointed him to the back stairs leading to the fifth floor. The coalman went upstairs.But after a quarter of an hour or so, he came downstairs again with the bag on his back.The janitor asked him why, and he said he got the address wrong and gasped as he spoke.Like a man who climbs five floors with a heavy load on his back.On the street, he put the pockets in the cart and pushed it away without haste. Do you know which coal store worker he is?the detective asked. The gatekeeper doesn't know this. Detectives questioned the resident on the fifth floor.The coalman did ring the doorbell of the house about half-past seven.The female worker told him that he had found the wrong address, but he didn't insist anymore and went downstairs immediately.However, the clues provided by the janitor and the resident were still contradictory.Because according to the female worker, that man didn't carry any pockets at all. He put the bag downstairs.the detective explained. But this explanation was not perfect, for they soon found a pile of coal in the basement under the stairs.Apparently, the mysterious coal delivery worker dumped what he had carried here.But, according to the janitor, he left with the same pockets as he had entered.So, what is he carrying away? We will leave him alone for now.The detective avoids puzzles he can't solve, and we'll come back to that tomorrow.He was chasing clues that he thought were more important, and he didn't want to divert them. Indeed, several staff members were there.But the important person in the office, the manager Louis.Robert.Mr. Buxton disappeared. The staff could not offer any explanation for this.So the conclusion was drawn quite naturally: since the office was robbed by five robbers in disguise, there must have been an insider accomplice in the office; this accomplice was, of course, none other than the manager himself. In this way, before the detailed study of the case is over, the manager of the Decker Office of the Central Bank, Luis.Robert.Buxton's arrest warrant was immediately issued.His features were telegraphed to all directions. It is not yet possible for the criminals to leave England, and no doubt they can be caught at home or in port.Optimistic about the prospect of solving the case, the detectives went home to bed. That night five dark-faced men, some bearded, some shaved, got off the London Express at Southampton.They took out a few packages and a heavy suitcase from the luggage room, hired a carriage, and rushed to the pier at high speed.There was a steamer waiting for them, with smoke rising from its funnel. At four o'clock in the morning, the tide rises.At this time, the whole city of Southampton was still in a dreamland, unaware of the incident in Dirk's office.The ship sailed out of the port, rounded the breakwater, and headed for the sea.The ship was loaded with all kinds of goods that were not illegal, and its destination was Cotonou, the port of Dahomey. At this time, the people in the police station were having their sweet dreams on the bed. Reconnaissance resumed the next day.But, as readers know, nothing came of it.Days passed and the five robbers were still at large.Louis.Robert.Mr. Buxton was never heard from again.The mystery seemed impossible to solve.After a fruitless effort, the detectives had to give up. The following story will thoroughly unravel this mystery.Readers will see many magical and thrilling scenes.