Extensions to the Post Office in Burnie (North West Tasmania) were completed in 1901. Civic pride was reflected in the following section of a detailed newspaper article on the merits of the building. I love the mention of Tasmanian blackwood and Huon pine;
SOURCE – ADVOCATE, JULY 18 1901
Burnie Post Office on Marine Terrace
Six months later the Post Office was in the news again, but this time due to a major theft.
The manager of the nearby National Bank, Mr. Clarence Seagrave, regularly sent cash to west coast mining towns such as Queenstown and Zeehan by registered mail. Presumably this was for the payment of wages. From the Post Office, the money was forwarded on by train.
In the week beginning Monday, October 30, a large number of gold sovereigns were sent to Queenstown; 300 on Monday and 400 on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Seagrave took another 300 sovereigns to the post office. These were registered as normal by the clerk in charge.
On Thursday morning, just after 5am, employee Mr. V. Midwood arrived to organize transferring the West Coast mail via the 7.00am train. He walked to the mail room via a right-of-way beside Mr Jones’ general store. but discovered that the keyhole of the external door was blocked. However, when he turned the knob the door opened. Midwood was immediately suspicious, and sure enough he found that mail bags had been opened and strewn around the room. It turned out that a random key had been forced into the door lock from the inside. probably to prevent anyone entering while the robbery was taking place.
The arrow indicates the access lane to the mail room. (Advocate)
When Mr Benjafield the Postmaster arrived it was discovered that several registered mail articles plus the bag containing the 300 sovereigns were missing.
At first it was hoped that the gold coinage had already been sent to Queenstown, but a check soon confirmed it had never left Burnie.
It was important that the public did not lose confidence in the safe carriage of mail. For this reason the case was handled by Superintendent Cook and Detective Franklin, from Hobart. Additionally, a detective was brought over from Melbourne, acting for the Federal Post Office Department.
Pressure mounted to find those responsible, and there were numerous updates in the press;
LAUNCESTON – Friday – The Commissioner of Police stated today that Detective Franklin had obtained important information leading up to the culprits responsible for the robbery of 300 sovereigns from the Burnie Post Office on October 30, but the chain of evidence was not yet complete. He appeared to expect an early arrest. (Advocate, Mar, 8 1902)
Well, there was definitely more hope than expectation in the Commissioner’s words. Two days later;
There is still no development in connection with the Burnie Post Office robbery, The new clue which came to the knowledge of police, which led to the influx of police officials to the town, has not had any definite result, and it does not appear likely that it will have any in the future. Superintendent Cook and Detective Franklin are still at Burnie. (Advocate, Mar. 10 1902)
From the very beginning there had been rumours that the robbery was an inside job. As time went by and no-one was arrested, Post Office employees found themselves the target of jibes and accusations.
The person who received most of the unwanted attention was mail clerk Willim Ruddock. In fact this led to the first conviction connected to the case. On May 22 1902, Edward Powell was charged with using insulting language to Ruddock in a public street. Giving evidence. Ruddock said that Powell and his companions constantly called out to him and other Post Office employees, suggesting they were connected to the robbery. He said that on this occasion Duffy yelled, ‘Give us a couple of sovereigns‘. Ruddock said he walked over and told Powell that if he kept up the insults he would take legal action. However, there were more insulting remarks, hence the matter ending up in court.
In his defence Edward Duffy said that he and his mates were standing on Marine Terrace when one threw a gold sovereign in the air. Duffy said that he snatched at it and that the words he uttered were actually. ‘Give me that sovereign.‘ William Ruddock must have misheard, Duffy suggested, and besides, if the postal clerk was there, he hadn’t seen him. Of course the story was impossible to believe. For one thing, it was unlikely any of the young larrikins even possessed any sovereigns.
‘The bench, after a short retirement, found the defendant guilty, and inflicted a fine of 10s and 11s 6p costs, stating that if any more cases of the kind were brought into court the offenders would be sent to gaol without the option of a fine.‘ (Advocate, May 22 1902)
Meanwhile, Supt. Cook and Detective Franklin laboured on with their efforts to identify the robber (or robbers). Finally, in January 1903, there was a breakthrough.
35 year old William Duffy, a labourer from Lyall (near Queenstown) had boasted to an acquaintance that he knew who was responsible, and that furthermore, he knew where the bag of sovereigns was. Duffy claimed that the mail clerk William Ruddock had handed the mail bag to him on the night of the robbery and that he (Duffy) had buried it on Burnie’s West Beach.
Duffy was escorted back to Burnie and over the next couple of days police dug up the beach according to Duffy’s directions. Nothing was found. and as his story unraveled the police’s star witness went completely off the rails. He escaped from police custody and roamed the town in a drunken state, creating havoc. He later admitted it was all a hoax;
The first night we went down to the beach, but I told them the tide was too high for the gold to be dug up. Next night we went down and I dug a hole, but could not find the gold. They said I fooled them and (triumphantly) I did fool them! (Advocate, Jan. 9 1903)
The investigating officers found themselves the butt of jokes, especially concerning the digging;
The absurdity of the thing ought to have been manifest at once, for the digging was being done so close to low water mark that no greater depth than 18 inches could be reached, owing to the almost liquid nature of the sand. Yet the work was persevered with for hours, until the break of day, when it dawned on the officers that they had been fooled. Next night however, a forlorn hope was led to the same vicinity, and some more digging was done, but the chief result was the use of some savage language by the diggers. (Advocate, Jan. 9 1903)
Like Edward Powell, Duffy ended up being charged with insulting William Ruddock by connecting him to the theft. The magistrate was true to his word and instead of a fine Duffy was gaoled for two weeks.
And so the Post Office robbery remained unsolved. No doubt the much maligned Ruddock never dared be seen with a gold sovereign for the rest of his days.
NOTE – THE OLD POST OFFICE IS NO LONGER IN USE, BUT THE BUILDING IS BEING RESTORED BY A LOCAL COUPLE. CLICK HERE TO READ AN ARTICLE ON THE PROJECT.
