Monsieur Nanteuil’s shock can be imagined when, having unsealed and opened the hand-cart, he realised that the sacks of gold had been replaced by sacks of lead!

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

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

Thanks to the courtesy of Monsieur Havard, we were allowed to accompany him to the stone-yards of the Metropolitan; the police were convinced that it was hereabouts that the robbery had been accomplished. We reached the spot about an hour after the explosion. The first investigations produced no result; but Monsieur Havard pursued his solitary search up one of the sidings, and had his reward. His exclamation was heard, and we hastened to the spot... He had just found a second hand-cart, in every respect similar to the one he had recently examined in the courtyard of the Barbey-Nanteuil bank!

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

Our readers know something of the appearance presented by these lines, in the course of construction on the Metropolitan railway. We have repeatedly published in La Capitale details regarding the way in which the engineers and workmen supervise and execute the cutting of the passage-way on the underground. The operations in the place de l’Opéra are on an enormous scale, for there is a junction here, and the soil is more undermined than elsewhere on the railway.

At the precise spot where the explosion occurred there are four galleries in course of construction: one is the future Auteuil-Opéra line, the others either lead to existing lines, or are galleries made for the convenience of the workmen. Hand-cart number one, that is to say, the substituted hand-cart filled with sacks of lead, was found in the passage-way of the Auteuil-Opéra 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 has been carefully arranged: a premeditated robbery. The presence of the two hand-carts would establish this – the hand-carts used by the bank for the transport of bullion and other forms of money, are of a particular make – unique in fact. Their respective positions show that the robbers had carefully prepared their drama, and it was skilfully arranged.